Which NFL Pundit Has Made The Worst Picks Through Nine Weeks?

PunditTracker|published: Wed 6th November, 10:20 2013

Originally published on PunditTracker.

Given that our last rankings were posted after Week 7, let’s take a look at how the NFL experts fared with their game picks over the past two weeks.

The results are day and night. The pundits had a stellar Week 8, with a collective 80% hit rate and $1.14 Yield. Week 9, meanwhile, was a disaster—53 percent hit rate, $0.82 yield—with the pundits striking out on the Bengals/Dolphins (only 2 of 27 picked Miami), Saints/Jets (also 2/27), Eagles/Raiders (1/27), and Packers/Bears (1/27).

Here are the full rankings, sorted by season-to-date Yield. Recall that Hit Rate is the percent of picks that were correct, while Yield is the average payout had your bet $1 on each of the pundit’s picks at Moneyline odds.

Pundit	Record Wk 8	Yield Wk 8	Record Wk 9	Yield Wk 9	Record Season	Hit Rate Season	Yield Season
Pundit Average	80%	$1.14	53%	$0.82	64%	64%	$0.99
Keyshawn Johnson, ESPN	11-2	$1.33	8-5	$1.34	89-44	67%	$1.14
Ron Jaworski, ESPN	11-2	$1.16	7-6	$0.83	94-39	71%	$1.12
Jamey Eisenberg, CBS	11-2	$1.31	8-5	$0.96	90-43	68%	$1.06
Tom Jackson, ESPN	10-3	$1.07	8-5	$1.08	88-45	66%	$1.05
Mike Golic, ESPN	10-3	$1.14	6-7	$0.65	87-46	65%	$1.04
Mike Ditka, ESPN	11-2	$1.27	7-6	$0.83	86-47	65%	$1.04
K.C. Joyner, ESPN	10-3	$1.03	8-5	$1.02	87-46	65%	$1.03
Seth Wickersham, ESPN	10-3	$1.15	7-6	$0.84	85-48	64%	$1.01
Ryan Wilson, CBS	10-3	$1.02	6-7	$0.72	86-47	65%	$1.01
Mark Schlereth, ESPN	10-3	$1.02	5-8	$0.55	87-46	65%	$1.00
Merril Hoge, ESPN	10-3	$1.02	6-7	$0.68	85-48	64%	$0.99
John Breech, CBS	10-3	$1.02	7-6	$0.79	86-47	65%	$0.99
Frank Schwab, Yahoo	10-3	$1.02	8-5	$1.01	86-47	65%	$0.99
Vegas Favorites	11-2	$1.16	7-6	$0.79	89-44	67%	$0.99
Dave Richard, CBS	11-2	$1.16	7-6	$0.82	85-48	64%	$0.98
Jason La Canfora, CBS	11-2	$1.29	7-6	$0.79	83-50	62%	$0.98
Cris Carter, ESPN	10-3	$1.02	6-7	$0.65	86-47	65%	$0.98
Les Carpenter, Yahoo	11-2	$1.26	6-7	$0.68	83-50	62%	$0.97
Chris Mortensen, ESPN	12-1	$1.33	7-6	$0.85	83-50	62%	$0.96
Will Brinson, CBS	10-3	$1.03	5-8	$0.56	82-51	62%	$0.94
Josh Katzowitz, CBS	9-4	$0.91	8-5	$0.96	81-52	61%	$0.91
Pete Prisco, CBS	10-3	$1.02	6-7	$0.70	80-53	60%	$0.91
Eric Allen, ESPN	11-2	$1.33	7-6	$0.79	79-54	59%	$0.90
Adam Schefter, ESPN	11-2	$1.19	7-6	$0.83	78-55	59%	$0.86

Keyshawn Johnson suffered an early exit on Dancing With The Stars, but perhaps it had a positive impact on his game picking. Johnson surged to the No. 1 ranking based on Yield, with a $1.33 performance in Week 8 and a peer-drubbing $1.34 in Week 9. This strong showing was largely due to a trio of upset picks. Johnson was one of two pundits to pick the Bears to beat the Packers (Week 9; with Ditka, of course), one of the two to pick the Jets over the Saints (Week 9; Tom Jackson was the other), and one of a handful to pick the Giants over the Eagles (Week 8). Having been edged from the top spot, Ron Jaworski remains a close No. 2: to his credit, Jaws was the only one to pick the Eagles over the Raiders (Week 9).

We will update these rankings weekly for the rest of the season.

In the meantime, can you pick games better than these so-called experts? Join our Fantasy Pundit League now: start by making picks on all of this week’s football games using the ‘Vote Now’ buttons. Who knows… maybe you can become the next Nate Silver of Sports!

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