My AI Fantasy Football League

Dr. Ryan Ries here. As the NFL season gears up, football is on my mind.

So, this week, I want to talk about how AI is involved in the game we know and love.

SportsLine's AI PickBot is making waves with its NFL predictions.

SportsLine is claiming that before you make ANY NFL week 1 picks, you’ve got to see what it’s AI is predicting.

Color me intrigued!

This self-learning AI is crunching numbers to make against-the-spread, over-under, and money-line picks for every Week 1 game.

Last season, it nailed an impressive 1,674 top-rated picks. It's like having a team of data scientists in your fantasy football huddle!

But AI in sports isn't new.

In fact, it's been around in various leagues. Take the Boston Celtics, for example.

We at Mission Cloud had the pleasure of helping them modernize their analytics and environment on AWS.

Their CTO, Jay Wessland, shared with CIO Dive how cloud computing transformed their ability to process game data. Gone are the days of struggling to crunch numbers before the next tipoff — now they can spin up the compute power they need on demand.

The Celtics' journey from on-premises servers to cloud-based analytics mirrors what's happening across the sports world.

Teams are leveraging AI and cloud computing to gain that crucial competitive edge, whether it's analyzing player performance, optimizing training regimens, or even predicting injuries.

My AI Fantasy Football Picks

Alright, now for the fun part.

I was curious to see AI’s results for my NFL draft league. I used Google’s Gemini to build my team since it can pull from the web. Here are the results:

I started with this initial prompt.

"You are an NFL fantasy league coordinator for the NFL 2024 season, and you will have 4 teams. As the coordinator, it is your job to create 4 teams that are equally balanced. Show the round-by-round draft, and then at the end, give the roster for each of the 4 teams."

AI’s results:

NFL Fantasy League Draft for 2024 Season

League Setup:

• Number of Teams: 4
• Draft Format: Snake Draft
• Starting Lineup:
  
  • 1 QB
  • 2 RB
  • 2 WR
  • 1 TE
  • 1 FLEX (RB, WR, or TE)
  • 1 K
  • 1 DEF

Draft Order:

• Team A
• Team B
• Team C
• Team D

Team Rosters:

• Team A: Patrick Mahomes, Christian McCaffrey, Ja'Marr Chase, Travis Kelce, Justin Jefferson, Derrick Henry, Kyle Pitts, Justin Tucker, Philadelphia Eagles, Dalvin Cook, DeAndre Hopkins, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Kenneth Walker III, Pat Freiermuth, Matt Gay, David Montgomery, Allen Robinson, Tyler Higbee, Younghoe Koo
• Team B: Josh Allen, Saquon Barkley, Davante Adams, Mark Andrews, A.J. Brown, Aaron Jones, T.J. Hockenson, Harrison Butker, Dallas Cowboys, James Conner, Mike Evans, Gabe Davis, Breece Hall, Hayden Hurst, Ryan Succop, Baltimore Ravens, Jamaal Williams, Michael Pittman Jr., Robert Tonyan, Jason Myers
• Team C: Jalen Hurts, Austin Ekeler, Tyreek Hill, George Kittle, Cooper Kupp, Nick Chubb, Evan Engram, Daniel Carlson, Kansas City Chiefs, Rhamondre Stevenson, Chris Godwin, Terry McLaurin, Rachaad White, Chigoziem Okonkwo, Robbie Gould, Cincinnati Bengals, Alvin Kamara, Jerry Jeudy, Cole Kmet, McPherson (again)
• Team D: Joe Burrow, Bijan Robinson, CeeDee Lamb, Darren Waller, Stefon Diggs, Dalvin Cook, Dalton Schultz, Evan McPherson, Buffalo Bills, Rhamondre Stevenson, Keenan Allen, Brandon Aiyuk, James Cook, Gerald Everett, Matt Prater, Cleveland Browns, Josh Jacobs, Diontae Johnson, Irv Smith Jr., Younghoe Koo

Note: This is just a sample draft, and the actual draft results may vary depending on the specific players available and the strategies of the league coordinators.

NOTE FOR READERS: I’ve attached to this email the spreadsheet results it generated for the round-to-round draft.

Then, I asked the AI, “Who will you start for the first week of the season?”

