{"id":38718,"date":"2025-12-02T12:36:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/?p=38718"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:36:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T20:36:54","slug":"christopher-nava-presents-fantasy-football-research-at-mkn-heartland-mcnair-research-conference-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/christopher-nava-presents-fantasy-football-research-at-mkn-heartland-mcnair-research-conference-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Nava Presents Fantasy Football Research at MKN Heartland McNair Research Conference 2025!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/131\/2025\/12\/Christopher-Nava-travels-1-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38722\" srcset=\"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/131\/2025\/12\/Christopher-Nava-travels-1-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/131\/2025\/12\/Christopher-Nava-travels-1-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/131\/2025\/12\/Christopher-Nava-travels-1-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/131\/2025\/12\/Christopher-Nava-travels-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>McNair Scholar Christopher Nava recently presented at the 2025 MKN Heartland McNair Research Conference on September 19-21\u00a0in Kansas City, Missouri. He delivered an oral presentation on his project which asked: \u201cWhich Fantasy Football Platform is more accurate at predicting preseason projections?\u201d Under the guidance of faculty mentor Dr. Alexandros Paparas, Christopher\u2019s research examined the accuracy of preseason player projections from ESPN and Yahoo over six NFL seasons (2019\u20132024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By analyzing Average Draft Position (ADP) data from FantasyPros and performance outcomes from Pro Football Reference, Christopher compared each platform\u2019s projections to actual results in points-per-reception (PPR) formats. His study addressed several questions, including which platform best predicts top performers, positional strengths and weaknesses, and patterns in missed breakout players or preseason overvaluations. The findings revealed ESPN correctly projected 290 out of 432 top tier slots (67.1%), while Yahoo projected 286 (66.3%). ESPN had an edge at running back predictions, while Yahoo performed slightly better at wide receiver; both platforms struggled most with tight end projections. Though ESPN ranked higher in four of the six seasons, the difference was not statistically significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christopher\u2019s research offers practical insights for fantasy football managers and highlights areas for improving projection models. His participation in the conference embodies the McNair spirit and the event\u2019s guiding message: \u201cIf you will commit yourself to your dreams, you can go as high as you like. The sky is not the limit.\u201d-Dr. Ronald E. McNair<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Great job, Christopher!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more visit: https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/christopher-nava\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>McNair Scholar Christopher Nava recently presented at the 2025 MKN Heartland McNair Research Conference on September 19-21\u00a0in Kansas City, Missouri. He delivered an oral presentation on his project which asked: \u201cWhich Fantasy Football Platform is more accurate at predicting preseason projections?\u201d Under the guidance of faculty mentor Dr. Alexandros Paparas, Christopher\u2019s research examined the accuracy &#8230; <a title=\"Christopher Nava Presents Fantasy Football Research at MKN Heartland McNair Research Conference 2025!\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/christopher-nava-presents-fantasy-football-research-at-mkn-heartland-mcnair-research-conference-2025\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Christopher Nava Presents Fantasy Football Research at MKN Heartland McNair Research Conference 2025!\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20138,"featured_media":38719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[732,734,743,758,753,127,34],"tags":[747,87,756,431,154,134,754,96],"class_list":["post-38718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2023-2024-cohort","category-chris-nava","category-christopher-nava","category-data-analytics","category-marketing","category-research","category-scholars","tag-conference","tag-conference-presentation","tag-data-analytics","tag-ewu-mcnair-faculty-mentor","tag-ewu-mcnair-program","tag-ewu-mcnair-scholar","tag-marketing","tag-mcnair-scholar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38718"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38726,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38718\/revisions\/38726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}