2022 Season Recap
KoS 2022 Champion: Sleepy Gary
Just like always, it's been an incredible year of fantasy football (and I'm not just saying that because I brought home my second championship). Changes to old ways have shaken up an other wise stale league of crusty old men. The biggest being the move to an auction style draft. Any attempt at educating the masses on strategy and even the basics of how the draft function was met with resistance, ridicule, and confusion:
Jokes on both of them, I did just that. Lets break down a few interesting tid bits from our inaugural auction draft:
Top 10 most expensive players:
Jonathan Taylor Ind, RB..........$66.00
Justin Jefferson Min, WR.........$60.00
Christian McCaffrey SF, RB.....$60.00
Derrick Henry Ten, RB.............$60.00
Ja'Marr Chase Cin, WR.............$55.00
Austin Ekeler LAC, RB..............$52.00
Dalvin Cook Min, RB................$51.00
Cooper Kupp LAR, WR.............$51.00
Joe Mixon Cin, RB.....................$49.00
Najee Harris Pit, RB.................$47.00
Biggest Busts of the draft:
Jonathan Taylor Ind, RB................$66.00 (RB 32)
D'Andre Swift Det, RB....................$45.00 (RB 25)
Deebo Samuel SF, WR.....................$30.00 (WR 30)
Michael Pittman Jr. Ind, WR............$28.00 (WR 23)
Keenan Allen LAC, WR ....................$28.00 (WR 47)
Cam Akers LAR, RB..........................$27.00 (WR 34)
Javonte Williams Den, RB..............$25.00 (RB 77)
Kyle Pitts Atl, TE..............................$23.00 (TE 31)
Biggest Steals of the draft:
Josh Jacobs LV, RB.................................$9.00 (RB 1)
Miles Sanders Phi, RB.............................$6.00 (RB 10)
Rhamondre Stevenson NE, RB.............$6.00 (RB 12)
Tony Pollard Dal, RB.............................$8.00 (RB 7)
Jamaal Williams Det, RB....................$0 (RB 11)
Tyreek Hill Mia, WR.............................$21 (WR 2)
Jaylen Waddle Mia, WR............................$14.00 (WR 7)
DeVonta Smith Phi, WR.........................$2.00 (WR 9)
The draft was fun and I'm already looking forward to arguing about keepers next year but lets take a trip down memory road and look at the 2022 fantasy season by the numbers:
12 Trades this year (up from 9 last year)
Most Trades - Sleepy Gary (5) & Willly Ever Win Again (5)
Minnesota Leaping Loons (again) & Unnecessary Roughness were the only teams to not participate in a trade this year.
395 total transactions (428 in 2020)
Most transactions - Purple People Eaters (81) (no surprise here...) (average across league was 39.5 moves)
2nd most transactions - Sleepy Gary (79) (take notes people)
684 total activations (movement within a teams lineup) (716 last year)
Rosterbator award goes to Purple People Eaters with 141 lineup moves
Sleepy Gary was a close second with 108 moves.
82 Total IR Moves (85 in 2021)
Sleepy Gary takes the Fragile Bones award with 14 IR activations (down from 21 last year)
85.8% of all FAAB was spent this year (up from 82.1% last year)
Owners had an average of $14.20 FAAB left (down from $17.90 last year)
Minnesota Leaping Loons wins Tightest Wallet again for the third year in a row, with a stagering $89 left.
Road to the Championship
This year's champion (Sleepy Gary) was different than any other champion we've ever been blessed with. Built brick by brick, by boondoggling trades and refreshing the waiver wire endlessly, a championship caliber team was built. Not a single player who was drafted remained on the roster by championship weekend. Never in the history of the Kings of Suburbia has a feat so mighty been accomplished. Let's break down the moves required to conquer this league:
Wed Sep 21, 2:45 am - Sleepy Gary picks up Tyler Lockett for $19, proving to be a huge asset to the team as he ended the year as WR 13. Dollar Store Deebo in shambles after dropping him the week prior.
