Week 14: Pickups of the Year

 

Pickup of the year?

And just like that, the regular season is over. Playoffs are set, losers bracket is preparing their rosters to dodge the humiliation of a (possibly new?) Hen trophy, and it's time to look back.

Specifically, lets look back position by position at the best pickups of the season.

Pickups

Quarterback

Geno Smith (QB7), Chipped by Billy G

What a year it has been for Geno Smith. Undrafted until picked up for $0 by Chipped by Billy G in early October, Geno has been super consistent, scoring 2 or more TDs in every game for the last 7 weeks. He rarely breaks the 30 point mark, but also almost never dips below 20. 

It's insane how well he's playing after being an afterthought in the blockbuster Denver/Seattle trade over the summer. Tanking? Nah, the Seahawks are aiming for playoffs and Geno is trying to will them there.

Honorable mentions:

• Trevor Lawrence (QB9) Hazers
• Derek Carr (QB10) : I don't know who to credit with this one. He was drafted and dropped and has since been added by:
• Bye Week (twice!)
• Oh Godwin he Can See
• Hazers

Turns out Carr is the definition of a streaming QB.

Running Back

Kenneth Walker III(RB18), The Loch Ness Burrow

Apparently the shame of my stupidity caused me to overlook KWIII when writing this post. Originally drafted (by me) , Walker was dropped to waivers in early October, scooped up the week after, and became an immediate breakout RB. After a slow start behind Rashaad Penny, he crushed weeks 5-12, scoring 9 TDs in 7 games with multiple 100 yard outings before sustaining an injury in week 13.

I'm not sure how serious his ankle injury is but it appears he still has time to make some more noise in the fantasy playoffs. 

This may be the worst "best pickup" I've ever written about. There were literally 0 RBs that finished in the top 24 that went undrafted. No 2021 Cordarrelle Patterson to be found this season.

Samaje earns this title by putting up 3 really solid weeks during Joe Mixon's concussion induced absence, and doing enough here are there throughout the season to finish in the RB3 range (25-36). He did help my team a lot though after the Mixon trade, so thanks Samaje.

Honorable Mentions

• Samaje Perine(RB33) Kelsey Lohan's Ghost
• Isiah Pacheko(RB34) Bye Week

Wide Receiver

Tyler Lockett(WR11), Roswell LAMARtians

I honestly had no idea Lockett was producing this year, and it turns out he's a back end WR1! Posting more yards and TDs than teammate DK Metcalf (who had much higher draft value) he looks poised to break the 1k yardage mark again this year. And just as Geno has had a great last 2 months, Lockett hasn't dipped below 10 points since week 7, catching a TD in every single game.

Technically not an undrafted player, he was originally selected by Jets Fuel, dropped, and then scooped up by LAMARtians in late September. 

Honorable Mentions

• Garrett Wilson(WR18) Kelsey Lohan's Ghost
• Curtis Samuel(WR23) momo. This is a weird one. momo spent $50 FAAB on Curtis and he ended up being a solid player all season long, but with very few blow up games. He dropped him later and he's the only top 24 WR that's free in our league today.

Tight End

Taysom Hill(TE4), Ancient Allens

In fantasy football, "experts" will often tell you to draft talent over situation, and believe that if players are good enough they'll find a way. I'm not really sure Hill is a super talented TE, but he *is* good at playing football, and the Saints have found a lot of creative ways to get him involved. 

• He has 8 total TDs on the year, but only 2 of them are receiving.
• There are 4 stat categories for yards in the Yahoo Fantasy. Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Return. His lowest of all these stats is receiving, at just 66 yards on 7 catches (and 2 TDs).
• Despite this, he is somehow only owned in 44% of Yahoo leagues(????)

Honorable Mentions

• Cole Kmet(TE8) Roswell LAMARtians
• Tyler Conklin(TE12) Hazers

Defense

Philadelphia Eagles (DEF 5), Loch Ness Burrow

Sacks and Interceptions. When you apply QB pressure the way the Eagles have been able to this season you're going to generate a lot of each. And for fantasy players, is nice that those are "counting stats" when managing points isn't enough to generate a big week. They're 3rd on the season in sacks at 36, and 1st in INTs at 15. The only thing really keeping them from leading this position is the fact that they haven't turned as many of those turnovers into touchdowns.

Honorable Mentions

• New York Jets(DEF7) : Kelsey Lohan's Ghost, Oh Godwin he Can See
• Washington Commanders(DEF8): Ballderberg

Given the way this team streams the position, it may amuse you to know that neither honorable mention is owned by anyone in the league as I write this.

Kicker

You guys really thought I would pick one of these huh? Just stream whoever, I don't care about kickers.

Playoff Predictions

The Loch Ness Burrow vs Roswell LAMARtians

In the always exciting 4v5 matchup, we have a bit of a disparity in team health. For the first time in probably more than a month, Loch Ness Burrow has all of his starting RBs and WRs healthy. We can argue whether Ken Walker was a "starter" over Aaron Jones or Zeke I guess, but this is a team with depth that seems to be getting healthy at the right time.

Opposite him, LAMARtians is unlikely to have Lamar Jackson back, and has just lost Damien Pierce with almost no RB/WR depth behind him considering Tyler Boyd's injury. The top end talent is still here (Ekeler, Andrews) but I don't see anyone on this roster I would want to play in a Flex in a playoff matchup.

Perhaps he can remedy that by swapping out 1 or 2 of his 4 QBs?

Prediction: Loch Ness Burrow

momo vs Hazers

For the 3v6 matchup we're asking a different question: can momo win a playoff game solely on the backs of QB and TE advantage? With Zay Jones/DeAndre Carter/Michael Pittman as starting WRs, I think it's safe to say momo is the weakest at this position among our playoff teams. They're also starting 2 timeshare RBs. However... they just so happen to have the best QB (Hurts) and TE (Kelce) in fantasy. Is that going to be enough?

For Hazers, it really comes down to health at the RB position. After being questionable for the latter half of the week, Saquon played a limited number of snaps last week, and it's unclear if he'll be fully healthy for week 15. Ramondre Stevenson got injured during MNF, came back into the game briefly, and then left again. If one or both of these guys can't go this weekend the depth behind them (Gainwell, M Carter) is pretty suspect.

Prediction: momo