season_recap_2022.Rmd

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title: "Season Recap - 2022"
author: "Joe Sydlowski"
date: "1/5/2023"
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    toc_depth: 2
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---

I thought I'd mix it up a little this year and write a season ending
recap. The post draft article is for you guys; the league history
article is for me! This is the longest league many have us ever (or will
ever) be in and I enjoy looking back on the 8 years of history and the
stories that come with it (if anyone has the ESPN league ID from
2010-2014 let me know). I honestly hope everyone comes back for another
year, the history we have together is what makes this league special.
Without further ado:

## We love ESPN Moore - Nick D

Nick stumbled into his 2nd Taco trophy of the past 4 years, but I
applaud his creativity in finding new ways to achieve mediocrity. Since
2019 his win totals have maintained remarkable consistency going from 6
wins to 7 and back to 6 the past two years. What's changed is that after
being in the bottom half the league in drafting from 2019 to 2021, Nick
actually drafted a good team this year! The bad news- he got probably
the worst trade luck I've ever seen with Breece Hall's knee exploding
before my very eyes the week after he traded away CMC. In the words of
our reigning champion, "I don't think I'd ever make another trade after
that if I were Nick."

**Best Pick** Chris Godwin - Drafted as WR30 finished as WR13 in PPG

**Worst Pick** Darren Waller - we'll always have week 2

**Luck Factors** When your newly acquired RB1 gets hurt the same week
you trade for them you've got the worst injury luck in the league

**Favorite Team Update** I keep track of which NFL team everyone spends
the most draft capital on, but Nick drafted so many Cowboys in 2020 this
isn't changing for awhile

## General Mills' Cooks - Ty Noel

Ty jumped out to a hot start in our league making the playoffs each of
his first 3 seasons with us and leading many to question whether he was
the better of the two Noels. Since 2019, however, he's made the playoffs
only a single time and let us rest easy knowing that both brothers are
bad at fantasy football. Despite one of the top 3 luckiest schedules in
the league that playoff slump extends another year.

**Best Pick** Tony Pollard - Drafted RB30 finished as RB7 in PPG

**Worst Pick** At least Russell Wilson has more TDs than you have
toilets

**Luck Factors** One of the 3 luckiest injury teams only losing a little
time from Russ, Higgins, and Josh Allen

**Favorite Team Update** The Bills made a strong push this year but the
Patriots hold the top spot since a strong 2017-2018 run

## Chase-in' that Mooney - Lizandro

Our resident punching bag, Lizandro's greatest achievement in our league
is managing to somehow avoid the Taco trophy every year. With Tony out,
Liz holds the worst win % among active league members, but his
resiliency keeps him out of the worst spot year after year. In a quote
so well-known I can't even find who said it first, "It doesn't matter
how many times you get knocked down. All that matters is you get up one
more time than you were knocked down." Thanks for keep getting up Liz!

**Best Pick** idk I guess you get credit for Jalen Hurts even though you
traded him away

**Worst Pick** Hot take but Ja'Marr Chase and not just because he was my
preseason choice for this title, but when CMC and Jefferson are the
following two picks then the shoe fits

**Luck Factors** One of the 4 unluckiest injury teams with Chase,
Goedert, Dak, and Schultz all missing time. Also wanted to note the 2nd
unluckiest schedule.

**Favorite Team Update** Liz's favorite team coming into the season was
the Eagles, but he cemented it with Hurts and Goedert

## Get Swifty - Eric Bu

I mentioned before the season that Eric and Neal now share the rare
distinction of being the longest tenured league members without a title.
In the battle for irrelevance they went blow for blow again both missing
the playoffs. That means that Eric will hold his slight edge in playoff
appearances for another year (3 to 2 over Neal in the past 8 years).
Tune in next season for another chapter in this exciting rivalry!

