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Fantasy Football Victory Laps (2022/23 and 2024/25) [I will gloat]

The Beginnings

I've been a big fantasy football fan since around the beginning of high school. I remember my first draft (2015/16 season I believe), I took Big Ben, Russell Wilson, and one more quarterback (maybe Drew Brees) all super early since I didn't understand that you could only start one quarterback per week. It was just for fun with a couple of high school buddies and I didn't remember much of how I did. My own core memory from that season was going to bed early up 141-100 with only David Johnson left to play against the Eagles on SNF. I woke up in the morning to find out that I had lost somehow with a 45 point burst from Johnson (who my classmates and I affectionally nicknamed Daddy Johnson afterwards given that he sonned me so hard). It was a nice introduction to the variance of fantasy football and also taught me the valuable lessons that anything is possible if you persist and its not over til its over.

The Forgotten Years

Part of the reason for me wanting to write this section was that the years from then onwards til present time have been a blur. I have only a few core memories from the years but the week to week was largely forgotten, which is sad that I've always drafted studs to my team. I think until last year (2023/24) season, I had never entered a cash league and not at least broken even, though I had also never won the league. I had a few fond memories which I'll list here from those forgotten years

  • Periodically checking my phone during a National Honor Society volunteer trip to a farm during Julio Jones' 300 yd game against the Panthers
  • Getting torched in the semifinals by Julio Jones + Tee Higgins + Joe Burrow in a game where the three of them combined totalled over 100 points in 0.5PPR.
  • Drafting Patrick Mahomes the first year he was a starter as one of my last picks in the draft (I was a Chiefs fan back then because of Alex Smith and Andy Reid and I actually watched part of his first start in Week 17 of the previous year on TV)
  • Drafting Robert Woods over Cooper Kupp the year Kupp went nuclear
  • Dez caught it
  • For some reason, I feel some sort of bond with Danny Woodhead that only a fantasy manager and one of his late draft picks can feel. I think I had him on my team.
  • Kareem Hunt 75 yard touchdown catch after halftime against the Patriots on prime time (I drafted him)
  • Early career Travis Kelce and Kittle

The Victory Years

2022/23 - Victory #1

The 2022/23 season was a total anomaly. It was a 12 man league and my team was hot garbage. I remember through 12 weeks, I was the second lowest scorer (the lowest scorer was an AFK manager who never set their lineup). And yet, I was ranked first in the league with a 10-2 record. It was egregious. The entire league was up in arms. "He can't keep getting away with it." "Get ready for the playoffs bozo." "It's a fluke." I couldn't blame them - my team was indeed quite bad. The number of times I had won scoring fewer 90 points was crazy. I remember winning against the AFK player 58-32. But come playoff time, my team absolute turned up. I'm very happy I memorialized my finals winning team in a couple screenshots, which I'll type out below.

My team (155.75 pts total):

  • Daniel Jones, 36.18 pts against Indianapolis
  • Ezekiel Elliot, 9.7 pts against Tennessee
  • Travis Etienne Jr, 21.5 pts against Jacksonville
  • Davante Adams, 30.8 pts against San Francisco
  • Devonta Smith, 16.0 pts against New Orleans
  • George Kittle, 10.3 pts against Las Vegas
  • Aaron Jones, 12.3 pts against Minnesota
  • NE Defense, 12.0 pts against Miami
  • Eddy Pineiro, 7.0 pts against Tampa Bay

Opponents team (134.92 pts total):

  • Patrick Mahomes, 25.02 pts against Denver
  • Austin Ekeler, 30.1 pts against LA Rams
  • Kenneth Walker, 14.7 pts against NY Jets
  • Ceedee Lamb, 15.5 pts against Tennessee
  • DJ Moore, 20.7 pts against Tampa Bay
  • Cole Kmet, 9.7 pts against Detroit
  • Drake London, 7.2 pts against Arizona
  • Baltimore Defense, 2.0 pts against Pittsburg
  • Brett Maher, 10.0 pts against Tennessee

My opponent was actually pretty stacked for that year. Our matchups was one of the highest scoring matchup, if not the highest, that year. It was a high flying affair. But it was a moment before the game that decided the entire affair. In a brilliant move (I'll gladly pat myself on the back here), I benched a red hot Trevor Lawrence (who was just coming off a streak of 20+ pt games including a 4 TD game against Dallas) for the man, the myth, the legend Danny Dimes. To be fair, looking at where Daniel Jones is now, it was a shocker but in the moment, it wasn't that far fetched. However, this decision made the game where Daniel Jones had one of the best games of his career and Trevor Lawrence put up just 4.48 pts. Danny Dimes will always carry a special place in my heart for just this one game (and the week after where he upset the Vikings in the playoffs, which was for the memes).

