Week 13 Power Rankings
There are so many things in life that are not fair.
The way younger siblings always have it easier. Getting paid 79 cents on the dollar for what a man makes. The bottom half of an everything bagel. Supreme Court appointees. Male pattern baldness. Having 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. Okay, I’m pretty sure Alanis Morissette taught us that last one is technically ironic, but you get the idea. Life is completely, utterly, fantastically unfair.
And yet, there’s fairness and and there’s what happened to Josh this season, which deserves a whole ’nother word to describe it. It wasn’t just unfair. It was foul, unsportsmanlike, downright loathsome, a veritable crime against humanity.
That’s because for the first time in our 10-year history, the team that finished #1 in the final Power Rankings (see below) with not only the best TW% but also the most total points scored will not make the playoffs.
Despite another banner day with 140.66 points, his fifth time this season scoring the most or second-most points in a given week, Josh was eliminated from the playoffs. That’s because Greco—the top points scorer this week—defeated Gray, improving her record to 7-6 and clinching the final playoff spot.
And it could not have happened in a more dramatic fashion. After securing his own victory thanks in part to cover boy Darren Waller’s 45 points, Josh simply needed Gray to close the door on Greco. And to his credit, Gray came with the points. Unfortunately, so did Greco who was playing without two studs in Josh Jacobs and Kenny Golladay but got season-highs from David Montgomery (27.1 points) and Marvin Jones (25.6) not to mention a crucial 20.5 points from trade acquisition Brandon Aiyuk on Monday night. The result was that Gray needed at least 20.22 points from third overall pick, Ezekiel Elliott on Tuesday night. With the game winding down and Gray (and consequently Josh) within striking distance, Zeke was then stopped on three consecutive plays at the goal line. He never entered the game again. The final result will show that Josh came up 6.72 points short. Gutting.
Make no mistake, this was a team deserving of the playoffs that just had some terribly awful luck. Here are a few nuggets I found in my spreadsheet:
Easily the best team by TW% (.650) to ever miss four- or six-team playoff.
Yes, it’s PPR but most points scored in the history of the league 132.3 ppg.
10 instances in which a player scored 30+ points. Only Jess had more.
3 instances in which a player scored 40+ points. No one had more.
Lost 3 games when scoring above 117.5 points (league average). Only Nick had more.
Lost 2 games when finishing in top half of the league in scoring. Only Geoff had more.
Lost all but 1 game in which he didn’t win the weekly prize or finish second.
Based on TW%, should have won 8.5 games. Instead, he won 6.
The difference between his W% and TW% was -.189, third-unluckiest all time.
More of a visual learner?
Josh’s 2020 was the third-unluckiest season in the history of the league.
Here we can see a visual representation of Josh’s season in context with every season in league history. As noted above, Josh’s season is the third-unluckiest ever, trailing only Alex from 2014 and Nick from 2011. Those teams were both .500-level squads with losing records whose dots are the only ones that have strayed farther from the dotted line than Josh’s has this year. And this one’s no doubt more brutal because, unlike those other two, Josh’s team was playoff caliber. Note that Josh has the best TW% of any team to finish with a losing record.
All that being said, I do want to put Josh’s season into a little more historical context. Yes, it’s unprecedented that he missed the playoffs. And yes, he’s been the best team in the league this season. But at the same time, it’s not a historically great team. It’s not even Josh’s best team. In fact, his teams from the last two years were actually both better by TW%.
Compared to the greats of years past, Josh’s team this year ranks 15th all time by TW% and is actually the worst (or perhaps “least good”) #1 team in the final Power Rankings we’ve ever had. Previously, that honor belonged to Brandon from 2017 who finished with a TW% of .654. And while Josh did blow the scoring record out of the water this season, that was largely due to the scoring change. By pre-PPR standards, Josh averaged “just” 101.1 ppg, which is still good enough for eighth-best all time.
