NFL Waiver Wire – Fantasy Awards

Fantasy Football — 03 January 2011

Ok, everyone won their league right? Not everyone? I guess you haven’t been reading and paying attention to me each week then. Oh wait, I didn’t win either. I lost in the championship game and missed the championship game in another league because I made a terrible fantasy mistake. Two weeks ago, I forgot the Chargers were playing on Thursday night and I left Antonio Gates in and left Vincent Jackson on my bench. I had a player to put in for Gates since I knew he was out, I just hadn’t done it yet. So I got a big fat ZERO for Gates and Jackson catches 3 touchdowns. Had I paid attention and not been a dumbass, that game was mine.

But my real season could have ended with a Bengals win. It’s always nice to beat the Ravens and the Bengals usually play them pretty close. Today’s game was close again and the Bengals make a drive in the final seconds and get in scoring range. Then on 4^th down, Carson Palmer runs to his left and has a couple of options. He makes a throw to an open receiver but throws it like 5 yards out of his reach. That’s just how this season went. But it’s over and I’m sure there will be several changes to the team before next year.

I think we’ll see a bunch of changes all over the league in the off-season. McNabb is surely done in Washington and will go somewhere else. They didn’t win with Grossman either and while he threw for some yards and touchdowns, he likes the turnovers. Only one interception today but two more fumbles. If the Redskins are planning to go with him as their starter next season, I’d feel sorry for Redskins fans. Oh yeah, I’m a Bengals fan so they’re probably even more sorry for me. Isn’t that just sad?

Since the fantasy season is over, I thought I’d hand out some fantasy awards and look at a few players that I’d hold onto if I were in a keeper league. And with that, here are my awards.

Fantasy MVP – For this, I’m going to go with the guy who I’d say is the real MVP as well. And I’m talking about Tom Brady. Yes, the man with the supermodel wife. I give it to him because he was just consistent all year. I had him on one team and he’s the one guy I could start no matter what the weather was. In fact, he played pretty awesome in some terrible weather on a couple of occasions. But with a win today, Brady set three records: 28 consecutive regular-season wins at home, 335 straight passes without an interception and 9 games with at least 2 td passes and no interceptions. He ends the year with 36 touchdown passes and 4 interceptions. 4!!! All of these things just scream MVP to me.

Fantasy Rookie Of The Year – Sam Bradford (QB, Rams). I had a feeling he’d play well in the NFL. In my main Yahoo! League, Bradford finished 20^th in overall scoring. He even outscored guys like Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Michael Turner and Ray Rice. Depending on your league’s scoring, he may not have finished that high. The next two rookies were from Tampa Bay. Mike Williams had almost 1000 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns. The other guy was LeGarrette Blount, who rushed for 1007 yards and 6 touchdowns. And to think, Blount wasn’t even with the Bucs at first. He was picked up after the Titans cut him.

Fantasy Bust Of The Year – There are always so many options for this one. But I’m going to go with Randy Moss. Sure, there were guys like Shonn Greene, Beanie Wells and Ryan Mathews that were drafted very early. Greene and Mathews were taken in the 1^st round a lot and I saw them go in the top 10 picks in many drafts. I didn’t think either one would have a great season to begin with so I stayed away from both. I don’t think I’d be able to bring myself to drafting a rookie RB in the top 10 anyway. Anyway, I went with Moss because he was drafted in the 1^st round (12th overall on average) and after moving through three teams, he was on the waiver wire at the end of the year and no one was picking him up. He didn’t even end up in the top 60 for receivers. I call that a bust for sure.

If you’re in a keeper league, here are a few names I’d really consider holding onto for next year. Obviously, you’re going to keep your stars. If you have Brady, Peyton, Vick or AP, they’re a given. I’m just trying to think of some younger players that had a breakout year or showed the potential to have a huge year next season. And at least one of them (McFadden) is a keeper after several years of being a disappointment because of production or injury.

Josh Freeman (QB, Bucs), Sam Bradford (QB, Rams), Peyton Hillis (RB, Browns), Darren McFadden (RB, Raiders), LeSean McCoy (RB, Eagles), Hakeem Nicks (WR, Giants), Mike Wallace (WR, Steelers), Stevie Johnson (WR, Bills), Mike Williams (WR, Bucs), LeGarrette Blount (RB, Bucs), Mike Thomas (WR, Jags), Dez Bryant (WR, Cowboys) and Kenny Britt (WR, Titans).

It was a great fantasy football season and I hope you enjoyed my recommendations. I’ll continue to bring the waiver wire for basketball and will probably do something for the baseball season as well. I’ll leave you with Fox’s top 10 plays of the year. I’m not sure that I agree with them all though. I can remember Mike Williams making a great touchdown catch to end a game that was pretty impressive. And, of course, the Bengals made the top 10 but on the wrong side of the highlight.