The Fantasy season is officially over. Some are rejoicing in a league championship, while others solemnly brave the cold while checking their lifeless fantasy app out of instinct, hoping their seasons end was a nightmare and not reality. I am on both sides of this coin and am slowly coming out of Fantasy Football withdrawal, but before it is completely out of my system (is it ever really?) I wanted to compile the league winners, the league losers, the names you can’t bear to speak, and the ones you want to build a statue for in your living room (alongside your trophy). I broke down the average draft positions (Thanks to fantasypros.com), the points, the free agent pickups and everything else so that I could bring you the 2023 Fantasy football Awards.

(These awards are all for half PPR, the true standard in fantasy football. Although they could probably be applied to the other scorings as well)

The Deshaun Watson Before the Massages Rookie of The Year(Deshaun Watson had the most PPG for any rookie during their first season at 25.4):

It came down to two players in 2023: CJ Stroud and Puka Nacua.

CJ Stroud compiled 261.95 points this year in half PPR scoring and went on a tear weeks 9-12. He was looking like the runaway favorite for this award before suffering a concussion against the Jets and missing 2 games.

Puka had 240.9 half ppr points and has a chance to set the rookie record in yards and catches this season. Puka has not missed a game all season, and although he’s had some ups and downs, he seemed to deliver when needed.

Puka’s ADP was 280, while Stroud’s was 168, just another reason why Puka Nacua wins rookie of the year for the 2023 Fantasy Football Season.

Winner: Puka Nacua

Jamarcus Russell Worst Draft Pick Award (Not including Injured Players injured 4 games or more):                     Nominees: Travis Kelce (174.9 points), Austin Ekeler (153.5 points, missed three games), Tony Pollard (181.5 points)

All of these players have been massive disappointments for fantasy football owners. Kelce fell off a cliff when he started dating Taylor Swift, Ekeler looked slow all year, and Pollard may have needed Zeke. Looking at ADP, Ekeler was drafted 4^th overall (!!!), Pollard 13^th, and Kelce 6^th. Although Kelce was a major bust for most of the year, I have to take him off this list simply because the tight end position is such a barren wasteland and he still finished #1 amongst tight ends (drafting in the first round was still a major stretch). We come down to Pollard and Ekeler and I have to give the crown of worst pick to Ekeler. Wasting a top 5 pick on him is ridiculous, and almost guaranteed you a losing season. He just doesn’t have the same juice and missed 3 games this year. Pollard was ok during parts of the year and just average in other parts. When it mattered most in the playoffs Pollard had 6.7, 4.8, and 5.4 points. Not going to get it done. Still, Ekeler wasn’t much better going 5.8, 10.1, and 3.5. Despicable numbers for a top 5 pick and considering his draft position, his injury and almost losing his job, I have to give worst draft pick to Austin Ekeler. Congrats?

WInner: Austin Ekeler

The 2015 Carson Palmer Surprise of the Year:                   Sam LaPorta (ADP 159), Kyren Williams (257), Puka Nacua (280), Raheem Mostert (114), Joe Flacco (ND)

Tough contenders for this award. I want to give it to Flacco, but his name is just up there because I love him. LaPorta finished as the #2 tight end this year and took the league by storm, uplifting an essentially dead position for many teams. I’ve already gone over how great Puka has been, but his running back sidekick was phenomenal as well. Kyren was barely drafted in most leagues and finished as the RB #2 overall. He was a straight up touchdown monster all year, even with missing four games due to injuries. He only scored under 15 points twice this year and for that reason Kyren Williams is the 2023 2015 Carson Palmer surprise Player of the Year.

Winner: Kyren Williams

The Trent Richardson Bust Award. (Trent had a pretty good first year before falling off a cliff for the rest of his career. This is for those players who have been good in the past but were simply busts this year)                         Nominees: Alexander Mattison (ADP 52), Calvin Ridley (33), Najee Harris (25)

These players frustrated the hell out of managers all year. Mattison was supposed to take charge in Minnesota’s backfield with the departure of Dalvin Cook, but he faltered. He was terrible almost all year with zero, ZERO! rushing touchdowns. He only scored over 10 points 5 times in 15 games and never scored above 20 points. He even gave up the starting role at the end of the year to Ty Chandler, just awful. Calvin Ridley was supposed to have fresh legs after his year long suspension, but really, he just turned into rust. Trevor Lawrence was projected to pepper it into him all year, instead, Ridley ended up with 9 games under 10 points. He did score over 20 points 3 times, but with a draft position in the third round, Ridley ruined a lot of owner’s seasons. Najee looked like a hall of famer two years ago but gone are those days, as the bruising back looks old, slow, and tired. He had 9 games under 10 points and almost ended up giving up the starting role to Jaylen Warren. Najee resurrected his season in the last two weeks, especially in a championship week with 26 points, but with an ADP near the second round Najee has been a complete disappointment. After going over all the stats The Trent Richardson award has to go to Alexander Mattison. Having 0 rushing touchdowns all year for a starting running back is almost amazing. With only 5 games above 10 points, he edges out the other candidates and is deemed the biggest bust of the year.

