Christmas Week is here, and hopefully Santa already has delivered a championship or two among your fantasy leagues.
But if you fell short, don’t fret. Fantasy titles are harder to come by than many realize. Among other things, it takes a near-ideal combination of right-player, right-week performances and matchups, lineup-decision fortune and a dash of unpredictable randomness to fall your way over a series of weekends.
In actuality, consistently finishing among the highest-scoring teams and/or qualifying for the postseason more often than not in the majority of your leagues are the better measures of true fantasy-football prowess.
As for the 2019 fantasy season itself, with the champions having been crowned in the majority of leagues, it’s time to take stock of the year that was in our final TT&T of the season.
More specifically, we’re selecting a stud, dud and surprise at each of the four major fantasy positions (quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end) and examining the impact each had on the current season and beyond. And as you’ll quickly see when we start to get into the numbers, 2019 will go down as one of the most memorable seasons in fantasy history.
First, though, thanks once again to you, loyal Huddle readers and subscribers, for making this all possible. And even if that fantasy championship still proved elusive, may all of your other holiday wishes come true.
Now, time for our 2019 studs, duds and surprises …
Quarterback
STUD: Lamar Jackson, Ravens. No contest doesn’t do the QB competition justice when you have the league leader in touchdown passes (36 through 15 games) and the NFL single-season quarterback rushing yards record-holder (1,206) rolled into one weekly must-see highlight-generating package. Jackson made an impression as a rookie in 2018, leading all QBs in rushing (699 yards) in essentially only seven starts, but there were legit concerns about his passing after he completed 58.2 percent of his throws and finished with only three more TD passes (six) than interceptions (three) while posting an 84.5 passer rating and 46.3 QBR. This season, Jackson has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for six times as many TDs (36) as picks (six) for an elite 113.3 rating and league-leading 81.1 QBR. Speaking of league-leading, Jackson had compiled 63 more fantasy points (462.9 total, Huddle Performance scoring) than the next closest QB (Jameis Winston) through play Sunday and had scored 30 or more points in two-thirds of his 15 games this season, including 39.2 and 34.2, respectively, in Weeks 15 and 16, the final two weeks of the fantasy playoffs in the majority of leagues. Even if Jackson rests in Week 17 with the Ravens already having put the wraps on the AFC’s No. 1 seed, his 2019 season goes down as one of the best quarterback campaigns (fantasy or reality) of all-time.
DUD: Baker Mayfield, Browns. Of the 2019 sophomore QBs, many were banking on Mayfield putting up Jackson-esque numbers as the No. 5 QB drafted, on average, in leagues, but four months later, we find him down at No. 18 at the position with 282.6 points through Sunday. That’s 24.8 points fewer than he totaled in 14 games as a rookie a year ago when he averaged 266.1 passing yards per outing with a rookie-record 27 TD tosses and 14 interceptions. This season, even with the much-ballyhooed addition of WR Odell Beckham Jr. (Spoiler Alert: more on him coming a little later) those figures have slipped to 236.5 yards per contest with 19 TDs and 18 picks. In total, Mayfield has had only two games with 25 or more fantasy points this season – which pales in comparison to the number of in-game Mayfield commercial spots we see on any given Sunday or the number of magazine covers the Browns QB appeared on this summer. It’s time for a personal and organizational reset in Cleveland.
SURPRISE: Ryan Tannehill, Titans. If you didn’t roster Jackson over the second half of the season, one of your next-best options would’ve been Tannehill, who took over starting duties from the benched Marcus Mariota in Week 7 and has averaged 26.7 fantasy points per outing. Only Jackson, at 30.9, is averaging more points per start this season. With 24 total TDs and only six interceptions during that nine-game span, Tannehill has finished with fewer than 20 points only once and has averaged an even more-impressive 29.6 points with nine total TDs during the three weeks of the fantasy playoffs. In Summary, “surprise” might not do Tannehill’s out-of-nowhere season justice.
Running back
STUD: Christian McCaffrey, Panthers. Just take a gander at your fantasy running back point-per-reception season leaderboard coming out of Sunday and witness the insane 150-point cushion C-Mac has over the rest of the field. Even in non-PPR scoring, McCaffrey has totaled 93.9 points than any other fantasy back. Through Sunday, McCaffrey had the second-most rushing yards (1,361) in the league but leads all players in yards from scrimmage (2,294), touchdowns (18) and total touches (387) while pacing all RBs in receptions (a single-season RB-record 109) and receiving yards (933). McCaffrey has finished with at least 24.5 PPR points in a whopping 11 of 15 games. And, sure, there have been a lot of garbage-time numbers down the stretch with the Panthers currently on a seven-game losing skid, but when a player has the stamina to take the weekly punishment required at running back while playing a full 98 percent of a team’s offensive snaps and accounting for 40.9 percent of its total offense and 50 percent of its offensive TDs, McCaffrey’s 2019 has been nothing short of a season for the ages.
DUD: David Johnson, Cardinals. While McCaffrey has had a season for the ages, Johnson, a fellow top-seven drafted running back, has endured one of the most memorable fantasy-dud campaigns in recent memory. Johnson came out of Sunday with totals of 107.5 (standard)/143.5 (PPR) fantasy points and injury – an ankle sprain that cost him all of Weeks 8 and 9 most of Week 7 – only played a small role in the deep disappointment. In six games since returning in Week 10, Johnson has totaled all of 16/22 fantasy points on 23 touches and is shockingly winding up the season on the fantasy waiver wire in most leagues while midseason trade acquisition Kenyan Drake runs wild as the new lead dog in the Arizona backfield. Who could’ve seen this coming in August?
