Sprouts comes to life in Week 2!

What a roller coaster season…and it’s only week 2!   Last week, the top two highest scoring teams (Scottish Rebels and American BadAss) combined to score 207 points, but this week only combined for 148.  A drop-off of 59 points (-29%).  On the flip side, this week’s top two scoring teams, Wyld Ass Monkeys and sprouts combined to score 240 points, after combining for only 137 points last week... a 103-point improvement (+75%)!  On an individual team basis, seven teams saw double-digit score changes from last week, led by Wyld Ass Monkeys who scored +59 more points this week.  The only consistent performers were NASCAR Cafe Honey Mustard, Big Sack No TDs and American BadAss, who saw point changes of +8, +4 and -6.  Brace yourself for a wild ride this year!

The big congrats go to Russ, where his sprouts dominated the competition and finished with a solid 121 points!  Russ’ roster was great from top to bottom, with six players scoring in double digits, led by Amon-Ra St. Brown with 29, Bo Nix with 20 and Christian McCaffrey with 16.  His tight end, Tyler Kraft, killed it too, adding in 18 points of his own.  Great work señor!  This is Russ’ first Weekly High Score Prize this season, and his first since Week 10, 2023.

In other games around the league we are seeing parity kick in, as we are down to only two undefeated teams (American BadAss and Big Sack No TD’s) along with only two winless teams (Luck of the Irish and Joe’s Pats).  Everyone else is 1-1, right in the middle of the pack.

BIG TIME

• Russell Wilson, QB – Free Agent – 33 pts – Continuing with the up and down results this year, Wilson went from scoring just 10 points last week, to being the top scorer this week with 33.
• Jared Goff, QB – Luck of the Irish – 33 pts – Similar story for Goff who only scored 11 last week, but then piled on Bears this week for 33.
• Malik Nabers, WR – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 31 pts – What a game!  Nabers caught nine passes for 167 yards and 2 TDs.  He is currently the top scoring wide receiver in fantasy.
• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – This is what you look for in a keeper.  Twenty five carries for 165 yards, plus 50 yards receiving (on just 2 catches) and a TD.  Taylor is now the 2nd highest scoring RB in fantasy, just 1 point behind James Cook.
• Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR – sprouts – 29 pts – St. Brown had an unbelievable day, hauling in 9 catches for 115 yards and 3 TDs!  And expect to see this again this season, as the Lions get to play the Bears again in Week 17.
• Lamar Jackson, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 26 pts – At last a consistently scoring player.  Jackson followed his 29 point performance last week with 26 this week… much better.  He now leads all fantasy scorers with 55 points.

COME ON MAN

• Derrick Henry, RB – Scottish Rebels – 2 pts – Dude scores 30 points in the opening week, then barely manages 23 yards on 11 carries, versus the Browns.  Up and down.
• T.J. Hockenson, TE – J LUV U LONG TIME – 1 pt – The Vikings offense was pretty weak, putting up only 6 points.  Hockenson contributed to the weakness, logging just one catch for 12 yards. D'oh.
• Hunter Henry, TE – Worst to 1st – 0 pts – In spite of being on the field for 50 of 60 offensive plays, he had just 3 passes thrown his way, catching 1 for 9 yards. Oof.
• Mark Andrews, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – Just not a good week for tight ends or something… Andrews has been less than impressive so far this season, having just 2 catches for 7 yards through the first two games.  Yuck.

ALL UNWANTEDS

Only two roster moves needed this week for the Unwanteds, swapping in Michael Pittman Jr., and the Jacksonville Defense.

Pos	Player	Wk 2 Pts
QB	Daniel Jones	22
RB	Javonte Williams	18
RB	Trey Benson	4
WR	Quentin Johnston	13
WR	Michael Pittman Jr.	4
TE	Zach Ertz	12
K	Spencer Shrader	18
DEF	Jacksonville	10
	Total	101

With 101 points, that would have outscored all but two teams this week (sprouts and Wyld Ass Monkeys), and was well above the league average (88.2).  So I’m calling this a win for the Unwanteds, moving their record to 2-0.

WHAT IN THE KICK IS GOING ON?!

