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Well, the fantasy regular season has drawn to a close, so I thought I'd go over some interesting stats and hand out some informal awards. 
Top Scorers
First thing's first: this year's top scorer was Drew Brees, with 304.10 points. Brees was taken by Swedish in the 2nd round, (21st overall), after four other quarterbacks. A fine pick. Amazingly, the second-highest scorer was Aaron Rodgers with 289.88 points, who was ALSO taken by Swedish in the 11th round. Did well for himself at that position, to be sure.
Third and fourth place overall go to the undrafted Kurt Warner (286.60), and 10th round selection Jay Cutler (284.86). BOTH ended up in the hands of the BeanTown Champs, the unlucky team that took Tom Brady #2 overall. After week 4, I noted the irony in that the team that lost Brady still had the #1 quarterback (it was Cutler back then), and it's even more ironic that they ended up with an even better QB than Cutler.
Overall, quarterbacks made up the top 7 positions in overall scoring, with the other 3 being Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, and Donovan McNabb.
Highest Non-QB Scorers
RB - Matt Forte (232.1)
WR - Anquan Boldin (210.6)
TE - Tony Gonzalez (168.90)
DEF - Baltimore (166)
Some of these were extremely close (Boldin finished just 0.3 points ahead of my man, Larry Fitzgerald), and some were not (Tony Gonzalez finished an absurd 48.8 points ahead of the next-highest tight end, Jason Witten).
Interesting fact about the positional leaders (Brees, Forte, Boldin, Gonzalez, and Baltimore) -- nobody owns more than one of them....
Random Rankings/Miscellaneous
...but some people might as well have. In addition to having the top two overall scorers, Swedish also had the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th-highest scoring RBs -- Thomas Jones, Brian Westbrook, and Chris Johnson. He took Westbrook in the 1st round, snagged Jones in the 4th, and snagged Chris Johnson all the way down in the 12th. His incredible depth at the RB position is certainly the reason he's the #1 seed heading into the playoffs.
Some teams, like PW's Odd Squad, had ridiculous amounts of talent -- so much so that they started giving it away! PW released the eventual #1 RB (Matt Forte) after Week 1, and the eventual #3 WR (Roddy White) after Week 2...and he STILL led the league in both wins and points for the majority of the season. Can't really blame PW, anyway, because he had to make room for guys like Boldin (#1 WR), Clinton Portis (#11 overall RB), and Michael Turner (#4 overall RB). PW had an embarassment of riches from the get-go.
I managed to survive some sizable blows, too: my first two picks (Addai and Grant) were both big disappointments for most of the year, but I picked up Steve Slaton early on, and said afterwards that it might end up being the most important thing I'd end up doing all year. Turns out, it was. I was lucky enough to grab Tyler Thigpen a bit later to help weather the inconsistency of the Steeler offensive line, and got big years out of both my starting WRs -- Fitzgerald, #2 WR, and Calvin Johnson, #6 WR. And, as mentioned before, Tony Gonzalez ran away with the TE scoring title.
So, those are the numbers. Now for something far more subjective. A few bits of recognition:
Best Waiver Wire Pickup
Lots of good choices here, but you have to go with Matt Forte, who Sedai picked up after Week 1. Though other pickups may have been more improbable in one way or another, Forte was the highest non-QB scorer, and carried The Replicants to some crucial wins, particular when Reggie Bush went out.
Honorable mention goes to TONGO's Roddy White pickup, and to the BeanTown Champs for snagging both Kurt Warner (#3 overall in points) and Lance Moore (#14 among WRs). And I'll be a jerk and give myself a less honorable mention for Slaton, who finished 7th among RBs.
Best Individual Draft Selection
Tough call, but I think it has to go to Swedish Chef for taking Chris Johnson in the 12th round. Johnson finished 6th among RBs. He also gets an honorable mention for taking Aaron Rodgers in the 11th. Other notable picks: PW taking Roddy White in the 6th and Matt Forte in the 10th, The Sharks landing McNabb in the 6th round (#7 in overall points), and Slug taking Brett Favre in the 7th round (#13 in overall points).
