Owners –
Happy Friday and surprise email from your least favorite fantasy football commissioner. I spent some time last night reviewing eligible keepers with the roster cutoff being yesterday, and looking at auction salaries for some players to extend to their 2018 costs as keepers, and it got me to thinking… holy shit, there were some terrible draft picks and subsequent decisions, so I spent a hot minute reflecting on some bad personnel decisions in the league this year, and came up with a top five list of worst decisions made by owners this season. Hindsight is 20/20 so you might not be able to fault someone at the time (though I think you can), but here’s some more memorable decisions from the season.
Honorable Mention…
· Matt deciding to drop Duke Johnson to pick up Andre Ellington. After just one abysmal Johnson performance, Matt panicked, and went after the venerable Andre Ellington in light of David Johnson’s injury. Bad move; after his Week 1 performance, Johnson has had 8 double digit outputs in 10 games for STLU, ranking as the 14th best RB in the league and will only cost STLU $17 as a keeper next season. Meanwhile, Ellington had a few decent performances early, but only produced 15.4 points since Week 6 and subsequently was cut by Arizona after Week 10…
· Dan… Hot to make a trade, I made a somewhat misguided decision to trade STLU Robert Woods for James White after Week 7. An ok deal when White receives some attention in a crowded New England backfield, but Woods went lights out in his past three games (despite a recent injury), posting 20 catches for 322 yards and four touchdowns, racking up 78.2 points and now is a top 20 WR (even despite being banged up). Woods is going be a $12 keeper next year too, while White’s numbers have dipped.
· Matt (again)… While it doesn’t look big, Matt’s decision to drop Nelson Agholor for Atlanta’s kicker Matt Bryant was a bad decision. Not only is he a cheap $11 keeper next year with the potential to be a top-tier WR, he was quickly moved for a legitimate RB for a title contender.
· Silvio fell in love with Samaje Perrine once upon a time, a $13 2018 keeper putting up legit points late in the season, but did you know Silvio traded for him AFTER dropping him 4 weeks earlier? Oh its true. After dropping Perrine in mid-October, Silvio then traded a legit asset to Eric Garcia for Perrine literally 28 days later, losing Chris Carson from Seattle to pick up a guy he had one menstrual cycle earlier.
· Carlos had his shot, and failed miserably, but what’s more disheartening then that time he never bothered to check on roster updates in advance of a looming Week 7 showdown with his old man? Late scratches for Leonard Fournette and Zac Ertz cost Carlos a win, and ultimately his season never recovered.
Now, on to the top 5 WORST transaction decisions of the season…
5 – Jon DelRosario has had a tough go of things, and while this one wasn’t devastating, his oh-shit-there’s-a-London-game moment in Week 8 happened, and he forgot to remove Deshone Kizer from his starting QB slot vs Minnesota. He got lucky, because Kizer put up some points but for a team scraping to make the playoffs, he was sure lucky Kizer didn’t revert to form during his British invasion.
4 – Toby unconscionably trading Travis Kelce for Kyle Rudolph and Wendall Smallwood. In early October, Toby already knew he was struggling and desperate for a spark, leading him to trade for Smallwood following the Eagles RB posting an impressive 17.9 in Week 4. Unfortunately, Smallwood posted less than 11 points the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Rudolph has been good – averaging 13.4 points – but it’s a downgrade from Kelce, who has been lights out, averaging 16+ points since the trade.
3 – MAKEESE using $22 to keep Stephan Gostowski in the off-season (shockingly this isn’t #1 but it remains dubious). Makese kept last year’s 13th-ranked kicker for $22 when only two other kickers were drafted for more than $1 (the next highest was Justin Tucker at $10). Meanwhile, 5 top-tier quarterbacks were drafted for less. This year, Gostowski is the #2 Kicker in the league, but the 3 – 10 kickers are posting nearly identical numbers. In the meantime, the $22 was more than the following players selected in the draft: Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, Kareem Hunt, Evan Engram, Jared Goff, Alex Collins, Randall Cobb, Jamaal Williams, Devin Funchess, Frank Gore, Alvin Kamara, Jack Doyle, Chris Hogan, Deshaun Watson, Duke Johnson, and Robert Woods.
2 – Galen leaving Brees on the roster AND not getting Gronk. It would’ve been appropriate for Gronk to join Galen’s squad, and it should’ve happened. Just days before the trade deadline, Galen failed to pick-up Gronk, unwilling to move Davante Adams’ cheap keeper status back to Matt, despite having a plethora of eligible keepers and Michael Crabtree as added post-season WR depth on his roster. Even more, Galen kept the best QB asset in the league on his bench, not moving Drew Brees for a serviceable WR to a desperate playoff contender (not named Mark/Dorne). Evan Engram is pretty good at TE, the 7th-best TE in the league averaging 11 point per game, but the Geno Smith era has begun and the Giants’ QB situation is unknown at this point. More importantly, Gronk is averaging 17 points a game, and when every point counts heading in to the postseason, a few extra points could make or break a title run (If you come for the king you best not miss).
And the WORST transaction of the season…
1 – Jon Del Rosario, who makes his second visit to the top five. I don’t fault him blowing his budget on David Johnson and LeVeon Bell, even when Johnson went down. Tough luck regarding Chris Thompson going down… so, why’s the RB-deprived owner here? Simple; Alvin Kamara. Jon drafted him for $2 way back in August, only to drop him at the beginning of September for Saints back up John Williams, who hasn’t touched the ball all season and spent time on the Broncos’ practice squad before returning to the Saints. Meanwhile, the rookie Kamara is the 3rd-best RB in the league averages 20 points per week and has been in double digits every game starting in Week 3. You know who thanks Jon for this disaster? Eric Garcia, who has the rookie’s keeper rights through 2019.
Well, that’s it for this early Christmas present from your commissioner. You’re welcome, even if you never say thank you. If I missed something, or erred in these rankings, let me know. Have a great weekend!
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