**Best Pick** Geno Smith! Drafted QB34 and finishing QB7 in PPG. He
would've been the pick of the year if Eric wasn't also competing with
Neal in that arena

**Worst Pick** D'Andre Swift I was shocked to learn that he finished
RB17 by PPG but that tells you everything you need to know

**Luck Factors** In this season's most anticipated contest Eric has
officially claimed the title of unluckiest schedule in league history!
The 30% difference between Eric's win percentage of 21.4% and his all-
play win percentage of 51.5% overtook Ryge's 2015 delta of 26.1%. His
all-play win percentage was better than 4 of 6 playoff teams. Counter-
balancing the league's worst schedule luck was this season's best injury
luck with just a handful of games missed by Kittle and Swift. Pound for
pound I think Eric had the best draft of this year capping off one of
the weirdest seasons in recent memory.

**Favorite Team Update** Eric spread out the teams this year allowing
the Saints to hold the top spot

## Pitts and Giggles - Josh Noel

Josh followed up his 2020 bubble championship with two straight years on
the outside looking in. Similar to the infamous Lakers' bubble title
many are wondering if it should count at all or if it was just a one off
fluke. Too bad you can't pay me off to say nice things about your team
like you bribed those Crunch gym goers on the news. If Eric's was the
best drafted team of the year then this was the worst. Pitts, Najee, and
Dalvin were probably 3 of the 6 worst picks this year with hindsight.
You'll make it to round 5 before you find a good pick Josh made in
Waddle. I hope your Russell Westbrook is out there somewhere buddy.

**Best Pick** I'll go with Lockett (drafted WR41 finished WR17) over
Waddle

**Worst Pick** This season was all Pitts and no giggles

**Luck Factor** Middle of the road injury and schedule luck

**Favorite Team Update** Minnesota finally starting to catch Green Bay
as Josh's favorite team to draft. You can just admit you like the whole
NFC north besides the Bears.

## Just a Kupple of Matts - Neal G

Do you guys ever get tired of writing about bad teams? Maybe Neal's
prize for getting 7th this year is that I got tired of writing bad
things about the worst 5 teams before I got to him. We all know the idea
here: Neal hasn't made the playoffs since 2018. Here are some things
that have happened since then (please hum along to We Didn't Start the
Fire):

Dennis Rodman in Korea, Meme stocks are a bad idea

COVID shuts it all down, Tiger King becomes a clown

Notre Dame is up in flame, Tiktok changed the whole game

British Brexit-mania, Russians in Ukrainia

Rebels plan an insurrection, We're all out of Ivermectin

Zuck lost in the metaverse, Musk has burned his whole purse

England's Queen just kicked the bucket, And all of us should say fuck it

(to we didn't start the fire)

Neal didn't make the playoffs,

There is no more crying, he should just stop trying

**Best Pick** Josh Jacobs the absolute pick of the year, drafted RB21
finished RB3. Double credit because he was choice for worst pick.

**Worst Pick** Mike Evans week 17 would've been awesome if he hadn't
been the reason you missed the playoffs

**Luck Factor** Also one of the 4 unluckiest injury teams after missing
huge stretches from Cooper Kupp and Stafford and rarely having 2 QBs to
play

**Favorite Team Update** Move over Steelers, the Rams are here to stay

## Sutton on These Hoes - and I

**Best Pick** AJ Brown based on how many times Nick G tried to trade fro
him

**Worst Pick** Lamar Jackson - at least I knew it at the time?

**Luck Factor** I had the best schedule luck in the league but it didn't
really matter once Lamar was out

**Favorite Team Update** It took a Lamar Jackson-Mark Andrews stack to
break my reign of Panthers favoritism

## Punting Puppies - Manager Mike

With his return to the league Mike claims the unique title of being the
only member with a 100% playoff rate with at least 2 seasons. I'm mostly
glad he's back because his 2018 was the second luckiest schedule in team
history so a normal luck season evens it out a bit for me.

**Best Pick** Kenneth Walker drafted RB37, finished RB16 by PPG

**Worst Pick** Deebo Samuel drafted WR10, finished WR23 by PPG

**Luck Factor** Middle of the road injury and schedule luck

**Favorite Team Update** Get this man some skyline chili for all his
Bengals

## Daniel, Drive-ins, Dimes - Ryge

Ryge avoided the dreaded championship hangover now doubling his playoff
berths (1) from 2015-2020 in the past 2 seasons. While I have Ryan's
2021 team rated as one of the top 5 drafts in league history, this
season was a little more pedestrian. His saving grace can be attributed
to getting out of the worst pick of the year in Jonathan Taylor into a
late season push from Ja'Marr Chase. Too little, too late to recover
from the misses of Rodgers and Metcalf. A third straight playoff berth
might solidify Ryge in the top half of league power rankings.

