Unboxing JD’s 2021 Fantasy Football Awards

(Photo by Jay Biggerstaff - USA TODAY Sports via pff.com)

Another fantasy football season has come and gone, and I don’t know about you guys, but I for one feel as though this one flew by faster than normal. Maybe it was the abundant amount of high flying scores we had this season. Maybe it was the nuttiness of the COVID implications delivered the last month of the season. Maybe it was because I studied more than I ever have in my fantasy football career. Whatever the case may be, it was fast, and it didn’t disappoint by any means.

I’m going to do something the kids do now on that YouTube machine they all like, I’m going to do an unboxing. You know I’m actually not physically doing an unboxing of the 2021 Fantasy Football Awards, but it is a fun play on words to tell you who I think deserved what.

I’ll name candidates for each category, share their argument to win, and then name a winner.

Here are the categories: Best Waiver Wire Pickup, Best Early Round Pick, Best Sleeper Pick, Rookie of the Year, MVP

So let’s get into it, and give away the 2021 Fantasy Football Awards. By the way, this goes through Week 17, because if you are still playing fantasy football in Week 18, your league is doing it wrong.

Best Waiver Wire Pickup Award

(Photo by Brynn Anderson - AP Photo via bleacherreport.com)

Candidates: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Cordarelle Patterson, Darrel Williams, Sony Michel

You all know that there may not be a more important piece of fantasy football than using that waiver wire to always make sure you have the best players on your team. Sometimes you pick a player up for a week or two to fill the holes of a hurt player. Sometimes it’s a single game rental for a player that is on the bye week and your bench looks like the trash thrown out last week. Sometimes, you just see a lesser-known player have a monster week and you’re willing to throw all your FAAB (Free Agent Acquisition Budget) at him because the rest of his season might just lead you to the Championship.

A lot of times, those players can and will lead you to the Playoffs. The 4 names I have highlighted above most definitely helped you to the Fantasy Football Playoffs, and quite possibly a Championship.

Sony Michel stepped in for the Rams when Darrell Henderson went down in week 12. If you had a 2RB league with a flex, or maybe even 2 flexes, Michel was a solid name to put in your lineup. In the 5 games he started, Michel averaged 16.9 points per game in PPR formats. If you were looking for an RB2 on our team, you had a solid one in Michel. Those 5 games, by the way, came at the back half of the season when you were trying to make the playoffs, or looking for that number 1 seed. A solid option.

After Clyde Edwards-Helaire went down in Week 6 it was the Darrel Williams show for Kansas City. Yeah, CEH did make it back Week 11, but for those games he was out, Williams was a solid start for those needing to swap in running backs. In his 5 game stretch of starting, Williams scored an average of 18.2 points per game, which is very solid for a backup running back, and actually RB1 numbers. He most definitely did his part for you, and actually ended the season as the RB18 overall.

The rookie wide receiver for the Detroit Lions did everything in his power the last 5 weeks of the fantasy football season to take home this award but just fell short. St. Brown turned into a PPR machine starting in Week 13 and didn’t look back after. He scored 15 or more points in every game from Week 13 on, scored 23 or more in 4 of those weeks, and scored 35 in the Fantasy Football Championship Week. The kid was on fire and is going to be in some serious consideration as a top draft pick next season in leagues, and you should feel lucky if you have him in a Dynasty League.

Your 2021 Best Waiver Wire Pickup Award goes to a guy that has been in the NFL for 8 seasons, has always been used, but never utilized to the extent that he did this season. Cordarelle Patterson came into this season and no one touched him in drafts. Why would you? He really has never been fantasy-relevant, and that’s because teams didn’t know how to use him. The Falcons figured that out quickly this year. Patterson finished the season as the RB9, and only had 5 games where he finished in single digits. The craziest part about his stat lines and fantasy numbers though is that he did it in very limited fashion. There were only 7 games this season where his snap percentage was over 50%. That’s insane. You got to hand it to Patterson and the Falcons on what they were able to do, and whoever picked him up most likely made it into the playoffs. Congrats Flash!

