I’ve had a look at the past 10 weeks to examine the impact of the game planning chips (GP+ and GP-); who the most successful managers have been and which players have yielded the greatest rewards.

So first, let’s look at the type of player which we give the GP+ chip too.

57% of the time it is given to a QB, 25% to a RB and 14% WR. There is quite a lot of heterogeneity across the teams with The Gallic Warriors and Crusaders always putting the GP+ on their QBs (typically Brady, Rodgers and Smith) whilst Sacks on the Beach and Woodland Rangers look towards their other positions and have never gone with a QB.

And the pattern is similar regarding who opposition mangers use GP- chip on. 59% of the time on the QB and 26% on a RB.

The Norsemen are the team most likely to use GP- on a QB and have meaningfully used it in this regard every week except for week 1. Generally, it seems in many weeks the default for most mangers is to use the GP- chip against the opposition QB.

After failing to use his GP+ in week 1, Lionhearts have used their GP+ chip on a different player in every single GW; most recently against newcomer Jay Cutler. Tim Always Pulls Out Late (TAPOL) is the only team to get close to this mark using GP+ on 5 different options.

Kickers have been used three time (Lionhearts, Sacks on the Beach and Squirrels) and although never using GP+ on a QB, Woodland Rangers have more variation than any team using it on the OL and on a defensive player (this week on DB Landon Collins).

Newton, Prescott, Brady and Brees are the only 4 players who have been handed the GP+ in 7+ weeks – not too surprising for elite levels QBs.

So now we can look at which managers “gain” the most points by accumulating the points gained / avoided when using their GP+ and GP- chips. The only team gaining over 200 points over the 10 weeks is TAPOL, having good consistent success in backing Todd Gurley. Gallic Warriors and the Squirrels are 2^nd and 3^rd in this ranking with 193 and 183 points respectively. Aside from Sean Taylors Ashes, whose use of the GP chips is more infrequent than other managers, the worst team in using the chips are the Lionhearts – gaining 103 points. Is this because of poor management, or poor offense scoring low points and hence limited impact of the GP+….probably a bit of both. And only once, in week 6, did the Lionhearts use their GP- chip with it resulting in >10 point reduction, ironically against recently traded player Carson Wentz.

Although the Lionhearts have gained the fewest points through the chips they are also the team who have been impacted by the opposition mangers chip use – only conceding 97 points. In 3 of the last 5 weeks the Lionheart opponent GP+ players have scored 0, including Antonio Brown in week 10. Second in this list are the league leading Crusaders, conceding only an addition 101 points. The team the concedes the most points, and perhaps reflecting their poor luck is comfortably TAPOL – with a massive 238 points. Whereas the GP+ players the opponents selected against the Crusaders scored an average of 4.5 points, against TAPOL the average is 17.6. The infamous week 7 match vs Woodland where Zeke Elliot scored an additional 33 points.

So, we know the teams who gain the most points and those who concede the most points but which team has the best net score.

1. Crusaders  +73
2. Squirrels  +60
3. Woodland Rangers  +40
4. Gallic Warriors   +33
5. Lionhearts    +6
6. Beavers   -3
7. MeggaMen   -6
8. Norsemen   -9
9. Amish Electricians   -33
10. TAPOL    -37
11. Sacks on the Beach   -45
12. Sean Taylor    -77

So, Crusaders have the best net points but the GP chips have not had a meaningful (where meaningful means changing the overall result) impact on any of their games – they would still be 7-3 with the same outcomes in all their games.

In fact, in only 7 of the 60 games have the use of the GP chips resulted in a different outcome compared to if they were not in play. The Norsemen, Crusaders and Amish Electricians are the teams were there has been no meaningful impact in any game of the GP chips.

The biggest beneficiaries of the GP use have been The MeggaMen. Without the chips being in play they would have lost their week 1 games against Sacks on the Beach and Week 6 game against Woodland Rangers and would now sit at 4-6.

Without the GP chips the league tables would look as below:

Amish  6-4-0
Norsemen 5-5-0
Lionhearts 3-7-0
Sean Taylor 1-9-0 

Crusaders 7-3-0
Gallic Warriors 6-4-0
Squirrels 5-5-0
TAPOL 4-6-0 

Beavers 7-2-1
Woodland 6-4-0
Sacks on the Beach 5-4-1
MeggaMen 4-6-0 

As we approach the final few weeks of the season using your game planning chips wisely could make the difference.