#1
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Team DJ6 (10 - 5)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
Trent Dilfer, QB - TB, BAL, SEA, CLE, SF
Much like Dilfer, DJ6 stumbled his way into a championship. DJ6 was barely average in points scored, ranked 6th, yet now he wears the crown. Dilfer is like a substitute teacher, talks a lot but doesn't seem to have a firm grasp of the material. Now we have to listen to a sub-par QB prepare word salad on ESPN. Again like Dilfer, I can only assume we will have to listen to DJ6 give questionable and condescending fantasy advice while noting the "time he won it all".
DJ6 deftly maneuvered the waiver wire all year, as he won the crown despite being the second-worst graded draft in the league. |
MVP - Ryan Tannehill, QB
Midway through the season no sane person would have pegged backup Ryan Tannehill to propel anyone to the championship, but it is 2020 and here we are. While he was only on DJ6's roster for the playoffs he was the QB3 over that time period and a big reason that the 8-5 DJ6 roster was able to come away the champion of the league.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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D
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9th
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3rd
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One of the steals of the draft. Unfortunately in the rush for Will Dissley DJ6 dropped Sutton after week 3. After he was dropped Sutton was the WR13 on the year. Could have been valuable depth behind K.Golladay and T.Hill. One of the highest value picks of WR in the whole draft.
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Hard to fault for this pick. You have to select a QB, and the 11th round is about right, but having a draft pick wasted due to an early injury is still hard. Streaming QBs did work out well for DJ6 ranking average in QB points in the DDFL this season.
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#2
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Team Delinquent Duo (10 - 5)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
2007 New England Patriots
An all too familiar story. A team loaded with superstars, the highest-scoring team in the history of the league, presumed champions, yet ultimately utter disappointments. The Duo outscored their opponents by an average of 23.9ppg, which is like having two extra players at the FLEX position. Unlike the storied Patriots, I don't expect the Duo to continue their dominance of the league, as they don't have the dark wizard Belichick running their team.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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C+
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3rd
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6th
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#3
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Team Mangan (9 - 6)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
Super Bowl XXXIV Kevin Dyson, WR - TEN
So close, but yet still so far. Kevin Dyson's infamous reach for the goal line in the Super Bowl XXXIV sums up Mangan's season. Like many men, Dyson was just a few inches short of satisfying an entire fan-base.
Mangan won his final three games of the regular season, only to come up short in the playoffs. 4 rec, 41yds, and 0 TDs, and every heartbroken in the state of Tennessee sums up Mangan season quite nicely. In all ESPN leagues the team with Christian McCaffrey wound up in the championship 48.1% of the time, Mangan was in the unfortunate bunch that wasn't. Mangan's draft was incredible outscoring everyone else in the league by 250pts, most years that would be enough to take the crown. |
GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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A+
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1st
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5th
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#4
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Team Morris (7-8)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
Alvin Harper, WR - DAL '91-'94
Only fitting that Morris' NFL comp would be a WR2, as he was carried by a mixture of Christian Kirk, Jarvis Landry, and Calvin Ridley. When thinking about the dynasty that was the 1990's Dallas Cowboys, most forget Alvin Harper. He was steady but lost in the shadow of Michael Irvin who was garnering the attention by scoring TDs, getting caught with coke and "self-employed models", and getting hits put on his head by police. Like Harper, Morris' season is best described as impactful, but forgettable. Unlike Harper, Morris has no championships.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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C
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4th
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4th
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The biggest steal of the "early" rounds, Henry was the second-best draft pick outside of Lamar Jackson in the 14th. It's hard to believe that he was picked after guys like DJ Moore, David Montgomery, and Julian Edelman. He scored 20+ppg in the back half of the season, a huge reason Morris ended up in the playoffs.
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This is the worst non-QB pick in the draft and given its position the most impactful. As great as the Henry pick was, this was far worse. Brown is currently trying to Twitter his way back into the league, but outside of 12 points this season he did nothing for Morris. Losing this high of a draft pick to insanity is a brutal blow.
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#5
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Stairway to Evans (8-7)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
2019 Cleveland Browns
The hype train at the beginning of the season failed to solidify into anything meaningful. The golden opportunity that Kitchens had slipped through his chicken grease-soaked hands. STE's team was loaded with all the talent in the world Barkley, Cook, Evans, and Gordon. Post-draft STE was the scariest roster in the league, but sometimes the issue is with the person leading the ship.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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C-
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8th
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2nd
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Cook's talent was always apparent, his health was the concern. This year was his first not ending the season on IR, and he showed that he can be a top RB. Outside of Christian McCaffrey, Cook was the highest-graded pick in the first two rounds.
