Gridiron Meanderings

The Fantasy Apps Review series marches on with its second installment, an app from a new kid on the fantasy football block: GOAheadScore.

For background on this review series, make sure to reference this introductory article.¹

Update 8/3: Version 1.2.2 release fixes round 1 bug and allows player notes editing from All Players screen. Revisited Appearance score and decided I was maybe a little too harsh: added 1 point.

Update 7/29: Updated app price and scoring of app price.

GOAheadScore FF Draft Advisor

Price: $2.99 (U.S.)
Developer: GOAheadScore
Version: 1.2.2
Type: iPhone Only

Appearance (2.5/5.0)

I’m going to be blunt: this is not a pretty app. In fact, it reminds me a lot of web site design circa 1995. The home screen uses large, clipart-like icons that standout in a bad way. The app uses a background featuring two football players overlaid in dark grey. Dark blue and red are the dominant secondary colors, but the app also uses a multitude of colors to provide the user with visual cues about player position. Also, fonts appear to be a bit too large at time, especially page headers, which results in a lot of truncation. The bottom navigation tab bar icons are all custom, non-Apple stock, but they look okay.

Usually when an iPhone app looks like this, bet good money it is a cross-platform app. In talking with the developer, this is precisely the case. GOAheadScore has been largely limited by the framework used to make the app Android compatible. It’s a strategic choice to be sure, but one with some significant consequences. iPhone app users are now used to quality looking apps like Tweetbot and 2Do, so looks matter.² The appearance issues this app runs into to be cross-platform are a big reason most developers start (and often remain) iPhone native.

The notable exception to the appearance woes is the app’s icon. It is a nice high-res icon that sports the developing site’s initials on a background that will be recognizable to most draftniks: a color-coded draft sheet. It’s probably one of the more creative icons in the fantasy football app genre. The app’s load screen is an enlarged version of the icon with the GOAheadScore.com site logo and also looks nice.

Navigation (3.5/5.0)

Generally speaking, the navigability of the app is okay. The home screen is generally clear about what each icon does: “Last Draft”, “New Draft”, “List Drafts”, “Link Account”, “Update Data”, and “All Players”. The bottom navigation bar is a bit repetitive, as it also has a “New Draft” button, a “List Drafts” button, and a “Home” button. When you enter a draft, the bottom navigation bar changes to: “Home”, “Draft”, “Next Pick”, “Rosters”, and “Options”. This does create some navigation issues, as the user is now presented with new options and the old options will not return until the app is completely shutdown and relaunched.

Sufficed to say, I think the home screen navigation can be vastly improved to not only take some sting out of the appearance woes but also avoid some redundancy and user confusion.³ Otherwise, navigation works well when you are in the drafting section of the app. It flows nicely, is intuitive, and gives you access to all the important features quickly. If the developer tightens up the home screen experience, the user experience will be significantly improved.

Features (6.0/5.0)

Your eyes are not deceiving you: I have rated the FF Draft Advisor a 6 out of 5 on features. This app has a ton of features, and for lack of a better word, is groundbreaking. Up until now, the only real draft apps on the market were of the cheat sheet variety like RotoWire Fantasy Football Draft Kit 2011. GOAheadScore has changed that, and in the process set the bar at a new level.

This app is a full-fledged draft manager. It provides users with player projections, expertly written 2011 player outlooks and 2010 reviews, and full player schedules. Sadly, it does not provide any past player stats, current ADP values, or access to current news articles. While these omissions are a drawback, past player stats and ADP are used to great effect in an unique feature exclusive to GOAheadScore.

The app’s advisory feature centers on the GOAheadScore Index: a number given to players on a 100 point scale that quantifies a player’s worth at a given point in a draft based in-part on your roster requirements/needs. The Index reflects a player’s “Upside” and “Risk” (Roster and Injury). Upside is an expertly calculated numeric value that reflects a player’s likelihood to outperform their GOAheadScore projections. Roster Risk is a calculated value reflecting a player’s likelihood to fall down in the team’s depth chart. Injury Risk is a calculated value reflecting a player’s likelihood to miss time due to injury. It’s a brilliant system that allows for easy player comparison and allows the app to actually give the user advice on who to pick and when.⁴

Some might wonder if they should take GOAheadScore at their word on player value. Lucky for you control freaks, the app allows you to upgrade and downgrade players using the avoid/prefer option for any given player. By selecting “Avoid” or “Prefer” for any given player, their GOAheadScore Index value is upgraded and downgraded accordingly. Thus, you can customize the draft advice given by the app to your liking. You can even type in your own player notes for every player in their profile. Honestly, you are in as much control of the app as you want to be, and it is totally awesome!

