The fantasy football postseason is finally upon us!

For those of us that were lucky/skilled enough to make it to the fantasy playoffs, congratulations. For those who have deleted their apps and vowed to never play fantasy football ever again, I’ll see you next year.

2018 was my second year playing in a season long league, (2016 was the first) but this is the first year I’ve taken it seriously, and now I’ll never go a year without playing.

Prepping a month before my draft, reading every possible piece of information on players I wanted, busts, and sleepers. Doing research right up until draft time, doing mock drafts on my phone over and over again until I felt I got the picks right from my #12 spot.

But no matter where or who you picked, you will have been impacted in some way by at least a few of the players that will be mentioned here. Probably in a negative way, since most of the awards I have created are bad ones. Because fantasy footballers love to complain.

But we’ll start with the good.

Most Valuable Player

Todd Gurley

This Most Valuable Player award is the easiest to give out, because there is absolutely no doubt that the winner is Todd Gurley. If it seems that he is a lock for at least 20 points every week, you’d be correct, because he basically is. He has scored 20+ standard points in every game this season except two. Those two other scores were 13.9 and somehow in the highest scoring game of all-time, he scored 9.4. He’s been the model of consistency all year long, and if you have him you’re in the playoffs. If you’re not in the playoffs with Gurley, then you have failed as a team owner.

Gurley gets the award not only because of his point total, but because of his consistent totals every week. He never completely blew a week for you, and if you are in a PPR league like I am, he’s given you double-digits every single week. That type of production and predictability is golden in fantasy football.

The runner-up this season has to be Saquon Barkley, because he has shown the same type of consistency and production this season.

He’s been double-digits every week, regardless of league type. Which is pretty impressive, given his offensive line talent, and the lack of a passing game Eli Manning presents. With more talent on that team next season, if I have the #1 overall pick in any league I’m taking Barkley.

Least Valuable Player

Jordan Howard

I wanted to pick someone for this award that hadn’t been hurt or missed any time due to injury, because that wouldn’t really be fair. If you were hurt and played through the pain, I can respect that as a former collegiate athlete myself. But if you played in every game this season without a major injury designation, you were eligible for the LVP. So that takes Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette out of the running, even though they have been frustrating for fantasy purposes.

Given where Howard was drafted, and the points he was expected to bring, Howard is the LVP in 2018. His ceiling had been 16.7 in PPR, and has only ever been a difference maker in the lineup when he’s scored a touchdown. That’s something that is acceptable with Tight Ends, not Running Backs. He’s had 3 weeks were he’s put a hole in your lineup with less than 5 points. And 7 out of 12 with less than 10 standard points. That is obviously bad for a projected RB-2 for the season. He was drafted anywhere between the 2nd and the 4th rounds, but now sits at the 26th RB in standard and the 29th in PPR. You can blame the amount of touches he’s been getting, but if he was that good, he would be commanding more touches for a Super Bowl contender.

The elephant in the room here as far as the LVP goes is Le’Veon Bell. Odds are he was drafted in the top 3 of every league in America. If not, then definitely in the first round of all drafts. So he should be the LVP. But it’s more complicated than that. I can’t fault you for picking Bell in the first round of your draft, because what he did was literally unprecedented. He sat out the entire football season over a contract dispute. I don’t blame you for picking him, I just don’t blame him not caring about our fantasy leagues, and doing what he felt was right for himself. He took a stand and is betting on himself, and that is something I can respect.

Last thing I’ll say about the LVP award: Jarvis Landry deserves to be mentioned in the space. You lied. You lied to all of us, “I think I’m the best WR in the league.”

HA. Yeah right. (I say this as a Browns fan, not as a Landry owner.)

Damn, Homie All Stars

The inspiration for this team of underachievers is a line from the great philosopher 50 Cent:

“Damn, homie. In high school you was the man homie, wtf happened to you?” – Curtis Jackson “Wanksta” (2003)

And all it basically means is that you used to be good. You may still be good, but you used to be special. What happened? And these guys that made the list are for whatever reason, not as special as they once were as fantasy options.

• Tom Brady
• Rob Gronkowski
• Matt Stafford
• Jarvis Landry
• Duke Johnson
• Larry Fitzgerald

There are obviously reasons for all the names listed, but it doesn’t matter. We just want the production from the names that we draft. And that’s the moral of the story, when you draft, look forward instead of backward. With the exception of Duke Johnson, all of these guys have been serviceable in your lineup, but not to the standard of what they were before, or who we would have thought they were gong to be this season.