Winner: Alexander Mattison

The 2006 Chicago Bears Defense of the Year Award:

Nominees: Cowboys (ADP 127), Jets (145), Patriots (143)

Defense is always difficult in fantasy. Each owner’s D/ST usually fluctuates with matchups every week, but if you had these three teams, you tended to stick with them. I only included the Cowboys because they came in first (9.9 ppg), averaging almost a full point more than the Jets in PPG, but this is a two-man race. The Jets and Patriots essentially had no offense making their defensive feats all the more impressive. Their defenses were always on the field, never tired, and still scored second and third. The Jets edged the Patriots out just slightly, and for that reason the New York Jets win Defense of the year.

Winner: Jets

The Alex Smith Most Devastating Injury of The Year Award

We all remember Alex Smith’s broken leg and subsequent multiple surgeries, well these players didn’t quite have that happen to them, but they did fuck over a lot of fantasy owners who were counting on them.

Nick Chubb (ADP 7), Justin Jefferson (1), Aaron Rodgers (100)

There’s really only one man this award can go to. J Jettas injury hurt a lot of owners, but he’s since come back and put up some numbers. Nick Chubb going down in week 2 resulted in many owners burning a first-round draft pick and having to start new. If you survived this catastrophe, you deserve all the credit in the world. Nick Chubb congrats on the award and get healthy for next year.

Winner: Nick Chubb

The Vinny Testaverde time to hang it up award

Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, Austin Ekeler

These three guys were either injured all year or were just terrible. Ekeler has none of the burst we are used to and at 28 (37 in running back years) it may just be the end of the once powerful RB. Derek Carr was a flopping fish all season. It amazed me that Jameis didn’t get much playing time. He’s only 32 but it feels like he’s 42, if he can’t learn to be a backup, this might be his last year. Then we come to Mr. Rodgers. Sure, he’s one of the best all time, he had a heartbreak of an injury, but he just turned 40, he’s coming off one of the worst injuries you can have and he’s accomplished everything a quarterback can. For all of those reasons Rodgers deserves the Testaverde award and should take that long road to the set of Jeopardy and ask trivia questions until the sun sets.

Winner: Aaron Rodgers

MVP

The moment we’ve all been waiting for. These guys have been outstanding all year, have barely missed any time and have consistently put up big points week after week.

The nominees are:

Christian McCaffrey (ADP 2), Tyreek Hill (ADP 5), AJ Brown (ADP 13), CeeDee Lamb (11), Amon-Ra St. Brown (14)

There are four things that go into crowning this year’s MVP: 1. Total Points, 2. Average Draft Position, 3. Consistency, 4. Injuries/Missed weeks.

When we look at total Points the rankings go: McCaffrey (371.8), Lamb (315.7), Hill (308.2), Brown (244.2), St. Brown (255.5)

Then ADP: McCaffrey (2), Hill (5), Lamb (11), Brown (13), St. Brown (14)

Consistency: McCaffrey never had a game below 11.6 points and had 10 games above 20 points, an insane rate.

Hill had 3 games with 8 points but also had 9 games above 20, and 2 above 30 points.

Lamb had 3 games below 10 points, but only early in the season. Down the stretch from week 6 on he never scored below 13.5 and had 3 games above 35 in that stretch, and 7 games above 20 on the season.

Brown – AJ was really cooking to start with but fizzled out toward the end of the year. In the beginning of the year, he had 7 straight games of 16 or more points and 3 above 25 points. From week 11-17, however, he never scored more than 16.4 points.

St. Brown – Other than McCaffrey, the sun god was the most consistent player of the year. He only had one game under 10 points (week 14) and had 4 games above 20. He never truly went nuclear but his consistent play and lower ADP keeps him in the race for MVP.

Injuries:

Amon Ra missed one game in week 5 and Tyreek Hill missed a game in week 15. Everyone else on the list has showed up for every game of the year.

Listen, does Christian McCaffrey deserve this award, absolutely he does, and I should probably give it to him, but when you look at all the numbers and the coming down the stretch numbers, it comes down to two people: Lamb and McCaffrey. In the final game of most league’s season (week 17), McCaffrey dropped a measly 11.1, whereas Lamb dropped a monstruous 35.7 to back up a 23.2 the previous week. Lamb was a league winner and the MVP for a lot of teams this year. I’ll ignore the somewhat slow start and dub Ceedee Lamb, because of his consistency, championship performance, and much lower ADP, the MVP of the 2023 Fantasy Football Season.

Winner: CeeDee Lamb

I hope you all won your leagues and if you didn’t, I hope this brought you a little end of season joy. Just remember: do better next year and make sure your Sacko punishment is much better than whatever shit roster you put out on the field this year.

P.S. If you’re playing in week 18, you shouldn’t even have a league.