2018 Fantasy Football Awards
As the 2018 fantasy season comes to a close, we here at Fantasy Football Live want to take some time to give awards to various players that helped us or hurt us this season. Some of these awards are positive, and some are a little more negative. Check out who we felt were deserving of the following fantasy football awards!
MVP: Patrick Mahomes – QB, Kansas City Chiefs
Mahomes absolutely dominated this year, and you’d be hard pressed to find an NFL GM who would choose any other QB right now to start a franchise with. He’s a top-3 candidate and likely the favorite for NFL MVP. As far as fantasy goes, Mahomes was the best player in the league. He finished as a top-10 QB twelve times, and was a top-5 QB seven times. Through 16 weeks, he scored 388 standard fantasy points, an average of 25.9 fantasy PPG. The next highest player was Ben Roethlisberger, who was 71 points behind him. The highest scoring non-QB was Todd Gurley, who was 87 points behind Mahomes. Combine that with the fact that Mahomes was being drafted frequently outside of the top-10 rounds, and he’s the clear choice for fantasy football’s 2018 MVP award.
MVP – Honorable Mention: Todd Gurley
Comeback Player of the Year: Andrew Luck – QB, Indianapolis Colts
In 2017, Andrew Luck played 0 games. He had a serious injury to his throwing shoulder that had people questioning not only if he’d ever return to his old self, but also if he could ever play at the NFL level at all again. Any doubters have certainly been silenced this year, as Andrew Luck has looked just like his old self again. The Colts, who were 4-12 with Jacoby Brissett at the helm last year, are now 9-6, just 1 game out of first place, and fighting for a playoff spot. Luck has thrown 36 TD’s, including at least 2 in 12 of 15 games this year, and he is QB7 in fantasy. A QB7 finish following a 2017 season in which he didn’t take a single snap makes Andrew Luck the Comeback Player of the Year.
Comeback Player of the Year – Honorable Mention: Deshaun Watson
Rookie of the Year: Saquon Barkley – RB, New York Giants
Saquon Barkley was arguably the most highly anticipated RB prospect so far this century, and he has more than lived up to the hype. He has put together a rookie season for the record books, ranking in the top-5 for several rushing categories among rookies all time. He has scored 10 rushing TD’s, the 5th most in the NFL. He has added 4 receiving TD’s. He is fantasy football’s RB2 through week 16, averaging 17.6 standard fantasy PPG (just 2.5 less than Todd Gurley). The highest rookie QB is QB17, the next highest rookie RB is RB10, and the highest rookie WR is WR20. For fantasy sake, Saquon is the Rookie of the Year, and it isn’t close.
Rookie of the Year – Honorable Mention: Phillip Lindsay
Most Improved Player: James White – RB, New England Patriots
Despite a slow finish to his season and significantly more value in PPR scoring leagues (RB8 in PPR scoring, averaging 16.5 PPG), James White has enjoyed a great 2018 campaign. He is RB12 in standard scoring leagues averaging 11 PPG through 16 weeks. What makes him 2018’s Most Improved Player is the drastic increase from his 2017 production. Last year, James White finished the season as fantasy’s RB48. He had 43 carries for 171 rushing yards and 0 TD’s, compared to 90 carries for 395 yards and 5 TD’s this year. He had 56 catches for 429 yards and 3 TD’s last year compared to 83 catches for 712 yards and 6 TD’s this year. A top-12 season compared to barely cracking the top-50 last year makes White our Most Improved Player.
Most Improved Player – Honorable Mentions:
Mitchell Trubisky – QB28 in 2017. QB14 in 2018.
Christian McCaffrey – RB17 in 2017. RB3 in 2018.
Robert Woods – WR32 in 2017. WR10 in 2018.
Kenny Golladay – WR63 in 2017. WR19 in 2018.