Winner: Cordarelle Patterson

Best Early Round Pick

(Photo by Dylan Buell - Getty Images via bleacherreport.com)

Candidates: Joe Mixon, Aaron Rodgers, Austin Ekeler, Davante Adams

The draft. The day that shapes your fantasy football team for the season, and some decisions that could make or break your place in the standings at the end of the season. Depending on your league rules/scoring, roster capacity, and starting lineup, these all have major factors in how you draft. Let’s take a look at 4 names that made a big impact in the early rounds of drafts that may or may not have been drafted in the first round.

Let’s start with Joe Mixon. I’m bittersweet on this subject a little. Joe Mixon is a guy who the last 2-3 has severely burnt you in Fantasy Football. He was drafted high in those seasons, and it seemed every year he either underperformed or got hurt. Not this season. I applaud those that had the balls to draft Mixon this season, because in PPR he finished the RB4 with 287.9 points. Odds are you drafted Mixon in the first 3 rounds, and he definitely paid off for you. In 17 weeks, Mixon had 7 games that he scored 24 or more points, and only had 3 games where he scored less than 10. That is a rock-solid point total for a running back on a team that has many weapons and isn’t afraid to use them all. Heck of a season for Mixon, but not enough to win this award.

We will stick with the running back position and go with “Mighty Mouse” himself Austin Ekeler. How to hell do you not love this guy? He is willing to pound the rock all game long, and still get goal line touches. Then throw in the fact that he catches nearly everything, Ekeler was targeted 82 times and caught 65 balls this season. He also had 11 rushing touchdowns and 7 receiving touchdowns, which is a stat that you should be staring at and remembering for next season. He finished the season as the RB2 in PPR leagues, and a lot of that has to do with the amount of balls he catches. Jonathan Taylor finished as the RB1 obviously, and he only caught half the balls Ekeler did, and that’s just a testament as to how great Taylor was this season. Nevertheless, Ekeler is going to be a top running back pick next year in fantasy football drafts, because he should be. Stellar season for him in 2021.

Aaron “COVID Toe” Rodgers is next on my candidate list, and it’s hard not to throw him on here. Odds are, in order to land Rodgers this season in your draft you had to snag him early in rounds. He did finish as the QB5, but it’s hard to ignore he played out of his gourd this season. Rodgers finished with a total of 318.5 points, less than 20 behind the QB4, and more than great for your fantasy team. He averaged you 21.2 points per game, and with that came 35 touchdowns through the air and only 4 interceptions. Then throw in the ability to score on the ground even with a bum foot, 3 touchdowns to be exact. Sure, he was farther down in the ranks than Mahomes, Brady, Herbert, and Josh Allen, but if you wanted to solidify your team with a sure-fire quarterback this season, you took Rodgers early. Another great season from him, which I hate saying, but not enough for the award.

Davante. Adams. How in the hell does this guy just continue to be great, and uncoverable season after season? Well, first off, he has a great quarterback who was aforementioned. Second, he’s just really damn good at playing football. Davante Adams finished the season as the WR2, and if it had not been for the historic season Cooper Kupp displayed this season, Adams would be the WR1. He finished the season with 332.8 points and averaged 22.2 points per game. Were you lucky enough to have a Rodgers/Adams stack on your fantasy squad? If you did, that is a guaranteed 43 points every week. Adams was targeted a whopping 162 times this season and caught 117 of them, which seems like maybe it’s not so great, but you’re wrong, that’s still a 72% catch percentage. Next season there is without a doubt Adams is a top 3 wide receiver in fantasy drafts, BUT, that is only if he has Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball. So your 2021 Best Early Round Pick goes to wide receiver Davante Adams.