My disdain for kickers has been well documented over the years, and this season is shaping up to be no different.  Through the first two weeks of the season, the top kicker is Spencer Shrader-IND, who I'd never even heard of, and in Yahoo! draft stats literally shows a 0 for % drafted.  Second is Brandon Aubrey, who was expected to be good because the Cowboys can't score touchdowns.  Third is Joey Slye, who's kicking for Tennessee this year, and who was also 0% drafted according to Yahoo.  Fourth is Matt Prater, who wasn't even on a team until 2 days before the season.  Kickers, man... what in the hell?!

BEST BENCH

There were some pretty solid bench scores this week, with three teams posting 20 or higher (Worst to First +20, NASCAR Café Honey Mustard +23 and Scottish Rebels +29), but none could come close to this week’s winner.  With a crazy impressive +50 point-improvement-possibility, the Week 2 Best Bench goes to… Joe’s Pats!  This was the highest Bench total since Week 16 of 2023!

Joe needed a half roster swap to get there:  R. Odunze for D. London +22, D. Maye for K. Murray +13, J. Johnson for M. Andrews +10 and D. Adams for N. Collins +5.  This was Joe’s first Best Bench this season, and his first since Week 13, 2024.

Get your rosters set for Week 3!  We are only three weeks away from my early season playoff predictions!!

Rebels Tops To Start the Season!

After all the anticipation and hype, 2025 starts with a bit of a whimper.  Or at least a subdued bang.  With only 772 total points scored, this was the lowest scoring Week 1 since 2017 (when only 706 points were scored), and is a full 144 points lower than Week 1 last season.  Last season five teams opened up starting the year in triple digits, and this year only one team managed the feat.

That one team, was my Scottish Rebels.  Really not even a team effort though, as it was more like two stud superstars and then some other random dudes.  With 62% of my production coming from just two players, my Rebels claimed the Week 1 High Score with 114 points.  Josh Allen was an absolute beast, logging 41 points, and Derrick Henry led all runningbacks with 30 points.  Didn’t really need much after that, as my third highest scoring player was my kicker, Tyler Loop, who scored 12 points.

In other games this week James, Jason, Jens and Tim all logged victories, with Russ, John, Joe and Rob starting out 0-1.  Somehow Tim overcame zero wide receiver points to still win his game 67-55.  The best and worst starting and losing records both stand at 6 games (i.e. 6-0 and 0-6), so everyone is on their way to setting some kind of record!

BIG TIME

• Josh Allen, QB – Scottish Rebels – 41 pts – Josh went off for a total of 394 yards and 2 TD’s through the air, plus 30 yards and 2 more TD’s on the ground.  He was fortunate a few of his passes didn’t get picked off, but overall just an unbelievable start to the season.
• Derrick Henry, RB – Scottish Rebels – 30 pts – An otherwise dominating performance, Henry gave up a crucial fumble which allowed the Bills to come back and win.  Still a fantastic way to start the year with 182 total yards and 2 TD’s.
• Lamar Jackson, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 29 pts – Jackson had as good of a game you can have in a losing effort.  Finished with 209 yards and 2 TD’s passing, plus 70 yards and 1 TD rushing.  He literally averaged over 11 yards per rush, and nearly 15 yards per completion.
• Daniel Jones, QB – Free Agent – 28 pts – Let’s go Danny Dimes!  Amazing how a player can flourish after escaping from New York.  
• Justin Fields, QB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 28 pts – Wait, Fields flourishes by going into New York?  Oh, I see, because he escaped Chicago.  Makes sense.
• Justin Herbert, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 27 pts – Rounding out the great QB performances to start the season was Herbert, who passed for 318 yards and 3 TD’s in a win over K.C.  

