3 Fantasy Leagues. 3 Division Championships.
I've got some waiver moves for the Playoffs that I think are going to help me bring home the trophies.
We all love Fantasy Football. We all love competition. We all love our friends.
Being able to compete with your friends in fantasy football is a breeding ground for quality smack talk, demoralizing losses, and satisfying victories.
Two years ago, I don't think I was in any fantasy football leagues at all.
Last year, I finally joined my lifelong friend's unique keeper league.
(shoutout Tyler Harnish). I made it to the championship before getting knocked off by Alvin Kamara's 6 TD game last year.
I realized that my constant attention to stats and sports highlights because of my sports card addiction was very fruitful in the fantasy sports world. I was open to joining more leagues in 2021. I ended up joining three leagues this year. They are all extremely different and I will go into each league and roster here in a bit, but I must first say that it has been a blast. From the draft to the group chats, I have fallen in love with Fantasy Football. If you have never joined a Fantasy Football league, I highly recommend you doing so next year. We actually had two Brothers In Cards leagues ran by members of our Facebook Group this year. Keep an eye out for those next year, as I imagine there will be more!
BATTLE FOR THE BELT
My buddy Tyler started this league back in 2018. It is a Salary Cap league where you are able to keep your players each year (but they become more expensive each year you keep them). Believe it or not, this league is completely ran outside of any apps or websites. We keep track of everything on Google Docs! We have 10 teams in this league. Instead of a draft, we take turns putting available players up for auction and we bid on them with our available salary cap. You can keep up to 3 players each year. Although my team made it to the championship last year, I only kept 2 players this year (Patrick Mahomes & Nick Chubb). This is actually the league in which I posted all 10 teams' starting rosters on our Instagram back on 8/28 if you're curious. Nobody seemed interested in my Week 1 lineup.
Raheem Mostert got knocked out of the season in Week 1.
Robert Tonyan got knocked out of the season in Week 8.
Hopkins, Thielen, and Chubb have all combined to miss several games.
...I won my division anyway.
At one point, I traded Dawson Knox for an injured George Kittle.
Here is how my roster currently sits:
QB Patrick Mahomes
QB Kirk Cousins
RB Nick Chubb
RB Leonard Fournette
RB Tony Pollard
RB Nyheim Hines
WR DeAndre Hopkins
WR Adam Thielen
WR Jarvis Landry
TE George Kittle
TE Dalton Schultz
K Dustin Hopkins
K Younghoe Koo
DEF Patriots
DEF Lions
LOMBARDI LEAGUE
This league has been around for....wait for it...THIRTY FOUR YEARS. Remember my buddy Tyler? His dad, Doug Harnish, started this league 34 years ago. He still does everything ON PAPER! Us "young guys" have met him in the middle on Google Docs, but this was easily the most old school league I had ever heard of. I grew up with Tyler and know Doug well, so when I got a call on their draft day that they needed another guy, I had to accept!
This league is a wild mix of styles and fun factors. It is a keeper league, but each player is only able to be kept for a certain amount of years. This is determined by a draw at random upon Draft Day. Draft Day consists of three wild pieces. First, you have to choose who you are keeping from last year. I was able to keep Ronald Jones, D'Andre Swift, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cooper Kupp, and Tee Higgins. Second, there is a Salary Cap style bidding war that takes place. Any player that could be kept but is not kept goes on the auction block. I used every single dollar in my salary cap to get Derrick Henry. I felt great about it. Finally, we draft all of the available players, where I was able to pick up George Kittle and Matthew Stafford.
JuJu got knocked out of the season in Week 5.
Derrick Henry got knocked out of the season in Week 8.
...I won my division anyway.