So what was Josh’s downfall? Injuries didn’t help. Losing Nick Chubb during a crucial stretch midway through the season when he went 1-4 was especially damaging. (In games with Chubb, Josh was 5-3.) Maybe he could have flipped Tyler Higbee or Cam Newton earlier in the season when their values were higher. A critical Week 12 4-point loss to Alex in which he benched third-round draft pick Amari Cooper (23.2 points) in favor of waiver wire acquisition Curtis Samuel (12.7 points) was, in retrospect, the final nail in the coffin.
But the point is Josh shouldn’t have had to do any of these things. He was good enough to make the playoffs as is. Want more proof? I went back and looked at how Josh’s team would have performed if he simply swapped schedules with every other team owner in the league. Here’s how his record would have looked.
Josh vs. Beth Ann’s schedule: 10-3
Josh vs. Brandon’s schedule: 9-4
Josh vs. Erik’s schedule: 9-4
Josh vs. Geoff’s schedule: 9-4
Josh vs. Gray’s schedule: 9-4
Josh vs. Nick’s schedule: 9-4
Josh vs. Samantha’s schedule: 9-4
Josh vs. Jess’ schedule: 8-5
Josh vs. Whitney’s schedule: 8-5
Josh vs. Greco’s schedule: 7-6
Josh vs. Alex’s schedule: 6-7
It’s like the perfect storm. He would have made the playoffs with every single other team owner’s schedule with the sole exception of Alex’s. I mean…. come on! That’s bad luck.
And if we did the inverse and gave every other team owner Josh’s schedule, almost all of them would have seen a decrease in wins, most dramatically for Beth Ann who would have dropped from 10 wins to 7. Only Nick (+ 1 win), Geoff (+1 win) and Alex (+2 wins) would have benefitted and only Alex by enough to change his playoff fate.
This was a team that could have done serious damage in the playoffs. I mean, he was stacked at basically every position. Despite a disastrous Week 13, Justin Herbert was still QB8 on the season. He was leading the league in RB scoring with 44.4 ppg behind Antonio Gibson (RB12), Nick Chubb (RB8 in points per game) and Alvin Kamara (RB1), who was somehow his least reliable RB entering the playoffs. (Now that’s saying something.) Two top-13, though fickle, WRs in Tyler Lockett and Amari Cooper, who helped Josh finish second in receptions. Darren Waller (TE2), who just led the league in scoring in Week 13. And just for good measure, a kicker (Tyler Bass) who’s hit double-digits in five of the last six weeks.
You wanna know why I benched three of my starters Sunday night? Josh is why. Once I knew Beth Ann had put the bye out of reach, I wasn’t going to risk a possible Gray comeback that would have sent Josh to the playoffs and locked me into the 3 vs. 6 matchup against him. Uh-uh. No thank you.
But alas, that’s not the way the cookie crumbled. Because fate is one tough cookie. And Josh’s season crumbled instead. What can I say? Fantasy football is not fair. Life is not fair. It’s the short straw. It’s rain on your wedding day. It’s Zeke plowing headlong into the Ravens defensive line over and over and over again only to come up short time after time after time when it makes no sense that he should.
The Scoreboard
Greco won her second weekly prize in the last four weeks, defeating Gray 142.8-136.08.
What a crazy Week 13?! I don’t need to recap it all in great detail because we all lived it. But just for posterity sake, I’ll hit the highlights.
Needing a win to cement her place in the playoffs, Greco overcame Gray’s 136.08 points, third-most this week, by scoring 142.8 points herself, the most of any team in Week 13. That shut the door on Josh and Alex who both won their games to get to 6-7, not to mention Samantha and Whitney who were also in contention entering the day.
This is Greco’s second weekly prize this year. As for the prizes themselves, six team owners won at least one weekly prize this season, just like last year. Here’s the final tally in case you need to send a Venmo request Alex’s way:
Josh: 3 (Weeks 2, 3, 7)
Geoff: 3 (Weeks 4, 5, 8)
Beth Ann: 2 (Weeks 1, 6)
Jess: 2 (Weeks 11, 12)
Greco: 2 (Week 10, 13)
Alex: 1 (Week 9)
This is the second (and I guess, technically third) time in league history the team that led the league in scoring the most weeks in a season did not make the playoffs as Josh and Geoff join Nick from 2012. We talked about that parallel a bit in the Week 8 Power Rankings. But take heart, guys. You’ll still bring home more money than half the team owners in the playoffs.