COME ON MAN

• DeVonta Smith, WR – J LUV U LONG TIME – 1 pt – Just not a good start to the year for Smith, as he finished with merely 3 catches for just 16 yards.
• T.J. Hockenson, TE – J LUV U LONG TIME – 1 pt – Not much there for Talking Jim this week, logging a measly 15 yards on three catches.
• Baltimore, DEF – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 0 pts – Baltimore gave up 40 points, and only recorded one sack.   The Ravens defense was the lowest scoring defense this week, which is hard to believe.  If Ray Lewis was dead, he would be rolling in his grave.
• Mark Andrews, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – The Ravens scored 40 points and had hundreds of yards of offense, yet homeboy barely sniffed the stat sheet.  Out of 432 total Raven offensive yards, Andrews had 5.  Yes, 5.
• A.J. Brown, WR – NASCAR Café Honey Mustard – 0 pts – Brown caught the one pass thrown his way and took it for all of 8 yards.  Not what you want from a guy drafted this season in the 2nd round with the 8th pick (excluding keepers).

ALL-UNWANTEDS TEAM WEEK 1

Since all NFL teams had at least two players drafted, the ‘All Unwanteds’ team this season is going to be slightly different.  From the Week 1 results, I’ve selected the top free agent performers in each position as the starting line up.  

Here are the Week 1 starters:

• QB – Daniel Jones, IND 28
• RB – Javonte Williams, DAL 18
• RB – Trey Benson, ARI 6
• WR – Quentin Johnston, LAC 19
• WR – Keon Coleman, BUF 17
• TE – Noah Fant, CIN 8
• K – Spencer Shrader, IND 16
• DEF – Tennessee, TEN 17
• TOTAL = 129

Additionally, I’ve taken the next top performing free agent in each position for the bench.

Current Bench:

• Aaron Rodgers, QB (25)
• Raheim Sanders, RB (6)
• Michael Pittman Jr., WR (14)
• Zach Ertz, TE (8)
• Joey Slye, K (15)
• Jacksonville, DEF (15)

From those 14 players I’ll assemble the optimal roster each week to see how they stack up.  They’ve started off the year hot, completely dominating all other teams with 129 points.  We’ll see if this continues, or if they were just a one week fluke.

BEST BENCH

Before getting into this week’s Best Bench, I wanted to share a few Best Bench stats from over the years. 

• Average Best Bench Improvement (since 2019) = 35.2 pts
• Highest Best Bench Improvement (since 2019) = 60 pts, Luck of the Irish – Week 13, 2020
• Highest Best Bench Improvement (All-Time) = 89 pts, sprouts – Week 2, 2009
• Lowest Best Bench Improvement (All-Time) = 13 pts, Big Sack No TD’s and Wyld Ass Monkeys – Both on Week 9, 2022
• Team with the Most Best Benches (since 2019) = Luck of the Irish, 18
• Team with the Fewest Best Benches (since 2019) = Joe’s Pats & Wyld Ass Monkeys, 7

Last season there was only one team who avoided taking home a Best Bench.  In spite of leading the league in Best Benches, Luck of the Irish was perfect last year, never once claiming the dubious crown.  Luck had a streak of 27 weeks without a Best Bench, which was the longest active record.  But records, as they say, are meant to be broken, and that is precisely what happened this week.  With a solid 37-point-improvement possibility, the first Best Bench of 2025 goes to none other than John’s Luck of the Irish!

John needed a half roster swap to get there:  G. Wilson for T. McLaurin +13, C. Williams for J. Goff +12, J. Croskey-Merritt for J. Gibbs +10 and J. Warren for A. Jeanty +2.  

The team now with the longest active streak of avoiding a Best Bench is J LUV U LONG TIME, where Shawn has not had one since Week 2 last season.  How long can he keep it rolling?

Okay, get those waiver claims in, and get your rosters ready for Week 2!!

Sacred Sundays 2025 is here!!

Sacred Sundays 2025 is off and running!  This marks the 9th season with all ten of the same teams, and the 22nd season overall.  Truly impressive run!  We’ll see if my Scottish Rebels can successfully defend the title this season, but if recent history is any indicator, it does not look good.  Looking at the prior four champions before last season (back through 2020), and the defending champ has only made the playoffs once (Joe’s Pats as defending champ in 2022 finished as runner-up in 2023).  The other three defending champs (Attack of Mahomes 2020, Young Guns 2022 and Sofa King Great 2023) finished 7th, 7th and 10th, respectively.  Oof!  The last time my team won (2019), I managed only a 4th place finish the following season.  The road to repeat is a tough one!

