Week 14 Power Rankings — The Worst League

Dec 19

Dec 19 Week 14 Power Rankings

And with that, the fantasy regular season has come to an end.

This week, we’ll recap the dramatic final game, salute our six playoff teams and, of course, say goodbye to our six eliminated teams in the Power Rankings. But before we get to all of that, let’s start with our 2021 regular season awards, including the best picks, the worst luck and funniest moments from the group chat.

Best Draft Pick
Cooper Kupp, Nick

For the early part of the season, it seemed like this might be Mike Williams. Selected in the 10th round (115th overall) by Samantha, he averaged 23.2 ppg through the first five weeks. But he cooled with just three double-digit games since and is now WR15 on the season. Other great picks include Jess’s selection of Deebo Samuel (WR5) or Samantha’s pick of James Conner (RB6), both in the eighth round. Beth Ann’s pick of rookie Ja’Marr Chase (WR7), a reach based on ADP in the seventh, turned out to be a stroke of genius. I even contemplated Leonard Fournette (RB3), who was the original winner in the first draft of this entry. Selected 104th overall in the ninth round, Fournette ended the regular season as the third-best RB behind only Jonathan Taylor and Austin Ekeler. For a position as devastated by injury as it has been, Fournette has been a tremendous value.

But I have to give this award to Nick and Cooper Kupp (WR1). Though he was a relatively high pick at the end of the fourth round (48th overall), Kupp has just been so good. He’s currently fantasy’s top overall scorer, averaging 25.8 ppg ahead of all players including QBs. Week in and week out, he’s just been so consistently great with 10 games of 20+ points and only one game of less than 15. And even then, it was a solid 11.4 points in Week 4. He’s the biggest reason Nick has dominated this season. His 31.3-point game helped lift Nick to the playoffs. And Kupp may soon lay claim to the most productive fantasy season in NFL history, breaking the record set by Jerry Rice of 25.88 ppg in 1995. If there were an MVP for fantasy football, Kupp would get it. So he gets this award too.

Worst Draft Pick
Allen Robinson, Samantha

There were quite a few busts in the first four rounds this year, many of them injury related. In the first round, Christian McCaffrey (RB30) and Saquon Barkley (RB32) both finished outside the top-30 at their position and played a combined 16 games. Calvin Ridley (WR80) was a second-round pick who missed all but five games for mental health reasons. Chris Carson (RB64) in the fourth round lasted just four games. Another fourth-rounder, Julio Jones (WR93), played only seven games and was largely ineffective.

But I’m not going to blame those players or their team owners for injuries. Instead, I’ll focus on the disappointments. So given that, honorable mentions go to fourth-round pick Brandon Aiyuk (WR44) and third-round pick Miles Sanders (45), but this year’s award goes to Allen Robinson (WR78). The Chicago Bears WR was selected in the middle of the third round (30th overall) but was completely unplayable for most of the season, averaging just 7.3 ppg with only one TD and one game of more than four receptions. He was taken immediately ahead of other top-10 WRs including Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Diontae Johnson and, of course, Cooper Kupp.

Best Free Agent Acquisition
Cordarrelle Patterson, Josh

Top candidates who went undrafted but were plucked off of waivers included Hunter Renfrow (WR12), Van Jefferson (WR29), Elijah Mitchell (RB25), Devonta Freeman (RB31), Dawson Knox (TE5) and Dalton Schultz (TE6). Mitchell, Knox and Schultz, especially got major playing time for their respective team owners. And Renfrow would have if Beth Ann hadn’t been so dominant at the position anyway.

But the clear winner of this award is Cordarrelle Patterson (RB7). Who saw this career renaissance coming from the 30-year-old journeyman? After putting up just 8.7 points in Week 1 on seven carries and two receptions, Patterson went unclaimed in the first round of waivers. But on Thursday evening, Josh sought to correct this oversight by picking up Patterson. From that point on, Patterson has been a revelation, scoring 23.9 points in his next game and not looking back. For the season among RBs, he trails only Jonathan Taylor, Austin Ekeler, Leonard Fournette, Najee Harris, Joe Mixon and James Conner in total points. Though Josh eventually traded Patterson in a deal with Erik in exchange for Kyler Murray, Patterson maintained his value throughout the year, scoring double-digits in all but one game in which he played. Not bad for a guy that wasn’t even drafted.

