Welcome, if you, like me, came up frustratingly short on a fantasy championship this season. The 2021 NFL season has been exceedingly crazy, with covid protocols, players missing games, and teams generally underperforming.

But that’s what we love about the game of football. And we love fantasy football because it gets us invested in the action like nothing else can.

A lot of people say fantasy football is mostly luck, but I don’t believe that to be true. There is a LOT of luck involved, of course, but there is also a lot of work that can be done to put you in the best positions to win on a weekly basis.

The late, great Mike Tagliere of FantasyPros always instilled “results over process.” And I take that to heart every year. If you go through your thought process, whatever it may be, you can live with the outcome. Even if it may not be the outcome you wanted.

With that being said, let’s get into some of the players that made us look smart this year, and some that made us look like Joe Judge and Dave Gettlemen.

The Todd Gurley Memorial MVP Award

• Cooper Kupp
• Jonathan Taylor

Winner: Cooper Kupp

Please, put your pitchforks down.

The keyword here is Valuable. Cooper Kupp was far and away the best value of any fantasy football asset in 2021.

Jonathan Taylor was a borderline first round pick, but he never dropped out of the second round in any real draft that took place this summer. Kupp was not taken earlier than the third round in any draft outside of Washington state.

In fantasy football, consistency is key. You would like to know what you’re going to get from a player every week, whether it’s targets or carries. Those are what leads to points. In this game, targets are more valuable than carries, especially PPR formats, and that would give the edge to Kupp here.

Taylor of course had the HUGE 53 point game, that absolutely won a week for you. But, Taylor also had weeks of 6 points, 8 points, and 10 points in the second round of the playoffs, if your team made it that far.

Kupp on the other hand, had one week of 11 points, the rest of the year he never finished below 16. He had at least 21 PPR points in 12 games. He finished with at least 30 points in 6 games.

I know that running backs are king in fantasy football. And Jonathan Taylor will be the undisputed #1 overall pick in 2022. But this season, you were more likely to win every week if Cooper Kupp was on your team.

The “Damn Homie” Award for Least Valuable Player

• Marquise Brown
• Ezekiel Elliott
• Terry McLaurin

Winner: Terry McLaurin

Now first of all, this is not really on Terry, because he is a fantastic player and talent.

But his quarterback, or lack thereof, was the main reason for his struggles this season.

In the 2021 season, in PPR format, McLaurin had 4 great games. 27, 30, 25, and 21 point games. In the other 12 games he played, he had only 4 double-digit point games. In those four games, the highest total was 13 points.

There was never a consistent run of good play all season, if you had to start McLaurin, you were hoping for some points. And more often than not, the points didn’t come.

Once again, this was through no real fault of his own, because in the games he did score more than 10 points, he made some spectacular plays to get there.

I’m hoping that the Football Team will help out and get a better quarterback for him in 2022, but honestly given their track record, I’m not getting my hopes up.

Where I Was Right

In this section, I’ll give a few names that I was “right” on this season, meaning I either I thought they were going to do well and they did, or I thought they were going to underachieve and they did. And I’ll start with the MVP.

Cooper Kupp

I wanted pieces of the Rams’ offense with Matt Stafford at the helm. And I had spent a couple years afraid of playing against Kupp because he always seemed to be a PPR monster. Well he lived up to that expectation and then some.

Joe Mixon

Everyone wanted to throw Mixon in the trash after 2020 when he finished the season sitting out a number of games. He was healthy all off-season, and he was guaranteed the Cincinnati backfield to himself. He is a top talent at the position, and you were able to get him in the second round of most leagues. In a game where running backs are like gold, Mixon was a high value all year.

Saquon Barkley

He was hurt or battling injury through most of the season, and when he was on the field, the offense was too bad for him to overcome it. I could’ve told you that on draft day. But a number of people couldn’t stay away because the upside was too great. I understand, because Saquon is maybe the most talented back in the league. But Joe Judge may actually be the worst coach in the league, and the Giants have even less hope in their future than the Jaguars, Texans, and Jets. It was just a bad investment that I made sure to stay away from.

Ja’marr Chase

He was getting written off so much, so early, that I was able to get him in the 9th round of a draft. And I doubled down after a few weeks and traded Nick Chubb for him in a league, straight up. That’s how much I believed in him. And he paid me back by being the best rookie wide receiver ever. Sometimes, fantasy football really isn’t that difficult. Don’t overthink it.

Where I Was Wrong

I’ll do the opposite concept here, but much more embarrassing for me. Much more embarrassing, because I have to start with the MVP runner-up.

Jonathan Taylor

Boy was I wrong about this one. I wanted to stay away from JT, and told everyone I loved to do the same thing. My bad guys. You know how I said don’t overthink it? I over thought Jonathan Taylor. Carson Wentz broke his foot, and I thought the season would be tanked, but it wasn’t. He finished as the RB1 and probably led many teams to the playoffs.

Derrick Henry

Once again, I didn’t believe he could keep doing what he was doing for another year. And technically I was right, because he got injured midway through the season. But that doesn’t feel right here. Before the injury, Henry was the best RB in the league by a mile, and might have been the best player in football, full stop. Anyone can get injured at any time, and I don’t believe this was an injury that was caused by over usage, considering he will be back for the playoffs. I continue to doubt him, and every year I say that I will stop. But this time I’m serious. If I can draft him next year, I will, until he proves me wrong in the opposite way.

Lamar Jackson

He’s another player that didn’t finish the season because of injury, but that’s not why he’s here. Before he got injured, he was not playing up to his level of expectations fantasy wise. Mostly because he wasn’t running the football like he usually has. He had three outstanding games, but the rest were below his own standards. And I expected him to be in the running for the QB1, and I drafted him as such. I will again next year, when he probably has a much more healthy team around him.

Leonard Fournette

I was not a believer. I thought the playoff run might’ve been a fluke, and I also thought Bruce Arians was too hot and cold with the running backs to trust one person all season. Well both of those assumptions turned out to be wrong, and Leonard Fournette ended up as an RB1 that was drafted in the 6th round or later. Unbelievable value, and I’m hoping he can continue to produce at a high level next to Tom Brady.