Gronk Spike

Here is the recap of my fantasy football season. I focus on the moves I’ve made and playoff success I had during the season.

Coming into my draft this past August, I have to admit I was a little nervous. I knew I was going to keep Antonio Brown, Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Rodgers, but I worried I wouldn’t get all the players I wanted. After the draft, I was thrilled because I drafted a lot of the players in my early rounds I wanted including C.J. Anderson, Justin Forsett, Keenan Allen, Andre Johnson, Davonte Adams, and Julian Edelman.

Now looking back on my draft, I have no idea how I managed to win my fantasy league. I started only 2-2 through the first month of the season and I needed to make some changes. Very early on I made some key moves including adding Chris Ivory, Danny Woodhead, Broncos Defense, and Jeremy Maclin. After week 8, I was 5-3 and in an okay position. My season was won simply because of key acquisitions and lineup changes. The only players who were consistently in my starting lineup were Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown, Aaron Rodgers, and Stephen Gostkowski. When Jamaal Charles went down, I made an important move by grabbing Charcandrick West in free agency, who produced a few big weeks. I also made my first trade of the season after week 9. I traded C.J. Anderson in return for Eddie Lacy. After week 10, my record was 6-4 and there were only two weeks left until playoffs. In week 11, I had my worst week of the season, putting up a pathetic 56 points and I was annihilated. With only one week left, I needed to get my team back on track. I made some bold moves by starting Eddie Lacy and Javorius Allen who totaled 30 fantasy points. In my final week of the regular season, my team came up with a huge victory by putting up 122 points.

Now I was strolling into the playoffs as the #3 seed with confidence. I dominated the 6 seed in the first round 120-83, despite Eddie Lacy and Stevie Johnson putting up zero points. Javorius Allen, Antonio Brown, and Aaron Rodgers carried my team that week by totaling 75 points. I was now heading into the second round, where there were only four teams left. I was going to face the 2 seed that had arguably the best starting lineup in the league. My buddy had Ben Roethlisberger, Adrian Peterson, Devonta Freeman, DeAndre Hopkins, and Tyler Eifert. However, his team fell flat that week and I was able to scoot by him by 23 points. Now it was up to me and the 4 seed for the finals. My opponent had the highest potential week to week and posted an absurd 173 points in the first round of the playoffs. To be honest, I didn’t believe I had a shot at winning. His team had insane depth. The day before the big Sunday of the finals, I decided to grab Ted Ginn Jr. off of free agency for my bench and cut Leonard Hankerson (a flier I decided to pick up earlier). On the Sunday of week 16 at 12:55pm, I was worried about keeping Frank Gore in my starting lineup, due to his recent mediocre play. What do I do? Should I play Frank Gore, DeSean Jackson, or Ted Ginn Jr.? I was still leaning towards Gore because of his impressive stat line against Houston earlier in the season, but I knew Ted Ginn had the most potential to produce a big game for my flex. At 12:59pm, a minute before the deadline, I finally decided to put Ted Ginn Jr. in my starting lineup instead of Gore. This last minute lineup change ended up saving my fantasy football season. I won the Super Bowl by 9 points 125-116! Ted Ginn posted 20 points and Frank Gore delivered 5 points that day. If I had kept Gore in my starting lineup, I would have lost by 6 points. I also had big help from Antonio Brown, who put up 30 points and Stephen Gostkowski, who posted 16 points.

To be honest, I had one of the worst looking lineups by the end of the season, but I made some huge, bold moves that saved me. Constant injuries made it difficult to continue winning. Keenan Allen and Julian Edelman hurt me the most, but Charcandrick West and Rob Gronkowski also missed a few games late in the season, when I needed them most. Winning this year was not easy at all. I had to work hard for every win. My streak of winning at least one of my two main leagues every year has now reached 3. It was a very stressful season, but it truly feels great to finally have your hard work pay off. I hope you all were successful in your leagues as well. And if not, there’s always next season.