GWBL - Week 6 - State of the Union (Part 1)

Gentlemen,

Welcome to the first GWBL writeup of the 2021 season. It’s been a long time since you’ve heard from your favorite Commissioner and I apologize for that. In past years I would have completed 5-8 writeups by now, but 2021 is different. Two kids under two and increased responsibilities at work have sapped me of all my spare time and a few things have gone by the wayside. Fantasy football recaps, working out, sleeping, showering, etc. Basic things you can’t do when you have 2 kids in diapers and a ~50 hour a week job. In any case I’m going to do my best to finish this season strong and hopefully breath some life into the league.

For this week’s entertainment I’ll be doing a State of the Union for each team. Don’t worry though, we’re not going into politics here. This will just be a small recap of how each team is doing as well as a few thoughts of my own regarding each squad. I think that covers everything so let’s get into it. In reverse order of the standings.

10th Place: How I Metcalf Your Mother (0-6) - Kev:

I said I wouldn’t get political here, but this season has gone about as well as Sleepin Joe’s presidency so far. From having the most points against (inflation), the fewest points for (Afghanistan debacle), troubling performances from star players (border crisis) and injuries (delta variant/forced vaccinations), it’s been a season of frustration for Kev and Joe alike. I’ll go into more detail on Kev’s struggles, but from here on out it’s strictly football.

So why has Kev struggled so much? I’d say the main culprit is his WR group. DK Metcalf (2nd round) has been solid as WR11, but there are 16 players with more receiving yards than him and he’s coming off an 8.8 point dud. With Russel Wilson on the IR, it’s hard to see Metcalf living up to draft expectations. Amari Cooper (4th round) has also failed to live up to expectations. He’s WR19 and has only topped 69 yards (nice) once in 6 games (not nice). Julio Jones (5th round) is WR81 and can’t stay healthy. Speaking of injuries, Jerry Jeudy (6th) has only played in 1 game all year. Last but not least, Devonta Smith (8th round) has been inconsistent due to bad QB play (WR40 in our scoring).

I almost wonder if Kev was drafting based on PPR scoring/rankings? Or he was going with the Keetz-zero-WR approach thinking he could rely on a strong WR group and find usable RBs off waivers? Unfortunately neither approach has worked so far for him and he’s 0-6. (I also have to mention George Kittle has been a bust - 3rd round pick, not even a top 20TE.)

This got a little negative, so we’ll end with a positive. Congrats to Kev on his recent wedding. Emma and I were able to attend and it was a blast. Good food, good people, good times.

9th Place: A Finkle In Time (2-4) - Frader:

Frader finds himself at 2-4 and is another team that’s looking to forget the first 6 weeks of this season. Like Kev his team struggles to put up points (9th), but unlike Kev he hasn’t been killed by points against (2nd fewest). Ironically enough, underperforming WRs have also contributed to a slow start here. Calvin Ridley (2nd round) hasn’t been a difference maker and is WR55 in our scoring. After posting a 90-1375-9 receiving line last year, he’s on pace for 92-867-3 this year. He missed week 5 and had a bye in Week 6 and so I’m not really sure what to expect from him the rest of the way. Aj Brown (3rd round) has been a bust just like his teammate Julio. He’s WR87 in our league and his “on-pace-for” stats are even worse than Ridley’s. He’s also injured a lot. Robert Woods (4th round) has been underwhelming as well. He’s WR23, but that’s only because of a 23 point outburst in Week 5. Take that away and he’s averaging 9.88 points per game.

Unlike Kev, Frader has been able to get some production from multiple RBs. Kamara is Kamara and will finish as a top 5 RB. Kareem Hunt was playing well and had 5 TDs through 6 weeks - that looked like a steal in the 6th round until he went down with an injury. Cordarelle Patterson has been a pleasant surprise as well. Frader dropped $50 of FAAB on him which seemed like an over-pay, but has been a solid investment. Patterson is RB12 on the year despite coming off an early bye. There are positives here, but the Kareem Hunt injury is a killer. I also wouldn’t love to rely on Cardarelle as my RB2 in a 10 man league, but maybe he continues to surprise us.

At the end of the day Frader is still very much in contention. He’s a 4 point loss away from being 3-3 and in the playoff discussion, but Kenny had a Deandre Swift miracle in the 4th quarter of a Week 2 game. It hasn’t been the best start, but he has 8 more games to make a run.

8th Place: Hill Bill (2-4): DMO:

DMO’s second year in the league hasn’t gone that well, but it’s not as bad as it looks. While he’s only 8th in points for, his ranking is skewed by an ugly Week 5 performance when he put up 65 points. If you ignore that abomination of a game, he’s averaging 137 points a game. Our highest scoring team (Rob D) puts up 146 a game (wow), but our 2nd highest scoring team (my squad) averages 133. That’s a long way of saying that DMO could be the 2nd highest scoring team in our league if you take out one bad week.

He also has some pretty brutal losses in there - Week 2 when he scored 134, Week 3 when he scored 115 and Week 6 when he scored 125 and faced the highest scoring team. A 3-3 record looks a hell of a lot better than 2-4 and if he won 1 of those games we’d be telling a different story.

What about the talent? I’d say he has a good team. Tyreek is awesome (as a football player), Kyler Murray may be the MVP, Darrel Henderson is having a great year and he has solid depth with Miles Sanders, Thielen, Brandin Cooks and Marquise Brown. He’s weak at TE and Saquon has disappointed/is injured, but I feel like this team is better than 2-4. Time will tell if my feeling is right.

7th Place: Trey Squared (3-3) - Keetz
If the season ended today Keetz would miss the playoffs on a points tie breaker. Tieg also has a 3-3 record, but Keetz has 10 fewer points than him so far. That’s how thin the margin can be in fantasy football and based on the parity in this league (non-Kev category), I bet our playoff spots will come down to the wire. And that’s a good segue into how I’d describe Keetz’ team - a very good team that’s going to be in contention for a playoff spot.

Nick Chubb (Rd1) was doing Chubb things before he got hurt. Ramming it up defense’s butts to the tune of 100 rushing yards per game and 4 TDs. He got hurt and missed Week 6, but he should be back soon. With Kareem Hunt injured Chubb is set up for a very busy few weeks as the workhorse for the Browns. His other RB Najee Harris has been a revelation. Keetz 2nd round pick is RB5 on the year and is being utilized like LeVeon Bell was before he trainwrecked his career by being a greedy idiot. He’s on pace for nearly 300 carries, 96 receptions, 1800 all purpose yards and 11 TDs. Not bad for a rookie with a bad offensive line. Keetz’ RB group looked a lot better before Clyde Edwards Helaire went down with an injury, but he’ll be back for the stretch run. (pun intended)

With Matt Stafford at QB and Hockenson at TE, Keetz has a very well rounded team. If I had to poke holes anywhere it’d be at WR. Keenan Allen (4th round) seems to have lost the WR1 job to Mike Williams, but he’ll still be a contributor. Tyler Lockett (5th round) will suffer from the absence of Russel Wilson. Michael Pittman (FA Add) is kind of inconsistent and has a lot of competition for targets. Brandon Aiyuk is having a rough year and AJ Green is old. All of that said there’s a lot of talent here and I expect Keetz to compete for a playoff spot.