Worst Drop
Michael Pittman, Josh

The league is so deep at this point that there really aren’t that many terrible drops. A lot of the top names are flex-worthy guys who are only valuable around the margins anyway. But my search revealed a few top candidates:

Brandon briefly added and dropped Devonta Freeman prior to Week 1. He later would prove to be a valuable add for Josh with four games of 12+ points down the stretch.
To pick up the aforementioned Cordarrelle Patterson, Josh dropped Alexander Mattison who provided three stellar games of 20+ points in Dalvin Cook’s absence.
Josh also dropped Christian Kirk prior to his Week 5 game. Nick would pick him up the next week and start him down the stretch. Kirk, of course, delivered the key points that helped lift Nick to the playoffs.
Brandon dropped Van Jefferson in Week 5. Beth Ann picked him up in Week 6. And then Brandon traded for him to get him back in Week 10.

All that being said, I think the “worst” drop has to be Josh’s decision to drop Michael Pittman in Week 2 in order to pick up Christian Kirk, who he later dropped anyway. But Pittman (WR20) would go on to have a great season for Erik, who scooped him up in free agency the next day. After Josh dropped him, Pittman had nine games with double-digit scores, including six of 17+. Ironically, had Josh held onto Pittman, he would have been Josh’s #2 WR behind only Mike Evans but ahead of Tee Higgins, Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool.

Best Trade
Acquiring Leonard Fournette for Matthew Stafford, Alex

There were nine trades this season, third-most in league history and the most since 2018. Most active were Nick, Gray and Brandon who each participated in three deals apiece. In total, nine team owners made trades this season with only Geoff, Greco and Samantha abstaining.

As for the best deal, I’m going to sidestep Nick’s acquisition of second overall pick, Dalvin Cook (RB13), in exchange for Damien Harris (RB23) and DeAndre Hopkins (WR28). Obviously, that was a controversial deal. And you could make an argument that his trade of Tee Higgins (WR24) and Rob Gronkowski (TE13) for D’Andre Swift (RB10) yielded an even better, more impactful return for the balance of the season. Ditto for the decision to swap Christian McCaffrey (RB30) for Austin Ekeler (RB2). (Really, Nick delivered a masterclass in improving your team through trade.) But because many of those deals ended up being lopsided as a result of injury, I’m going to give this award to someone else.

This year’s winner for best trade goes to Alex for his Week 10 acquisition of Leonard Fournette. You wouldn’t think the first team owner to draft a QB would be looking to trade for one. But after Mahomes posted three straight games of 14 points or less, the timing was just right for Alex to deal his backup Matthew Stafford (QB5) to Gray. In exchange, there were probably many options on the table as Gray was flush with RBs including Clyde Edwards-Helaire/Darrel Williams, Darrell Henderson and Michael Carter, the latter of whom was just one week removed from his 32.2-point game. But Alex chose Leonard Fournette. At the time, Fournette’s value was probably at its lowest as he was coming off a bye that followed his second-worst game of the season (just 7.3 points).

But since the trade, Fournette has been nothing short of amazing, averaging 24.02 ppg, including a 44.1-point explosion in Week 12. Thanks to this deal, Alex won four of his last five games after acquiring Fournette, helping him complete an improbable comeback en route to the playoffs. For the season, Fournette is now RB3, trailing only Jonathan Taylor and Austin Ekeler.

Weirdest Stat Likely Never to Be Duplicated
2 top-three RBs, Gray

Speaking of Leonard Fournette and Austin Ekeler, both were drafted by Gray. Ekeler was Gray’s first pick, taken ninth overall in the first round. And Fournette was an amazing steal all the way back in the ninth round, selected 104th overall. Both ended the regular season as top-three RBs, trailing only Jonathan Taylor in total points. If that was all I told you, you would think Gray would be the runaway favorite to win his third championship. But he’s not.

And that’s because somehow, someway… Gray traded BOTH of them away. How?! I think that has to be the first and only time a team owner drafted two top-three RBs but dealt them both. And the haul? An injured Christian McCaffrey and Matthew Stafford. Oof. Obviously, you can’t predict the injury to McCaffrey. (Though maybe you could because it’s not like McCaffrey had a clean bill of health at the time.) But the Stafford thing seems questionable in retrospect, especially considering Gray is the Mahomes owner. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20 and I get the logic behind both deals. It just didn’t work out. Yet…

Luckiest Team Owner
Gray

For this one, I typically look at the overall difference between a team owners’s win percentage and TW%. By that standard, Geoff was the luckiest this season with a win percentage that’s +.149 points higher than his TW%. He had an average team, closer to 7-7 than his actual record of 9-5. Other lucky team owners this season include Whitney (+.110), Gray (+.105), Gray (+.097) and Alex (+.039).

