WEEK 7 RECAPS - PART 1

Ladies, gentlemen and everyone whose luck is better than mine (re: everyone in this league aside from Kev). We’ve made it, we’re officially past the halfway point of the season. It’s been one of the most high scoring seasons of fantasy football and that’s made for an interesting first half of the season in our league. Since we’re at the mid-way point and just about every website does this, I’ve decided to give awards for each team. For this week’s entertainment we’ll give midseason awards for:

The MVP: the most valuable player to each team

The Bum: the player who has let you down the most

Second Half Breakout: the player who is primed to have a big second half

Not too creative on my part, but I think it’ll be fun to give out awards and give credit/blame/optimism where it’s due. In opposite order of the standings:

Dalvin CooKens African Rhino: 0-7

The MVP: Slim pickings here, but I have to go with Odell Beckham. He’s leading Rob D’s entire team with 120 fantasy points (17 per week) and is currently WR5. He has 4 games with 100+ receiving yards and has 6 or more catches in 6 of 7 games. He’s had two bummy weeks (7 in Weeks 2/6), but a top 5 WR he still is.

The Bum: Dalvin Cook, obviously. Rob D’s 2nd rounder has only played in 3 games and I’m not sure he’s finished any of them. He’s been hampered by injury all year and is RB64 in our scoring. To make matters worse, Robby D doesn’t have his handcuff (Latavius Murray – 54 combined points the last two weeks).

Second Half Breakout: While he’s already broken out, I think Terence & Phillip Lindsay could be even better in the second half. Aside from a Week 10 bye, he has a pretty favorable schedule going forward and should continue to lead the Broncos backfield. On the year he’s a top 13 RB and has scored 11 or more points in 6 of his 7 games (22 in Week 7).

 SLAMMY TWATSKiNS: 3-4

The MVP: Another one I had to search for, but let’s go with Kirk You Like That Cousins. Lamone’s QB1 is QB3 in our scoring and has put up 20+ points in 6 of 7 games this year. He also has two games with 40+ points and is Lamone’s highest ranking player at their respective positions. His schedule going forward is very favorable, with NO, Det, Chi, GB and the Pats remaining during the fantasy regular season.

The Bum: Gotta go with Keenan Allen here – WR13 in your playbooks, WR27 in our scoring. Puke. Allen has only 1 game with 100+ yards and aside from the 22 he scored in Week 1, his weekly high score is 13.7. While Allen has scored a combined 22.8 points the last two weeks, his teammate Tyrell Williams has scored 49 points.

Second Half Breakout: I’m gonna go with the Star of Larry David Johnson here. He’s not on Frader’s team anymore, but it still plays. Anyways after a terrible horrible no good start to the season, Johnson has picked it up a bit of late. He’s scored 4 TDs the last 4 weeks and I think the Cardinals lean on him as they try to salvage some pride the rest of the way. Like many breakout candidates, he has a great schedule on tap: SF, KC, OAK, LAC and Green Bay.

 You Done Messed Up A A Ron!: 3-4

The MVP: Despite playing through injuries all year I’ll give the MVP to DeAndre Hopkins. The former Clemson and Hard Knocks star is WR4 at press time and leads Frader’s Flex-eligible (non-QB) players with 121 fantasy points. He’s 3rd in the NFL in receiving yards, 8th in receptions and 11th in receiving TDs.

The Bum: Jordan Howard Guy Ritch, RB of the Chicago Bears. The 3rd round pick (26 overall) is currently RB30 in our scoring and has been surpassed by Tarik Cohen (fortunately Frader has him). He started the season out pretty well with 16, 11 and 20 fantasy points, but his totals the last 3 games have been 4.7, 7.7 and 13.7. If you take out the short TD he had against the Pats, he would have scored 7 points in Week 7.

(Not Jordan Howard….)

Second Half Breakout: I would have said Sony Michel here, but obviously he got injured. Instead let’s talk about Michael Thomas. Despite uninspired performances in Weeks 4 (6.7 points) and 5 (9 points), he’s put up 16 or more in every single game. He’s still WR10 and he can only go up from here. He’s past his bye week and has a decent schedule going forward – MIN, LAR, CIN, PHI, ATL and the Cowboys.

Zeke-A-Tyreek: 3-4

The MVP: Keetz has pretty good luck with his team name-sakes and Tyreek Hill has been no different. He’s WR2 in our scoring and has outscored every single WR who was taken ahead of him in the draft. There were 3 slow weeks in there (31 combined points in Weeks 3-5), but he’s scored 17 or more in 4 of 7 games. That includes a 50 point performance in Week 1 and a 38 pointer in Week 6 – both wins for Keetz.

The Bum: Not much to say here, it’s Devonta Freeman. The 14th pick in our draft is RB79 in our scoring and is currently on IR. There’s a chance he comes back this year, but it’ll probably be after the fantasy season.  

Second Half Breakout: Let’s go with Doug Baldwin. This is a true breakout candidate and somewhat of a bold call. The numbers look bad – WR114 and a combined 19 fantasy points on the year. That being said, he had his best game right before their bye (6 catches 90 yards) and he typically gets hot later in the year. Last year he scored 7 TDs after Week 7 and in 2016, he scored 5 TDs after week 7. I think he’ll be a focal point of the offense the rest of the year.

The West Canaan Coyotes: 3-4

The MVP: Easy choice here, it’s ya boi Saquon Barkley. He’s RB2 in our scoring and has 20 or more points in every game this season. I’m pretty sure Todd Gurley is the only other RB that can say that. He’ll probably suck going forward because the Commish can’t have nice things, but he’s been as good as advertised to start the year.

The Bum: All of you assholes who decide to have huge games against my team. Despite leading the league in points, I have a losing record. This is because I have the 2nd most points against and you assholes always have big games against me. We’ve had 7 games this season. In 3 of those 7 weeks, the high scorer for the week has been the team I played. Thanks guys.

Second Half Breakout: I’ll go with Nick Chubb here. The Carlos Hyde surprise trade opened up a starting RB spot for him and it’s a favorable one – Browns RBs average more than 17 carries per game. He lived up to the expectations in his first start with 18 carries for 80 yards and a TD. Let’s hope he can keep it up the rest of the year.

skErtz skErtz w Mahomiez: 4-3

The MVP: There are a few options here, but I’ll pick Zach Ertz. He’s the #1 TE this year and the only TE to have 100 fantasy points in our league. He already has 57 catches on the season which is 2nd best in the NFL. The next highest TE has 38…… And all of this came at a 4th round price tag.

The Bum: Another easy one, Leonard Fournette. Fournette has only played in 2 of 7 possible games and likely won’t play in Week 8. He then has a bye in Week 9 so Dylan’s not gonna get a thing out of him until Week 10 at the earliest. He’s RB77 on the year with a grand total of 15 fantasy points.

Second Half Breakout: I’ll say TY Hilton here, Dylan’s 3rd round pick. He’s WR33 right now, but that’s mainly because he’s missed 2 games with injury. In the 5 games he’s played, he has 25 catches for 300 yards and 4 TDs. He scored 2 TDs this past week while playing with an injury and things should only go up from there.