A Football Life, 2020 Season Recap

It’s always bittersweet when we reach the end of Week 16 in the NFL Season. We have an exciting postseason to look forward to. We’ve just crowned the 2020 AFL champion! But we also say goodbye to the fantasy season.

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This was an exciting year for us. Throughout the summer we many questions about the upcoming fantasy season. Which players will opt out? Will there actually be an NFL season? How long will it take before everything falls apart due to COVID? And if that happens, how will we handle it from a fantasy standpoint?
 
As it turned out, we made it through the season with no teams missing any games (the postponed Steelers/Titans game simply moved their bye weeks earlier). A few players missed games due to COVID, but in all there were far fewer competitive imbalances in our league that can be attributed to the pandemic than we were concerned there could be when the season began in September.

Crowning a Champion

The 2020 season belonged to Stephen April, no doubt. Stephen entered the year without a winning season to his name in the AFL. After a .500 debut in 2018, he regressed to 5-9 in a 2019 campaign that saw him occupy a Bottom 2 spot in the power rankings through the entire second half of the season.
 
Stephen kicked off this season with the decision to keep Arizona Cardinals running back Kenyan Drake in the 6th round, a decision that may have made sense at the time given his strong conclusion to the 2019 season. In retrospect, Calvin Ridley in the 5th or A.J. Brown in the 8th, or even Robby Anderson in the 6th, may have been better options, but Drake finished as a Top 20 running back in fantasy and was a solid role player amid an excellent draft for Stephen.
 
Dalvin Cook made for an excellent 4th overall pick and Stephen’s 4th round selection of Keenan Allen paid off when Herbert took over the starting role in LA. Josh Allen may have been the best value pick at the quarterback position in the 7th round.
 
Additionally, Stephen was wheeling and dealing all season looking for value on other rosters, bring in Calvin Ridley, Cooper Kupp, Chris Carson and Darren Waller via trade as they hit their peaks for the season. In fact, of the 18 players on Stephen’s roster at the conclusion of the season, five of them were acquired via trade and another four were free agent additions after being drafted by other managers in the first half of the draft.
 
Stephen wasn’t as effective using the waiver wire, posting the worst Points per $1 spent on waiver claims in the league. But his Week 12 addition of David Johnson paid off in the championship game as he scored 28 points. It’s Johnson’s third time on a championship-winning roster in the AFL and the second time he’s made it to the promised land as a late-season addition.
 
All in all, it was a truly remarkable season for the 2020 AFL champ. He started the season with a 6-game winning streak, won five straight after a mid-season loss to Will Massimini, then, after losing in Week 12 to Evan Ash, he won four straight, including the championship game against Evan. He is the first AFL manager outside of our founding members to hoist the Sabol Trophy.
 
In addition to Stephen’s victory, there were a few other notable games in our league in the season’s final week. Our consolation games determine the order by which managers will pick their draft position for the next season. The winner of the consolation ladder this year was Brandon Saunders, so when the time comes in June, he will get first selection of where he would like to pick in the first round of the 2021 AFL Draft.
 
He had to sweat his game out despite an incredible performance by Davante Adams on Sunday night in which he caught three touchdowns and totaled 37.7 points. First-year manager Alex Mayo had Stefon Diggs and his 37-point Monday night performance in his lineup and the matchup was ultimately decided by less than two points!
 
The third-place game featured what would have been a Top 20 team score in league history and what would have been the AFL single-game record for points by a running back as Alvin Kamara exploded for an NFL record-tying six rushing touchdowns and 56.9 fantasy points! Too bad for Cory Puffett that he was in a game that doesn’t count toward our league’s record books.
 
And, of course, we had the Sacko Bowl, the loser of which earns our league’s Snyder Medal. This year’s matchup featured 2020 AFL champ Sean Kennedy and Will Massimini, who held a two-game lead in the AFL East with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
 
Strong performances by Lamar Jackson, David Montgomery, Tee Higgins, and the Washington Football Team defense were enough for Sean to nearly double-up his opponent and earn the seventh pick in the 2021 draft pick draft. With the Sacko in hand, Will has to settle for whatever pick none of his 11 league-mates want.
 
Weekly Awards
Tom Brady Awards
The Tom Brady Award is a weekly award given to the league’s top scorer.
 
This year Stephen April led all managers with four Tom Brady Awards. Cory Puffett earned three of them, Evan Ash and Eric Meyer each won two of them, and the remaining three were split between Brandon Saunders, Anthony Battle, and Alex Kincaid.
 
Peyton Manning Awards
The Peyton Manning Award is a weekly award given to the winner of the game of the week, as selected by the commissioner (sometimes with feedback from the league when multiple games are equally deserving of the spotlight).
 
In 2020, William Battle, Stephen April, and Brandon Saunders all won three Peyton Manning Awards. Evan won two of them, and the remaining three were split between Cory Puffett, Will Massimini, and Anthony Battle.
 