Best Total Draft
I think this probably goes to PW. The guy gave up Forte and White and he's still going to finish within a stone's throw of the overall point lead. Insane. Honorable mention to Swedish for absolutely killing at the QB and RB positions. Had he gotten even close-to-expected production out of Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes, or Dwayne Bowe, he'd have won this in a walk.
Unluckiest Team
Definitely the BeanTown Champs. Losing Brady alone makes this a no-brainer, but if that weren't enough, he lost Marques Colston (his 3rd round selection) for several games after Week 1 and elected to drop him. Ow. Honorable mention to my friend Adam, who took Randy Moss and Terrell Owens with his first two picks, and suffered greatly when each lost their respective QBs for a time.
Best Trade
Nobody! Trading was non-existent all year long. For my part, I proposed a Ryan Grant-and-Calvin Johnson-for-Steven Jackson-and-Dominic Rhodes swap to The Sharks many weeks ago, but was quickly rebuffed. And thank goodness for that, as Jackson got hurt, Grant improved, and Calvin Johnson was stunningly consistent in the second half.
The Busts
Okay, so they're not all busts, exactly. But we've all got a few of them: big expectations, small numbers. Here are some of the biggest non-injury-related disappointments:
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on these selections. And, of course, feel free to vent about any injuries, drops, disappointments, or anything else.
Top Scorers
First thing's first: this year's top scorer was Drew Brees, with 304.10 points. Brees was taken by Swedish in the 2nd round, (21st overall), after four other quarterbacks. A fine pick. Amazingly, the second-highest scorer was Aaron Rodgers with 289.88 points, who was ALSO taken by Swedish in the 11th round. Did well for himself at that position, to be sure.
Third and fourth place overall go to the undrafted Kurt Warner (286.60), and 10th round selection Jay Cutler (284.86). BOTH ended up in the hands of the BeanTown Champs, the unlucky team that took Tom Brady #2 overall. After week 4, I noted the irony in that the team that lost Brady still had the #1 quarterback (it was Cutler back then), and it's even more ironic that they ended up with an even better QB than Cutler.
Overall, quarterbacks made up the top 7 positions in overall scoring, with the other 3 being Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, and Donovan McNabb.
Highest Non-QB Scorers
RB - Matt Forte (232.1)
WR - Anquan Boldin (210.6)
TE - Tony Gonzalez (168.90)
DEF - Baltimore (166)
Some of these were extremely close (Boldin finished just 0.3 points ahead of my man, Larry Fitzgerald), and some were not (Tony Gonzalez finished an absurd 48.8 points ahead of the next-highest tight end, Jason Witten).
Interesting fact about the positional leaders (Brees, Forte, Boldin, Gonzalez, and Baltimore) -- nobody owns more than one of them....
Random Rankings/Miscellaneous
...but some people might as well have. In addition to having the top two overall scorers, Swedish also had the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th-highest scoring RBs -- Thomas Jones, Brian Westbrook, and Chris Johnson. He took Westbrook in the 1st round, snagged Jones in the 4th, and snagged Chris Johnson all the way down in the 12th. His incredible depth at the RB position is certainly the reason he's the #1 seed heading into the playoffs.
Some teams, like PW's Odd Squad, had ridiculous amounts of talent -- so much so that they started giving it away! PW released the eventual #1 RB (Matt Forte) after Week 1, and the eventual #3 WR (Roddy White) after Week 2...and he STILL led the league in both wins and points for the majority of the season. Can't really blame PW, anyway, because he had to make room for guys like Boldin (#1 WR), Clinton Portis (#11 overall RB), and Michael Turner (#4 overall RB). PW had an embarassment of riches from the get-go.
