2019 RECAPS: 8TH PLACE

MaKamaraca Great Again (5-8):

Coming in 8th place with a record of 5-8 and 1,523 points for (7th most) is MaKamaraca Great Again, owned by Kev O’Connell.

What Went Right:

For the second year in a row, Kev got the #2 pick in the draft. That’s pretty good luck no matter how you cut it.

Mike Evans – Kev’s third round pick is WR3 on the year with 1,100 yards and 7 TDs on 66 catches.

Kev had a really good start to the season and was 3-1 through the first 4 weeks. His team was averaging 125 points per week. He led the league in scoring in Week 3 with 170.3 points. It finally looked like he might have a good run in the league, but then… the rest of the season happened.

What Went Wrong:

Over the last 9 weeks of the season Kev went 2-8 and averaged 113 points per game. That’s a lot in standard scoring, but not in our hyper scoring league. He didn’t have too many close losses, his opponents just had better weeks.

Kev also had the third most points scored against him this year - a total of 1,595 or 123 per week.

Mike Evans – yes, he makes both lists. Despite being WR3 this season, Evans has been horribly inconsistent. In Weeks 1 and 2 he scored 3.8 and 8.1 points. In Week 5 he got shut out with 0 points. In Weeks 11, 12 and 13 he had 8.9, 7 and 7.3 points. So while you ultimately got a really good season from him, that’s 6 weeks where he absolutely killed you. At least he didn’t fight anyone this year?

I’ll also mention Antonio Brown - this is what the kids from CT call a “bad beat”. For 6 straight seasons, from 2013 through 2018, Antonio Brown caught 100 or more passes for 1,250 or more yards and 8 or more touchdowns. In that 6 year span he averaged 11 TDs per year with a low of 8 and a high of 15. He was traded to the Raiders in the offseason and exhibiting troubling signs, but no one could have anticipated what happened this year. Instead of an all-pro WR, Kev got 4 catches for 56 yards and a single TD from his 2nd round pick. He’s WR147 on the year. LOL.

This may be a hot take, but Alvin Kamara was kind of a bust this year. Despite being a consensus top 3 pick in the draft, he’s RB14 on the season. He’s rushed for fewer than 600 yards on the year and if it weren’t for his 64 catches for 444 yards, he’d be closer to RB41 than RB14. After scoring 31 combined TDs in his first two years and 18 last year, he only has TWO all season. I’m sure he’ll tear it up these last three weeks, but that won’t help Kev.

Likewise, Patrick Mahomes probably wasn’t worth the 4th round pick Kev had to pay to get him. He’s only QB9 on the season and has only scored 30+ points in 4 of the 10 games he’s played. He hasn’t been bad and he’s of course a must-start QB, but he’s underperformed for where he was drafted.

Robert Woods is another semi-bust. Sure he’s WR22, BUT….HE.HAS.NOT.CAUGHT.A.TD.ALL.SEASON. Let that sink in…. a guy with 64 catches for 835 yards on 99 targets…has not scored a TD all year. He’s had some good games lately, but a lot of people weren’t even starting him.

Genius Move:

Kev added Michael Gallup for $0 on September 2nd. This was prior to the season and has been a great add/drop. Despite missing 2 games, Gallup is WR24 on the year with 49 catches for 796 yards and 3 TDs. He’s had some dud performances, but also has 3 games with 20+ and 6 with 10+.

DJ Chark was another good FA add - $25 on October 2nd.  Chark emerged as the Jags #1 WR this year and has accumulated 58 catches for 881 yards and 8 TDs on the season. He’s currently WR9 despite not being drafted in many leagues (not drafted in ours). The young WR has a bright future in this league and will likely be a top 50 pick next year.

Jordan Howard was a decent value pick in the 8th round. He’s only RB30, but he’s missed the last 4 weeks with injury/bye. He had a three week stretch in Weeks 3-5 where he combined for 60 points and another 3 week stretch from Weeks 7-9 where he combined for nearly 50.

Dumbo Move:

Tarik Cohen in the 6th was a bad pick by Kev. Cohen is a PPR-type back and not very useful in our format (just 47 carries on the year). The Bears drafted David Montgomery and signed Mike Davis so it was clear this was going to be a committee. Cohen is RB36 on the season and only has 456 total yards.

Pre-Season Prediction:

“I predict Kev goes 8-5, makes the playoffs and finishes in 3rd place.”

Wrongooooo. I’ll say I’m 2 for 3 right now.

Final Thoughts:

I really thought this might be the year Kev would break the streak of bad luck. He had Kamara, Mike Evans, Antonio Brown, and the MVP from last season in Mahomes. I genuinely thought he had a good team, but I guess not. As always Kev had a ton of flukey performances and bad beats this year. You can’t make up some of the shit that happened to him and he really didn’t make any “bad” moves. Sure the AB pick was risky, but at the end of the 2nd round it was worth it. It just didn’t work out. Next year is the year Kev!