There are no more waivers in Fanball leagues, so I’m writing this just for the 2 or 3 of you who are interested in my teams, to update you about my tragic week.
At my last update, I was surviving in 3 out of my original 9 leagues. In my Fanball leagues, there were no waivers left, so Week 13 rosters were final rosters. I was reasonable well-positioned, with good starters and at least decent backups in every position, including quarterback and tight end. In my ESPN league, I had enough FAAB advantage to ensure that I get my pick of the free agents for the rest of the season.
On Thanksgiving, disaster struck. I was sick and had a sleepless night, which is not too uncommon, but we also went to Thanksgiving dinner at a relative’s house, which meant drinking and parenting my two little kids, with no time to recover until the late afternoon. I crashed into the guest bed for a long nap, and slept through the news that Julio Jones was out. Not switching out Julio for Davante Adams was fatal. That 24-point swing was the difference between last place and 2nd place. So I’m eliminated in my Green Knights league.
In my ESPN league, I just had bad games from many players and no really good games from anyone. Mahomes 19.5 was not great, and then I got 10.7 from Lev Bell, 8.9 from Nik Chubb, 6.7 from DJ Chark, 10.1 from Tyreek Hill, 5.4 from Zack Ertz, and 0 from Tyler Lockett. My highest position player scores were 18.8 from Keenan Allen, 16.7 from Austin Ekeler, and 13.4 from Dalvin Cook. These would be okay top scores in Week 5, but in Week 13 they mean elimination. In retrospect, starting Lockett and Dalvin Cook were mistakes, since both had been cleared to start after injury concerns. I lost by 7 points, which means that if I had started any 2 backups (other than Julio Jones) over Lockett and Cook – any 2 of Calvin Ridley, Saquon Barkley, Amari Cooper, Cooper Kupp, Chris Carson, and Todd Gurley – I would have survived. In fact, my 7 active bench players (the above plus Deshaun Watson) scored nearly as many points as my 11 starters, getting outscored only 133.7 – 131.9.
That leaves me alive in only one league. My starters this week for Team The Bourgeoisie are:
QB: Russell Wilson
RB: Zeke Elliott
RB: Mark Ingram
WR: Davante Adams
WR: Stefon Diggs
TE: Travis Kelce
FLEX: Josh Jacobs
My bench has Drew Brees, Saquon Barkley, D.J. Moore, Jarvis Landry, and Jacob Hollister.
Here is my competition. The names are made up to avoid putting people’s handles in my blog.
Team Lamar
QB: Lamar Jackson
RB: Dalvin Cook
RB: Alvin Kamara
WR: DeAndre Hopkins
WR: Cooper Kupp
TE: Hunter Henry
FLEX: Tyreek Hill
Bench: Daniel Jones, Melvin Gordon, Philip Lindsay, Odell Beckham, Mark Andrews
Team Mahomes
QB: Patrick Mahomes
RB: Leonard Fournette
RB: Aaron Jones
WR: Michael Thomas
WR: Tyler Lockett
TE: Darren Waller
FLEX: Austin Ekeler
Bench: Dak Prescott, James White, Kenny Golladay, Sammy Watkins, Ryan Griffin
Team Rodgers
QB: Aaron Rodgers
RB: Todd Gurley
RB: Derrick Henry
WR: Chris Godwin
WR: Julio Jones
TE: Jared Cook
FLEX: Keenan Allen
Bench: Kyler Murray, Kenyan Drake, Tevin Coleman, D.J. Chark, Greg Olsen
The owner of Team Rodgers bragged right after the draft that he will win the league. I think he finishes 4th.
The next 3 weeks are playoffs, and the winner is determined by cumulative points.
Good luck to all the teams out there that made the playoffs!
The Fantasy Value Project 