One of the most difficult - and sometimes impossible - tasks for any fantasy owner during the offseason is figuring out what players have league-winning upside. Certainly, the Christian McCaffrey's and Saquon Barkley's of the world come immediately to mind, but we need some pretty good luck in a traditional snake draft to land either one of those players.

To answer this "league-winner" question better, I decided to break down what one looks like - physically and statistically - by taking a closer look at each player that reached a particular fantasy-point benchmark that could be considered great or elite over the last three seasons. By using the best of the best in each position group over a three-year period as the basis for what is great versus elite, we should be able to create realistic parameters for what it takes to be a true fantasy difference-maker.

The goal of this analysis is to give readers a general idea of what characteristics - be it physical or statistical - they need to keep in mind on draft day. There will invariably be repeat entries (as in certain players appearing two or three times on the list). It's also OK to view this series of articles as something of a correlational study, but it's more than that. My top priority is trying to establish what benchmarks fantasy owners need to shoot for at each position, especially considering the different styles of players that exist in the game.

At the bottom of the sortable table, there is another mini-table summarizing the group averages, minimums and maximums of each category, hits and hit rate. The "hits" are how many players at that position exceeded the average of the players in the first table, while the hit rate is the percentage of "hits" in that group (a "greater than x" situation). In rare circumstances such as quarterback age, I opted for a "less than X" approach. The text will be red in those atypical situations. My advice to maximize the value of the table below: sort each column and then read the analysis that accompanies that column header.

Because we are discussing an average of the best of the best over the last three seasons, the "hit rate" percentages will probably be lower than some would expect Thus, anything over about 60 percent is notable because it suggests the group is bottom-heavy. Likewise, anything below about 40 percent suggests the group is top-heavy. This "rule" will apply to all positions.

Wide Receivers

Fantasy point threshold - 200-plus fantasy points. A total of 63 wideouts reached this mark over the last three seasons.

Weight - Unless we are talking about special talents such as Antonio Brown and Hill, fantasy owners would be wise to target receivers in the 190-and-over weight range - 53 of 63 (84.1 percent) fall within that range. And while most receivers entering the league check that box, it makes sense: receivers need to be built to last just like any other skill position. After we eliminate Hill and Brown's three top-eight finishes, there isn't another sub-190 pound receiver with a top-30 finish above.

Games - There's no reason to belabor the point of a player needing to stay healthy and playing most of his team's games. Fifty-three of the 63 entries above (84.1 percent) played at least 15 games. A 14-game season is also doable, but it gets awful difficult if the number dips below that.

Targets - Lockett was able to make the list in 2018 despite recording only 70 targets largely because he scored 10 touchdowns. A.J. Brown got by on 84 targets because he averaged over 20 yards per catch on 52 receptions and visited the end zone eight times. Even Ridley needed 10 TDs on 92 targets just to sneak into the group of 63. The point: receivers need at least 100 targets just to have a chance to be on this list. We don't find our first top 10 entry until Hill's 137 targets in 2018. So, it's a pretty good bet owners need to see their receiver average at least nine targets if they have any hope of enjoying a truly special year.

Target share - If a receiver requires at least 130 targets to be truly special in a given year, it stands to reason he's going to command at least 20 percent of the target share since most teams don't end up attempting 650 passes (130/650 = 20%). That's exactly what we find here, as each of the top 30 entries above enjoyed a target share of at least 20 percent. Of course, 100 targets in an offense that attempts 500 throws isn't the same as 130 in the aforementioned offense even though both receivers are getting a 20 percent share, but 20 percent is a good baseline to keep in mind when trying to identify a receiver capable of being a league-winner type.

Receptions - A high catch total is unquestionable important in any league that awards a point for each reception, but it is notable the highest finish for any player with fewer than 86 catches over the last three seasons is 29th (Cooper last year). Conversely, the lowest finish by a receiver on this list with at least 94 catches is 26th. In fact, 22 of the top 26 fantasy performances by a receiver above (84.6 percent) are by wideouts in this latter range. One of the more obvious statements in this piece figures to be that a receiver with a high catch total is going to fare well in fantasy, but think about how many of these receivers were typically available in the third, fourth or fifth round of drafts in the year they managed at least 94 catches. Each of the 22 aforementioned wideouts had a target share of at least 22 percent. While many fantasy owners may not enter drafts expecting those third-, fourth- or fifth-round receivers to see that level of involvement, it is unusual that a receiver makes the jump from 10 to 22 percent from one year to the next without some unpredictable situation occurring.

Receiving yards - It's a bit surprising there are nine instances above in which a receiver didn't top 1,000 yards, although 33.3 percent of those were within 13 yards. Be that as it may, Antonio Brown's 1,297 receiving yards in 2018 is the lowest total from a top-10 performer above. A 1.000-yard campaign is a near must to be in the running for league-winning status, but it could be argued 1,100 is probably the number most fantasy owners should shoot for when setting expectations on a potential league-winning receiver - 22 of the top 23 (95.7 percent) fantasy-point totals above come from receivers that reached that benchmark.

Receiving TDs - Nine of the top 10 fantasy performances since 2017 have come from wideouts who scored at least nine times. As the table shows, however, 46 percent of the entries (29 of 63) scored six or fewer receiving TDs. It's a much better strategy to focus on the high-volume receivers and hope for some good TD luck as opposed to hoping for the 2018 version of Mike Williams (10 TDs on 43 catches), but there is definitely an upside to rolling the dice on a player like that and starting him every week so long as he is alongside two short-area and/or intermediate receivers (to be discussed in the aDOR section shortly).

Catch rate - This stat often depends on how often a quarterback delivers a catchable pass (the majority of them do so at a 75-percent-and-up clip) and the average depth of route (shorter - higher percentage, longer - lower percentage). Receivers are typically in the 60 percent range and generally need to be in that area to be elite fantasy producers. (For what it's worth, receivers above with an aDOR (average depth of reception) lower than 9.4 enjoyed a catch rate of 69.2 percent. Receivers above 13.7 aDOR were at 60.2 percent. The intermediate group had a catch rate of 64.5 percent.) In fact, only one receiver had a catch rate below 61 percent and finished in the top 25 above (Hopkins, 2017). Catch rate is yet another hard statistic to predict on a year-to-year basis, but that's why the safe play is typically relying on short-area and intermediate receivers.

aDOR (Average Depth of Reception) - It's common knowledge that deeper targets/catches are worth more in the overall scheme of things, but that comes with the trade-off of deeper targets usually resulting in slightly lower catch rates. Thomas got by with an 8.1 aDOR in 2019 because he was fed so many targets and caught 80.5 percent of them, but the bulk of top performances over the last three years are in the 9.4-13.7 range (39 of 63, or 61.9 percent). Short-area receivers (think Crowder and Edelman) are often low-risk, low-yield types that deliver consistency. Deep wideouts (think Diggs in 2019) are often high-risk, high-yield properties that are usually highly volatile. Intermediate receivers (think Hopkins) are the most likely to offer the best of both worlds, combining the relatively low risk of short-area receivers with the high yield of deeper receivers. While Evans and Hill both posted top-12 finishes with an aDOR higher than 13.7, it's telling that none of the other seven entries finished higher than 27th.

Approximate baselines for receivers to approach potential league-winner status:

Short-area receivers (aDOR of less than 9.9): 90 receptions, 1,050 total yards and six total TDs

Intermediate receivers (aDOR of 10 to 12.9): 80 receptions, 1,100 total yards and seven total TDs

Deep receivers (aDOR of 13 or higher): 70 receptions, 1,200 total yards, eight total TDs