Thought it would be both fun and of interest to look at the top statistical performers at their positions for the reg season.

First off, the QB performance. Paydirt had one QB that stood out by far over the rest, Houston's Craig Clancy, with a 114.37 rating, the only QB with a 100+ rating. That is quite an accomplishment in 4.5. Next best QBR, 97.7, was produced by NO Saints Larry Walker, followed by Miami's Ricky Fisher with a 92.6. They were the only two QBs with a 90+ rating, and there were NONE with 80 ratings!! My QB weights must be pretty good, as I have Clancy rated 9 pts higher than his Ai default rating of 74.

There's quite a story behind Clancy & Houston. Clancy was traded to Houston from New England at the 8 game trade deadline last season. Big trade wasnt it? Another fun & interesting thing to do in MFN is to review trades and how they worked out so far, which also helps with your own future trading decisions. Below is the link to the forum post regarding this blockbuster trade, not only did Houston get Clancy, they also got two First round picks and a 2nd rounder!!! Would be interesting to get a comment on the deal by both. Salty/Houston really scored on the first round pick with the Pats finishing this season with 3 wins. https://paydirt.myfootballnow.com/forums/1/759?page=1#4679

Awesome post GrandadB.

Thanks Beer, should be fun and informative for all and hopefully get some discussion/comments about player performance, evaluation, trades, luck of the sim, 4.5, et al. Next up will be the RBs, cheers!

I'm gonna put these up on the website.

And look at Davis's stat line, 2600 yards, 11 TD's, 22 INT's.

Outstanding rushing statiscal performance by RB. That one goes to Noah "Ark" Becker/Packers, who toted the rock 235 times for 1.119 yards, 4.8 ypc, a long of 71 yds, and 6 TDs scored. I have not had many RBs that have led the league in rushing, have had quite a few in the top 10 but not at the top. Becker is followed by Bryan Polumbo/Browns, who produced very similar stats with 1,035 yds, 4.2, long of 91!, and 4 TDs. There were 3 more RBs who gained 1000+ yds, Larry Green/Ravens with a 3.4 ypc, Chris Blankenship/Jags/4.9, and Bill Kibbe/Raiders/5.1. So, a total of 5 RBs in the 1000 yd club this season.

Becker is a 7 yr vet who has spent his entire career with the Packers after being a 2.2 pick. 95 speed & acceleration are among his key attributes. 4.5 has made the RBs equally important in the passing game, the "Ark" had 64 receptions for 777 yds and 1 TD.

Polumbo/Browns, a 2 yr vet, has a high 91 Ai rating and was a 1.17 pick for the Browns. He also had 70 rec for 610 yds and 4 TDs. 83 speed/71 accel, 90s to 100 in all key attributes, about as good a set of atts as you can find for a RB. He should continue to be at the top of the RB stats for several seasons.

Green is in his 9th season for the Ravens, like Polumbo he has an Ai rating of 91. Slower than Becker & Polumbo with 76 speed/72 accel, he compensates with 100s in all the rest of the key atts. On the receiving side, he finished with 47 catches for 328 yds (7.0 avg) and 1 TD.

Blankenship is another high draft pick (1.18) and is in his 4th season for the Jags. 91 speed/48 accel, 95 carry & 86 break. Ai rating of 83. He did real well on the receiving end also, with 57 catches for 598 (10.5 avg) and 4 TDs.

Kibbe/Raiders is in his 6th season, originally drafted by the Falcons (1.11) and is Ai rated at 81. He was trade to the Raiders at the start of the 76 season. His avg of 5.1 per carry (best amongst 600+ yardage gained) goes along with his 12.9 yards per reception (60 catches for 772/3td). This was his best season by far for the Raiders since the trade.

Best receiving stats by an RB1, goes to WR Billy Gray/Skins, a 9 yr vet (the older vets can get it done sometimes), who posted 118 rec for 1.746 yds, a 14.9 ypc & 4 TDs, which also placed him 2nd in receiving yards overall. Gray also finished with 758 yds rushing (4.4 ypc) and 6 TDs. Am pretty sure he was the total yardage leader (2500+ yds) among RBs by far. Gray is a player you should take a real close look at and consider a similar WR/RB for your offense. He was selected in the allocation draft by the Skins at the 11.9 pick. He is Ai rated 78, my weights have him at 85. In addition to RB1, he is also WR5 on the depth chart. This past season was his best receiving, he has had 4 other 1000+ yd rec seasons. Easily a HOFer in Paydirt, in 76 Gray also returned kicks for 827 yds including a 103 yarder for TD and a 32 yd avg per return.
Key atts? 84 speed/42 accel, 100 carry, 15 break!, 100 catch, route, bump, and 66 courage. He is rated 84 as a receiver and 70 as a RB. Makes a real good case for putting a WR at the RB1 spot, doesnt he?

Next up, WRs, was a tough season for WR1s.

Been prepping the end of year stuff and noticed that with all the poor QB play none of them made it into the all-time int list for the season. 29 was the most by a QB this season by Atlanta's Charlie Brown(heard he can't kick FG's either). The record is held by Sammie Carpenter with 33 when he was with Tampa Bay in 1972.

WRs ...

1. Houston's 4 yr WR Gerald Gray did not have the most receptions with 73, he more than made up for that as he had the most yards at 1842, a super impressive 25 yards per catch!! and an equally impressive 21 TDs. Far and away the most outstanding performance by a WR in the 2026 season. He is listed as the WR2 & TE3, would be interesting to know how his performance at the TE position compared to WR, Salty? Gray was a 3.1 pick, and has progressed + 39/+17 in his 4 seasons (what a boomer!!)

Salty's Houston team had 2 of the seven 1000 yd receivers! which is quite an accomplishment in the 4.5 game version. TE1/WR3 Wayne Adams racked up 87 catches for 1094 yds, 11.8 ypc, & 5 TDs.

2. The aforementioned RB/WR Billy Gray, Skins, with 118 receptions, 14 yard avg per catch is outstanding for a RB,

3. Miami's Paul Paul had the best statistical performance operating out of the WR1 spot, finishing 3rd in yardage at 1474, a very impressive 80% catch !!, 2nd most TDs - 13, and a 13 ypc. Miami also matched Houston, with two of the seven 1000 yd gainers. The other was 7 yr vet WR2 Louis Martinez with 1017 and 10 TDs (3rd most). Paul was a 1.6 pick and is Ai rated at 95, Martinez was 1.4 pick and is rated at 87. So both were selected top ten in their respective drafts and are "elite". Maybe that's what it takes to have a successful passing attack in 4.5!

4. Denver's Wesley Barnes, who set the league record for longest catch/TD at 100 yds, you cant beat that one, only tie it. 1094 yards with the 2nd best apc of 17.9 and 8 TDs. Barnes is the best amongst the sub 80 rated receivers, (76) and was a 1.26 pic 5 seasons ago. Of interest is his lower attribute ratings in pass catch/59 and route/69, and high ratings in courage/97, bump avoid/86. May have to adjust the WR weights based on his performance.

Additional outstanding performances were turned in by the Steeler's George Williams, Panther's Charles Rodriguez, Seahawk's Donald Hall, and the Skins Charles Woodson, they came close to joining Houston and Miami with 2 1000 yd receivers, Woodson had 900.

Out of all of these receivers, Barnes is the only one that is not "elite" rated (85+), but he was a first round pick (1.26).