The NFL season is hallway over as Week 9 just went into the books. Schaumburg Stu and Dan the Man tied for the lead in our picks going 9-4 for the week. Mr. Fantasy and I also tied, but we where a game behind at 8-5. Overall Schaumburg Stu is in the lead at 74-46. Dan the Man is in 2nd pace with a record of 70-50. Mr. Fantasy and I are even toed overall at 64-56. Here’s hoping things go well in Week 10 starting tomorrow night when the Baltimore Ravens host the Cleveland Browns.
Since we are at the halfway point of the NFL season let’s look and see who’s been a fantasy find and who’s been a bust for your team. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was ranked 122nd at draft time. Ryan is the highest scoring quarterback in my league and would’ve been a steal for whoever got him. On the other side Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks was the 36th ranked player at draft time. Wilson has been banged up most of the season and it’s shown in his drop to 115th overall in the current fantasy rankings. Melvin Gordon of the San Diego Chargers was ranked a #60 going into the draft. Gordon is the top running back heading into week 10. Another running back who’s back at the top of the board is DeMarco Murray of the Tennessee Titans. Murray was ranked 44th coming into the draft and he’s just 11 fantasy points behind Gordon for the top running back spot. I don’t ever hold injuries against players; so it took me a while to find an under performing running back. I finally came across Ryan Matthews of the Philadelphia Eagles. Matthews was ranked 59th overall going into the draft. Going into Week 10 Matthews is ranked 102nd. A couple of wide receivers who’ve played well are Terrelle Pryor Sr. of the Cleveland Browns. Pryor Sr. was ranked at #95 going into the draft. Heading into Week 10 Pryor Sr. is 8th ranked wide receiver and 39th overall. Rookie Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints was at #119 going into the draft. Thomas is now ranked 48th overall and 11th among wide receivers. Wide Receiver has turned into the marquee position in fantasy football and a lot of owners took DeAndre Hopkins of the Houston Texans in the 1st round. It’s understandable because Hopkins was ranked 7th overall heading into the draft. Hopkins is now ranked 106th overall and 34th among wide receivers. At tight end let’s give a little love to Jimmy Graham of the Seattle Seahawks. It seems to have taken a season for Graham to find his role in the Seahawks offense. That showed in Graham’s pre-draft ranking as he was #135. Going into Week 10 Graham is 90th overall, but is the 2nd highest scoring tight end behind only Greg Olsen of the Carolina Panthers. Jack Doyle of the Indianapolis Colts would’ve been quite a find for a fantasy owner at tight end. Doyle was ranked down at #213 overall going into the draft. Doyle took advantage of the injury to Dwayne Allen and has moved up to #116 overall and is the 4th highest scoring tight end this season. I own Zach Ertz of the Philadelphia Eagles in one of my leagues and let me tell you he’s a bust. Ertz was ranked #88 overall and was the 7th ranked tight end. Ertz is now ranked overall at #467 and is the 29th highest scoring tight end this season. It’s tough to draft a Defense/Special Teams because you just never know how things will go. The Carolina Panthers where projected as the 3rd best Defense/Special teams unit coming into the draft. Going into Week 10 the Panthers Defense/Special Teams unit is the 10th highest scoring this season. The Minnesota Vikings Defense/Special Teams unit was the one to have. The Vikings Defense/Special Teams unit was projected to be #8 going into the draft. As we head into Week 10 the Vikings Defense/Special Teams unit is the top scoring one in fantasy football. Kickers fall into that hit or miss category as well and I never understand why someone jumps up to take a Kicker. Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts was ranked #4 going into the draft, but is the top scoring fantasy Kicker this season. Matt Bryant of the Atlanta Falcons was ranked #3 going into the draft and is just 1 point behind Vinatieri. Roberto Aguayo was the lowest ranked Kicker coming into the draft and he’s stayed there this season. The only Kickers Aguayo has outscored are Robbie Gould; who’s only played two games with the New York Giants and Patrick Murray who was cut by the Cleveland Browns early in the season.
Major League Baseball announced there nominees for the various post season awards, Here’s who was nominated for what award.
NL MVP: Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Daniel Murphy of the Washington Nationals and Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
AL MVP: Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Mookie Betts of the Boston Red Sox.
NL Cy Young: Kyle Hendricks of the Chicago, Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs and Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals.
AL Cy Young: Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox, Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers.
NL Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kenta Maeda of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Trea Turner of the Washington Nationals.
AL Rookie of the Year: Gary Sanchez of the New York Yankees, Tyler Naquin of the Cleveland Indians and Michael Fulmer of the Detroit Tigers.
NL Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker of the Washington Nationals, Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and joe Maddon of the Chicago Cubs.
AL Manager of the Year: Jeff Bannister of the Texas Rangers, Buck Showalter of the Baltimore Orioles and Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians.
I’m sure there where names you expected to be on this list as I did that didn’t make it. It doesn’t appear they looked very hard in the National League as there are 4 Cubs, 4 Dodgers and 4 Nationals nominated. At least the American League nominees are a little spread out. There are 3 Indians, 2 Tigers, 2 Red Sox and 1 nominees each from the Astros, Orioles, Rangers, Yankees and Angels. Feel free to put your winners in the comments and we’ll see how you do against who they pick.
I have Bryant as NL MVP, Betts as AL MVP, Lester as NL Cy Young, Porcello as AL Cy Young, Seager as NL Rookie, Sanchez as AL Rookie, Roberts as NL Manager and Francona as AL manager.
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