Draft stats and notes:

• Wide Receivers were the most selected position with 49 taken.
• Runningbacks were second most selected with 42.
• There were 20 quarterbacks taken this season, which is exactly the same as last year.  Every team took 2, except Timmy who only has 1 and Jason who selected 3.  (Weirdly that is exactly the same as last season.)
• Jason was the only team who took 2 Defenses.
• Rob loaded up on runningbacks… the only team to take 6 of that position.
• John and Shawn loaded up on wide receivers… both were the only teams to take 6 of that position.
• James was the only team to take 2 kickers.  
• Tight Ends were a bit more popular this season with 17 drafted, which was 2 more than last season. 
• All 32 NFL teams had at least 2 players drafted.
• Detroit led the way with 8 players selected.
• Four teams had 7 players selected:  Denver, Kansas City, Minnesota and Philadelphia.
• Carolina and Tennessee each had 2 selected which was the least of any team.
• Five teams had players selected from every position (QB, RB, WR, TE, DEF and K): Detroit, Denver, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Buffalo.

Yahoo Grades and Predictions

The highest grades awarded by Yahoo this season were to John’s Luck of the Irish and James’ Worst to 1st, who both received an A+.  Five teams received D grades (Scottish Rebels, American BadAss, NASCAR Café Honey Mustard, J LUV U LONG TIME and sprouts), and Joe’s Pats received a C- which is practically a D.  So overall, Yahoo did not seem overly impressed with our drafting skills, giving us an average GPA of just 2.2.  

For record predictions, Yahoo has Luck of the Irish finishing with 11 wins, followed by Worst to 1st and Big Sack No TDs with 10.  The bottom four teams it has predicted to miss the playoffs are American BadAss, NASCAR Café Honey Mustard, J LUV U LONG TIME and sprouts.  Yahoo loves to predict tie games, as it is calling for 7 tie games this season, with my Scottish Rebels leading the way with a whopping 4 tie finishes.  This despite the fact no team in Sacred Sundays history has ever had more than 2 ties in a season, and the most total tie games in a season has been 4 (2015 and 2016 seasons).  

Everyone Needs Money, That’s Why They Call It Money

Just a quick recap of the prizes for this season:

Weekly High Score Prize = $50/week for 17 weeks ($850 total awarded)

Champion = $500

2nd Place = $300

3rd Place = $200

4th Place = $150

Okay, that’s all I’ve got as the primer for this season.  

Now, it brings me so much joy to say… ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBAAAAAAAALLLL?!?!?!

Scottish Rebels are 2024 Champions!

Going back just over 10 years ago there was a real trend where the Championship team also won the Weekly High Score in the final week of the season.  American BadAss (Jason) did it in 2013 with 129 points; Joe’s Pats (Joe) did it in 2015 with 122 points; Vandelay Industries (Louis) did it in 2016 with 116 points; Joe’s Pats (Joe) did it again in 2017 with 101 points; and my Longshanks team last did it in 2019 with 111 points.  So across a 7-year span from 2013 to 2019, it happened five times!  Now for the first time in the 2020’s, my Scottish Rebels have done it by securing a 124-81 victory over American BadAss to win the 2024 Championship and secure a record-tying 6^th Weekly High Score Prize this season!

This week I had the usual solid performances from Josh Allen and Derrick Henry (22 and 21 points), but also got a big game from Tee Higgins (29 points) and the Seattle defense (18 points).  (Interesting side note - in 2019 my opponent was also American BadAss…more on that later).  For the entire season including playoffs, my Rebels scored 1,774 points which is the most points ever scored in league history.  (Prior to 2023 there were only 16 games, versus 17 games in 2023 and 2024).  Looking at it on a weekly average, my Rebels averaged 104.4 points per week.  The only other time a team has averaged over 100 points was sprouts in 2020 when they averaged 101.9 points per week.  (Last year’s champion, Sofa King Great, was the high scoring team with 1,650 points an average of 97.1 points per week).  This championship is my 3^rd overall, having won it in 2019 and 2010.  For Jason, it is the 4^th time he has finished in 2^nd place, having also done it in 2019, 2012 and 2005.