Winner: Davante Adams

Best Sleeper Pick

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Candidates: James Conner, Leonard Fournette, Brandin Cooks, Hunter Renfrow

One of my favorite aspects and predictions about a new fantasy football season is looking at all the names of the players you don’t think anyone else will recognize as someone who could have a huge season. Then, heading into the draft, snatching them up in a late-round, and watching them succeed. That’s what we call a Sleeper. While everyone else slept on that player, you were willing to use draft capital and put them on your team. Sometimes it comes to fruition and you look like a genius, other times they fail miserably and you look like you have no clue what you’re doing. That’s the beauty of fantasy football, anything can happen, and at any given moment, on any given day, a player can come out of nowhere and completely dominate. Let’s look at this season’s nominees.

James Conner was technically the RB2 for the Arizona Cardinals this season on the depth chart, and not a lot of people had much confidence he would see the field much or even at all. But there were a lot of people who still drafted him merely on the handcuff clause in case Chase Edmonds went down with an injury. Well, guess what happened. In steps Conner, and he absolutely crushes the role in Arizona. Conner’s average ADP (Average Draft Position) this last season was 103; that’s the 10th round, 3rd player off the board. James Conner finished the season as the RB8! That is ahead of names like Aaron Jones, Alvin Kamara, Nick Chubb, and Dalvin Cook. Conner scored a hefty 230.4 points and a lot of that came with scoring 14 touchdowns on the ground and 2 through the air. A rock-solid sleeper that came to fruition. You love to see it.

Lombardi Lenny is a name some may not throw on this list, but I’ll explain myself. Yeah, he is the RB1 for Tampa Bay both on the depth chart and in fantasy football, but the guy’s ADP screams Sleeper. I think a lot of people saw what Brady did last season, saw the wide receiver trio + Gronk, and wrote off Leonard Fournette as a viable fantasy asset. Boy were they all wrong. Fournette finished the season as the RB5 overall, and with an ADP of 87.9 (8th round, 7th player off the board) you can’t argue he wasn’t a sleeper. He averaged about 18 points per game, relying heavily on receptions and touchdowns. Fournette caught 69 balls on 84 targets and had a total of 10 touchdowns cumulatively. Did I mention that he only played 14 games this season too? 

Poor Brandin Cooks. I say poor Brandin Cooks because the guy is crazy good at football, and he’s stuck on a team that is one of the NFL’s dumpster fires. Nevertheless, Cooks was able to finish the season as the WR16 even though he is a Texan. To be able to finish a low-end WR1, high-end WR2 on a team that doesn’t really know their identity and has a garbage coaching staff and front office speaks for Cook’s talent. Brandin Cook’s ADP was 89.3 (8th round, 9th player off the board), and still tallied 226.2 fantasy points. Cooks had 87 catches for 1011 yards and 6 touchdowns. Not an incredible season, but I would say more than enjoyable for a sleeper pick that you kind of grimaced when drafting him. Not sure why either, Cooks has been a solid NFL receiver for 8 years. Cooks is under contract with Houston through 2022, so expect him to show out at least one more season to gain a nice contract on a new team for 2023.

Raise your hand if you had Hunter Renfrow finishing as the WR11 on the season. Yeah, no one has their hand up. But he did, and he is the 2021 Best Sleeper Pick hands down. There are many leagues where Renfrow did actually go undrafted, but at an average, Renfrow’s ADP was around 180. This means he was the final pick for a team in their draft. To be able to be drafted that low, and to come out finishing the season with more fantasy points than players like Mike Evans, DK Metcalf, CeeDee Lamb, and DJ Moore is pretty spectacular. Renfrow finished the season with 242.2 points, which came largely from his 99 catches and 7 touchdowns. He did pass the 1,000-yard mark, which by all means helps immensely. But Hunter Renfrow is a PPR machine, and for owners that drafted him in a Keeper League, they already know who they’re keeping for next season, and it’s that white boy receiver that plays for Las Vegas. Hell of a season, and congrats.