At one point, I traded a 2022 2nd Round Pick and Tee Higgins for Tony Pollard and an injured Antonio Brown (who has not played once since). I made several other waiver moves along the way which led to this squad for my playoff run:
QB Matthew Stafford
QB Carson Wentz
RB D'Andre Swift
RB Tony Pollard
RB Ronald Jones
RB D'Onta Foreman
WR Cooper Kupp
WR Tyreek Hill
WR Antonio Brown
TE George Kittle
K Ryan Succop
K Robbie Gould
DEF 49ers
THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
I had originally planned on trying to join a second league this year. Josh told me that they had a spot in the league with some of his buddies from our hometown (shoutout to Commissioner and fellow card collector Chris McCreary). This is a standard ESPN PPR league that we run through the app.
However, on Draft Day, it just so happened that I got the opportunity to connect with one of my cousins who I had not seen in a very long time. While I love Fantasy Football, I hope we can all agree that Family is much more important. I set my pre-rankings and let the draft do it's thing. I believe I had a middle pick and landed Jonathan Taylor in the first round and D-Hop in the 2nd. I believe I was able to pop in and select a few other positions throughout the online ESPN draft (definitely had to make sure I got Matthew Stafford).
Honestly, I don't remember exactly how the draft finished. All I know is that the ESPN Fantasy Trends projected that I would finish 11th out of 12 teams. I had different plans. I hopped on the waiver wire immediately, picking up Javonte Williams, Chubb Hubbard, and several others. I have been very active in this league, swapping guys out almost every week.
I finished the regular season 11-3 ranked #1 in the league.
Going into the Playoffs, my roster looks like this:
QB Matthew Stafford
QB Kirk Cousins
RB Jonathan Taylor
RB Javonte Williams
RB D'Onta Foreman
RB Rhomandre Stevenson
WR DeAndre Hopkins
WR Marquise Brown
WR Kenny Golladay
WR Marquez Valdez-Scantling
TE George Kittle
TE Tyler Higbee
K Ryan Succop
K Dustin Hopkins
DEF Packers
DEF 49ers
MY PLAYS FOR THE PLAYOFFS
Protect yourself. If you are in the playoffs, your team is probably pretty good. You are banking on your superstars remaining healthy. Make sure you have reliable back ups for your secondary guys. RB D'Onta Foreman is the starting RB for TEN and is only on 58% of ESPN rosters. RB Nyheim Hines is only in 41% of rosters and he always has scoring potential even from his RB2 role. Basically any WR2 or WR3 in the AFC can expect a lot of touches in the coming weeks, as 13/16 teams are truly in the hunt. Tight Ends get banged up a lot, so you definitely need to make sure you have a backup there that has multiple TDs already this year. There is such thing as a Red Zone tight end. Some bodies are just made for those red zone targets, and QBs absolutely LOVE those guys. (Tyler Higbee, CJ Uzomah, Dalton Schultz, to name a few).
Kickers AND Defense can win you a championship. Again, if you are in the playoffs, you probably have a good team. You are also probably going to be playing a good team. You need any edge you can get, and winning the K-D battle will absolutely give you an edge. As far as kickers go, look at teams that score a lot of points and see who is available in your league. There is a decent chance that Greg Joseph (MIN) or Dustin Hopkins (LAC). Those guys are upgrades over 6-8 kickers that have high roster percentages based on how many times their QBs get their offense into the Red Zone. There are plenty of Defensive upgrades available as well. I looked at the schedule for the last few weeks of the season. The 49ers play at TEN, then at home vs ATL & HOU in weeks 15-17. Coach Belichick's defense hosts a rookie QB from Jacksonville in Week 17. The Boston weather is not going to be fun in January. If you have a shot at the Championship, go get the Patriots Defense and you absolutely have an edge. Having a K-D edge can give you a 5-10 point swing that might just be enough to bring that trophy home.
If you have read this far I believe you are about the grind. So am I. Something we do for the grinders in the sports card game is put on our $4.99 auctions. There are hundreds of wins for those willing to go through what we have. We do this for you. If you are part of our Pack Plus Program, we can even get you free shipping.
Here is the link to our eBay store: https://link.brothersincards.com/ebay