In the ‘What Do You Know?!’ Bowl for 3^rd / 4^th, Big Sack put the beat down on an injury riddled J LUV U LONG TIME squad and finished with a 99-54 victory.  Jens had his standard big games from Lamar Jackson (28 pts) and Saquon Barkley (19 pts) and also got a 20-point defensive performance from the Miami D.  Congratulations Jens!  This is his second 3^rd Place finish, having also done it back in 2014.  For Shawn, it marks the third time he has finished in 4^th place, having also done it in 2019 and 2009.

Lots to get to this week as we will check out the season’s final Top Fives, check out some highlights from the year, recap all the prize money from this season, award the Skelton Crown to the worst fantasy player of the season and give out the final Best Bench of 2024.  Let’s do this!

 

BIG TIME

• Joe Burrow, QB – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 39 pts – Burrow had a monster day tossing for 412 yards passing plus 3 TD’s, and added 25 yards rushing plus a rushing TD.  Joe Cool finishes the season as the 3^rd highest scoring QB.
• Baker Mayfield, QB – American BadAss – 37 pts – Mayfield and the Buccaneers received little to no resistance as they demolished the Panthers, and Baker racked up 359 passing yards and 5 TDs!
• Drew Lock, QB – Free Agent – 34 pts – I think the Giants have found their QB!!  Lock was locked-in and racked up 309 yards and 4 TDs.  Could this be the second coming of Jeff Hostetler?
• Malik Nabers, WR – American BadAss – 32 pts – The main guy catching Lock’s passes, and he made the most of it!  He caught 7 of 8 passes thrown his way for 171 yards and 2 TDs. 
• Jayden Daniels, QB – 1^st to Worst – 31 pts – Daniels’ rushing total from this game would have been impressive enough, as he ran 16 times for 127 yards.  But he also added 227 yards passing and 3 TDs.  He finishes the season as the 4^th highest scoring quarterback, as a rookie.  Amazing!

 

COME ON MAN

• Brandon Aubrey, K – American BadAss – 1 pt – One lowly extra point was all the Cowboys could muster up.  Weak.
• Jayden Reed, WR – American BadAss – 0 pts – Targeted four times, caught one ball for all of 6 yards. Yuck.
• Ka’imi Fairbarin, K – J LUV U LONG TIME – 0 pts – Houston was destroyed by Baltimore, losing by the bizarre score of 31-2.  Nary a field goal or extra point to speak of.
• Terry McLaurin, WR – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – They threw the ball his way 7 times (yes 7!!), but he only managed 1 catch for 5 yards.  W.T.F?!!

 

2024 HIGHLIGHTS

• Highest Single Week Score for a Player – Josh Allen, QB, BUF – 51 points, Week 14.  He had SIX total TD’s (3 passing and 3 rushing), plus had 342 yards passing and 82 yards rushing.
• Highest Single Week Score for a Kicker – Chris Boswell, K, PIT – 26 points, Week 1.  Boswell was a beast in Week 1, nailing 6 total FG’s, including 3 from 50+!  He had another big week in Week 11 where he again hit 3 from 50+ and finished with 24 points.  After the big start in Week 1, Boswell finished as the top ranked kicker for the year.
• Best Defense Single Week Score – Chicago Bears, DEF – 28 points, Week 1.  The Bears faithful must’ve been pumped after a dominating Week 1 performance, amassing 3 sacks, 3 turnovers and 2 TD’s!  Unfortunately the rest of the season did not go so well for the Bears, as they cracked double digits only one other time (19 pts in Week 6), and limped to the finish the year scoring only 25 points in the final five weeks of the season (including a -1 score in Week 14) ultimately finishing as the 17th ranked defense.
• Highest Single Week Score for a Team – 144 points – Tie between Big Sack No TDs (Jens) and Scottish Rebels (Jerry).  Jens did it in Week 12, and I did it just two weeks later in Week 14.  For Jens in Week 12 it was Saquon Barkley leading the way with 44 points, and in Week 14 when I did it I had Jason Allen score 51 points.
• Most Optimal Line-ups – An Optimal Lineup is where there are no roster changes to improve your score.  This season in total there were 11 Optimal Lineups.  The team who did it the most times was Shawn’s J LUV U LONG TIME who accomplished it 3 times!  The Wyld Ass Monkeys and Luck of the Irish both accomplished it twice this season.
• Biggest Blow-out – 69 points, Week 10 – Wyld Ass Monkeys defeats Joe’s Pats 142-73.  In this matchup, Rob had Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase combine for 83 points, while Joe had Sam Darnold and Zay Flowers combine for 8 points. 
• Lowest Best Bench this season – 18 points – Big Sack No TDs, Week 14.  Across all teams in Week 14 there were only 108 bench-improvement points.  Impressive team management all around.
• Highest Best Bench this season – Read on… ;-)