As for the division leads, Beth Ann nabbed the top overall seed by defeating Samantha. And Jess’s convincing win over Erik notched her just enough points to steal the division from Gray by the slimmest of margins, just 3.94 points. It was part of a wild comeback to end the season that saw Jess win five of her last six games and set a single-game record for points while Gray lost three of his last four.
Just two weeks ago, I wrote this about Gray’s chances of winning the division:
With a two-game lead on Jess with two games to go, Gray is a virtual lock. The only way he doesn’t get the division is if (1) he loses out, (2) Jess wins out, AND (3) she catches up to him in points. Currently, he leads her by 80.52 points, which means she’d need to outscore Gray by 40.26 ppg. Not likely.
Well, that’s exactly what she did. So what do I know?
Power Rankings
Josh finishes the regular season on top of the Power Rankings for the second season in a row.
With the second-most points in Week 13, Josh padded his lead in the Power Rankings, finishing in first place where he spent six out of 13 weeks this season. That’s tied for the most this season with Beth Ann who also spent six weeks at #1. The only other team owner to top the list was Brandon who led the rankings in Week 11.
Josh finishes with a true record of 93-50 and an accompanying .650 TW%, which as we noted earlier is the 15th-best team of all time. Notably, this is his second straight year to finish #1 in the Power Rankings, and he becomes just the third team owner to do it multiple times joining Alex (2012, 2018) and Gray (2011, 2015, 2016).
As for the other teams, Beth Ann, Jess and Gray all moved up following Brandon’s tumble down into fifth place—the consequence of his decision to throw his Week 13 game for seeding purposes. If Brandon had not pulled Lamar Jackson, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Stefon Diggs, he would have finished with 125.78 points and still lost to Alex. But his TW% would have improved to .622, which would have been good enough for a second-place finish with 1,633.74 total points scored (third-most). To be certain, you don’t get to have your cake and eat it too. I only bring this up to point out that it’s a tightly bunched group from 2-5 if less than 45 points in Week 13 separates the four.
Speaking of unlucky teams, how unlucky is Geoff? We spent a whole post talking about bad luck and he gets completely overshadowed by Josh. But make no mistake. Geoff’s team was unlucky too. For the second straight year, he finishes in the top half of the final Power Rankings but misses the playoffs. He registers as the eighth-unluckiest team in league history and based on his TW% should have finished 7-6. And that despite a litany of injuries he faced this season. Hang in there, Geoff. Good seasons are ahead with this kind of performance.
The bottom half of the rankings concludes with Alex, Erik, Greco, Samantha, Whitney and Nick. Notably that includes two playoff teams this year in Erik and Greco, which is the first time since 2012 that multiple teams from the bottom half of the final Power Rankings have snuck into the playoffs. Ironically, one of those interlopers from 2012 was also Erik.
As for the non-playoff teams, Alex had his worst season in four years, breaking a streak of back-to-back playoff appearances. At least this year he can’t be knocked out in the first round by Samantha. (Though technically one could argue his Week 5 loss to Samantha was the loss that kept him out of the playoffs. Kidding.) Speaking of Samantha, this is the first year (out of three) that she’s failed to make the playoffs. After rebounding from an 0-2 start to get to 4-3 and second in the Power Rankings, she faded down the stretch averaging just 95.9 ppg after she lost both Joe Mixon and David Johnson to injury. Meanwhile, Whitney had an up-and-down season in her first year in the league as she was the only team owner with one of the 6th-highest scores and one of the 6th-lowest scores this season. Obviously, losing Saquon Barkley did not help. I say the jury’s still out on Whitney. Perhaps she’ll bounce back the way Beth Ann did this year after a lackluster debut season.