Performance of the Year – Derrick Henry, Week 14
Through Tennessee’s first 12 games of the year, Derrick Henry was averaging a measly 39.5 rushing yards per game and only had 5 rushing TD’s. Then, in week 14, on Thursday night, in front of the entire football world, Henry exploded. In a divisional matchup against Jacksonville, Henry only needed 17 carries to gash the Jaguars defense for 238 rushing yards and 4 rushing TD’s. 47 standard fantasy points was the highest one game total of the year. For that reason, Derrick Henry wins our Performance of the Year award for 2018.
Performance of the Year – Honorable Mentions:
Ryan Fitzpatrick – Week 1
417 passing yards, 4 passing TD’s, 1 rushing TD, 0 turnovers, 41 standard fantasy points
Mitchell Trubisky – Week 4
354 passing yards, 6 passing TD’s, 53 rushing yards, 0 turnovers, 43 standard fantasy points
Jared Goff – Week 4
465 passing yards, 5 passing TD’s, 0 turnovers, 38 standard fantasy points
Alvin Kamara – Week 4
19 carries, 134 rushing yards, 3 rushing TD’s, 5 catches, 47 receiving yards, 35 standard fantasy points
Tyreek Hill – Week 11
10 catches, 215 receiving yards, 2 receiving TD’s, 33 standard fantasy points
Saquon Barkley – Week 11
27 carries, 142 rushing yards, 2 rushing TD’s, 2 catches, 10 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 33 standard fantasy points
Christian McCaffrey – Week 12
17 carries, 125 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 11 catches, 112 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 35 standard fantasy points
Amari Cooper – Week 14
10 catches, 217 receiving yards, 3 receiving TD’s, 39 standard fantasy points
George Kittle – Week 14
7 catches, 210 receiving yards (all in the first half), 1 receiving TD, 27 standard fantasy points
Aaron Rodgers – Week 16
442 passing yards, 2 passing TD’s, 32 rushing yards, 2 rushing TD’s, 0 turnovers, 42 standard fantasy points
Antonio Brown – Week 16
14 catches, 185 receiving yards, 2 receiving TD’s, 30 standard fantasy points
2018’s Fantasy Football Dream Team
QB – Patrick Mahomes
RB – Todd Gurley
RB – Saquon Barkley
WR – Antonio Brown
WR – Davante Adams
TE – Travis Kelce
Flex – Christian McCaffrey
D/ST – Chicago Bears
K – Ka’imi Fairbairn
2018’s Fantasy Football All-Bust Team
QB – Matthew Stafford (QB21 in 2018, 11.9 PPG. QB8 in 2017, 16.3 PPG)
RB – Carlos Hyde (RB41 in 2018, 5.3 PPG. RB11 in 2017, 10.0 PPG)
RB – Dion Lewis (RB35 in 2018, 5.8 PPG. RB11 in 2017, 10.0 PPG)
WR – Devin Funchess (WR53 in 2018, 4.9 PPG. WR19 in 2017, 7.8 PPG)
WR – Michael Crabtree (WR57 in 2018, 4.7 PPG. WR25 in 2017, 6.9 PPG)
TE – Rob Gronkowski (TE10 in 2018, 5.1 PPG. TE1 in 2017, 9.5 PPG)
Flex –Duke Johnson Jr. (RB47 in 2018, 4.7 PPG. RB16 in 2017, 8.4 PPG)
D/ST – Eagles D/ST (D/ST29 in 2018, 3.3 PPG. D/ST3 in 2017, 9.9 PPG)
K – Chris Boswell (K25 in 2018, 5.7 PPG. K6 in 2017, 9.8 PPG)
With this roster in 2017, you have a top-10 QB, three top-16 RB’s, two top-25 WR’s, the number 1 TE, the number 3 D/ST, and the number 6 kicker. This roster would on average put up 88.6 standard fantasy points per week.
With this roster in 2018, your QB is outside the top-20, your 3 RB’s are outside the top-34, your 2 WR’s are outside the top-50, your hall-of-fame TE cracks the top 10 by just 1 point, your D/ST is the fourth-worst in the league, and you have the eighth-worst kicker. This roster would on average put up 51.4 standard fantasy points per week.