Welcome to the New Year

It is hard to believe that the 2023 fantasy football season is over, for me this season was a whirlwind. All the buildup and anticipation of becoming a millionaire is now but a fleeting memory, but this is a dream and ship I plan to to chase again next year.

My personal fantasy season included a large number of best ball drafts, a few dynasty leagues, and the Scott Fish Bowl, in addition to the high stakes teams I have been tracking in this newsletter throughout the season. I won two dynasty leagues including the Dynasty Chasing tournament made up of friends from the Ship Chasing discord (I will milk this one for bragging rights). My best ball season began very promising with above average advance rates in almost every contest, but in the end only two teams made it to the Week 17 finals. These were a Chihuahua team on Underdog and a 600k Play Action team on Draft Kings.

These sweats were pretty brutal, as the Chihuahua team set me up for a disappointing end after being shot out of a canon Thursday night. I sat in first place with Breece Hall, Jerome Ford, and Tyler Conklin putting up higher than expected fantasy performances. I also had CMC, whose score didn’t even end up counting for my team, and was a huge failure along with a band of under performing wide receivers and a dud from George Kittle. Ultimately, I only placed 129th, settling for min cash. The Draft Kings team included a Detroit team stack and CeeDee Lamb bring back and low owned Kyren Williams. The CeeDee explosion was nice, but I didn’t have enough other differentiators to separate in my lineup. I finished in 68th place, which was above min cash at least.

However, these were not the most difficult sweats to mentally cope with, it was several of my teams that were barely eliminated in week 15 and week 16 that would have smashed in the finals that haunt my thoughts the most. Why would I torture myself and look back on these teams you may be asking. The answer is, I do not look, these teams are etched into memory (for better and for worse) that’s what I get for tracking my babies so closely and becoming emotionally invested. One of these teams in a smaller contest, The Dalmatian, barely missed advancing to week 16… it had Amari Cooper (good chance it would have been enough to get to week 17). This team was a Lamar, Ford, Achane, CeeDee and Amon Ra team… yes I feel sick.

Between these near misses and all the agonizing decisions for the high stakes teams where a simple start/sit decision could be a several thousand dollar swing, there is a lot of pressure and mental anguish that comes with the territory. I am also a highly competitive person and can be very hard on myself. Honestly, writing about this is a great way to free myself from some of these burdens, as well as talking with several friends in the community over shared misery helps too.

I know I recapped somethings that sound a bit pessimistic, I can be a bit of a realist, but the truth is last year was an amazing season and year in fantasy football. All these losses and close calls only serve as fuel for the fire heading into this year, and overall the season was a profitable one (despite not becoming a millionaire). Happy New Years everyone, lets make 2024 the best year yet!

A Look at Week 17

NFFC Prime Time

The Buckeye Boomers 7th Place 666.27 pts (+86 spots)

The Boomers went boom when it mattered most putting up 227 points in week 17, the 2nd most points behind only the winning team overall. The Boomers ended up in 7th place adding an additional 8.5k in winnings to their pot. There were several difficult decisions for this team like choosing the correct QB (yes Kyler was the right answer). The other big decision points were which wide receivers to roll out. Davante Adams was never a question despite a series of disappointing performances, but JSN and Romeo Doubs were possibilities before ultimately riding the hot hand with Pickens and Green Bay rookie. There was a legitimate chance for the boomers to jump several more places if Jayden Reed did not leave early with a chest injury, but it is hard to complain with this type of fantasy performance.

Waiver Chasing 155th Place 561.47 pts (-63 spots)

My prime time team had fizzled out in week 17 after a big finish the week before. Both primetime teams started the week in back-to-back places, so it is a bit of a stab in the heart to see what could have been. This was the premier TE spot and Kelce had a devastating performance, what began with an incredible second round value ultimately was fools gold. Breece Hall dominating the weather game, was fun to see, but the rest of the team left much to be desired after Gibbs and Swift were both huge busts as well. We still had an incredible run and had a lot of luck throughout the season. The experience of doing a live draft was incredible, I cannot wait for next season.