I managed to survive some sizable blows, too: my first two picks (Addai and Grant) were both big disappointments for most of the year, but I picked up Steve Slaton early on, and said afterwards that it might end up being the most important thing I'd end up doing all year. Turns out, it was. I was lucky enough to grab Tyler Thigpen a bit later to help weather the inconsistency of the Steeler offensive line, and got big years out of both my starting WRs -- Fitzgerald, #2 WR, and Calvin Johnson, #6 WR. And, as mentioned before, Tony Gonzalez ran away with the TE scoring title.
So, those are the numbers. Now for something far more subjective. A few bits of recognition:
Best Waiver Wire Pickup
Lots of good choices here, but you have to go with Matt Forte, who Sedai picked up after Week 1. Though other pickups may have been more improbable in one way or another, Forte was the highest non-QB scorer, and carried The Replicants to some crucial wins, particular when Reggie Bush went out.
Honorable mention goes to TONGO's Roddy White pickup, and to the BeanTown Champs for snagging both Kurt Warner (#3 overall in points) and Lance Moore (#14 among WRs). And I'll be a jerk and give myself a less honorable mention for Slaton, who finished 7th among RBs.
Best Individual Draft Selection
Tough call, but I think it has to go to Swedish Chef for taking Chris Johnson in the 12th round. Johnson finished 6th among RBs. He also gets an honorable mention for taking Aaron Rodgers in the 11th. Other notable picks: PW taking Roddy White in the 6th and Matt Forte in the 10th, The Sharks landing McNabb in the 6th round (#7 in overall points), and Slug taking Brett Favre in the 7th round (#13 in overall points).
Best Total Draft
I think this probably goes to PW. The guy gave up Forte and White and he's still going to finish within a stone's throw of the overall point lead. Insane. Honorable mention to Swedish for absolutely killing at the QB and RB positions. Had he gotten even close-to-expected production out of Plaxico Burress, Santonio Holmes, or Dwayne Bowe, he'd have won this in a walk.
Unluckiest Team
Definitely the BeanTown Champs. Losing Brady alone makes this a no-brainer, but if that weren't enough, he lost Marques Colston (his 3rd round selection) for several games after Week 1 and elected to drop him. Ow. Honorable mention to my friend Adam, who took Randy Moss and Terrell Owens with his first two picks, and suffered greatly when each lost their respective QBs for a time.
Best Trade
Nobody! Trading was non-existent all year long. For my part, I proposed a Ryan Grant-and-Calvin Johnson-for-Steven Jackson-and-Dominic Rhodes swap to The Sharks many weeks ago, but was quickly rebuffed. And thank goodness for that, as Jackson got hurt, Grant improved, and Calvin Johnson was stunningly consistent in the second half.
The Busts
Okay, so they're not all busts, exactly. But we've all got a few of them: big expectations, small numbers. Here are some of the biggest non-injury-related disappointments:
Santonio Holmes (Swedish)So, that's that. Congrats to the winners. It's been a great season already, and something tells me we'll have highly engaged, highly competitive owners in almost every slot next season.
Everyone though this would be his breakout year.
Jerricho Cotchery (Sedai)
Everyone though this would be his breakout year, too.
LaDainian Tomlinson (The Face Huggers)
Didn't have a bad year by any means (#13 among RBs), but nothing befitting the expectations attached to him. Finally gives up the title of "consensus #1 pick." Everyone and their dog will be taking Adrian Peterson #1 overall next year.
Joseph Addai (Yoda)
First-round pick, #33 among RBs. Scored less points than his backup, Dominic Rhodes.
Steven Jackson (The Sharks)
#5 overall pick, #21 overall RB.
Plaxico Burress (Swedish)
Caught just 35 balls in 10 games. Also, he friggin' shot himself.
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on these selections. And, of course, feel free to vent about any injuries, drops, disappointments, or anything else.
Last edited by Yoda; 12-08-08 at 08:49 PM.
Really struck by how even all four playoff teams, are -- just 22.02 points separate any one of us from any other.