Winner: Hunter Renfrow

Rookie of the Year

(Photo by Aaron Doster - AP Photo via bleacherreport.com)

Candidates: Javonte Williams, Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Najee Harris

You just never know what you’re going to get with some of these rookies that enter the NFL. Sometimes it really is a crapshoot, especially if you’re drafting them on your fantasy football team. Yeah, they had all the intangibles to be a great running back, but the team they went to has a god-awful offensive line. Or, your wide receiver is a hell of a route runner, but your quarterback couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn (that’s a Minnesota saying just an FYI). There are a lot of factors that go into a rookie’s NFL debut, and sometimes it just all works out. So we are going to look at the four rookies I’m nominating for Fantasy Football Rookie of the Year.

Javonte Williams had a great first season with the Denver Broncos in the backfield, but what may be the most impressive part of his season is that it was a 50/50 split with veteran Melvin Gordon. Williams finished with 196.5 fantasy points with an average of about 12.3 points per game. That’s not too shabby when you are headed to the bench half of the game to watch Melvin Gordon do nearly the same thing. Williams was the RB15 on the year, but the most astonishing thing about that is he finished above workhorse running backs by the names of David Montgomery and D’Andre Swift. Also, he was less than 1 point behind Dalvin Cook. Pretty great stuff. The Broncos have a hell of a running back on their hands for the future and should be a priority in drafts next season and off-season trades in Dynasty Leagues.

It took a little bit, not too long, and Jaylen Waddle became the favorite target in Miami, and boy were you happy if you had him on your team. Waddle finished the season as the WR14 and would have been the stand-out rookie wide receiver if it wasn’t for someone else who we will get to shortly. Being on a team where the quarterbacks were hurt on and off throughout the season, Waddle stood out and was able to score 232.1 points. He also collected 99 catches on 135 targets with 988 yards and 5 touchdowns. He also got a little bit involved in the rushing game which is fun to see and did end up adding a rushing touchdown to his 2021 stat line. The future looks bright for Waddle, and if he can keep his connection going with Tua, and if Tua can keep up the good play, the sky is the limit for Waddle’s fantasy production.

The RB3 overall for the 2021 season was none other than Najee Harris. We all knew that when Pittsburgh drafted him he was going to be the workhorse back of the Steelers, and we were all right about it and alright with it. Harris finished the season with 291.2 points, just 23 points behind Austin Ekeler. Harris wasn’t just the ground and pound back we expected though, the Steelers threw him the ball 90 times, and he caught the ball 70 times. That is actually more than Ekeler who is known for his pass-catching ability. That is a huge accomplishment, not only for a rookie running back, but for a running back in general, and a huge asset in PPR leagues, even ½ PPR. Harris ended the season with 10 total touchdowns, and I don’t think those numbers are going to regress at all next season. Depending on what happens with the Steelers quarterback room, they may end up relying on Harris a lot more in the run game next year.

You all knew this was coming right? The Fantasy Football Rookie of the Year is without a doubt wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. A historic season, and one that might actually win him the real ROY award in the NFL even though it is a quarterback’s award. Chase finished the season as the WR5, just 6.9 points behind fellow LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson. Chase tallied a massive 300 points on the nose, with 1429 yards on only 79 catches and 13 touchdowns. The kid is a walking, talking big play waiting to happen. Not only once per game, but several. The connection between him and Burrow is the real deal, and the future for the Bengals is about as bright as it could be. Chase is someone you are going to want to target in all leagues, especially Dynasty. If he can keep this up year after year, there is no doubt that Chase will continue to show massive amounts of success for real-life football and fantasy football. What is really crazy about his stats is the 79 catches, is this the floor? 79 catches a year? If that is the case you have to be more than happy with it, because imagine if it gets to the point of 100 catches a year? The yards and touchdowns should naturally go up with it. Something to think about, and something to be very excited about. Congrats to Ja’Marr Chase, and great job fixing that pre-season problem of the dropsies, which I think was a ploy all along.