SURPRISE: Austin Ekeler, Chargers. He didn’t wind up winning many of his fantasy teams championships with two of his five worst PPR games (13.1 and 11.9) coming in the final two weeks of the fantasy playoffs, but he played a starring role in getting a number of those fantasy teams to the postseason as he ranks as the No. 3 overall PPR back (295.1 points – 1.3 behind injured and idle No. 2 Dalvin Cook) on the season coming out of Sunday. With fellow Bolts RB Melvin Gordon missing the season’s first four games with an ill-fated holdout, Ekeler got off to a blazing start, totaling 109 points during that span. But the surprising aspect is that Ekeler actually has outperformed Gordon (186.1-162.6 PPR points) on 58 fewer touches (184-126) since the latter’s return and established himself as an RB1 PPR option. With Gordon scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Ekeler figures finally be the true main man in the L.A. backfield come next fall.
Wide receiver
STUD: Michael Thomas, Saints. Nearly as impressive as McCaffrey’s running back lead, Thomas has been by far the top PPR wideout with a 92.8-point lead over the Bucs’ Chris Godwin coming out of Sunday’s action. Thomas has done so by sheer volume and remarkable consistency, reeling in 145 of his league-most 176 targets to establish nothing less than a single-season league receptions record with one game still to play. In getting there, he’s totaled at least 16.4 fantasy points in 14 of 15 games with no fewer than five catches or 48 yards in each outing. And that, as a reminder, was with future Hall-of-Fame QB Drew Brees missing most of six early-season games to injury. With Brees, Thomas has saved his best for last, scoring at least 30.4 points in each of three fantasy postseason weekends (three of his four best games of the season) with 35 total catches for 398 yards and three TDs over that span. If you’ve been keeping track, that’s three positions we’ve covered so far and three standout fantasy seasons for the ages.
DUD: Beckham Jr., Browns. Even after finally snaring his third touchdown catch of the season Sunday, OBJ still ranks 32nd (standard)/26th (PPR) among wide receivers in total fantasy points. Not exactly what fantasy general managers were hoping for last summer when they swooped up Beckham as the sixth wide receiver off the draft board on average. Similar to his under-performing quarterback, OBJ has been embroiled in more useless sideshows (repeated uniform violations, reported trade requests, etc.) than usable fantasy games this season as he’s posted double-digit fantasy points (standard) in only four of 15 outings, and the third-best of them was Sunday’s unremarkable 10.4-point showing (four catches for 44 yards and a TD on six targets). In two words: ugh and yikes.
SURPRISE: DeVante Parker, Dolphins. Your current No. 7 fantasy wideout on the season in standard-scoring leagues is a four-year disappointment who wasn’t even drafted in a number of leagues. Parker, though, has matched his TD catch total (nine) from his first four seasons combined in 2019 while also posting career season highs in receptions (64) and receiving yards (1,065). He’s also saved his best for the most crucial stretch of the fantasy season. Even including a two-catch, 28-yard performance in Week 14 when he was limited to 18 snaps due to a concussion, Parker has been fantasy’s most productive wideout in standard-scoring formats with 67.0 fantasy points since Week 13 with 370 yards and five TDs on 18 catches. In the process, the 2015 first-round pick also snared a new four-year, $40 million extension so he figures to be in the WR1 conversation going forward as long as the Dolphins have a QB near as capable as veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick has been over the second half of this season.
Tight end
STUD: Travis Kelce, Chiefs. Whether it’s been Gronk, Jimmy Graham, Zach Ertz, or currently, George Kittle, Kelce rarely has been the most talked-about fantasy tight end in recent seasons, but here he is again on track to pace the position in fantasy points for the third time in the last four years. And at a position where a good fantasy week often is determined if you score a touchdown or not, Kelce has provided remarkably consistent production – TD or not – tallying at least 9.8 PPR points in each of his 15 games this season and topping the 20-point mark six times, including five times in his last six contests. Kelce only ranks seventh among tight ends in TD catches with five, but came out of Sunday with six more catches and 167 more receiving yards than anyone else at the position.
DUD: O.J. Howard, Buccaneers. Following his impressive but abbreviated 2018 season in which he caught 34 passes for 565 yards and five TDs in 10 games, Howard was the TE4 in ADP this past summer. But with one week remaining in 2019 and the fantasy playoffs over in the majority of leagues, Howard currently ranks as TE27 (standard)/26 (PPR) with 34 catches for 459 yards and one lonely TD in 13 games. Howard did miss two contests due to a hamstring injury, but that’s been far from the main issue as he’s shockingly struggled to find a niche in Bruce Arians’ new offense and has only reached double-digit PPR points three times in 13 outings in 2019. Even the Bucs’ late-season rash of wide receiver injuries still hasn’t returned Howard to fantasy prominence as he’s caught 11-of-19 targets for 165 yards and no scores over the last three weeks. A new team and new offense would be best for the talented tight end, who’s still only 25.
SURPRISE: Darren Waller, Raiders. Perhaps we all should’ve paid more attention to “Hard Knocks” in August when his Raiders teammates were predicting stardom for the journeyman tight end with a troubled past and all of 18 career receptions in three seasons entering 2019. A whopping 84 catches (currently third at the position) and 1,038 yards (second only to Kelce’s 1,205) have followed in 2019 as he’s become far and away Derek Carr’s top target (107 total – 43 more than any other Raider). A relative and somewhat-surprising lack of TDs (three) has kept the 6-6 Waller from a truly-elite fantasy tight end season, but he has scored at least 12.3 PPR points in nine of 15 games this season, including each of the last four. He’ll go down as one of the top waiver-wire finds of the season.