But another way to look at it is the number of times a team owner won despite a really bad score. By that metric, Gray was probably the luckiest team owner, having won two games this season in which he finished with a score in the bottom half of the league—once in Week 11 against Josh and again in Week 13 against Geoff. Other team owners had similar good fortune, but it was balanced out by high-scoring losses. Gray never had such a loss. So, if he loses those games, he’s 6-8 and likely misses the playoffs. Given that he’s the lowest team in the Power Rankings this season that did make the playoffs, I’m giving this award to him.

Unluckiest Team Owner
Samantha

By the traditional metric, it’s Nick. The difference between Nick’s W% and his TW% was -.123. He’s kinda the opposite of Geoff in that he ended up 7-7 but probably should have been 9-5. Other unlucky team owners this season included Brandon (-.097), Beth Ann (-.078) and Samantha (-.052).

But if we look at team owners with high-scoring losses, Samantha is probably the unluckiest, having lost three games despite finishing with a top-four score—to Whitney in Week 2, to Beth Ann in Week 11 and finally to Nick in Week 14. In addition to those three losses, she had another two that ranked just inside the top half of the league in scoring—to Gray (Week 1) and Whitney again (Week 13). So that’s five tough losses in all. On the other side of the ledger, she did have three lucky, low-scoring wins against Brandon (Week 4), Jess (Week 8) and Greco (Week 10). But I would say that’s a net of two losses she shouldn’t have had. If we give those wins back, she’s 9-5 and likely the recipient of a first-round bye.

Mr. Glass Award
Brandon

So many teams were deserving of this award. Literally, everyone dealt with injuries of one kind or another. Gray had injuries to Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Christian McCaffrey. Nick also lost McCaffrey for awhile not to mention Antonio Brown, who was excellent before his mysterious ankle injury. Josh had injuries to Kyler Murray and Rob Gronkowski. Even the league’s best team owner this season, Beth Ann, had to make do without Alvin Kamara for awhile. It would take forever to track them all.

But for me, this one comes down to Alex vs. Brandon. Both lost starting RBs almost immediately to season-ending injuries in Gus Edwards and Raheem Mostert. Both lost their first- and second-round picks for extended stretches (Saquon Barkley and Nick Chubb for Alex and Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown for Brandon). And finally, both lost a fourth complementary player drafted within the first seven rounds (Jerry Jeudy and Logan Thomas). If you count up the total number of games missed, Alex’s missed a total of 26. Brandon’s missed 27. But given the fact that Brandon lost his first-round pick to a season-ending injury and Alex’s came back, helping to lead him to the playoffs, I’m giving this one to me. At least I won something this year.

“What Had Happened Was…” Award
Errybody

This has been one of my favorite things from the last few years where I pull out my favorite quotes from the group chat, including hollow boasts and predictions sure to go wrong. Enjoy!

Brandon: While we wait on their votes, let’s open the floor for last place punishments. What should they have to do? 🤔

Careful what you wish for, sir.

Alex: Josh and I about to piss eachother off all draft

You mean all season? Just wait until Week 14.

Alex: Down goes Gus lmao. Congrats on the RB Geoff.
Brandon: Furiously rewrites Geoff’s section of the draft recap I’m authoring.

This was in response to the Gus Edwards injury. Turns out Ty’Son Williams was not the boon to Geoff’s lineup we assumed he might be.

Alex: Prolly got this years James Robinson

Not quite.

Brandon: Did we ever decide on a punishment for the last-place finisher?

Would you shut up about the punishment?!

Alex: Well my players hate being healthy

You have no idea. This was before injuries to Saquon Barkley and Nick Chubb.

Josh: Nick’s team = scary
Erik: God damnit nick

Just wait until he starts making trades.

Geoff: 2-0… what is this feeling? Happiness?

I feel like you’re gonna love this season.

Gray: Back up?
Brandon: Nope. Just checked and my fantasy team is definitely still down.

This was in response to the WhatsApp/Facebook outage. Might just want to wait for the roster update next season.

Brandon: Tried unplugging it and then plugging it back in but Brandon Aiyuk still sucks.

Have you tried blowing on it?

Brandon: Switching to Squid Game. It’s less torturous.

It was a tough year, y’all.

Brandon: That trade just broke my brain.
Josh: Holy…
Samantha: Team swap?!

This was the McCaffrey for Ekeler deal. It’s only just begun…

Gray: Anyone can get hurt. Except Henry. He’s not human.