**Best Pick** Saquon Barkley drafted RB10, finished RB5

**Worst Pick** Jonathan Taylor would already be the bust of the year,
before you even get to taking him over Mahomes

**Luck Factor** Middle of the road injury and schedule luck

**Favorite Team Update** Jonathan Taylor tips the scales to the Colts
over the Eagles

## See You in Kell - Scottie Dubs

I found an interesting trend before the season and I can't tell you how
excited I was to check if it continued into 2022. This is why I track
this history. THROUGH 5 SEASONS SCOTT'S FIRST ROUND PICKS HAVE MISSED 0
GAMES! ZERO!! What a wild stretch of good luck. This was the first year
there was a blip in his top 5 round injury luck though as Trey Lance
missed most of the year. After starting the first two rounds with RB1
Ekeler and TE1 Kelce, it very well could've been Scott hoisting his
second trophy instead of Jon this year. Those two have undoubtedly been
the best in the league over the past 4 years. Both are carrying 4 year
playoff streaks into next season to see who blinks first.

**Best Pick** Justin Fields drafted QB15, finished QB6 in PPG

**Worst Pick** Mike Gesicki, I guess? If I'm complaining about your
round 12 pick then you had a good draft

**Luck Factor** Scott's league worst schedule luck finally flipped into
the second best schedule luck this year

**Favorite Team Update** Ekeler and the Chargers barely catch the top
spot over Kelce and the Chiefs

## Stick to video games - Nick G

The team with a million names. It's like QBs, if you that many QBs do
you really even have one? The elder Galletti took the league by storm
rampaging through teams and feelings on his way to the 2nd place prize.
An interesting case study in team building as Nick had some big hits and
big misses to go along with some rough injury luck. It's not a
combination I would've expected to make it so far, but maybe big hits
like ARSB, Hopkins, Njoku, and Lawrence help more than big misses like
Kyler, Javonte, and Kamara hurt a team. Counting down the days until
Grant can join the league so I can root for one Galletti team though.

**Best Pick** ARSB drafted WR27, finished WR9 by PPG

**Worst Pick** Kyler Murray, you watched Jon, Ryan, and I all fall for
the trap of passing on Mahomes and you jumped in after us

**Luck Factor** Rounding out my top 4 unluckiest injury teams: both
Nicks, Neal, and Liz

**Favorite Team Update** First year in the league so Kyler and the
Cardinals take the cake

## Smerkin Doubs - Jon Syd

Congrats to the champ. To my knowledge the 2nd ever 2-time champion of
the Fantasy League for Ex-Athletes. It's not every year I can say the
best team won the title, but it's true this year more than ever. With a
sterling 75% all-play win percentage, Jon posted a top 5 season in
league history by that metric. He joins other top 5 teams like Josh's
2020, Ryan and Scott's 2021, and his own 2020 season. Four of the top 6
teams by all-play win percentage have won a championship. Spots 7-10 all
won 2nd place. Nick D won a championship with spot 11; Scott with spot
13.

I know you're probably sick of stats by now but what an incredibly
predictive stat - 11 of the top 13 regular seasons by all-play % played
in the title game. Six of 13 won the title. Count Jon's season among the
best in league history. I'm on the record saying Eric had the best draft
but when you include trades and waivers, Jon managed the best team.

**Best Pick** Hard to pick one on a title team: Hockenson, Breece,
Rhamondre, Tua, DeVonta

**Worst Pick** Easily Justin Herbert, but he still managed to trade his
way into the QB he should've taken

**Luck Factor** As with most title teams, great injury luck and the best
break of all time getting CMC

**Favorite Team Update** I may have moved on from the Panthers, but Jon
carries the mantle proudly for me