WEEK 12 RECAPS - PART 1 — Protector Of The League

WEEK 12 RECAPS – FINAL WEEK

Well that went by fast…way too fast. 12 weeks in the books with 1 week remaining in the regular season. Unbelievable how quickly September, October and November go, but here we are. As with every season, the week 12 entertainment will be the final installment of the season. After the regular season I plan to move on to obituaries so we can start wrapping things up.

To help us all get through the brutal week after Thanksgiving, we’ll be doing two different sections of write-ups. This won’t be the usual – split up the recap into two pieces. No No – for the final week of recaps I’m doing two separate analyses. They will be as follows:

Part 1: I’m going to look back at everyone’s draft and identify two “swing picks”. These are picks that had they gone another way, would have severely impacted your season. Most of them will be picks you missed on that have bitten you in the ass, but some will be picks you nailed that have been instrumental to your team’s success. Either way, I think it’ll be interesting to see - and it will get us thinking about year end recaps.

Part 2: Part 2 will be shorter, but it will analyze the playoff scenarios for each team. Most teams are still in it, so we’ll get to examine the potential repercussions of the Week 13 matchups.

I’ll also try to get the final two interviews in during Part 2. Due to my substandard performance as a Commissioner this year, I haven’t been able to interview Guy or Tieg. Hopefully they’ll have time to do it this week, but they’re both busy lately so not sure we’ll be able to. Anyways let’s get on with it:

Pick 1: Deangelo Vickers: 6-6

Swing Pick: Rob Gronkowski, 2nd Round, 20th overall. No denying it, Gronk has been a disappointment this season. Despite his 13 points in Week 12, he’s still TE13 on the year. Players such as Vance McDonald, Jordan Reed and David Njoku rank higher. He missed 4 games with injury and has scored 7 or fewer in 4 other games. It seems like Gronk is getting right just in time for Guy’s playoff run, but had guy taken a RB or WR in the 2nd round he may have already clinched a playoff spot.

Swing Pick: Speaking of swing picks…. The pick right after Gronk was the complete opposite of everything I just said. Guy took Devante Adams with the 21st overall pick and it’s been wonderful. Adams is WR3 in our league, averaging 19 points per game. He’s scored 12 or more in every game this season and has 77 catches for 1,000 yards and 10 TDs to date. If Guy had taken someone like…say.. AJ Green (WR22), his season wouldn’t be going as well. (AJ Green was the very next pick.)

Pick 2: The GOAT and His Kids: 6-6

Swing Pick: This one is a lay-up – Le’Veon Bell. We all know the story – Bell won’t play any snaps this year and by my count Kev will end up getting approximately zero points from the #2 overall pick. If Kev had taken any other player with his first round pick – and he could have taken ANY player with his first round pick – his season would have gone a lot differently. (David Johnson would have been my choice.)

Swing Pick: James Conner is the easy pick here, but I’ll go in a different direction. Tom Brady with the 39th pick (4th round) was another swing pick. Brady was the 2nd QB off the board and is currently the 14th ranked QB in fantasy. 14th!! Kev could have waited til the 13th round to pick a QB and his season probably would have gone better. Legitimately, the 13th round. Matt Ryan (QB3), and Philip Rivers (QB9) were both 13th round picks. Not ideal.

Pick 3: SLAMMY TWATSKiNS: 6-6

Swing Pick: Jerick McKinnon in the 3rd round was a swing pick for Lamone. A big swing and a big miss. McKinnon tore his ACL the day after the draft and like Le’Veon Bell, has provided zero points for Lamone’s team. Guess who the next pick was…. Joe Mixon. Mixon is RB14 with 900 total yards and 6 TDs. And that’s despite missing 2 games with injury. This is the biggest “what if” pick so far.

Swing Pick: Theo Riddick in the 14th round was another “what if” for Lamone. Even though I normally don’t scrutinize a 14th round pick, I have to here. Lamone had a free RB spot to use and used it on Riddick - an RB who has only combined for 14 TDs over the past 3 seasons and is currently RB59. Imagine if he spent it on the potential starting RB for the Pittsburgh Steelers though… Conner went 3 picks later to Kev and that has saved Kev’s season. I’ve seen what it looks like when the Le’Veon Bell owner didn’t get Conner and it is not pretty. Lamone would probably have clinched a playoff spot by now if he got that Riddick pick right, while simultaneously ruining Kev’s season. Rat dick.

Pick 4: Kens African Safari: 9-3

Swing Pick: Adam Thielen is the first choice here – currently WR2 with 93 catches for 1,138 yards and 8 TDs. Thielen was Ken’s 4th round pick and the players that went immediately after him were: Demaryius Thomas (WR36), Tom Brady (QB14) and Derrick Henry (RB39). Thielen has gone over 100 yards in 9 of 11 games and has caught 6 or more passes in 9 of 11 games as well. When Ken wins the league, we’ll look back at this pick and know why.

Swing Pick: For how good Ken’s team has been this year, there’s one bad swing pick. Alex Collins was the 44th pick in the draft during the 5th round. He hasn’t had a horrible season, but he only has 400 rushing yards and is RB32. Oh yeah and he lost his job to something name Gus Edwards. Lamar Miller was the very next pick in the draft – RB15 with 775 rushing yards. JuJu Smith Schuster (WR10) and Brandin Cooks (WR13) were the two picks after Miller. If Ken had picked any of those three he probably woulda won the league already.

Pick 5: The West Canaan Coyotes: 7-5

Swing Pick: Christian McCaffrey has been great for me this season and has 1,300 total yards with 10 TDs (RB7). That said, imagine if I had taken Julio Jones instead of him? My RB depth is the strength of my team, evidenced by the fact that I had Lamar Miller and Nick Chubb on the bench this past week (50 combined points). Meanwhile, my WR depth is an insult to fantasy football. Currently WR2 is Larry Fitzgerald who is WR37 with 25 combined points the last two weeks. Rather than McCaffrey, I could have had Julio Jones – WR4 with 4 straight games of 20 or more points. Woulda been a really balanced team that way.

