GWBL - 2021 Season Recaps - CHAMP

CHAMPION: M O - Tieg - 9-5 record, 1,792 points (3rd)

What Went Right:

I have to start with the MVP of fantasy, Cooper Kupp. The 5th round pick, the #41 player overall scored a total of 389.55 points, or 22.9 per week. That’s the 10th most in all of fantasy and 8 of the 9 players who outscored him were QBs (Jonathan Taylor being the only non-QB). In terms of WRs, he was the runaway #1 player. The 2nd best WR (Deebo) scored 324 points, or 65 fewer points. Over the course of 17 games, that’s almost 4 points per week more. If you had Kupp this year then you pretty much had a 50% chance of winning - I’m in 5 leagues (I know) and the Kupp owner won 3 of them, while finishing top 4 in all 5.

Like Dylan Tieg was strong at WR and his WR2 was no slouch either. Justin Jefferson (2nd round) is WR4 on the year and scored 22 points in the finals.

I can’t believe I waited this long to get here, but…. Tieg had the fewest points against. In a landslide. His 1,504 were an average of 107 per week, which is outrageously low. I believe the weekly average per team was in the 127-129 range, so Tieg was working with some loaded dice this season. And that continued in the finals obviously. Having your finals opponent put up 110 is just flat out lucky (believe me, I’ve been on both sides of that coin).

What Went Wrong:

I’ll start with Christian McCaffrey. The #1 overall pick in our draft was a bust yet again. While he played well in the 7 games he did dress for (averaged 18 points per game), he left 2 of those games with injuries and ultimately missed parts of 12 games during the season. He didn’t play a single snap after Week 12.

The Chris Godwin injury was a bad beat as well. Godwin was a stud and finished as WR16 despite missing the last 3 games. Unfortunately he took a cheap shot in the Week 15 matchup and tore his ACL.

Best Owner Move:

Adding Dawson Knox off waivers ($5 FAAB) was a good move. Knox ended up as TE8 after catching 9 TDs this season.

Adding Michael Carter for $0 in September was a good move as well. He missed a lot of time, but produced when healthy (12 points per game).

Tieg started Rex Burkhead in the finals….. and won. LOL. In the year 2022, in a 10 man league, Rex Burkhead helped win a title with a 14 point performance. That is laugh out loud, spit out your coffee ridiculous.

Adding Joe Burrow on 12/5 was the coup de gras. Tieg somehow had the balls to start him over Aaron Rodgers in the finals and Burrow outscored Rodgers 45-25. That 20 points was the difference.

Worst Owner Move:

Not handcuffing McCaffrey with Chuba Hubbard was a questionable move, but ultimately worked out since Hubbard didn’t make much of an impact. Missing the handcuff last year (Mike Davis) was a bad move, but this year it was just a questionable move.

Lavishka Shenault in the 6th round was a pretty ugly draft pick.

That team name is an abomination. A team named “MO” will grace the trophy plate this year. Puke.

ESPN Projection:

ESPN projected him 9th to start the season sooo not good. 60% overall on playoffs though, that’s about what I used to get when I’d handicap the teams at the beginning of the season (simpler times).

Final Thoughts:

Congrats to Tieg on a huge win, his 3rd title in the GWBL. His first title came all the way back in 2011 and it was a Tom-Brady-esque decade between titles 1 and 3. Keetz has the 2nd most titles with 2 and none else has more than 1, so the league is in TIeg’s rearview. Let’s see how we respond next year.