You’re a human jinx.

Alex: 🏳 Chubb and Saquan out. Injuries ended my season early

Don’t be such a pessimist.

Josh: My draft almost ended my season early

No, that was trading away D’Andre Swift and Cordarrelle Patterson. I kid, I kid…

Erik: I shouldve been my fantasy team for Halloween #scarybad

Now that would be terrifying.

Jess: There. Are. So. Many. Points…… On my bench.

🥴🥴🥴

Brandon: Kadarius Toney just said he’s gonna outscore Kelce tonight by 30 points in honor of King Henry.

This was after the Derrick Henry injury. Toney scored 20.06 points…the rest of the season?!

Josh: Pats D/ST = 26 pts. Killer start to the week
Brandon: Samantha’s defense has scored 10 points just in the last two minutes of this game.

She lost. 🤷‍♀️

Alex: Top score potentially in play

Nope. One of only three team owners not to get one this season.

Alex: Hey all! some people came forward and expressed concerns about the deal executed this morning being unfair…

Oh, no. Here we go…

Whitney: Y’all, Nick said if I don’t do this trade I don’t get any Christmas gifts. He left me no choice…

Coal for you both!

Gray: St. Nick!
Josh: Dropping a load of coal on the league!
Nick: You’re about to get a load of something.

Um… 😬

Jess: Every trade is a gamble at the end of the day….cook could tear his ACL this week.

Not the ACL but… she’s a witch! 🧙‍♀️

Jess: Here’s the deal. My team came to play today. It did what I asked, it stepped up for deebo. And now I am over here throwing a tantrum bc whatever I do, Josh now does better this week. Fantasy is such a fickle, fickle thing.

In retrospect, this was the game that knocked Jess out of the playoffs. Even witches get burned.

Geoff: Lamar carted off, thielen out, my team fell apart in the stretch here

Okay, maybe “love” was a strong word. How about “not hate?”

Josh: The pain must end.

It won’t be much longer, my friend. Hold my hand. You’re not alone.

The Scoreboard

Beth Ann won her third weekly prize, most in the league.

Now that’s a dramatic way for the regular season to come to an end.

Nick won a barnburner against Samantha, securing his place in the playoffs and knocking out Jess. Alex also won, defeating Josh and completing an epic comeback to become the first 2-5 team to ever make the playoffs—and as a three seed too! And finally, with Whitney’s upset of Gray, Beth Ann and Geoff get those all-important first-round byes. Now the playoffs are set:

Beth Ann
Geoff
Alex
Gray
Nick
Samantha

Power Rankings

With another dominant win in Week 14, Beth Ann officially finishes in first place in the final Power Rankings. She becomes just the seventh team owner to do so, joining Gray (2011, 2015, 2016), Alex (2012, 2018), Greco (2013), Jess (2014), Brandon (2017) and Josh (2019, 2020). Of those other six, only Jess and Brandon went on to win the championship.

1. Beth Ann
9-5, .721 TW%, 131.8 ppg

What a way to cap the season! Beth Ann won her third weekly prize, scoring 159.84 points behind 20+ points for Aaron Rodgers, Alvin Kamara, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and Mark Andrews, leaving no doubt that hers is the best team in the league this year. Case in point, she leads the league in TW% (.721), wins (nine), scoring (131.8 ppg), receptions (28.9 per game) and weekly prizes (three) and has finished in the top three in the league in scoring in nine out of 14 weeks. That’s consistent dominance.

For the second year in a row, Beth Ann will be the one seed; but this time she has the credentials to back it up. In fact, her team this year ranks fifth (out of 132 teams) all time in TW% and is second in scoring, trailing only Josh (132.3 ppg) last year.

2. Nick
7-7, .623 TW%, 127.7 ppg

Nick survives! This one came down to the wire on Monday night as Nick and Samantha, Cooper Kupp (31.3 points) and James Conner (33.5) traded blows, ultimately leading their team owners to the second- and third-highest scores of the week. But it was the lowly Christian Kirk—undrafted in the Worst League, picked up by Josh, dropped and then picked up again by Nick—who delivered the knockout punch. With two minutes left in the game and no timeouts left, Kyler Murray delivered a beautiful fourth-down bomb to Kirk for 47 yards that ended up being the difference in the game for Nick.