And finally, last but also least… Nick.
Gunning for the title of the Worst’s worst, Nick did not disappoint, putting up a paltry 46.72 points (37 pre-PPR), the second-lowest total by any team this season. As a result, Nick’s 2020 team has now officially reclaimed its throne from Geoff’s 2018 squad as the worst team of all time. With a true record of 29-114, Nick finishes with the worst TW% (.203) in league history. Not only that, but he’s also the first team owner to go 1-12 in a season with his only win coming against Geoff in Week 7. Obviously, he’ll look to turn the page on this very forgettable season and year.
Playoff Picture
The playoffs are set!
Just like last year, I hope to have a special playoff preview, including a full simulation of the playoffs, complete with odds for each team owner of bringing home a championship.
So for now, I’ll just say congrats to Beth Ann (1st playoff appearance), Jess (5th), Gray (7th) Brandon (6th), Erik (3rd) and Greco (6th). This year’s playoffs includes some familiar faces including Gray, Jess and Brandon who are all riding playoff streaks of multiple years. It also features four former champions, representing seven of the league’s nine championships, plus two challengers hoping to get their first in Beth Ann and Erik. Plus, as Gray noted, this is the first time both of the top two seeds are women.
This week, #4 Brandon will take on #5 Erik while #3 Gray will play an immediate rematch of last week’s game against #6 Greco. Meanwhile, Beth Ann and Jess get to rest up for Week 15.
2020 Regular Season Recap
Okay, that’s it for the Week 13 news and notes. So before we turn our attention fully to the playoffs, here’s one more look back at the fantasy season that was 2020…
In a year in which every facet of life was upended by a global pandemic, fantasy football was no different. The story of the season, like everything else, was COVID-19. As much as we remember any particular season of fantasy football, we’ll remember this one as the one where we checked Twitter every morning for the latest list of players to test positive in order to determine whether or not games would actually be played.
Fantasy-relevant players like Lamar Jackson, Cam Newton, Ezekiel Elliott, James Conner, Kenny Golladay, Corey Davis, Mark Andrews and T.J. Hockenson all tested positive for the virus. Many more missed time just for being exposed to others who had. There were large outbreaks on both the Titans and Ravens rosters, which caused games to be rescheduled. And in one of the strangest stories of the season, the Broncos were forced to start a WR off their practice squad after every QB on their roster was forced to quarantine for failing to follow mask protocols.
All that being said, the season went off mostly without a hitch… at least so far. (Knocks on wood.) Sure, a few games were rescheduled. But none were cancelled. And more players were lost to the kind of injuries that could have happened any year (think: Saquon Barkley) than to COVID-19. The rules that we devised before the season proved to be effective, especially the two IR slots and the backup player provision that allowed team owners to identify backups to starters whose games were in danger of cancellation, though they never were. And though we had a contingency plan for declaring a champion in the event of a cancelled season, we never came close to having to implement it.
As for the games, themselves, it was our highest-scoring season yet as teams totaled 18,337.72 points, eclipsing the record of 14,290 set two years ago. That’s a jump from 91.6 ppg to 117.5 ppg. The culprit? PPR and decimal scoring, which added 23.8 ppg and 4.2 ppg, respectively.
That led to a shift in the way team’s set their lineups with 72% featuring a WR in the flex compared to just 58% in years past. And for good reason. WRs averaged an additional 5.5 ppg compared to an increase of just 3.9 ppg for RBs. The result was that WRs closed the gap between the two positions.
Remember the Rosetta Stone we created in Week 1 to compare pre-PPR scoring to this year’s new format? Here it is now updated with a season’s worth of data.
With our new scoring settings, scoring for WRs predictably saw the biggest increase (+5.5 ppg).
Given the rise of the WR, perhaps it’s no surprise that several WR-led teams ascended. Case in point, five of the league’s top six teams in WR scoring made the playoffs compared to just two of the top six in RB scoring. It seems JT really left the league a year too early.
