2017 Midseason Review

2017 Midseason Review by Stan

Hello fellow Mazza league members! I am back for MY 3RD annual mid-season review. Let’s get started!

Here are our current standings:

Team	Current	GB	PF
Duke	8-0	–	1043.84
Stan	6-2	2	1074.39
Sharari	6-2	2	919.68
Moshal	5-3	3	1077.30
Yoss	5-3	3	1065.10
Dag	4-4	4	1006.20
Chuck	4-4	4	988.83
AlSav	4-4	4	935.06
Moses	3-5	5	910.81
NiMo	2-6	6	977.26
Ez	1-7	7	913.81
MoKass	0-8	8	753.11

Duke is gunning for that Moses record – currently W9 – next 3 matchups: Dag, Moses, Sharari -will he do it????

Speaking of Moses: I’m not even sure he knows how much we will miss him. It’s been a real pleasure competing with you and if I don’t win this year I’d love for you to go out on top. Would be well deserved. It was nice knowing you. Bye.

Big congrats to Ez for breaking that winless streak. Mokass lets go buddy I know you can win one!!!

Now let’s look at the “all-team” standings – these numbers are provided by Yahoo in the recaps to show how your team would fare if you played every team every week:

Team	All Team	GB
Stan	62-25-1	–
Duke	57-31	5.5
Moshal	56-32	6.5
Yoss	54-34	8.5
Dag	53-35	9.5
Chuck	50-38	12.5
NiMo	41-47	21.5
Sharari	38-50	24.5
AlSav	36-52	26.5
Ez	34-54	28.5
Moses	31-56-1	31
MoKass	15-73	47.5

Shake up at the top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m way too excited but there I am sitting pretty at number 1 over undefeated Duke. Oh baby. Also, interesting, Moses and I could have tied at some point! The biggest mover here is Sharari going from 3rd to 8th in these standings. We all know how lucky he’s been to this point but that’s why you play the game. Also about what I said about Moses finishing on top…he’s behind Fantasy Cemetery BC in these standings. That does not bode well.

I used one more advanced metric for a third look at the teams- this one will show (per yahoo) how good of a manager one is on a weekly basis. That’s right it’s the weekly Yahoo grades! In GPA form!!!

Team	Current	GPA
Yos	5-3	3.47
Stan	6-2	3.22
Duke	8-0	3.15
NiMo	2-6	3.00
Dag	4-4	2.95
Moshal	5-3	2.90
AlSav	4-4	2.84
Chuck	4-4	2.74
Ez	1-7	2.62
Moses	3-5	2.61
Sharari	6-2	2.28
MoKass	0-8	1.87

Team Rape Van takes the leaddddddddddddddd! And look at Nimo moving up to the top 4!! I KNEW his team was good! Oh God, Sharari how the hell are you 6-2??????? I don’t think any of these metrics are any type of foreshadowing but how much longer can Sharari keep this up?

On to the teams (in draft order)

I’ll look at each team’s draft board and pick out the best value and worst values up to this point and highlight a key addition.

Ez

Best Value – Ezekiel Elliot, 2nd round. Alex Smith, 8th round. Evan Engram 12th round.

Worst Value – David Johnson, 1st round. Brandon Marshall, 5th round. Greg Olsen, 6th round.

Key Addition(s) –Will Fuller V ($10), Chris Hogan and Adam Thielen (Trade)

Team Fantasy Cemetery is really such a fitting name for his team and the fact that this report is coming out on Halloween. #1 overall pick David Johnson, dead. Marshall and Olsen, dead. Derek Carr broke his spine and somehow is still playing. Even Devante Parker who has since been traded to Duke has been out for multiple weeks. Matt Forte and Rob Kelley also missed multiple weeks. Tons and tons of bad luck. And tons and tons of bad trades. Ez traded stars and got back role players multiple times. That’s not how you win at fantasy. I think.

Current Standing: 11

Projected Finish: 11

Stan

Best Value – James White 13th Round, Priestmode, 16th round.

Worst Value – Alshon Jeffery, 5th Round. Terrance West, 8th Round.

Key Addition(s) – AJ Green (trade)

I hit on my first 4 picks which is a good way to start a season: Bell, Gronk, Russ and Cook (who was parlayed into Green). Those 4 have been leading me all season but this team is VERY top heavy. Lack of depth at QB (that Palmer injury was killer) and RB will inevitably do me in I feel. Hopefully I can avoid the slide I had last year and make the playoffs. It’s been a while (PODCAST!!)