Sometimes the margin in fantasy football is that thin. If Murray doesn’t complete that pass, Nick is out and Jess is in. But such is life. And now Nick—evil though he may be—will take his rightful place in the playoffs. After spending most of the season atop the Power Rankings, Nick finishes second, the best mark of his career, having previously finished as high as fifth in 2018 and 2012.

3. Samantha (▲1)
7-7, .552 TW%, 122.8 ppg

There are such a thing as moral victories. Though Samantha was not able to slay the dragon that is Nick, she put forth a valiant effort with two top-five scorers in Josh Allen (35.22 points) and James Conner (33.5), almost overcoming the 35.2 points from Dalvin Cook on Thursday night. Her 152.32 points are now the second-most in a loss in league history, eclipsing the ignominy Jess experienced the week prior.

But the silver lining was that all those points helped to secure her spot in the playoffs despite the loss. With 1,719 total points scored, Samantha finished third in the league in scoring to go along with her third-place finish in the final Power Rankings. That was more than enough to beat out fellow 7-7 team owners, Jess, Josh and Whitney, for the final playoff spot. Like Nick, this is Samantha’s best finish in the final Power Rankings, having previously finished as high as seventh in 2019.

4. Alex (▲2)
8-6, .532 TW%, 117.2 ppg

The comeback is complete. Russell Wilson, Tyler Lockett, Chris Godwin and Leonard Fournette—all 20-point scorers—plus the best game Saquon Barkley’s had since Week 4 helped Alex defeat Josh in a win-or-go-home regular season finale. That win put the finishing touches on a historic turnaround, which saw Alex win six of his final seven games to make the playoffs after starting 2-5. And as a three seed, no less. Impressive.

In fact, in league history, there have been 20 teams that have started 2-5. Alex is the first to make the playoffs, making this arguably the greatest comeback in league history. I say “arguably,” because it should be noted that Nick once started 1-6, but won seven games in a row to finish 7-6 and would have made a six-team playoff had one existed in 2016. Ditto for fellow 2-5 team owners Brandon in 2012 and JT in 2015.

5. Jess (▼2)
7-7, .526 TW%, 119.8 ppg

Every year, there’s a team owner or two that finishes in the top half of the Power Rankings but fails to make the playoffs. Since playoff expansion in 2018, there have been five teams that fall into that category—JT (2018), Geoff (2019, 2020), Josh (2020) and now Jess (2021).

This year, Jess suffered through one of the worst starts of her career, a four-game stretch during which she ranked 11th in the Power Rankings with a TW% of .182 and 102.5 ppg scored. But that’s when Jonathan Taylor happened. This season’s RB1, Taylor led Jess to a comeback of her own. From weeks 5-13, she had the best team in the league, ranking first in TW% (.727) and second in scoring (130.1 ppg). No one was better. Even Beth Ann.

Taylor along with eighth-round pick Deebo Samuel (WR5) and Keenan Allen (WR11) helped Jess weather a few injuries (notably season-ending ones to her third- and fourth-round picks, Robert Woods and Chris Carson). But ultimately, she came up short losing a critical Week 13 game to Josh despite 150+ points scored. (It was her third loss in a week that she finished in the top half of the league in scoring—tied with Samantha for most in the league.) And then without Taylor or Allen in Week 14, she laid an egg, posting the second-worst score of her season right when she needed the points to keep pace with Samantha. Still, as we noted in Nick’s entry, she came within a Christian Kirk catch of making the playoffs anyway.

Speaking of which, this is the first time Jess has missed the playoffs since 2017, ending what had been the second-longest active streak in the league. And yet, she still has some streaks alive. This is Jess’ eighth straight season dating back to 2014 with a .500 or better record, second in the league to Gray. And it’s her eighth straight year in which she’s finished in the top half of the Power Rankings. That’s the longest streak in the league by a mile. Year in and year out, Jess is a contender. And though she ultimately came up short, this year was no exception.

6. Geoff (▼2)
9-5, .494 TW%, 114.0 ppg

Geoff lost again in Week 14, his third straight loss to the end the season. And it hasn’t been pretty, twice scoring in the 60s, including this week. But with nine wins by Week 11, Geoff clinched a playoff spot weeks ago. The only question that was left was whether or not he would get a first-round bye. The answer? Yes. Thanks to Whitney’s upset of Gray, Geoff was able to hold on and will get the two seed.

With a 9-5 record, this is Geoff’s first winning season since 2016, which also happens to be the year he won a championship. It’s also the most regular season wins in his career, tying his nine wins from 2011. But thanks to the nose dive we saw to end the season, he’s dropped from third in Week 11 to sixth in the final Power rankings. With a TW% of .494, this is only the seventh-best team of his career. And he actually scored more points (121.9 ppg) just last year. How will this team be remembered? We have three more weeks to find out.