Like other apps, FF Draft Advisor relies on a database that is consistently updated. Unfortunately, users have to manually download updates from GOAheadScore. The app would greatly benefit from an auto-update system similar to RotoWire’s.

The FF Draft Advisor doesn’t stop with providing the user with advice on players to pick: it allows users to actually enter draft picks for leagues hosted on MyFantasyLeague.com (MFL).⁵ It even imports your league settings from MFL, syncs with your MFL draft, and it works flawlessly. The only fault of the MFL system is that it does not sync with preexisting MFL rosters. Instead, it fills team rosters and the player draft pool based on what has happened in the active draft; thus, it works imperfectly if your league is of any dynasty format. It would also be nice if league syncing were not limited to MFL (Yahoo, ESPN, CBS, etc.).

For those of you not using MFL, the app allows you to manually set-up and track any draft offline like other traditional drafting apps. But there’s also a third option: Quick Mock Drafting. The app actually has a built in AI that you can draft offline against. It uses the GOAheadScore Index as a guide, and it works surprisingly well. So you can literally practice drafting whenever and from wherever you like. It’s a one-of-a-kind feature.

Another nice feature is that users can email a CSV file of the draft results; however, you must have a user account at GOAheadScore.com to use this feature and you must link the app to the account. Linking your account also allows for easier customization of league settings via the web site. Unfortunately, linking the app with the site does not sync drafts between the two. This would be a great time-saver.

Really, despite any negatives listed here, there are so many features in this app that they are easily overlooked. So much that the app would benefit from a user guide.

Stability (5.0/5.0)

The app is quite stable and mature with no glaring bugs.

Cost (4.5/5.0)

This app is very reasonably price given all the features it has compared to its more expensive competitors. Unfortunately, app owners will have to pay for a whole new app next year.

Conclusion

What holds this app back from being a 99-yard touchdown pass is simply this: FF Draft Advisor feels like an Android app ported to the iPhone.⁶ The average fantasy football player with an iPhone looking to purchase this app will probably come to a similar conclusion looking at the screenshots and move on. The FF Draft Advisor has a ton of features packed into it and is well-engineered, but the user experience has been severely neglected. Quality user experience is a big, big, big reason why people have flocked to the iPhone in the first place: GOAheadScore is really handicapping itself by falling short here.

To use a football analogy, the FF Draft Advisor is the nose tackle of fantasy football apps: tons of power but little grace.

I find myself using this app because I know how powerful it is, but I do not find myself enjoying the experience. Given everything this app has, it should be sitting on every fantasy owner’s home screen from May to September, but instead it sits in a folder on screen 4 for when I “need” it. This app can do virtual offline mock drafts, a brilliant feature that works well, but I never think to really use the feature to do a quick mock because it’s not an enjoyable experience. It’s a real shame, because it could and should be fun.

If GOAheadScore takes the time and energy to really improve the user experience, now that the bones and muscle are there, this app could truly move from being a tough, nameless nose tackle to being a franchise pass rushing defensive end. If they pull that off, I’d easily pay double the current asking price.

Pros:
- Where do they get those wonderful toys?!!
- Syncs with and drafts on MFL.com
- Nice app icon
- Bargain price!
- Very stable
- GOAheadScore Index player drafting advice
- User customization of player rankings
- Virtual mock drafts against the AI
- Export draft results
- Full player schedules
- Expert player projections, outlooks, and reviews
- Database is consistently updated

Cons:
- The 90’s called: they want their icons and design ideas back!
- Home screen and tab bar navigation needs to be improved
- No player news items or past stats
- Limited to very basic player information in profiles
- ADP not explicitly given (factors into advice app gives though)
- MFL.com syncing not perfect (does not work well with dynasty leagues)
- Database does not auto-sync
- Syncing with GOAheadScore.com account could be more robust
- Only syncs with MFL.com (No CBS, ESPN, or Yahoo syncing)

Final Grade: B (86%)