2024/25 - Victory #2

This season followed a more traditional path to victory. It was an amazing draft followed by ruthless execution and keeping the ship in the right direction. The main formula I followed here was one I'd follow for the past couple of years which was WR first round and then load up on RB in the next two rounds, with best player up for the rest. My philosophy was that I was always reasonable at selecting running backs (except in my other league where I selected Puka and Etienne who were either injured or terrible for the majority of the season) but I was always thin at WR. I needed to hit on a high floor, consistent WR and I would be able to pick up sleeper RBs in later rounds.

My complete draft was here

  1. Ja'Marr Chase Cin, WR
  2. Kyren Williams LAR, RB
  3. James Cook Buf, RB
  4. Kenneth Walker III Sea, RB
  5. Rashee Rice KC, WR
  6. Jaylen Waddle Mia, WR
  7. James Conner Ari, RB
  8. Jordan Love GB, QB
  9. Devin Singletary NYG, RB
  10. Brock Bowers LV, TE
  11. J.K. Dobbins LAC, RB
  12. Jameson Williams Det, WR
  13. Jets D/ST NYJ, D/ST
  14. Cameron Dicker LAC, K

I picked up Jayden Daniels off a trade around week 3. I had Brian Thomas Jr on and off the roster (the guy who drafted him had 5 WR1s which was nuts). At one point, I myself had 5 RB1's (Kyren, Cook, K9, James Conner, JKD). It was just an all around solid draft, though Rashee Rice's injury certainly made the league much closer. I also ended up trading away Cook for George Pickens which was a huge mistake given that I forgot about Pickens' propensity to pick fights and get locked up by CBs. The Brock Bowers draft was also a great move - I think one great source of alpha is just watching the occasional college game. I remember watching an LSU game with Jayden Daniels and thinking to myself "this guy is him."

The final was a little anticlimactic given that both my team and my opponent's team were pretty banged up (Jayden Daniels carried me to a victory in SNF that week against the Falcons), but my game of the year was in semis with the following matchup.

Opponent's team (140.62 pts total):

  • Bo Nix, 21.02 pts against LA Chargers
  • Josh Jacobs, 18.7 pts against New Orleans
  • Derrick Henry, 19.9 pts against Pittsburgh
  • Tee Higgins, 15.8 pts against Cleveland
  • Jerry Jeudy, 3.0 pts against Cincinnati
  • Travis Kelce, 5.5 pts against Houston
  • Brian Thomas Jr., 23.7 pts against Las Vegas
  • Falcons Defense, 26.0 pts against NY Giants
  • Ka'imi Fairbairn, 7.0 pts against Kansas City

Your team (145.22 pts total):

  • Jayden Daniels, 34.42 pts against Philadelphia
  • Kyren Williams, 19.4 pts against NY Jets
  • James Conner, 24.6 pts against Carolina
  • Ja'Marr Chase, 19.4 pts against Cleveland
  • Jauan Jennings, 7.1 pts against Miami
  • Brock Bowers, 15.4 pts against Jacksonville
  • Kenneth Walker III, 9.9 pts against Minnesota
  • Broncos Defense, 2.0 pts against LA Chargers
  • Brandon McManus, 13.0 pts against New Orleans

The crazy thing here was that I had a 1% of victory as I had McManus left up 12 against my opponent who just had Josh Jacobs ready to go. Jacobs actually gave her the lead in the first half but in the stroke of fate, she made the fateful mistake of "wishing for something to happen to make the game closer" and Josh Jacobs unfortunately immediately went out of the game with an arm injury (which did not impact his playing or practice time at all for the following week). McManus hit a couple FGs and XPs and I sneaked by with a victory. Though you can't really argue that I lucked out that bad given the same thing happened to James Conner who existed after halftime with an injury as well.

Reflections

Anyway, fantasy football has always been one of my most sacred rituals that I participate in every year. It's great fun scheming your way out of tough situations and being forced to be decisive even when you don't want to be. I think it's interesting from a technical standpoint (e.g. you can control variance in ways based on your opponent's roster) as well as a vibes standpoint ("ayy that boy nice"). If you haven't tried it before or even if you don't follow football, I would suggest jumping into the arena and challenging your close friends to a league (trash talk encouraged).