2020 Season Recaps - 6th Place
6th Place: Fresh Prince of Bhel-aire (7-6) – Rob Demagistris
Coming in 6th place with 1,468 points for (10th) was Fresh Prince of Bhel-aire (5-8) owned by Robby D.
What Went Right:
Me calling someone else lucky right now is the definition of “the pot calling the kettle black”, but damn Robby D is lucky. He finished 7-6 and got the 5th seed in the playoffs despite scoring the fewest points? Despite only averaging 113 points per game? As much as I don’t want to say it…. I have to say that is lucky. Tacking on to this – Robby D’s opponents scored more points against him (1,552) than he scored against them (1,468). Not typically a formula for success.
For comparison, DMO, Lamone, Ken and Dyl did not make playoffs. DMO scored 124 more points than Rob D, while Lamone scored 105 more, Ken scored 36 more and Dyl scored 25 more.
Now let’s focus on some things Robby D actively did well – and I’ll start with adding James Robinson for $20 of FAAB on September 16th. This was a GREAT move by Robby D and I have to admit, he’s got a knack for finding these waiver wire RBs. It just seems like he gets 1 big FA RB to pop every year. Anyways Robinson is RB4 in our scoring even after missing Week 16’s game. He never had a game with under 10 points and he put up 20 or more in 7 of 15 games played. All in all, he’ll finish with around 1,500 total yards and 10 TDs. Well done Bob D.
Sticking with the savvy pickup of young RBs, let’s talk about DeAndre Swift. Rob D grabbed him in the 7th round and while it’s been an up and down season, the stats say it was a success. Swift is RB23 despite missing 3 games and averages about 15 points in the games he did play. Well done again Bob D.
What Went Wrong:
Gotta start with Michael Thomas, who is the most frustrating first round pick not named Christian McCaffrey. Thomas played in Week 1 and scored a lackluster 3.2 points. He did not play again until Week 9, which included a bye and missing a game for punching a teammate in the face. I bet most of his owners wish they could punch Michael Thomas in the face. Thomas proceeded to put up 7.6 and 3.7 points in weeks 9 and 10… greattttt. While he sprinkled in a few productive games between Week 11 and 14, Thomas then missed Week 15 and 16 with injury. Super annoying and I speak as someone who had Thomas in another league.
Raheem Mostert was another injury concern for Bob D. The 6th round pick looked like a steal after the first two weeks where he put up 26 and 19 fantasy points respectively. He scored a TD in both games and then….got hurt. He missed week 3 and 4, produced in Weeks 5 and 6, but then missed weeks 7-11. He was in and out of the lineup in Weeks 12-15 before sitting out fully in Week 16. Had he been healthy, I absolutely think he would have been a top 12-15 RB.
We just took a deep dive into Ken’s Week 13 loss to Tieg, so let’s do the same for Rob D’s Week 14 loss to Tieg. Exact same set up here – Tieg started Taysom Hill in the TE spot, while leaving a roster spot open (Kicker DNP). Taysom Hill scored 24.4 points in Week 14 and if you subtract that from Tieg’s total of 122.45, he still would have beat Rob D by a score of 98 to 87. While Tieg arguably didn’t deserve to make playoffs in the first place, Taysom Hill was not the reason he beat Rob D in Round 1 of the playoffs. The integrity of my title is still (mostly) intact.
Preseason Prediction:
“I say Robby D finishes 6-7 and misses playoffs.”
Damn this is not looking good, pretty sure I’m only 1 for 5 at this point. Like with Ken I was off by 1 win/loss and like with Ken I could not have predicted some of the events that transpired. Namely that Rob D would score the fewest points and still somehow make playoffs.
Final Thoughts:
It was a cookie-cutter type year for Rob D as he finished 7-6 for the 2nd straight year and made playoffs. He also made his token FA running back addition and finished towards the middle of the pack in the standings. While he didn’t reach the pinnacle of success in this league, he’s got nothing to be ashamed about with respect to this season.