Special mention of maybe shittiest Waiver transaction. Smallwood for 48$. Woof.

Current Standing: 2

Projected Finish: 3

Duke

Best Value – Deshaun Effin Watson, 10th round. Zach Ertz, 12th round. McFadden???????

Worst Value – Bilallalalall Powell, 5th round.

Key Addition(s) –Devante Parker (trade)

Duke is 8-0. I repeat Duke is 8-0. Maybe he shouldn’t be 8-0 but his team is damn good and that’s without Aaron Rodgers. But don’t fret, Duke accidentally drafted Deshaun Watson who is now a GOD among men. And he has TyGod! 2 Gods on one team!! That’s why he’s 8-0!

Zach Ertz – the best tight end in the league in the 12th round. Ever year Duke has these late guys that propel his team. This year is no different. And now he might have some McFadden action. This team is deep and will be very hard to beat. Watch out!

Current Standing: 1

Projected Finish: 2

NiMo

Best Value – Chris Thompson, 13th round.

Worst Value – Amari Cooper, 2nd round. Cam Newton, 3rd round. Jamison Crowder, 7th round.

Key Addition(s) –Larry Fitzgerald (trade), Danny Amendola (trade)

NiMo is sitting at 2-6 but really, I like his team. I don’t get Fantasy. I listed Cam as a bad value for Nimo only because he drafted 3 QBs: Brady, Cam and Dak in the first 5 rounds and right now Cam is the worst of the bunch. It’s true he did trade Dak for Fitz who had a monster start to the season but now with no Palmer I can’t see many points there.

Nimo really needs AP to become an RB1. Not even for his fantasy team, I think it would boost is psyche because all year he has been hyping him. He needs this win.

I found a waiver claim worse than my Smallwood. Josh Gordon for $12. Actually no, mine is still worse. #Respect for finally dropping him, I know that must have been hard.

F!@& Fantasy.

Current Standing: 10

Projected Finish: 8

Moshal

Best Value – Kareem Hunt, 2nd round. Carson Wentz, 6th round.

Worst Value – Jordan Reed, 5th round.

Key Addition(s) – ASJ ($1), Josh McCown ($4)

Last year’s champ is this year’s points leader. Magic Mo is back this time featuring Jets! Carson Wentz and Kareem Hunt may be front runners for MVP on the 2 best teams in the league and Moshal has enough random Rbs to make this work. Brace yourselves, a playoff run is coming.

Current Standing: 4

Projected Finish: 7

Yoss

Best Value – Leonard Fournette, 3rd round. Adam Thielen, 9th round, Chris Hogan, 11th round.

Worst Value – Julio Jones, 1st round, Terelle Pryor, 4th round. Paul Perkins, 8th round.

Key Addition(s) -where to begin? Zeke, Baldwin, Julio, Cousins (via trade), Alf ($0), Juju ($0) Agholor ($)

Team Yoss really transformed his team into a powerhouse. His top 6 of Cousins, Baldwin, Dez, Julio, Ingram and Zeke are unparalleled in the league. Zeke is now suspended but Yoss wisely stashed Alfred Morris so while there will be a drop off I don’t think he’ll be crippled. This team is super strong and Yos is not afraid of making trades (8 already this season!) in an effort to help his team. He’s still a playoff team and when Zeke comes back I think he’ll be a championship team.

However, I am on the record saying this league will be less fun if Yoss wins it all. This year Yoss has pulled out all the stops and rapes to get this team. Who knows how invested he’ll be if he takes home the trophy!

Current Standing: 5

Projected Finish: 1

Sharari

Best Value – Travis Kelce, 4th round.

Worst Value – Jay Ajayi, 2nd round. Sammy Watkins, 7th round.

Key Addition(s) Aaron Jones ($18)

Our resident overachieving shark is 6-2. Despite his lack of impressive advanced stats all he does is win. Our current weekly points winner Sharari is on a 5-game winning streak and his team seems to be coming alive. McCoy is getting hot, Ajayi just got traded to a better situation and Kelce is a monster white guy who wishes he was black. If Matt Ryan can get out of this funk he’s in Sharari will have a chance to continue to surprise in January. Fantasy playoffs are like the NHL playoffs: Just get in and who knows what can happen.

Sharari has been a big proponent of abolishing kickers so we (Yossi) did some research and we found that only 3 matchup results would have changed w/o kickers:

Week 5 Moshal would have lost to Mokass

Week 7 Moshal would have lost to NiMo

Week 8 Yoss would have lost to AlSav

So not as relevant as one would think.