Swing Pick: As solid as Lamar Miller has been (see above), I should have taken another WR there. Miller has been really good the past 5 weeks, averaging 20.5 points per game, but he was terrible the first 5 weeks of the season (averaged 9.5 points per game). As we saw earlier, JuJu and Brandin Cooks went immediately after Miller. As we also just saw, WRs are my team’s weakness. If I had taken JuJu or Cooks, my team would have been better.

Pick 6: You Done Messed Up A A Ron!: 4-8

Swing Pick: DeAndre Hopkins was a big swing pick for Frader’s team. Hopkins has had a nice season putting up a total of 190 fantasy points (WR7), but look who Frader passed up to pick him - Zeke Elliot. Zeke has had a much better season than Hopkins, putting up 275 fantasy points as RB4. RB has been an issue for Frader most of the year and this is part of the reason why.

Swing Pick: Piggybacking off the above - the other problem is what the Hopkins pick forced Frader to do with his 3rd round pick – select Jordan Howard. Frader wanted to go WR heavy to start the draft and if he started RB-WR with his 1st and 2nd picks, he could have taken a WR in the 3rd round. Still WR heavy if 2 of your first 3 picks are WRs. Guess which WR was available when Frader picked in the 3rd round…. Tyreek Hill, the #1 WR in all of fantasy. If Frader started Zeke, Michael Thomas and then Tyreek Hill, he would most likely be in the playoffs if not looking at a bye. Instead he missed the playoffs… :(

Pick 7: Zeke – a – Tyreek: 7-5

Swing Pick: Devonta Freeman was a swing pick of the swing and miss persuasion. Like a number of teams, Keetz decided to go RB-RB to start the draft. Unfortunately the second RB in that equation is Devonta Freeman, currently RB87. He’s played in 2 games all year and it’s safe to say he’s the biggest bust of the second round. If Keetz had taken Michael Thomas, Christian McCaffrey, Keenan Allen or Mike Evans (next 4 picks), his team would be much better.

Swing Pick: Now for a swing in the right direction - Keetz nailed his 9th round pick. Even though Andrew Luck didn’t play in 2017, Zeke a Tyreek decided to draft him as its starting QB. Rather than reaching for a QB like Rodgers or Brady, Keetz was patient and made a huge upside play. It paid off. Luck is QB7 and has thrown 3 or more TDs in 8 straight games.

Pick 8: DalvinCooKens AfricanRhino: 1-11

Swing Pick: Dalvin Cook is the easy choice here – the 3rd pick in the 2nd round. Despite the fact he was coming off an ACL tear, Bob D took Cook over 2nd round studs like McCaffrey, Michael Thomas, Julio, Keenan Allen and Mike Evans. Cook is the #1 reason why Robby D has had such a tough season, but this pick could have easily gone another way if Rob D factored the injury in.

Swing Pick: Although our kicker scoring is pretty low, Robby D went with Stephen Gostkowski in the 11th round of our draft. This was the earliest anyone took a kicker, as Gostkowski was the 108th pick and the next kicker was taken at 121st or the 13th round (Zeurlein). Looking at it now, 7 of the 10 teams waited til the 14th or 15th round to draft their kicker. While it was a reach, the problem is the player taken immediately after Gostkowski…. Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes is the #1 QB and fantasy MVP, while Gostkowski averages 6 points per week.

Pick 9: skErtz skErtz w Mahomiez: 7-5

Swing Pick: TY Hilton was the first swing pick I see. Hilton’s had an up and down season, but he’s currently WR20 despite missing 2 games. He’s come on strong late with 61 combined points over the last three weeks, 2 of which were wins for Dyl. While his stats aren’t eye popping, he’s been a contributor. Especially when you consider the WRs taken with the next few picks…. Amari Cooper (WR27 and was probably closer to 50 before this last game), Larry Fitz (WR37), Golden Tate (WR25) and Doug Baldwin (WR75). A bad choice coulda cost him there.

Swing Pick: Zach Ertz is another positive swing pick as the 4th and 5th rounds were just brutal this year. Some people think taking a TE in the 4th round is too early, most people actually. Lucky for Dyl he wasn’t afraid to take Ertz because it’s been awesome for him. Ertz is TE1 with 84 catches, 895 yards and 6 TDs. Those are good numbers for a WR, nevermind a TE. (He also provided Dyl with a fantasy football team name as Ertz is probably the easiest person to make a team name with.) Here are some of the other players taken in the 4th round: Golden Tate (WR25), Doug Baldwin (WR75), Aaron Rodgers (QB12), Demaryius Thomas (WR36), Tom Brady (QB13) and Derrick Henry (RB39).

Pick 10: Thanos anal snap: 7-5

Swing Pick: Melvin Gordon and Kareem Hunt were huge swing picks for Tieg. He took the pair of them at the end of the first and the beginning of the second round and has been rewarded with RB6 and RB8. Guess who went immediately after those two guys…. Leonard Fournette (RB40), Dalvin Cook (RB56) and Devonta Freeman (RB87). He actually said that he meant to draft Fournette over Hunt right after the draft, so this is even more fortunate than a normal swing pick.

Swing Pick: The final swing pick is a pick that was made possible by the other teams in the draft. The following WRs were taken in the 9th round: Alshon, Edelman, Chris Godwin and Randall Cobb. Not one of them is ranked higher than WR32. This left Robert Woods just sitting there for Tieg when he picked in the 10th round. Robert Woods is WR14 on the year and has a great schedule to close out the season. What if…