Thu Sep 29, 1:16 pm - Team This One's For Liz accepts a trade offer of Javonte Williams (RIP) for Chris Olave after stating "Best rookie (ish) skill positions. Mix it up see what happens". Javonte tears his ACL the following week and is ruled out for the year. Chris Olave goes on to be the WR 25 on the year.
Tue Oct 4, 6:50 am - This One's For Liz shoots himself in the foot again by trading Sleepy Gary Austin Ekeler (RB 3) and Allen Lazard (WR 31) for an injured Jonathon Taylor (RB 34) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR 8). Both remained injured for the majority of the season and when things finally started to look up for Taylor, he was injured week 1 of the fantasy playoffs and placed on IR.
Tue Oct 18, 6:59 pm - Beer King decides he wants to shake things up a bit and accepts a trade with Sleepy Gary offering James Conner (RB 20), DK Metcalf (WR 18), and Tyreek Hill (WR 3) for Saquon Barkley (RV 6) and Allen Lazard (WR 31). Big oof. When James Conner got back to full strength, he became an integral part of the championship run. Beer King is still waking up with cold sweats to this day because of this trade.
Sat Oct 29, 6:24 pm - After what seemed like a million back and forths, weeks of negotiations, team Sammy Paradise gets the trade fever and accepts DK Metcalf (WR 18) for TJ "27.9 pts in the semifinals" Hockenson (TE 3) and Brandon Aiyuk (WR 17). TJ was promptly trade irl to the Vikings, instantly skyrocketing his value. Honestly worked out well for both teams.
Tue Nov 8, 10:10 am - What seemed like a blockbuster trade ultimately fizzled out in the end between our champion and Purple People Eaters... Sending Alvin Kamara (RB 19) and Michael Pittman Jr. (WR 24) for Jeff Wilson Jr., Tyler Lockett (WR 13), and Brandon Aiyuk (WR 17). Kamara was nothing but trouble for Sleepy Gary until the playoff run where Tyler Lockett ultimately ended up injured in the most important games of the year.
Wed Dec 28 - Sleepy Gary adds both Jared Goff and Tyler Allgeier to the roster for $0, both proving to be key pieces to the championship game.
And just like that, a champion was born.
Cheers to Sleepy Gary, your Kings of Suburbia 2022 Champion!!
This year also marks the 3rd year we've had a dedicated Discord server. It's been my favorite part of Fantasy Football so far and admittedly you've been funnier than ever this year. I present to you for the first time ever:
2022 Manager Awards
Last but not least, none of this could have been possible without the great managers in this league. Each and every one of your brings something different to the table that I cherish each time I log onto the ESPN Fantasy App. Its the moments like Purple People Eaters putting in 47 waiver claims every single week. Adding and dropping the same player in a 30 second window. Sending insanely lopsided trade requests (in his favor) only to cancel them minutes later. Its the moments like when Fantasy Football Team drops Zeke Elliot (RB 18) and George Kittle (TE 2) for nothing. These are the moments I live for.
I distinctly remember telling Dollar Store Deebo how incredible his team was. How there was no chance he didn't win the ship this year. Only to have his entire roster get injured that very week and sending his from a promising 4-1 start to an abysmal 7-7 finish. These are the moments that make fantasy football special. Despite a second place finish, our Best manager award goes to This One's for Liz. Making moves and exceeding expectations, it's almost like he had a guardian angel watching over his internet browser (for better or for worse, what you do in your spare time is nobodies business but your own). Beer King proves that he is a completely average manager with a luck charm stuck up his ass as this years luckiest manager. Dare I say it, but I think we all saw this coming... Willly Ever Win Again winning most consistent. The rock of the league. Love him or hate him, he shows up every day. Consistently underperforming. Fantasy Football Team and Purple People Eaters drew the short end of the stick this year with tough schedules and even worse decision making skills. And finally, last and definitely least, the worst manager of the year, Sammy Paradise. With the worst true record in the league (if every manager played every manager each week, 50-76), he some how managed to take the second easiest schedule and have a measly .500 record, barely sneaking into the playoffs. (www.ffrecap.com league ID 687226)
Check out the link below for the rest of the manager superlatives!
2022 Fantasy Football Superlatives
Thanks again for a great season!