As for the teams, themselves, it was a highly competitive year with parity throughout the league. All but two teams remained in contention for a playoff spot into the final week. And 10 of the league’s 12 teams finished with a TW% between .450 and .650—easily the most ever.
Though Gray coming off a championship strung together an impressive six-game win streak in the middle part of the season, it was Beth Ann and Josh, the owners of Dalvin Cook (RB2) and Alvin Kamara (RB1), who were the real cream of the crop, routinely leading the Power Rankings in 12 out of 13 weeks. But while Beth Ann would finish with the best record and claim the 1 seed in just her second season in the league, Josh would not be as lucky, becoming the first team owner to lead the league in points and finish at #1 in the final Power Rankings but miss the playoffs.
But he wasn’t the only one with bad luck in 2020. The injury bug dealt serious blows to the fantasy hopes of several team owners, most notably the teams with the first two picks in the draft—Nick (Christian McCaffrey) and league newcomer Whitney (Saquon Barkley). Other big-time players taken in the first six rounds who missed serious time included Dak Prescott, Joe Mixon, Austin Ekeler, Nick Chubb, Chris Carson, Raheem Mostert, Michael Thomas, Chris Godwin, Kenny Golladay, Odell Beckham, Courtland Sutton, George Kittle and Zach Ertz. It’s no surprise that every single team owner that missed the playoffs was affected in some way, including Nick who set the record for futility be becoming the Worst’s worst team of all time.
With three weeks to go in the fantasy playoffs, the field has narrowed, but it’s still anyone’s game. Will Gray repeat as champion? Could Beth Ann or Erik join the Hall of Champions? Or will the season be cancelled entirely before the final game is even played? In 2020, anything is possible.
Alright, let’s hand out the awards.
Best Draft Pick
Justin Jefferson, Jess
Good value was actually pretty hard to come by in this year draft. Unlike the previous two years, there was no late-round QB turned MVP like Lamar Jackson in 2019 or Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Props to Alex though who did draft Josh Allen in the sixth round as the seventh QB taken who finished as QB3. The legend of the QB whisperer continues.
But in terms of top-10 guys at the key positions of RB or WR, there’s one player that clearly stands above the rest—Vikings rookie WR Justin Jefferson. Taken with the last pick in the 11th round (132nd overall), Jefferson finished the fantasy regular season as WR7. As far as I can tell, he’s the only top-10 guy at those two positions that I could find in the entire back half of the draft. And he’s a big part of why Jess (aka the Power Glove) was able to surge into first place in her division. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams, but Justin Jefferson has been no less crucial to her success.
Honorable mentions go to the man Jefferson was replacing in Minnesota, Stefon Diggs (7th round, WR5), Darren Waller (7th round, TE2) and Antonio Gibson (5th round, RB6).
Worst Draft Pick
Saquon Barkley, Whitney
Doesn’t get any rougher than losing the second overall pick for the season in Week 2. Back in September, we ranked the worst injuries in Worst League history. If I was redoing that list now, Barkley’s injury would surely rank near the top. I’m sure it wasn’t the debut season she wanted, but Whitney deserves credit for gutting it out and keeping her team in the hunt even into the final game of the season.
Worst Draft Pick Not Named Saquon Barkley
Lamar Jackson, Brandon
Ironically, Lamar Jackson was last year’s winner for best draft pick. (Be warned, Justin Jefferson.) So after an MVP season, Jackson skyrocketed up draft boards. His ADP was 18.0 the day we drafted back in early September, meaning he was being selected midway through the second round of 12-team drafts. Not one to typically draft a QB early, I bit the bullet and pounced on him when he fell 11 spots (almost a full round) to me in the third. Turns out I should have let him fall even further.