WORST FANTASY PLAYER THIS SEASON

Since introducing the Skelton Crown in Week 15 and the first three nominees for the Worst Fantasy Player this season, there was only one more nominee to make the cut.  The fourth and final nominee goes to:

-        Dallas Cowboys, DEF – Week 17 – -4 points – As mentioned before -4 points is the absolute lowest score a defense can get, which means they gave up >35 points and registered no meaningful defensive stat.  The Cowboys did just this against Philly in Week 17, losing in stunning fashion (41-7) and just looking like a deer in the headlights for most of the game.  Dallas finishes the season as the 15^th ranked defense this season after being the 2^nd best last year.

After careful consideration of all the nominees, the Skelton Crown for 2024 goes to… New York Giants wide receiver Dee Williams!  His name may be “Dee” but he gets an “F” for his play this season.  He finishes the year with -2 points, which was a result of scoring -2 on three separate occasions, but then offsetting that with four 1-point outings.  Dee Williams, you are the worst of 2024, here is your crown.

 

TOP FIVES

Final look at the top five scorers from each position this season:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Lamar Jackson	QB	Bal	392	Big Sack No TDs
2	Josh Allen	QB	Buf	367	Scottish Rebels
3	Joe Burrow	QB	Cin	362	Wyld Ass Monkeys
4	Jayden Daniels	QB	Was	340	1st to Worst
5	Baker Mayfield	QB	TB	338	American BadAss

Lamar Jackson ruled over all this season and was the top scorer since Week 7.  And how about the rookie, Jayden Daniels, finishing as the 4^th highest scoring player this season?!

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Saquon Barkley	RB	Phi	323	Big Sack No TDs
2	Derrick Henry	RB	Bal	289	Scottish Rebels
3	Jahmyr Gibbs	RB	Det	256	Luck of the Irish
4	Josh Jacobs	RB	GB	237	sprouts
5	Bijan Robinson	RB	Atl	236	Luck of the Irish

Barkley was on a mission this year, and he absolutely smoked all other runningbacks.  Shout out to John for having 2 of the top 5 runningbacks!

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Ja'Marr Chase	WR	Cin	261	Wyld Ass Monkeys
2	Justin Jefferson	WR	Min	201	American BadAss
3	Amon-Ra St. Brown	WR	Det	194	Joe's Pats
4	Brian Thomas Jr.	WR	Jax	178	1st to Worst
5	Terry McLaurin	WR	Was	168	Joe's Pats

For wide receivers, it was Ja’Marr Chase as top dog since Week 5.  Brian Thomas Jr. is definitely a surprise, coming from the Jaguars.  And shout out to Joe having 2 of the top 5 wide receivers.

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	George Kittle	TE	SF	153	Scottish Rebels
2	Brock Bowers	TE	LV	130	Luck of the Irish
3	Trey McBride	TE	Ari	121	sprouts
4	Jonnu Smith	TE	Mia	118	sprouts
5	Mark Andrews	TE	Bal	115	Wyld Ass Monkeys

The two surprises on the list are Brock Bowers (ranked 12^th among TE’s to start the season, and Jonnu Smith who wasn’t even in the top 20 TE’s to start the season.  The surprises not on the list are Taylor’s Boyfriend (finished as the 9^th ranked TE) and Sam LaPorta (finished as the 7^th ranked TE).  Shout out to Russ for having two Tight Ends in the top 5!

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Minnesota	DEF	Min	201	J LUV U LONG TIME
2	Denver	DEF	Den	199	Scottish Rebels
3	Green Bay	DEF	GB	175	American BadAss
4	Buffalo	DEF	Buf	170	American BadAss
5	Seattle	DEF	Sea	165	Scottish Rebels

They say defense wins championships, and would you look at that?!  Both Jason and I with 2 defenses in the Top 5.  Wild!