AI’s Response:

To provide a comprehensive and accurate response to your question, I'll need more information about your fantasy football league's specific scoring rules and the availability of players. However, based on the draft results and general player projections, here's a potential starting lineup for the first week of the season:

Team A:

• QB: Patrick Mahomes
• RB1: Christian McCaffrey
• RB2: Derrick Henry
• WR1: Ja'Marr Chase
• WR2: Justin Jefferson
• TE: Travis Kelce
• FLEX: Kyle Pitts
• K: Justin Tucker
• DEF: Philadelphia Eagles

Team B:

• QB: Josh Allen
• RB1: Saquon Barkley
• RB2: Aaron Jones
• WR1: Davante Adams
• WR2: A.J. Brown
• TE: Mark Andrews
• FLEX: T.J. Hockenson
• K: Harrison Butker
• DEF: Dallas Cowboys

Team C:

• QB: Jalen Hurts
• RB1: Austin Ekeler
• RB2: Nick Chubb
• WR1: Tyreek Hill
• WR2: Cooper Kupp
• TE: George Kittle
• FLEX: Evan Engram
• K: Daniel Carlson
• DEF: Kansas City Chiefs

Team D:

• QB: Joe Burrow
• RB1: Bijan Robinson
• RB2: Dalvin Cook
• WR1: CeeDee Lamb
• WR2: Stefon Diggs
• TE: Darren Waller
• FLEX: Dalton Schultz
• K: Evan McPherson
• DEF: Buffalo Bills

Key Considerations:

• Matchups: Analyze each player's matchup for the first week to identify potential advantages or disadvantages.
• Injuries: Check for any late-breaking injury news that could affect player availability.
• Bye Weeks: Consider the bye weeks of your starting players to ensure you have backups ready for those weeks.
• Scoring Rules: Adjust your lineup based on your league's specific scoring rules (e.g., PPR, standard).

Remember to review the latest news and projections before making your final decisions. Good luck with your fantasy football season!

This made me realize that I do not know the scoring rules! 

I was glad AI prompted me to consider this. Can you tell I’ve never made a fantasy football league?

AI’s Response:

Here are the most common scoring rules used in fantasy football leagues:

Passing:

• Passing Yards: 1 point for every 25 yards
• Passing Touchdowns: 6 points per touchdown
• Interceptions: -2 points per interception

Rushing:

• Rushing Yards: 1 point for every 10 yards
• Rushing Touchdowns: 6 points per touchdown

Receiving:

• Receiving Yards: 1 point for every 10 yards
• Receiving Touchdowns: 6 points per touchdown
• Receptions: 0.5 points per reception (PPR leagues)

Kickers:

• Field Goals: 3 points for field goals under 50 yards, 4 points for field goals 50-59 yards, 5 points for field goals 60+ yards
• Extra Points: 1 point per extra point

Defenses:

• Sacks: 1 point per sack
• Interceptions: 6 points per interception
• Fumbles recovered: 6 points per fumble recovered
• Defensive touchdowns: 6 points per defensive touchdown
• Safeties: 2 points per safety
• Points allowed: -1 point for every 6 points allowed (or a similar scale)

Other Scoring Rules:

• Return Touchdowns: 6 points per return touchdown (kickoff, punt, interception)
• Two-Point Conversions: 2 points per successful two-point conversion

PPR (Point Per Reception) Leagues:

• Receptions: 0.5 points per reception
• This adds value to players who catch a lot of passes, even if they don't have many yards or touchdowns.

Half-PPR Leagues:

• Receptions: 0.25 points per reception
• This adds some value to players who catch a lot of passes but not as much as full PPR leagues.

Note: These are just some of the most common scoring rules. Leagues can customize their rules to suit their preferences. It's important to review your league's specific scoring rules before drafting your team.

What do you think? Do I have a winning team? Let me know your thoughts!

Until next time,

Ryan Ries

PS. Na Yu and Jonathan LaCour are hosting our next generative AI Ask Us Anything event on September 12th. Will I see you there? Here’s the link to sign up. Bring all your questions!

Now, time for this week’s AI-generated image and the prompt I used to generate it.

"Generate an image of AI playing football in the NFL. The stadium is packed. It is the 49ers versus the Jets, and it is at the 49ers stadium."

I’m a little confused (and concerned) why one of the 49ers players is in the stands… 

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