In his third season, Jackson has clearly regressed, especially as a thrower, perhaps as defenses have made adjustments. The result is that Jackson is now QB10 on the season, which barely registers as a starter in 12-team leagues. Definitely not what you’re looking for from a QB taken in the third round and the second QB off the board. As a result, Brandon finished 11th in QB scoring, ahead of only Nick who drafted Matt Ryan. When you consider that Adam Thielen (WR9) and Allen Robinson (WR11) were taken in the picks almost immediately after Jackson, not to mention Kyler Murray (QB2) in the next round, you definitely have to consider this pick a bust.
Best Free Agent Acquisition
James Robinson, Alex
Though the late-round flyers didn’t hit as well as they have in previous years, there were plenty of excellent candidates for this award, which is surprising considering how savvy this league has become. That just goes to show you how important it is to continue to improve your team even after draft day.
Players that went undrafted but were plucked off of waivers included Mike Davis (RB10), Myles Gaskin (RB16 in ppg), Justin Herbert (QB8) and Chase Claypool (WR20). And though he faded down the stretch, Travis Fulgham was brilliant over a five-week period.
But the clear winner of this award is James Robinson. I believe Alex grabbed him almost immediately after the draft when it was announced that he would start for the Jaguars, but nobody—not even Alex—expected this. In a year with so many injuries to the position, the undrafted (in real life) rookie was RB4, trailing only Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook and Derrick Henry. With a double-digit score every single week this season, he’s the main reason Alex was able to stay in the hunt as long as he did despite his team’s many injuries.
Worst Drop
Brandon Aiyuk, Gray
Some good ones here as well. Honestly, I totally forgot some of these guys were dropped until I dug back through the list of acquisitions and was like, “someone dropped that guy?!” Okay, there’s nobody totally egregious. But there are plenty of names that would have been helpful during the home stretch of the regular season or for the playoffs.
There were were quite a few flex-worthy WRs. Alex dropped Corey Davis (WR26). Nick dropped Tee Higgins (WR28). Brandon and Geoff dropped Marvin Jones (WR30). Samantha dropped Curtis Samuel (WR32). At RB, Jess dropped J.D. McKissic (RB24) and Brandon and Gray both dropped Damien Harris (RB43) at different times. Personally, my biggest regret was momentarily dropping Younghoe Koo (K1) for Jason Sanders. Koo immediately punished my disloyalty by scoring 20 points right after I dropped him. I’ll admit I was more terrified than with any other player that he’d be gone before I could scoop him back up on waivers. Love that guy.
But the worst drop goes not necessarily to the most productive player but for the saga that unfolded as a result. Gray dropped Brandon Aiyuk after he scored just 7.4 points against the Dolphins in Week 5. He was then scooped up by his namesake Brandon after a big game against the Patriots in Week 7 and eventually traded to Greco in Week 10 in a package for Jamaal Williams. With Kenny Golladay out with an injury in a must-win Week 13 game, Aiyuk was then inserted into the lineup against his former team owner, Gray. Of course, it was Aiyuk who delivered the decisive blow, scoring 20.5 points on Monday night, securing a playoff spot for Greco and ultimately costing Gray his first-round bye. Apparently, hell hath no fury like a 49er scorned.
Best Trade
Acquiring Raheem Mostert for DJ Chark, Gray
There were six trades this season, one more than a season ago and right in line with the historical average of 6.4 trades per season. Most active, by far, was yours truly as I was involved, and in fact initiated, four of the six deals. But in total, eight team owners made trades this season with only Alex, Erik, Josh and Nick abstaining. Notably, 63% of the teams that made deals made the playoffs compared to just 25% for those that did not.
As for the best deal, I could easily have given it to Greco for the aforementioned Brandon Aiyuk deal. Also, Brandon acquiring T.J. Hockenson (TE3) for Salvon Ahmed has been useful. But I’m giving the award to Gray for his Week 10 acquisition of Raheem Mostert. He hasn’t been fantastic since his return from injury with just 15.6 total points over the last two weeks, but there’s still the potential that Mostert could be a league winner for Gray in the playoffs, especially considering Zeke and James Conner have both struggled down the stretch, not to mention Myles Gaskin who recently tested positive for COVID-19. In fact, Gray ranks ninth in RB scoring and has seen a decrease of 4.2 ppg since Dak Prescott’s injury. He needs Mostert to pay off. So it was a nice calculated risk to trade away DJ Chark, who has not hit double figures since being dealt, for a then-recovering, now-healthy Mostert.