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If you miss in the first 5 picks you always miss big. Kamara ended the season as the RB16 on the year, which is serviceable, but not RB1 numbers. His TD drought this season hurt his numbers, and he did not meet lofty pre-season expectations, at times looking like the second-best RB on his team.
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#6
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Team Dunham (8-7)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
2010 San Diego Chargers
If you don't know the story of the 2010 San Diego Chargers you ought to, as it is one of the most fascinating stories in NFL history. The Chargers were #1 in total offense and defense in the regular season, yet posted a 9-7 record and missed the playoffs entirely. Surprisingly, every NFL team didn't give their ST coach a bonus after the Chargers proved the importance of the third phase of the game. Similarly, a generally underappreciated fantasy position the DST slot is what sunk Dunham, only scoring 69 total points from that position. That total is nearly 30 points less than the next worst team in the DDFL.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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C-
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7th
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7th
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The constant weekly dance of "will he or won't he" with AJ Green was brutal. Turns out Green was nothing more than roster filler this year, never appearing in a game, but not being put on IR. Thank you Matt for not trading him to me the many times I tried.
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#7
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Gary Anderson's Right Foot (8-7)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
2008 New England Patriots
The 2008 New England Patriots have a case to be one of the best teams in history to miss the playoffs. The Matt Cassel led team went 11-5 and posted a 101+ point differential. Like GARF, the Patriots were led by a football mastermind and 2008 was just a bump in the dynasty that would last 10+ years.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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F+
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10th
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1st
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Cam was picked as the 8th overall QB in the draft, ahead of Dak and Lamar Jackson. What did he give in return less than 20 total points, averaging 8.9 pts in the two games that he did play. The single worst graded pick in the draft. If GARF had made even an average pick at this position he would have been the 4th best draft, instead of the worst.
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#8
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Team Berry (5-10)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
Andy Reid's Chicken McNugget Dinner
Straight-up destroyed, what should have been a fulfilling experience left you empty and wanting more. It had its highlights, but by the end, it left you sluggish and wincing in pain. Unfortunately, Berry didn't get the benefit of Reid's deep-fried playbook, otherwise, he may have been able to string together some more respectable performances. Boom or bust was the definition of the season for Berry, and unfortunately, consistency escaped him, managing to be the highest-scoring team one week but the lowest-scoring team on the season.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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C
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5th
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10th
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#9
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Wrigley Naf Gilligan (6-9)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NOPE
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NFL Equivalent
Jack Lambert's Grin
Like Jack Lambert's dental disaster of a mouth, WNG's roster was filled with holes. It was the mouth equivalent of aftermath footage of a trailer park ravaged by a tornado. We must emphasize that this is a comparison specifically to Jack Lambert's mouth and not Lambert himself, as Lambert was a champion and WNG was not.
WNG took a very respectable draft class and ran it into the ground. |
MVP - Julio Jones, WR
There is a caveat to this MVP as he was a trade acquisition after week 7. Unfortunately, WNG got mildly burned in the trade, sending DeAndre Hopkins and Phillip Lindsay to DJ6 for Jones and Sony Michel. Although he would have been better off with Hopkins, it is close, and Jones had a respectable season.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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B-
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2nd
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9th
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This pick looks even worse when you consider that WNG only got Hopkins for his lackluster first 7 weeks before trading him. Over the beginning of the season, Hopkins was the WR14 averaging 10ppg, and after that point, he was the WR5 averaging 12.5ppg. Not the type of production you want from the first WR off the board.
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#10
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Team Morgan (4-11)
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TROPHIES & AWARDS
NFL Equivalent
Mason Rudolph QB/Punching Bag - PIT
Despite having fantasy-godsend Lamar Jackson Morgan was clobbered this year. 40.9% of all ESPN leagues had the L.Jackson owner in the championship, it is difficult to manage to end up last with that type of firepower. Having the worst RBs and WRs in the league doesn't give you much of a chance. Morgan was also the subject of a lot of unfortunate luck. He was the 4th highest-scoring team in the league, but he faced the toughest schedule in the league with his opponents scoring 1371.14pts, highest among all teams.
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GRADE
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RANK
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START RANK
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Season-ending Draft Grade
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C-
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7th
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8th
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Although he wasn't useless as he did show up for the first 7 weeks of the season, after that he completely fell off the map averaging 2 ppg in the second half of the season. Easily could've been Morgan's LVP if Smith-Schuster wasn't a thing.
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