Fantasy Football – Page 4 – Byron Cobalt's Lazy Analysis

A Decade Ago I Started Mocking “Devy” Drafts – Here’s How 2012 Went

Devy League:
A Fantasy League Where You Draft "Developmental/Devy" Players, i.e. players that are not yet declared for the NFL Draft

Back in 2012, I remember thinking to myself that it would have been cool to be able to draft Andrew Luck in a dynasty football league when he was still 1-2 years away from the NFL Draft. Luck was a big time prospect and there was talk of him being a future #1 overall pick well before the 2011 college season. What I had in mind was fantasy football, but with a draft that looks more like the NHL than the NFL.

I didn’t realize at the time that this was a thing, so instead of joining a league that played like that, I popped open good ol’ Mr. Excel and started doing it myself.

Fantasy Zombies Showed Up For The Finale, But Did It Matter? – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Season Awards

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

TL:DR; – FGW is the likely number of Head-to-Head fantasy football matchups a player has won his team. dFGW is FGW adjusted for ADP.

Quick Note – I had been planning to post this the day after the fantasy season ended, but waited a few days, for obvious reasons. Hello to the crazy people with Week 18 championship games.

If The Walking Dead finale was good, but nobody really watched, does it matter?

If Mike Evans and Tom Brady balled out in Week 17, but nobody started them in the championship, does it matter?

‘Twas The Day Before Christmas When Throughout The Playoffs, Fantasy Man’gers Were Handing Out Layoffs – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 15 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

TL:DR; – FGW is the likely number of Head-to-Head fantasy football matchups a player has won his team. dFGW is FGW adjusted for ADP.

‘Twas the day before Christmas, when throughout the playoffs,
Fantasy Man’gers were handing out layoffs.
While players were drafted to fill teams with care,
By now in December, less vic’tries were there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of workhorse backs danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I without clothes,
Checked for the scores I’ve now learned to loathe.

If Your Goal Was To Miss The Playoffs, The Best Strategy Was To Draft Tom Brady – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 14 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Short Version – FGW is the likely number of Head-to-Head fantasy football matchups a player has won his team. dFGW is FGW adjusted for ADP.

Tom Brady has spent the last 5 years making fantasy managers question their sanity as they hesitate to draft a 40/41/42/43/44 year old quarterback.

Now, finally, in his Age 45 season, it seems like he’s lost a step.

If You Want To Be A Hall-Of-Fame Quarterback, Just Throw To Davante Adams – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 13 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Short Version – FGW is the likely number of Head-to-Head fantasy football matchups a player has won his team. dFGW is FGW adjusted for ADP.

For those following along with FGW since 2021 – or those who owned Davante Adams last year – you know he was almost the MVP fantasy football last year. Cooper Kupp was better in the regular season, Ja’Marr Chase was better in the playoffs, but Davante came through super hard in both parts of teh year.

On the Fantom Sports Fantasy podcast back between Week 10 and Week 11, I asked host Branden Timm whether he would want Justin Jefferson or Stefon Diggs the rest of the way. At the time, I thought that was a effectively the same question as asking “Who’s your WR1 for the rest of the season?”

I was clearly disrespecting Davante.

Josh Jacobs and Jalen Hurts Were The Steals of 2022 – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 12 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Short Version – FGW is the likely number of Head-to-Head fantasy football matchups a player has won his team. dFGW is FGW adjusted for ADP.

If you look at the top 12 performers of 2022 so far, and check which rounds they were drafted on average, the list goes like this:

2nd Round, 3rd Round, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 5th, 1st, 2nd.

Those two fifth rounders: Josh Jacobs and Jalen Hurts.

I’m Afraid The Correct First Pick Was KELCE, Yes, KELCE was the correct answer – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 11 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Short Version – FGW is the likely number of Head-to-Head fantasy football matchups a player has won his team. dFGW is FGW adjusted for ADP.

I know, I know, the season isn’t over yet. But some teams are starting to get eliminated – so the leader after Week 11 is a big deal, and Kelce has a big lead.

And Kelce rarely made it to Round 3 in any draft, so the only guarantee to get Kelce was to take him when you had the chance. 1st overall couldn’t wait for him in Round 2.

It’s also possible I’m not making any sense. Like many of us, I’m logging in from an unusual location with way more blood relatives within 100 yards than is typical. I will leverage the extra calories from Thanksgiving to plow through and properly channel any additional family-induced gratuitous hot takes.

A Tempest In A Tea Kupp – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 10 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Let’s freak out for a second.

What if Cooper Kupp is done for the season? With the way that the injuries have gone with fellow (albeit older) receivers Keenan Allen and Michael Thomas, it’s not too hard to imagine a scenario where Kupp’s usefulness for 2022 has come to an end.

Kupp’s FGW for 2022 currently sits at 1.0. If he misses the rest of the fantasy regular season he’ll be at around 0.85, if you assume a -0.03 “replacement” factor.

Last year, an FGW of 0.85 would have landed Kupp in a tie with Joe Mixon for 11th overall after 15 weeks:

Never Tell Me The Odds…Except For Joe Mixon Scoring Five Touchdowns, Tell Me Those Odds – Fantasy Games Won Week 9 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Last year, we saw Jonathan Taylor score 5 touchdowns in Week 11. It was in that game that he effectively surpassed Derrick Henry as the consensus next-year-first-overall-pick at RB.

That’s not the case for Joey Mix. Through the first 8 games, he was hurting fantasy lineups more than he was helping them, with a -0.07 FGW throughout.

After this week? He’s into the 2nd round – #23 overall in FGW. Because believe it or not, only 15 players have created more wins for their average fantasy team this season than Mixon did in one game (where he just scored 0.48, basically bringing your team from 50% chance of win to 98%, all by himself.)

I Think Christian McCaffrey Just Swam For A Touchdown – Fantasy Games Won (FGW) Week 8 Update

What is FGW? Go back to the shadows, I mean Go Back To Week 1.

Back in 2012, I started doing my own “Devy League” mock draft every year.

For those not familiar, a Devy League is a dynasty league where you can draft players that are not yet in the NFL. My particular mock draft rules were simple:

2 rounds, 14 picks per round
Any player is eligible that was not ‘drafted’ the previous season

I’ll probably do a summary of the results as a post soon – 10 years are in the books, after all – but as a sneak preview, here are some highlights from 2012’s draft: