Sometimes strength of schedule can be deceptive in Fantasy Football. Two different teams can have rest-of-season strength of schedules that are comparable on average, but the distribution of the competition each team faces on a week-by-week basis isn’t necessarily equal.

Why is this important? Lets look at a couple of examples. Two teams face opponents the rest of the season that, on average, have allowed 16 points-per-game to quarterbacks, and you need to decide which quarterback (we will assume that both are equal in true talent) to roster from those teams. However, what if one quarterback faces all of his difficult opponents early in the season, while the other quarterback faces all of their difficult opponents in the second half of the season? Depending on when other players on your team have their bye weeks, this could be important.

What if one quarterback faces a particularly easy schedule in weeks 15 and 16, when most people are in their Fantasy playoffs, while the other has a tough matchup? All else being equal, you would most likely want the quarterback with the easier matchup in week 15 and 16. Players may have schedules that are equivalent to each other’s in competition, but it matters when each player plays their difficult or modest matchups.

To account for this, I’ve made the strength of schedule comparison tool below. The tool allows Fantasy Football owners to compare the rest-of-season strength of schedule for players at wide receiver, tight end, running back, and quarterback.

Because we are only one week into the season, I’ve elected use the Fantasy points allowed by each team from 2014 as the data set; after Week 4, I might go back and update the data to use the points allowed from the first four weeks of the 2015 season.

Strength Of Schedule Comparison Tool

[iframe src=”648″ height=”490″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” src=”https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=EB8674ECAD738B05&resid=EB8674ECAD738B05%21303&authkey=AFMMZz_0I-DVcIQ&em=2&AllowTyping=True&Item=’Sheet7′!A2%3AF24&wdHideGridlines=True”] To use the tool, follow these steps:

Click underneath the cell that says “Team 1”, or on the cell that says “St. Louis Rams.” Click the drop down arrow, and then select the team whose rest-of-season strength of schedule you would like to have plotted on the graph. Click underneath the cell that says “(Pos) 1”, or on the cell that says “QB.” Click the drop down arrow, then select the position (for the team that you’ve already selected) whose rest-of-season strength of schedule you would like to have plotted on the graph. Repeat steps 1 through 4 to pick a comparison team/player.

Note: gaps in the chart indicate a team’s bye week. Data for this article was taken from FantasyPros.com and TeamRankings.com