7. Josh (▲1)
7-7, .487 TW%, 111.6 ppg

Apologies are in order to Josh who I briefly gave some false hope to on Monday night, suggesting that a Samantha victory over Nick would elevate him to the six seed. Of course, I forgot that Jess also won in Week 14, and she would have gotten the six seed in the event of Nick’s elimination, not Josh. Regardless, Nick made all of that speculation moot. But I apologize for twisting the knife. Fantasy is cruel enough.

As for Josh, he came up one-game short of the three-game winning streak he needed to sneak into the playoffs. Even with solid games from a roster that finally included Kyler Murray, Aaron Jones, Antonio Gibson, Mike Evans, Tee Higgins and Rob Gronkowski all healthy for the first time together, it was not enough to counter a season-high 144.5 points from Alex. What are you gonna do? 🤷‍♂️

In our draft recap, we noted that Josh stocked up on RBs, selecting Aaron Jones, Antonio Gibson and D’Andre Swift with his first three picks, then grabbed Cordarrelle Patterson in free agency after Week 1. Those are four top-14 RBs on the season. And yet, Josh finished seventh in RB scoring mainly because he traded away Swift (RB10) and Patterson (RB7) for Tee Higgins (WR24), Rob Gronkowski (TE13) and Kyler Murray (QB11). Obviously, hindsight is 20/20. And those trades did not work out. But injury played a big part, which is impossible to predict.

And in fact, Josh’s play may have peaked in Week 5 right before the Patterson for Murray deal, at which point he had scored over 125 points in four straight games. But that week set of a downturn that featured five losses over the next seven weeks. And Josh would not score above league average (116.5 points) until the final two weeks of the season. Indeed, from Weeks 5-12, he had the second-worst team in the league.

But you have to wonder what might have been. He lost Kyler Murray for a critical four-game stretch from Weeks 9-12, plus Rob Gronkowski was out from Weeks 4-10. In his last two games with both Murray and Gronkowski back in the lineup, Josh was second in TW% (.773) and fourth in scoring (135.9 ppg).

In the end, this is Josh’s second season in a row in which he missed the playoffs and his fourth in the last six years. And by TW%, it’s one of the worst years of his career. Only 2016 when he finished 11th in the final Power Rankings with a TW% of .378 was worse. In fact, this is just the second time in Josh’s career that he’s finished outside the top half of the Power Rankings, which just goes to show how good he’s been. Remember, prior to this season, he’d finished first in the final Power Rankings two years in a row. Better luck next year.

8. Gray (▼1)
8-6, .474 TW%, 114.8 ppg

Gray was not able to defeat Whitney in Week 14, falling to her for the second time this season. If he had won, he would have gotten the two seed over Geoff and, with it, the coveted first-round bye. But ironically, for the second straight year, that bye slips through his grasp on the last day of the regular season, this time despite his opponent starting an inactive player in David Johnson who had been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Nevertheless, Gray’s eight wins were more than enough to help him to his league-best eighth career playoff appearance and his third straight, which is now the longest active streak in the league.

But like Geoff, Gray did not finish the season strong, failing to top 104.66 points over his last four games. As a result, a team that was as high as second in the Power Rankings in Week 6 or even fourth as recently as Week 11 drops all the way to eighth, making Gray the least deserving of the six playoff teams. That makes this the second-worst year of Gray’s career by TW% and just the second time he’s failed to finish within the top half of the rankings in 11 seasons. Previously, the only blemish on his record was 2018 when Gray finished ninth in TW% (.409)—the year he traded back from the sixth pick in order to draft Leonard Fournette over NFL Rookie of the Year, Saquon Barkley. Ironically, this year he may regret trading away Fournette, but that’s a story for the playoff preview.

9. Brandon
5-9, .455 TW%, 115.0 ppg

It’s been a helluva run. Three championships in four years, five straight in-the-money finishes and what had been the longest active playoff streak in the league with five consecutive appearances. Over the last four years, Brandon was first in wins (35 regular season + nine playoff wins) and second only to Josh in points (5,417.86) and TW% (.630). As detailed in last season’s championship recap, it was dynasty unlike any in league history. A Bran-dynasty! But now, it’s over.

