GWBL - 2022 Season Recaps - 3rd Place

Team:

Tool Time - Rob D (10-4) - 1,930 points (5th of 10)

*Note: this standing is contingent on resolution of the Bills/Bengals Week 17 game. Dyl may have a chance to get 3rd place if the game resumes and Josh Allen puts up enough to take the lead from Rob D.

What Went Right:

Finishing 10-4 when you have the 5th most points is pretty fortunate. As I mentioned in Frader’s recap - Frader finished with 5 fewer points during the regular season…. and 5 fewer wins.

Rob D also had two really close wins, which are coin flips. Nothing you can do about them, just hope you get lucky and end up on the right side of it. One was his Week 11 matchup when he beat Keetz by 4.5 points. In this scoring format, a RB just has to catch a pass and fall down to get 4.5 points. That’s a slight exaggeration for the Keetz matchup, but not for the matchup he won vs Dylan in Week 7. That matchup was decided by 1.55 points. That is literally catching a pass and falling forward for half a yard in our scoring.

I’ll move on to player performances - Nick Chubb is the highlight here. While he’s “only” RB6, he averages 21.1 points per game and never scored fewer than 10 points in a given week. The first half of his season is what fantasy legends are made of - 23-36-25-28-32 points to kick off the first 5 weeks. All in all he had 8 games with 20 or more points, not bad for your 3rd round pick.

Travis Kelce was the 1b to Nick Chubb’s 1a. Kelce is TE1 and averages 19.3 per game. We just said that Chubb averaged 21 per game. In Dyl’s recap we saw that Justin Jefferson averaged 24 per game. For another comparison, Stefon Diggs averaged 19.4 per game. So if you had Travis Kelce, you essentially got to start Stefon Diggs in your TE spot. Sheesh.

Jamaal Williams was probably the most annoying player in fantasy this year….. for everyone except those lucky enough to draft him. He was widely accepted as a fringe handcuff for Deandre Swift and his ADP reflected that - consensus ADP of #145 according to FantasyPros. Rob D took him exactly there - the 14th round of our draft, pick #140. He’s always been a serviceable backup RB in the NFL, but nothing more. Coming into 2022 he had rushed for 13 TDs in a 5 year career. We all know what happened next. Out of the fucking blue he rushed for 15 TDs this year, exceeding his career total prior to 2022. During his 5 year career he never rushed for more than 601 yards. This year he’ll top 1000 yards unless he doesn’t play in Week 18. In 2020/2021 he combined for 1,106 rushing yards. He might reach that if he goes for 100 in Week 18. Just a completely ridiculous statline for a completely average NFL player. What a lucky break for all his owners.

What Went Wrong:

Jonathan Taylor - the consensus 1.01 pick this year - was ultimately a bust. When he played he was pretty good and scored 17 points per game. Unfortunately for his owners he’ll end up missing nearly half the season. He’s currently RB29 and will likely finish outside the top 30 for the season.

Cam Akers had a rough start to the year (4th round pick). Allen Robinson (5th round) was a complete bust. Dak Prescott got hurt early.

Aside from that it was the semi finals loss to Tieg. I harp on Rob D’s luck in these recaps, but he got decidedly fucked in this one. He scored 172 and still lost to Tieg….. by 30 points. Had he played Kev or Dyl he advances to the finals, but he got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Everyone on Tieg’s roster went off and it cut down Rob D’s season in its tracks.

Best Owner Move:

Christian Kirk in the 9th round. I didn’t buy the big contract, but Rob D took a chance and was rewarded with WR14 (14 per game). He had some especially huge weeks during the course of the season, scoring 17 or more 6 times.

Worst Owner Move:

Not that it matters, but he only made 11 moves all year. Seems like a lost opportunity when other teams like Dyl are making 50. He also didn’t utilize his IR spots. Jonathan Taylor and Allen Robinson have been on IR for weeks and his IRs are empty.

Preseason Prediction:

I said he’d finish outside the playoffs - wrong wrong wrong. I thought there were too many question marks and I had no idea Jamaal Williams would produce like Jonathan Taylor. 5 of 8 here.

ESPN said 1st of 10 - ESPN is 7 for 8 now.

Final Thoughts:

At one point it looked like Rob D was the front runner for the title, but one bad matchup brought his season crashing down. It feels like Rob D is in the playoffs every year so I’m sure we’ll see him back next year.