NFFC Super 12 Team

Shark Jumping 2nd Place 594.81 pts. (-1 spot)

It feels weird to complain about a team that finished in second place, but after dominating the entire season it is a difficult pill to swallow with only a 3.25 point difference in the end. Shark Jumping came into the playoffs a large favorite holding onto an incredible lead after week 15. When week 16 came it was a season low performance from the 49ers, which allowed another team to close the gap. Still, heading into week 17 with any lead on a team that features Purdy, CMC, and Aiyuk against the Washington Commanders, DeVonta Smith against the Cardinals, and rookie sensations Gibbs and LaPorta in the highest total game of the week, it felt like a slam dunk. It is difficult to envision a loss, but that is what happened. CMC and Gibbs were far from dominant and a perplexing flex decision between Kenneth Walker, who was questionable with shoulder injury and illness, and Ty Chandler, who continued to see the dominant share of work even when Mattison returned, was a 9k decision on the wrong side of the variance pendulum swing. This team still had an amazing run and profitable season… thanks Leone.

NFFC Silver Bullet

Ship Chasing Single Bullet 13th Place 613.74 pts (+3 spots)

The Single Bullet team had a strong fantasy season overall, and a solid week 17 performance. This team got as high as 7th place early on in the sprint, but top 20 is commendable. Having one of best players hurt for the entirety of the playoffs is less than ideal, and we felt that sting with the loss of Keenan Allen. Lamar finally had an MVP fantasy performance, but second week dud for James Cook, and Eagles let down prevented a good week from being great. Congratulations on a solid season boys.

FFPC Main Event

Chasin’ Go Bills 497th Place 555.72 pts (-306 spots)

The Chasin’ Go Bills team I spoke on last week, this was once of if not the strongest team, but a slew of bad luck finally put a nail in the coffin. Chasin’ was forced to play the first two weeks of the sprint without a quarterback and when finally getting CJ Stroud back they lost Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle. Don’t feel too bad for this team tho as they still had a very profitable season as those who are not familiar with FFPC main event you get money for 1st seed, winning your league, and the most points… all of which this team pulled off (Merry Christmas indeed Darrell).

SC (Mini Episodes) 130th Place 616.33 pts (+32 spots)

This was the team we all watched on stream where the guys talked through their strategy. I loved this team as it personified the zero RB principals and showed what it meant to be dominate with prolific wide receivers. This team had a strong finish in week 17, there were just some massive scores, and without starting closer to the top it was a very difficult ladder to climb. The boys still did manage to add a little more cash as the top 150 teams in the sprint get paid out.

Five Horsemen 402nd Place 567.73 pts (+2 spots)

The Horsemen had a season of epic highs and lows… thats what happens when most of your team is reliant on Arthur Smith and the Jets. Breece Hall is a legitimate stud and paid off for any team brave enough to roster him. Garrett Wilson is the face of get the man a quarterback please as we watched a trio of the worst quarterbacks the league has to offer throw to an absolute baller. Bijan Robinson gave way to second year player Tyler Allgeier just as we all prothesized and another trio of promising rookies put up solid performances, (well 2 of 3, JSN didn’t do much as usual). The season still culminated into a successful one as the guys came in as the 1 seed and league champions.

StephWuGee 86th Place 628.69 pts (+84 spots)

My main event team had quite the eventful season. We began as big time underdogs and got hot towards the end of the season defeating the reigning champs for the 4th seed to keep our dreams alive. We were terrified we would not have a quarterback in week 13, but were saved when Joe Flacco earned a start and never looked back as we won our league. We entered the sprint from behind and climbed the ladder, a couple different decisions and we could have finished even better; Jordan Addison week 15, not Jordan Addison week 16, and starting Jason Sanders the last two weeks were the biggest ones. I am proud of our underdogs, even tho we got pushed right behind the line to win another main event entry.

I would also like to give a shout out and give a big congratulations to two other teams in the family.

Mazel Tov CrakRok for finishing 11th place overall, only 31.16 pts away from the 1st Place million dollar prize! Wait…why is Amari Cooper in the lineup?!!!! What are you doing my man, fire those interns stat!

I also have to congratulate our own Ben Gretch and Shawn Siegele for the 30th place finish of their team Unknown Unknown Delaware, check out the latest Rotoviz Overtime episode to hear the full breakdown of the team’s epic journey. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rotoviz-radio/id1438840258?i=1000640261389