At 0:00 in the Minnesota/Philadelphia game last night, the first NFL game to be played on a Tuesday night in forever, the fantasy football season came to an end. Some owners rejoiced, others bemoaned their pre-kickoff decisions over who to start and some just didn't notice, having been out of contention for weeks. The end of the fantasy season brings with it many things - chief among those being hope for next year if you were unsuccessful in winning your league, or if you did win then simply determination to repeat the feat.
Either way, it has been a memorable fantasy football season for me because I just enjoy the hobby so much. Like real football, it is unpredictable and exciting. What follows are my thoughts on my three dynasty teams in 2010.
SCHNOCKERED DYNASTY
Team Name: The Sofa King Awesomes
Team Record: 2-12
My hope was to follow up my 5-9 season in 2009 with a better season in 2010 in this league, but in truth the moves I made in the offseason pretty much guaranteed that wouldn't happen. I would say this is the league where I've made the most mistakes, but I've definitely learned from them. 2010 was a step backward in terms of record, but in terms of my overall team quality I think I've improved.
At QB, Matt Ryan is the unquestioned QB1 and has scored a solid 287 points for me this year. I spent a high enough draft pick on Ryan in the startup draft in summer 2009 and this looks like it will pay off. The backup situation is dicy, and perhaps I should address that in the offseason by trading a low round draft pick, but QB's become available during the season all the time and Ryan rarely gets hurt. My stash at QB is Matt Flynn, the promising Green Bay Packer with a ton of upside and someone who I feel will be a valuable asset to have for the future.
Running back is the Achilles heel of the roster without a doubt. With only Marshawn Lynch, Fred Jackson, Brandon Jackson, Tyrell Sutton and Brian Westbrook, this is an area of my team that needs a lot of upgrading. Enter a top 6 draft pick in the first round next year along with a pair of 2nd rounders and four 3rd rounders and I should have a decent chance to grab a couple of promising backs. My draft last year in retrospect was actually quite solid. The trade I made to acquire the 1.09 pick resulted in Jermaine Gresham who has come on strong these past few weeks. I also took Demaryius Thomas with the 1.12 pick and Arrelious Benn in the 2nd. I am going to be aggressive in the 2011 rookie draft and go after the players I like in a "win now" sort of mode.
As far as my wideouts, I am feeling really good about the future. In fact, this may be one of the best WR corps I've assembled in any of my leagues in a while. Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Smith (NYG) are my top two options, but besides them I have a great core of youth. Demaryius Thomas, Arrelious Benn, Jacoby Ford, Emmanuel Sanders, Andre Caldwell and Seyi Ajirotutu. This is a great group of young WRs who I have a lot of hope for. Youth is on my side at this position. Oh, and did I mention I have speedster Donnie Avery stashed away on IR too?
At TE, I picked up John Carlson after someone lost patience with him and dropped him recently enough. I think Carlson can be a good TE much in the same vein as Brent Celek in the right situation. Perhaps the guy I'm most pleased about is Tennessee TE Jared Cook, a physical freak like Jermichael Finley who has gotten his opportunity to start the past few games of this season and had some great games. If Cook can get it all together, he can be a breakout star next year. My starter at the position going forward will be Jermaine Gresham, but I've got plenty of options here for the long haul. I'm cutting Todd Heap this week as I don't see him playing a role in my long term championship aspirations.
Since this is a league without the wonder of IDP, that's the end of my roster assessment for Schnockered Dynasty for 2010. It's been disappointing to lose 12 games, but this may be the catalyst I need to push on and get a great RB and hopefully go from there. I am enjoying the rebuilding project with this roster, and I think if you took a look at the roster a year ago and compared it to the current one, the difference would shock you.
BLACK AND BLUE IDP DYNASTY
Team Name: The Wet Bandits
Team Record: 9-3 (won league championship)
The sweet smell of victory fills my nostrils this morning as I rejoice knowing that I have won my first ever fantasy football championship. In the three week all-play playoff format, I went 8-1 against my rivals and came out as the league champion. I scored over 300 points this week, and as I say "if you get over 300, you'll probably win". I couldn't be happier right now. Even my family is taking an interest in my championship. I have won $325 in cash and a trophy as well. I like getting the cash, but to be honest the trophy is the more exciting prize. I just hope I can get it shipped over here fast.
Instead of going through the team position by position in this league, I'm going to give out awards to some players who really stood out for me on this team. The players who really made that difference that secured me a league title. I'll go through my thoughts on the future of the roster in another blog entry. For now, let's start with the awards.
The Clutch Award for most points scored in Week 16 championship goes to...
RB Matt Forte for his 24.9 point effort.
Most Points Scored: QB Drew Brees (368 points)
Most Valuable Player: DE Justin Tuck (263 points)
Best Rookie: DT Tyson Alualu (140 points)
Best Free Agent Pickup: CB Alterraun Verner (229 points)
Best Future Pickup: LB Jamar Chaney
That's all the awards I have for now. I'm in a state of ecstacy right now about this victory. It's truly awesome. I want to thank everyone at FBG and everyone else who helped me throughout the year. All the time and effort I put into this league was worth it, and it feels good. Trust me, I'll be talking more about this during the offseason.
DYNASTYGUYS IDP CHARTER LEAGUE
Team Name: Puntzilla's Barnstormers
Team Record: 11-4 (#3 seed in playoffs)
Congratulations are in order for Motorboaters (Rob McAngus) for winning the league championship this weekend. Motorboaters were the team who beat me in the playoffs, so it feels better to say I lost to the eventual champion. My commisserations to Greg and Tristan who barely lost out in a tightly fought game.
Some good news about this league is that I'll be joined in it by my best friend John in due course, and to make things even spicier he'll be in my division. Interesting, eh? And John, if you're reading this, you're going down my friend.
I won't go into much detail on this team right now because this blog entry has been quite long already, but I will say that I feel I have a very solid team which can compete for a championship next season and beyond. I'll be looking to better my 11-4 record from 2010 in 2011.
Until next time, stay classy and stay on the defensive.
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