We tend to name our teams after our top players, and most teams choose a name at the start of the season and stick with it the rest of the way, no matter what happens through the season. (Some players even stick with the same name for multiple seasons...) Some player names are so good that we can't help but use them despite a late pick meaning less likely relevance, or even a mid-season drop. In some cases we may even draft that late round flier not for fantasy potential but for naming potential. This season came on the heels of the 2024 Paris summer Olympics. Now that the league is in its 12th season, we've had a few Olympics come and go, especially if you count the winter ones (which come too late in the football season to be noticed at draft time, so no we don't count those). Last Olympics, we considered the theme, but steered away because it's hard to come up with names. (Instead I think we landed on another timely event that year, the pandemic). The lessons of 4 years past whooshed over our heads this time and we took the Olympics bait this time. A few teams followed headlines closely enough to make topical references: Pole Vaulter's Chubb for the track and field star who gets some, Yusuf DiKelce for the most nonchalant sharpshooter, City of Love for the locale, and Pukaing Up Siene Water for the poor swimming conditions. Others proudly used AI to cheat on their homework. And the one who didn't follow the rules at all is currently languishing in 7th despite being 3rd in points, obviously punishment from the fantasy football gods. So with all these franchise players, have they lived up to their preseason hopes, or are they just a mascot? I'll take this opportunity to give my opinion on the names as well. Wushu Waddle - Jaylen Waddle Slipping down to an early 4th round, Jaylen Waddle looked like a steal. Unfortunately, an injury to Tua really brought him down for most of the season. While Tua is back now and this week was a good performance, he hasn't had 10+ points since week 1 otherwise and is on the bench right now. I'm going to call this one a mascot. I prefer references topical to these latest Olympics, but Wushu is a cool niche sport, so I like the name. Rachaad White & Blue - Rachaad White With Bucky Irving gradually taking over this offense, White is becoming less and less viable. If Etienne wasn't in the same situation, I could see him on the bench. Technically he's in the lineup, but definitely not the 3rd rounder he was supposed to be. I'll give this one "mascot" as well. Again, I prefer some news related references, but using both first and last name while still making a themed name is very impressive, so this is one of my top names. Darnold QB1 - Sam Darnold (I guess) This team did not draft Sam Darnold. This is left over from last year, and they should feel ashamed. That said, Sam Darnold went undrafted, yet is starting in fantasy now and has starter numbers on the season (11th in points overall). So with Sam Darnold as a QB1 in fantasy, this name is accurate, if outdated. Sam Darnold gets a "real player" verdict instead of "mascot" despite playing for another team. I think everyone knows how I feel about the name here, it's in the top 12. Yusuf DiKelce - Travis Kelce Rashee Rice had Kelce looking obsolete till he went down for the season. A few games in, Kelce was looking like a true mascot, but with both Rice and Pacheco out, the Chiefs had to return to their old ways and Kelce became relevant again. While TE5 on the season isn't where we'd expect the Kelce of old, he was also drafted at a discount this year with some expected regression anyway. Now safely in starting lineups, and with the highest projected points rest of season, Kelce is looking like a real player worth the fantasy franchise tag. The name itself is good, referencing a fun headline from these Olympics, one of my favorites here. Purdy Good Olympics - Brock Purdy At QB10 overall, Brock Purdy has neither hugely disappointed or outshone his 6th round draft value. The problem is, while he's doing fine, it's on another team. Darnold from above was a case of negligence, but this name seems to be from real life fandom instead. Like Darnold, regardless of fantasy team, I'll judge based on performance and consider Purdy a real player. The name started as Purdy Good Team, which is a decent non themed name. The change from "team" to "Olympics" is themed in the most token way possible. With this being the team's first season, I'll give a little more grace as well and call the name not great but fine. Lamarathon Runners - Lamar Jackson Well, the number one fantasy performer and most likely MVP candidate in real football is definitely a value regardless of draft position. While he was the first QB off the board, an early 3rd round seems great for such a dominant player. This is the first one I'll call more than a real player, a franchise player, truly worthy of the team name. Speaking of the team name, I think this one came from AI if I recall the conversations (sorry if it didn't). It's a generic