News:

Our final week has come and gone. I don’t know about you but it seems like only yesterday we were joking about our recently completed draft grades from Yahoo. A season does fly by.

First and foremost, congrats to Andy who survived another week of volatile NFL results to secure his third Plastic Helmet of Excellence! Andy modestly suggested his Week 17 line-up was more about who he could start than who he should start but that really undersells “grab and go” decisions like Parker Washington and another week of “pick the right QB”. Between those two choices and CMC doing CMC things, he had more than enough points to get across the finish line.

Looking back at Andy’s draft, he can hardly be accused of having a charmed season. He had a mix of hits and misses and no shortage of injuries. My big take-away was how deftly he adapted to what was happening in the NFL game. Like that old arcade game Frogger, he side-stepped adversity and fluidly jumped from log to lily pad and back to log again, dodging every car and sinking turtle along the way. Highlights include CMC who played every game and turned in another rare 2000 combined yards rushing and receiving season. Javonte Williams was another player who few of us likely would have thought could competently hold down the job in Dallas all season but he did and was an important piece for Andy this season.

In terms of in season transactions, Andy did a lot of streaming at the K and DEF positions and a key acquisition was Joe Burrow. The news never said he was done for the season but my assessment was that he was effectively done if not literally. The injury was bad and at best he had a chance to play the last week or two. The Bengals were mostly bad without him and as the losses piled up, conventional wisdom suggested they would just shut him down but as we know, that’s not how it played out. He made it back for Week 13 and aside from one bad game, had a 20 point floor every week.

All that to say, it isn’t always pretty or perfect and it definitely isn’t all luck. congrats again Andy!

Congrats as well to Grid who came out on top in the third place game and Archie who dropped the high score of the week to win the Bowl de toilet.

Housekeeping:

Potential changes to our league are more an early August thing than a December thing but I wanted to capture these here as a preview (and so I don’t forget):

One suggestion in the suggestion box was reverting to a dedicated Tight End spot. I don’t get the sense there’s a real groundswell of support for this one but I’m including it anyway.

Another stat to review is kick return yardage. Chimere Dike had a record setting NFL season but I’m not sure we want a guy who caught 45 passes for 400 yards finishing in the top 10 of combined WR/RB scorers. Similarly I’m not sure we want KaVonte Turpin to be a top 25 fantasy scorer with 26 receptions. I’m not sure what we’ll adjust the scoring to but something in the vicinity of half the points they were this year sounds like a good starting point.

In terms of DEF scoring, a quick look at the top 12 scorers this year as compared to last year suggests DEF points are right in line with what they were in 2024. I know Grid suggested that the “floor” for a DEF should be zero and while I don’t disagree philosophically, I’m not sure it’s achievable without eliminating all negative scoring categories and drastically increasing DEF scoring as a whole. I’ll have a closer look next summer though.

Last but not least, my last reminder about dues. Year end balances are here.

If you think your balance is incorrect, reach out to me. If you have a balance, send me an e-transfer to jpaulhickson [AT] gmail [DOT] com and while you’re at it, add $5 for next year too.

On one hand, it’s pocket change but on the other hand, it’s pocket change (if you know what I mean). I’d rather not have to take this step but it is an option to lock rosters until dues are paid. In other words, “No dues, no draft”.

With those items covered, I would once again like to thank you all for another successful season. Teams and match-ups are competitive, our chat thread seems to be on the rise and I take all that to mean our league is healthy and going strong. Happy New Year to everyone and we’ll pick it up again next summer!