Luckiest Team Owner
Beth Ann
This one is simple math. Beth Ann’s win percentage is +.168 points higher than her TW%. She had a really good team. It’s just not 10-3 good. In fact, it’s more like 8-5 good. Other lucky team owners this season include Jess (+.105), Gray (+.105), Greco (+.077), Erik (+.049), Brandon (+.035) and Whitney (+.028).
Unluckiest Team Owner
Josh
We already touched on this in great detail up top. The difference between Josh’s W% and his TW% was -.189, third-worst all time. Other unlucky team owners this season included Geoff (-.154), Nick (-.126), Samantha (-.070) and Alex (-.028)
Mr. Glass Award
Alex
It’s no surprise that some of the more successful teams have been some of the healthier teams. Gray’s team has emerged relatively unscathed with the worst being Joe Burrow’s season-ending injury impacting Tyler Boyd. Same for Beth Ann who has had players miss a game here or there. Jess was without Davante Adams for the early part of the season while Brandon weathered injuries to second- and fourth-round picks Aaron Jones and A.J. Brown. Erik has dealt with lingering injuries to second and fourth-round picks Chris Godwin and Zach Ertz, but both are healthy now. His worst luck was no doubt losing Dak Prescott. Of the playoff teams, the most impacted has probably been Greco who lost fourth-round pick Courtland Sutton and has dealt with lingering injuries to first- and third-round picks Julio Jones and Kenny Golladay all season. But for the most part, these teams have been relatively healthy.
Not so much for the rest of the league. Nick’s Hurt Locker Room lost first- and third-round picks Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle. Whitney lost first-round pick Saquon Barkley for the year and second-round pick Chris Carson for several weeks. Samantha lost first- and third-round picks Joe Mixon and David Johnson for long stretches plus Preston Williams. And Geoff’s aptly-named Replacements lost third-round pick Odell Beckham while playing without first- and sixth-round picks Miles Sanders and Raheem Mostert for weeks on end, not to mention promising rookie CeeDee Lamb who fell off the map after Prescott’s injury. Any of them would be deserving of this award.
But I’m going to give it to Alex who lost his first- and second-round picks Michael Thomas and Austin Ekeler for the majority of the season. By the time they returned to health, it was too late. There were also injuries to eighth- and 10th-rounders Deebo Samuel and Marlon Mack. And then just for good measure, Will Fuller—who has always dealt with injuries—was ironically healthy but then got suspended for the rest of the season for PEDs. Like Geoff, he still managed to finish with a TW% right around .500 and makes me wonder what could have been if only his team had been healthier.
Weirdest Stat Likely Never to Be Duplicated
1 win, Nick
Nick set the record for worst team in league history. Not only was his TW% abysmal, but he won just one game—the first time a team has failed to get at least two. And while his team was awful, there were several opportunities for him to get that second win. That includes two losses with 130+ points to Alex and Samantha and another two above average losses, both to Beth Ann. The truth is even if you’re awful, it’s hard not to stumble into at least a couple wins. Thankfully, I don’t expect us to see another 1-win team for awhile.
“What Had Happened Was…” Award
Errybody
This has been one of my favorite things from the last couple years where I pull out my favorite quotes from the group chat, including hollow boasts and predictions sure to go wrong. Enjoy!
Whitney: I need more time for team name, please excuse my TBD name 😬
Still waiting.
Josh: Is Greco still in the league?
Gray: Uhhh @Alex Greco what you doing!?
Unfortunately for you both, yes.
Jess: My defense got -9 but also to the packers so fuck it.
Finished season with 2.9 ppg from D/ST, second-worst all time.
Brandon: Shoulda started Diggs over Campbell. Got caught up in the hype.