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Chris Boswell	K	Pit	184	Luck of the Irish
2	Brandon Aubrey	K	Dal	178	American BadAss
3	Ka'imi Fairbairn	K	Hou	164	J LUV U LONG TIME
4	Cameron Dicker	K	LAC	161	W (Jan 1)
5	Jason Sanders	K	Mia	156	J LUV U LONG TIME

Time and again I’ve shown how unpredictable kickers are from season to season.  Chris Boswell was the 18^th ranked kicker last season.  Ka’imi Fairbairn ranked 26^th last year.  Cam Dicker was 11^th and Jason Sanders was 9^th.  The only one with any consistency was Brandon Aubrey, who was last year’s top kicker and finished 2^nd this season.  But perhaps my favorite shout out of all – Shout out to Shawn Martin finishing with 2 kickers in the top 5!  If you are gonna carry a back-up kicker, he better be good!

 

EVERYONE NEEDS MONEY, THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT MONEY

Here is the final tally on prizes won this season:

1)      Scottish Rebels – Jerry - $700 (6 Weekly High Scores, Champion)

2)      American BadAss – Jason - $325 (3 Weekly High Scores, Runner-up)

3)      Big Sack No TDs – Jens - $250 (2.5 Weekly High Scores, 3^rd Place)

4)      J LUV U LONG TIME – Shawn - $100 (2 Weekly High Scores)

5)      Luck of the Irish – John - $75 (1.5 Weekly High Scores)

6)      Wyld Ass Monkeys – Rob - $75 (1.5 Weekly High Scores)

7)      Joe’s Pats – Joe - $25 (0.5 Weekly High Score)

Congrats to everyone who won a prize!  I’ll send an email to each winner to settle up.

 

2025 DRAFT ORDER & PRIZES

The 2025 draft order will be: (inverse order of this year’s standings)

1.  James – 1^st To Worst
2. Joe – Joe’s Pats
3. Timmy – NASCAR Café Honey Mustard
4. Rob – Wyld Ass Monkeys
5. Russ – sprouts
6. John – Luck of the Irish
7. Shawn – J LUV U LONG TIME 
8. Jens – Big Sack No TDs
9. Jason – American BadAss
10. Jerry – Scottish Rebels

As always each team can select up to two players from this year’s final roster to be a keeper for next season.  Keepers will count as a draft pick in next year’s draft based on what round they were drafted this season.  Keepers from this season who are re-kept for next season count as a first round pick.  I’ll send out a final roster sheet with all draft values in the next week.  Rosters will be considered final at the end of day on Saturday, Jan. 4^th, 2025.  Also, as always we will target Labor Day Weekend 2025 for the draft.

In terms of prizes for next season, I was thinking about increasing the buy-in by $45 to make it an even $200.  The Weekly High Score Prize would remain the same at $50/week for 17 weeks but the overall prizes would change to: 1^st $500, 2^nd $300, 3^rd $200 and 4^th $150.  Basically, this would add a payout for the 4^th place team, plus increase payouts for the top three.  If anyone is strongly against this, let me know and we can just keep the buy-in the same.  Otherwise, this will be the plan for next season.

 

BEST BENCH

Final Best Bench of the season, and it was a good one!  It was the highest improvement possibility we saw all season, and the highest since Week 2 of last year.  With a highly impressive 47-point-improvement-possibility, the final Best Bench of 2024 goes to… American BadAss!!  Jason needed a half roster swap to get there:  M. Nabers for J. Reed +32, J. Myers for B. Aubrey +7, K. Pitts for T. Kraft +5, and J. Mixon for J. Conner +3.  This was Jason’s 3^rd Best Bench this year, which tied him for the most with sprouts.  Now are you ready for one more weird coincidence?  Back in 2019 when I won the championship and the Weekly High Score Prize against American BadAss, Jason also took home the Best Bench that week!  History on repeat!

 

Well it is hard to believe another season has come and gone in what feels like just a couple weeks.  Can’t wait to do it again next year! 

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2025!!