enough sports name only loosely related to Olympics, which is fine. Pole Vaulter's Chubb - Nick Chubb I think the team manager mentioned it at the time, but Chubb might have been drafted mostly for his name. The other big reason to draft him would be the late season potential after a return from injury. It remains to be seen whether Chubb can return to form and return some big late season value, but this week made it look promising and a late draft pick made it low risk, especially for a team that turned out to get plenty of early season wins anyway while he was out. Given only a 9th round pick was spent (also, possible great keeper value) I'll call this a real player even if the rest of the season just goes okay, with strong potential to become a franchise player by the end of the season. I think this name is the best in the league, being topical, fitting, and crude. Dak's Track Attack - Dak Prescott Dak Prescott is currently on IR which throws things off some. But regardless, he wasn't doing super great before the injury. He's currently not on the team, despite an open IR spot there. The team might not have noticed or thought about the league's IR position, but this also could easily have been the case that the position wasn't open at the time, and Dak certainly isn't a must keep anyway. This makes Dak a mascot. I think this was another case of AI, based on suggestions from others of I remember that conversation correctly. Again, if that's not the case, sorry. As another generic sport being the only tie to Olympics (and another running related one), it's not my favorite. I think the owner has bigger fish to fry right now though. City of Love - Jordan Love With a strong start, Love looked like a good franchise name. This is especially true since he was one of two 12th round keepers with a team name. Since week 8, he's been a bit more volatile, and last week despite being healthy, he was on the bench behind Herbert, and so far appears to be slated for the same treatment this week. He's missed a few games, which can affect this standing, but he's the QB18 overall on the season. With all of that, I think it's fair to say he's more of a mascot at this point. The name itself though is really nice, hitting all the points, using a promising player's name as part of a topical reference on theme. That's all I can ask for. The 49ers Gold Medal Miners - The whole team? This might be another case of real life fandom, but two of the first three draft picks for this team were '9ers so I'll give it to them and consider both Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk here. Unfortunately, both have had pretty severe injuries this season, with CMC picking one up right before the season and just getting back recently and Aiyuk ending his season in week 7. Injuries can't be anticipated, at least mostly, but looking at each performance outside of injury is still grim. McCaffrey is back to starting on the team, but has averaged just 10.8 points in the three weeks back. For any other player that might be decent, but the number 1 overall draft pick is held to higher standards, and this is about half of his weekly projections in the app. Aiyuk held out for contact reasons during the preseason, and that seemed to hurt him a lot, with just one game above 7 points before the injury. Whether the name was for the players or the team as a while, this send like a clear case of just a mascot. This is the last case where I think it was possibly AI, also from what I remember of the conversation. The rhyming is nice, and gold medals are a closer connection to Olympics than just general running, so I'll consider this name a slight step above the other potential AI results. Ja'Marr SteepleChase - Ja'Marr Chase This is another cut and dry obvious value. While Lamar is the top QB, Ja'Marr is the top WR. Even with the high draft position, this was a very worthwhile pick, and a great face for the team. Definitely another franchise player. As for the name, like Wushu Waddle, the niche sport reference is a plus, and like Rachaad White & Blue, the full-name usage is commendable. Great job on the pick and the name. Pukaing Up Siene Water - Puka Nacua I'm not going to judge this name because of the obvious heavy bias, but I hope some people got and enjoyed the reference to the poop river. As for the player, this one was both a keeper and a long term injury, which might skew numbers a lot. Now that he's back from injury, Puka is proving that he was with keeping and with naming the team after. It's a small sample, but basically every game he hasn't been injured or brawling, he's gone for 100+ yards. If he can stay healthy, Puka is looking like another franchise player. So among all our names we have: - 5 mascots - 4 real players - 3 franchise players It's a fun tradition to choose a theme and make some creative names, and I always enjoy seeing what everyone comes up with. I'm glad we had some really good ones this year, despite the tough assignment.
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