In retrospect, a really dumb move. Like if you’re reading this, you probably don’t even know who Campbell is. It was Parris Campbell, FYI.
Brandon: Josh, remind me never to bench DK again.
I benched DK Metcalf? What was wrong with me and WRs?
Nick: Every single RB I drafted is either IR, Out, or Doubtful. Why even continue at this point
This explains so much.
Erik: Damn justin jefferson where you come from
LSU, I think.
Jess: I’ve never drafted in the 12th spot (in any league I don’t think) and after a year in which RBs screwed me ive always made sure to be strong there. After everyone took the top RBs, I felt like....let’s take strong WRs so I’m not mediocre across the board.
Turns out this was a good plan.
Gray: Kamara is the top player ROS. Amazing stuff here
Said this after Week 3. Finished regular season RB1, trailing only Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers. Checks out.
Josh: Kamara + PPR = 🔥
Also Josh: Now reviewing offers for Alvin Kamara. Looking for a top WR in return.
Well, that’s rude.
Josh: Nobody wants Kamara?
Is there no such thing as loyalty anymore?
Brandon: Starting to think I should have drafted Calvin Ridley over Lamar Jackson in the third round.
You think?
Brandon: Vikings and Titans closed down due to COVID-19. Three Titans apparently tested positive.
Josh: Oh no
Alex: Seeeeya!
Erik: Oh shitttttt
It’s only just begun…
Brandon: Alex, I don't have the Broncos game available. Is Fant out there? Or is just nothing happening on offense with Lock out?
Alex: Nothing is happening
Lol, just wait until Week 12.
Gray: Setting up for a nice (regular) season for Josh again
After Josh’s hot 2-1 start, would go 4-6 down the stretch.
Josh: Geoff’s team crushes another week. Looking good.
From one jinx to another.
Josh: Didn’t the computer like Nick’s draft best overall? What happened?
Nick: Every. Single. One. Of my RBs broke their bodies. Can’t say I’ve done a lot to help my team since then though.
No lies told here.
Gray: It’s Week 6 and I’m still undecided on whether my team is good or not
Finished the regular season 1-3. I’d say the jury is still out.
Josh: My 4-0 close to sneak into the playoffs starts now
Very close. Finished 3-1 and just missed.
Gray: Taysom Hill, a quarterback, is eligible to play tight end this weekend. Tight end. The worst and most inconsistent position in fantasy football . Even kickers this year have been more reliable. If I didn’t have the one tight end worth anything, I wouldn’t even consider trading Hill. But what kind of manager would I be if I didn’t attempt to benefit my team by trying to trade Hill. Sure, go ahead and ignore my introduction... but please do not ignore this.
At 3pm CST tomorrow, I will be offering Samantha Taysom Hill for JK Dobbins. That is unless I get a better offer.
You sit on a throne of lies!
Josh: This will be a wild finish
If only he knew.
Gray: @Josh I’ll do my best but it’s gonna be close man
Josh: If there’s anything you can do to make up for the ship last year, this would be it
Still gonna need that favor.
Gray: Josh, I think I’m going Zeke over Snell. Just letting you know
At least, this was the right call. Zeke had 13.5. Snell had 3.0.
Geoff: Thanks for this and the best teams to not make playoffs analysis. Painful 2 year run for me.
Joshua: If I lose to Alex or Whitney, it looks like I’ll be right there with you near the top 😂 @Brandon can you confirm?
Unfortunately, yes. I can confirm.
Gray: Fantasy Football can be so cruel
Geoff: The game is impossible
Josh: I’m halfway curled into the fetal position. On the floor
2020, y’all.
Nick: No one talks about the mediocre teams, but the worst team, that gets mentioned in history
We’re all playing checkers. Nick’s out here playing chess. Call him, Queen’s Gambit.
That’s it. Thanks for another wonderful, awful, painful, joyous year of fantasy football. In a year in which so much else went wrong, it was nice to have fantasy football to distract us from the week-to-week chaos.
For those in the playoffs, good luck. And to the rest of you, we’ll see you next year.