As they say, pride cometh before the fall. And we sensed almost immediately that this was coming. Case in point, Brandon’s keyword in the draft recap was “panic.” That’s because we noted how Brandon reached on players an average of 13.7 picks (or one full round) earlier than expected—most in the league. That included Brandon Aiyuk, Raheem Mostert and Trey Lance, the latter of whom was drafted four rounds ahead of his ADP. I mean, how else do you explain pride than a team owner thinking they’re smarter than the consensus? Sometimes, you should just take the guy at the top of the queue. Otherwise you end up with decisions like:

45. Brandon Aiyuk (WR44) over 48. Cooper Kupp (WR1)
69. Raheem Mostert (RB143) over 75. Ja’Marr Chase (WR7)
100. AJ Dillon (RB24) over 104. Leonard Fournette (RB3)

But it wasn’t all bad decision-making. Some of this was just dumb luck. Brandon had some of the worst injury luck in the league losing his first-, second-, sixth- and seventh-round picks to significant injuries. Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown, Raheem Mostert and Logan Thomas missed a combined 27 (out of 52 possible) games or 52%. Henry, in particular, (who is still somehow RB9 despite not playing since Week 8) was one of the highest-profile season-ending injuries of the year.

And yet, despite the bad picks and the bad breaks, Brandon still led the league in scoring from Weeks 6-12 with 126.7 ppg and ranked second in TW% (.675), trailing only Jess. Unfortunately, Brandon was one of the unluckier teams by dint of schedule, winning 1.4 games fewer than expected based on TW%, which was second in the league. That includes two games in which he finished in the top four in scoring in a given week but lost anyway. Only Samantha had more “bad beats.”

When it’s all said and done, this year will go down as one of the worst years of Brandon’s career. It’s his fewest wins (five), most losses (nine) and the second-worst TW% of his career, trailing only 2016 (.427)—the year he snuck into the playoffs, miraculously upset Gray and came within a few points of a championship. This year, he was not so lucky and finishes ninth in the final Power Rankings, only the second time in his career he’s finished outside the top half. And now, with a bottom-two seed in the consolation ladder, the inaugural Poop Bowl beckons…

10. Erik
6-8, .448 TW%, 113.7 ppg

Erik started off the season strong with 172.16 points against Jess. But it all devolved from there as he would finish in the top half of the league in scoring just three more times in 2021. Though he did have a moment in the midway portion of the season from Weeks 6-9 when he ranked first in TW% (.750) and second in scoring (128.8 ppg), Erik mostly found himself in the back of pack. As a result, he became just the third team owner to start the season in the top two of the Power Rankings but go on to miss the playoffs, joining Trevor (2012) and Alex (2013). On the bright side, he is the only non-playoff team this season with multiple weekly prize wins.

Probably the most interesting tidbit from Erik’s season is how he transitioned from a team seemingly challenged at RB to one led by the position. In the draft preview, we pointed out how Erik was the second-to-last team owner to select a RB and the very last to draft an RB2. But those turned out be good picks as Joe Mixon (RB5) and Melvin Gordon (RB17) both returned tremendous value. Plus, Erik’s trade of his team namesake, Kyler Murray, for Cordarrelle Patterson (RB7) turned out to be a shrewd move, especially considering Carson Wentz was a serviceable streamer at times. As a result, Erik finished fourth in RB scoring behind only Gray, Nick and Jess. He’s also the only team owner besides Nick (Austin Ekeler, D’Andre Swift and Dalvin Cook) with three RBs in the top-17.

Despite his success at RB, Erik was not able to overcome problems at the WR position. He spent four early picks on Amari Cooper, Julio Jones, Kenny Golladay and Laviska Shenault. But none of them would finish in the top-24 at their position. Michael Pittman (WR20) was one of the best free agent pickups of the season. But it wasn’t enough as Erik finished 11th in both WR scoring and receptions; only Gray was worse.

In the end, Erik finishes 10th in the final Power Rankings, his worst finish since 2019 when he finished 11th. This is also just the third time he’s finished in the bottom three of the final Power Rankings in his career. Despite that, I think Erik showed an impressive efficiency with his moves on the waiver wire and in trade. And moving forward, that should bode well for future success. And the really good news? His win over Greco this week should give him a leg up in the consolation ladder if he hopes to avoid the Poop Bowl.

11. Whitney
7-7, .390 TW%, 104.0 ppg

What a strange season for Whitney. In just her second year in the league, Whitney started off the year 4-0, just the sixth team to do so, and ranked as high as third in the rankings. She then lost six games in a row—two games short of the record—and seven of her next eight, essentially eliminating her from playoff contention. And then, with nothing to play for, she won her last two games scoring 127.5 ppg, defeating Samantha and Gray, spoiling their hopes for a first-round bye.