Winner: Ja’Marr Chase

MVP

(AP Photo via washingtonpost.com)

Candidates: Justin Herbert, Jonathan Taylor, Cooper Kupp, Josh Allen

There’s always one player every single season that stands out above the rest in performance, value, and points for your fantasy team. This season there were many players that could fall under this category as a candidate, but I still think there is one sure-fire answer. So let’s dive into the 4 candidates and reveal the 2021 Fantasy Football MVP.

In year 2, Justin Herbert decided to just keep doing what he is good at, and that is throwing the football. In fantasy football, Herbert finished as the QB2 only behind Josh Allen and had a grand total of 353.3 fantasy points. If you do the math, and I did for you, that’s 22.1 fantasy points per game, and as your quarterback, it’s hard to ask for a better average on your fantasy team. He also finished with 4631 yards and 35 touchdowns through the air, spectacular. If he can keep his weapons in Allen, Williams, and Ekeler, and the Chargers can just keep doing what they do then Herbert is in for a stellar career in the NFL. You had to love what you saw, but it just wasn’t quite good enough to win the MVP this season.

What an incredible season for Jonathan Taylor, and it looks like this may be a recurring theme for him in seasons to come. To me, Taylor is actually the real-life football MVP, but they won’t give it to him because they’re cowards and it’s a “quarterbacks” award. JT finished the season as the RB1, and had a total of 360.6 points. He without a doubt won you weeks, and launched you into the playoffs, and when you’re averaging 22.5 points per game that isn’t hard to do. When the Colts realized that JT was the answer to their problems, it was carry after carry for the former Wisconsin Badger. Big run after big run. The kid just keeps pounding, and in my opinion, is the hands-down number 1 overall draft pick next season in fantasy football. I’m not sure you will find another person that disagrees either. It’s hard to argue against it, he had 366 opportunities this season, and if you are given that many combined with the talent, great things will continue to happen. Very much looking forward to seeing how his career pans out for the Colts and in fantasy football.

The QB1 as mentioned prior is Buffalo’s Josh Allen, and if you would’ve predicted it at the beginning of the season you were right there with a lot of people. People expected big things out of Allen this year, and they got it. He finished the season with 378.7 points; coming from 4168 yards, 34 touchdowns, 700 rushing yards, and 6 touchdowns. It’s the rushing that separates Allen from the pack and is why he is where he is to end the season. As long as Allen can stay healthy, not get too banged up from running the ball often, he will continue to be a top 3 fantasy quarterback year in and year out. There is just something about his fearlessness of running; which could end up being a problem if he gets hurt, but you have to love the determination and grit to always get more yards no matter how hard he is going to get hit. He is an absolute blast to watch play quarterback, and sadly just fell short of winning Fantasy MVP because the next guy I’m about to talk about went nuclear. There is always next year Allen, keep it up, and we will see you again soon.

Your 2021 Fantasy Football MVP goes to Cooper Douglas Kupp. Before we start, I just want to admire that name for a second, what in the hell is going on there? You have to kind of dig it, and yet, cringe. Cooper Kupp had one of the most insane fantasy football seasons that I can remember for a wide receiver. He finished as the obvious WR1, and he also finished as the 1 overall for any position. Kupp collected 412.9 fantasy points, and the wide receiver closest to him was Davante Adams, who had 80.1 points less than Kupp. 80.1! That is absolutely insane. He was the obvious favorite receiver for Matthew Stafford, and if other receivers want to start putting up Kupp numbers they better be taking their quarterback to breakfast daily. 138 catches on 184 targets, which is just hard to fathom in itself brought 1829 yards and 15 touchdowns. That’s catching 75% of your targets and as a fantasy owner, you just can’t expect more out of a guy. Now, there are obvious thoughts here that regression will happen next season, and it will, but I don’t care. What a historic season, what a fun season, and as a Cooper Kupp owner, I couldn’t have been happier this year. Congrats Kupp!

Winner: Cooper Kupp

Thanks for checking out my awards for the 2021 Fantasy Football Season, I hope you all had success, and I hope that I was able to help you out a bit!

SKOL

-JD