Current Standing: 3

Projected Finish: 4

Dag

Best Value – Todd Gurley, 3rd round

Worst Value – OBJ, 1st round. Demaryius, 4th round. Andrew Luck, 7th round.

Key Addition (s) Leonard Fournette (trade)

4 of Dag’s first 5 picks were WR and not one of them is playing great but he was able to flip a pupu platter of shit for Fournette giving him a formidable RB Duo. Fournette and Gurley is a hell of a tandem and should lead Dag into the playoffs. The Rbs + the Thomases + Stafford should be enough to propel #TeamCommish to the playoffs.

Dag started 4-0 and then I jinxed him. My bad Dag! But he’s still in playoff position as of right now and I think it’ll stay that way.

Current Standing: 6

Projected Finish: 5

AlSav

Best Value – Larry Fitzgerald, 6th round, Dion Lewis, 17th round.

Worst Value – TY Hilton, 3rd Round. Joe Mixon, 4th round. Joe Flacco, 8th round.

Key Addition(s) Dak Prescott (Trade), Jason Witten ($30)

I was not a fan of Al’s team after the draft. Melvin was overrated, Lamar sucks, TY had no Luck and Mixon was a rookie in a timeshare. Those are his first 4 picks. Yet the first 3 have been solid (Smelvin has been excellent) and AL’s team has been a nice surprise. Trading for Dak was HUGE for this team and now Al needs him to lead his team to the promised land.

Current Standing: 8

Projected Finish: 9

MoKass

Best Value – Kirk Cousins, 6th round

Worst Value – Devonta Freeman, 1st round, Allen Robinson, 3rd round, Isaiah Crowell, 4th round. Martavis, 5th round.

Key Addition(s) Big Ben and Kelvin (trade)

A terrible season. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. The strength of this team was Brees-Cousins combo both have been traded for spare parts. Mokass has 2 WR who are on the outs with their own team (Pryor and Bryant) and Freeman has been good not great. This team is BAD. I don’t think he’ll go winless, but it wouldn’t shock me.

Least points in the league and it’s not close.

Most fight he put up this year was the Hoyer-Bortles draft scandal. (side point: he missed the pick bc he was talking to me about a random player….CJ Beathard. And now that guy is a guy! So weird.)

His team gonna gets their asses handed to them in Mazza Bowl III.

Mokass needs to trade for auction money for next year’s draft.

Current Standing: 12

Projected Finish: 12

Moses

Best Value – Deandre Hopkins, 3rd round.

Worst Value – Demarco, 2nd round. Beast Mode, 4th round

Key Addition(s) Stefon Diggs, Brees (trade), McKinnon ($26 Shem Hashem!), Cameron Brate ($16)

The retiring machine started off 0-4 but now has won 3 of his last 4 (and ill predict a win for him this week) to climb back into the playoff picture. Moses made 2 big that have shaped his team  -the first trading Ben and Kelvin for Brees, the 2nd trading AJ Green for a pair of Vikings- Dalvin Cook who is now out for the year and Stefon Diggs who has been banged up for the past month.

Moses has 4 viable Rbs in Demarco, McKinnon, Lynch, and Martin and he will need to lean on those guys to get him back to the playoffs (along with a revitalized Hopkins who has been saved by Watson).

Here’s to hoping Moses has one more run in him!

Current Standing: 9

Projected Finish: 6

Chuck

Best Value –Robby Anderson, 13th round.

Worst Value – Eddie Lacy, 9th round.

Key Addition(s) Alvin Kamara ($0), Latavius ($52), Kearse U Out ($0)

Team Chuck doesn’t have a lot of good or bad value – just EH. Evans and Jordy have been OK. Same for Winston and Mariota. Montgomery got injured and lost some value, Hyde has been his best player and Kamara has been a great find. An overall solid team but he needs his big guys to perform. Charles has 4 Packers so his fate may be tied directly to Brett Hundley the 32-dollar man.

Charles, Dag and Al are all tied for the last playoff spot – the best 5 week run from one of them will likely earn them a playoff spot. Should be a fun ride.

Current Standing: 7

Projected Finish: 10

Final Rankings (subject to be wayyyyyyyyyyy wrong)

1.Yoss

2. Duke
3. Stan
4. Sharari
5. Dag
6. Moses – ONE LAST RUN!!!!!
7. Moshal
8. NiMo
9. AlSav
10. Chuck
11. Ez
12. Mokass

Good Luck everyone!!!!!!