The net result is a 7-7 season, an improvement from the 5-8 record of her debut season with a slightly better TW% (.390, up from .357) and almost the exact same number of points scored per game. For the second year in a row, she finishes in 11th-place in the final Power Rankings.

But what happened? How could a team so successful in those first few weeks plummet so dramatically? First of all, the clock struck midnight on Terry McLaurin and DJ Moore. Both started off the season red hot, averaging 19.6 and 22.4 ppg. But since Week 5, they cooled, averaging 10.5 and 11.3 ppg, respectively. If we compare those marks to season-long averages, that’s like Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams turning into Cole Beasley and Christian Kirk. Oof, not good.

Adding to that drop in production, Whitney suffered a litany of mid-season injuries including to George Kittle, Kareem Hunt, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Michael Gallup who missed a combined 23 games.

And then, finally, those trades…. Though she only made eight moves all season, the fewest of any team owner in the league, two were quite impactful. First, she traded away Terry McLaurin for Adrian Peterson and Emmanuel Sanders. Then she traded away Dalvin Cook for Damien Harris and DeAndre Hopkins. Unfortunately, neither worked out, especially now that Hopkins is out for the year. And by the end, Whitney’s team was like that station wagon in the original National Lampoon’s Vacation that’s stripped for parts while it’s still running. Though if it’s any consolation, the deal to trade away Cook did not change her playoff fate at all. Either way, she would have missed the playoffs. And in fact, if she hadn’t made the deal, her team would have finished 6-8 (likely losing to Samantha in Week 13) instead of 7-7.

But I wouldn’t take the lack of success in her first two years as a sign of things to come. Many team owners have struggled in their debut seasons or even their first few years. Beth Ann finished 10th her first season and is now the one seed in the playoffs for the second year in a row. Jess notoriously finished 11th, 12th and 11th in her first three season before ultimately winning a championship the next year (and hasn’t had a losing record since). And no one has transformed themselves more than Nick this year. All of which means, better days are ahead.

12. Greco
4-10, .312 TW%, 105.9 ppg

Greco bet big on WRs this year and it didn’t pay off. Despite briefly being nicknamed the Danger Zone after Davante Adams, DK Metcalf and Marquise Brown combined for 97.9 points in Week 5, Greco’s team fizzled. While Adams was strong all season (WR3), second-round pick Metcalf struggled after the injury to Russell Wilson with just one double-digit game since Week 8. Brown also regressed, totaling just 42.4 points over the last five weeks. (By comparison, he had more than double that through the first five weeks.) And fifth-rounder Robby Anderson (WR56) turned out to be one of the biggest busts of the year, never catching more than five passes in a game until just last week. As a result, the team owner who invested most heavily in WR during the draft (three of her first five picks, including both of the first two) finished just 5.08 ppg above league average from the position.

That was not nearly enough to make up for weaknesses at RB. As we noted during the draft recap, Greco was the last team owner to draft a RB, selecting James Robinson (RB21) in the third round, then reached for Javonte Williams, who has been a revelation these last three weeks (23.7 ppg) but averaged just 9.9 ppg through the first 10. By the time he improved his play, Greco had already been eliminated. As a result, Greco finished last in the league in RB scoring with just 22.7 ppg.

There was a time where Greco showed promise this season. I was a believer repeatedly in these Power Rankings, favoring her over Jess at times as a potential dark horse. And though it’s a small sample size, from Weeks 5-7, she was fourth in TW% (.697) and third in scoring (143.6 ppg), including one weekly prize. But sometimes last-minute inactives or Thursday night games can catch Greco off guard, which costs her points or in some cases victories. A Week 4 game against Josh comes to mind (scroll for Greco’s blurb). Would it have made the difference? Probably not for the playoffs. But it might have made things interesting.

As it stands now, it’s another disappointing year for Greco, which is a bit of a trend. Despite her surprising run to the championship game last year and the third-most career playoff wins, this is the fourth straight year that Greco has finished in the bottom four of the Power Rankings, including three finishes of 11th or worse. When she drafts well, her team succeeds. But due to the fact that she is relatively inactive in the trade market or in free agency, a bad draft typically dooms her prospects. This year, 92% of her scoring came from players she drafted, a league high.

Next year, she’ll hope for a better draft and a better outcome. But in the meanwhile, there’s the Poop Bowl to worry about.