Fuego Stats estimates throwing and receiving yardage using contextual information such as receiver role (e.g. handler or cutter), throw type (e.g. huck), and point context (e.g. zone or endzone).
Yardage contants are (currently) universal across teams, genders, and divisions (from middle-school to the club level).
Yardage Constants
The constants below drive contextual yardage estimation.
Huck Yardage
Always45 yds
Base Yardage
Handler2.2 yds
Cutter9 yds
Hybrid6 yds
Endzone Yardage
Handler1 yds
Cutter3 yds
Hybrid2 yds
Zone Yardage
“Zone Swing”1 yds
Non “Zone Swing”3.5 yds
Scaling Yardage by Drive Length
When a game-capture includes field positions (i.e. drive start and end positions), contextual yardage estimates are scaled to match drive lengths.
For example, imagine a team starts at midfield and relentless defense forces many very short handler-to-handler throws that quickly total 70 yards before the possession results in a score. Since we know the drive length is 35 yards, each throw’s yardage estimate is scaled down by 50%. So, while individual throw yardages may be off, the total should be accurate.
Notes on Player Positions
Player positions are designated by team administrators and editors on the Players page.
“Hybrid” players are those not clearly handlers or cutters— either marked as neither cutter nor handler or marked as both.
“Zone Swing” is a special position designation for zone offense that recognizes that often some cutters drop down to help swing the disc. Swing and wing players in the zone offense should be marked as “zone swing” while poppers and deep-deeps should not be marked as “zone swing”.
How Accurate Is Contextual Yardage?
In an absolute sense, contextual yardage estimates are merely directional.
But, in service to EDGE (which uses relative yardage to measure impact), I believe it scales accurately:
Huck completions/receptions are worth more than not-hucks
(Presumably) longer throws/receptions (downfield) to cutters are worth more than throws to handlers
(Presumably) shorter throws/receptions in zone are worth less than throws in not-zone
If your throwers and receivers are making high-value plays, the yardage should track.
Where Does Contextual Yardage Fail?
Dominant plays & players. If a star handler is winning upline cuts at well above the team average that is lost. If a star cutter is taking the top off the defense to receive super-long hucks or epic under cuts, that is lost. Contextual yardage assumes most plays are made close to team averages.
Improperly-tagged points. Per-throw yardage varies by tag. For example, all yardage is signficantly reduced if throws/receptions have the “zone” tag applied. If a zone offense point is not tagged as such, dozens of low-yardage throws may total to hundreds of yards (especially for cutters)— though yardage scaling can help to mitigate this.
Hybrid/inaccurate positions. Cutters earn more yardage per reception than handlers on the assumption the throws are further downfield. If a player tagged as a cutter plays handler for a point, they may accrue a dozen yards per reception for flat swing cuts.