Methodology
How Rankings Work
MaxPreps doesn't cover flag football. IFAF publishes team standings, not player scores. We built the ranking system the sport needs — transparent, community-weighted, and powered by the people who actually understand the game.
412+
Players Indexed
2
Verified Profiles
412
Currently Ranked
The Player Database
Every profile is sourced from one of three pipelines — no invented athletes, no padding:
Official Rosters
USA Football, IFAF, and national federation published rosters. Verified against primary sources.
Public Indexes
Reference profiles from databases like flagsonly.com — tagged with source, marked unclaimed until an athlete verifies.
Self-Submitted
Athletes submit their own profiles. Stats can then be verified by coaches or scouts.
The Poll System
Every user who completes the Evaluation Philosophy questionnaire contributes their opinion on what matters when ranking an athlete. Those votes are aggregated into dimension weights per constituency:
Coaches
Verified coaching accounts have the largest voice. They see athletes in training and competition every week.
Experts
Verified scouts and analysts — people with a professional eye for talent.
Hosts
Site admins (Ambra & Tika). Their opinion grounds the system but doesn't dominate it.
Blend fractions are admin-adjustable as the community grows. More verified coaches = more coaching weight.
Not every coach's vote weighs the same
Within the Coaches constituency, each verified coach's vote is weighted by their demonstrated credibility — so a battle-tested coach who knows the game moves the rankings more than a brand-new account. Credibility is built from:
- Coach IQ — the primary lever. A coach must clear a minimum Coach IQ score to earn any extra influence.
- Level — national, college, or high school.
- Win % — a winning record (over a minimum number of games).
- Experience — years coaching, with diminishing returns.
- Postseason — championships, title games, and playoff runs from approved career updates.
Influence scales from a standard 1.00× up to a capped 2.00×. A coach who hasn't taken the Coach IQ quiz votes at the standard weight — never penalized, just not boosted. You can see any coach's Coach IQ and voting influence on their profile.
The 10 Dimensions
Each player is scored 0–10 on ten dimensions derived from their verified stats and profile. The poll system determines how much each dimension matters — not us.
Level of competition — national, college, or high school (league-difficulty adjusted).
Verified TDs, yards, and completions — league-adjusted so a national-team QB isn't penalized for playing harder defenses.
40-yard dash, vertical jump, and measurable explosiveness. Falls back to competition-level proxy when not on file.
Completion percentage and decision-making proxies. The metric coaches actually care about.
Passing yards + receiving volume, capturing the full offensive skill set.
Tackles, sacks, and flag-pulls — rewarding athletes who affect both sides of the ball.
Championship-game stats only. Separates producers from big-game performers.
Verified profile + national team selection signals — things no stat line captures.
Stat richness and multi-dimensional profile — the jack-of-all-trades premium.
Years active and multi-season production — durability matters at every level.
The Verified Badge
A ✓ verified badgemeans a Talkin Flag team member has confirmed the athlete's identity and cross-checked their core stats against public sources (film, official box scores, coach confirmation).
100%
Verified
Full score weight — stats confirmed.
85%
Claimed
Profile claimed but stats not yet verified.
65%
Unclaimed
Public record — not yet confirmed by athlete.
Athletes can claim their profile via Submit Profile. Coaches and scouts can flag stats for review from any player page.
The Formula
blended_weight[dim] =
coaches(55%) × coach_weight[dim]
+ experts(30%) × expert_weight[dim]
+ hosts(15%) × host_weight[dim]
raw_score = Σ blended_weight[dim] × player_score[dim] / max_possible × 100
tf_score = raw_score × verification_factor
Rankings are recomputed once a week, on Sundays at 02:00 UTC, and any time an admin triggers a manual recompute. Snapshot history is retained in ranking_snapshots.