Divisional Titles
Don Shula Banner – AFL East Champion
Cory Puffett
 
Tom Landry Banner – AFL Central Champion
Stephen April
 
John Madden Banner – AFL West Champion
Anthony Battle
 
This marks Stephen’s first career division title. Cory and Anthony, meanwhile, become the fourth and fifth managers to win three division titles in their careers.
 
Coaching Awards
Passing
The 2020 positional COY award for passing goes to Alex Kincaid. Patrick Mahomes started 13 games in his lineup and was the #2 scoring quarterback in the AFL in 2020. Of quarterbacks with more than five starts, Mahomes had the highest points per game mark of the year.
 
In all, Alex earned 322.40 points from passing statistics in the regular season. No other manager reached the 300-point plateau.
 
The lowest total of fantasy points from passing in 2020 was 190.20 points, earned by Sean Kennedy from his combination of Lamar Jackson (12 games) and Carson Wentz (2 games).
 
Rushing
Stephen April earns the 2020 positional COY award for rushing. Dalvin Cook was absolutely brilliant this season and Stephen paired him with Kenyan Drake and Josh Allen and threw in late-season additions like Chris Carson and Kareem Hunt on his way to 543.70 fantasy points from rushing statistics.
 
The lowest rushing mark came from William Battle with just 220.80 points, thanks in large part to Saquon Barkley’s season-ending injury in Week 2.
 
Receiving
The 2020 positional COY award for receiving points goes to Cory Puffett. Despite starting two flex running backs four times and two flex wide receivers just twice in 2020, Cory earned 843.60 points from receiving stats in the 2020 regular season, a new AFL record, beating Danny Hatcher’s 2017 mark of 839.3 points. It certainly helps when you have a solid corps of receivers along with Alvin Kamara, arguably the best receiving back in the NFL.
 
The worst receiving points total goes to Alex Kincaid and his mark of 566.40 points.
 
Defense
Our 2020 defensive coach of the year is Alex Mayo. He earned a total of 204.08 points from his combination of the Pittsburgh Steelers (10 starts) and the Seattle Seahawks (4 starts). He is one of just six managers in AFL history to reach the 200-point mark for the season.
 
The worst defensive coach of the year was Alex Kincaid, with just 99.48 points from a combination of seven different defensive units.
 
Kicker
The 2020 kicker coach of the year is Will Massimini. Younghoe Koo was his kicker for most of the season, despite twice having to pick him back up after dropping him. Will earned 139.80 points from the kicker position this season.
 
The lowest point total earned from kickers this year also goes to Alex Kincaid with 93.50 points from six different kickers over the course of the season.
 
Bill Belichick Award – Coach of the Year
Every year we consider two categories in naming the coach of the year, points and wins earned via coaching risks, defined as decisions that went against Fleaflicker projections. If two different managers lead those two categories outright, we recognize two coaches of the year.
 
In 2020, five managers tied for the best win differential based on coaching risks at +1. Of them, one led all managers in points earned and that was Anthony Battle with 37.28 points earned from coaching risks.
 
Anthony’s best start of the season was the New Orleans Saints defense in Week 11 when they scored 17.42 more points than Fleaflicker’s recommended start, the Kansas City Chiefs.
 
Hue Jackson Award – Worst Coach of the Year
Coaching is difficult in fantasy football. Over the course of the 2020 season, our 12 managers combined for 100 correct decisions in 218 coaching risks and cost their teams a total of 233.34 points. More than half of our coaches lost points by season’s end due to coaching risks.
 
One stood out from the rest, however. Andrew Perez cost his team a league-worst 83.68 points in 2020. He also cost his team an unbelievable five wins! By just going with Fleaflicker projects every week this season, he would have finished 6-8 instead of 1-13. No other manager cost his team more than one net win on the season.
 
Andrew’s worst decision of the season came in Week 3 when he picked up and started Devonta Freeman the week he was brought to New York following Saquon Barkley’s injury. Fleaflicker’s recommended start that week was Michael Gallup, who outscored Freeman by 21.3 points.
 
Waiver Wire Guru
Among managers who made more than one waiver wire addition in 2020, Alex Kincaid was the most successful. He spent $105 on 10 players and though he wasted $88 on those bids, the payoff was huge as he earned a league best 378.32 points from those players, or 3.60 points per dollar spent!
 
Waiver Wire Dud
While some managers simply didn’t play the waiver game this season (Eric Meyer, William Battle, and Alex Mayo combined to spend just $38 on 4 additions), some other managers may have been better off joining them.
 
We can’t really say that about our Waiver Wire Dud this year, seeing as he won the AFL Championship, but Stephen April struggled in this aspect of team management. He made 14 waiver wire adds this year and spent $171 to get them, $156 more than he needed to. And for all that, he only earned 109.98 points for a league-worst 0.64 points per dollar spent.
 
Best Starts of the Year against projections
1.     Robert Tonyan instead of Logan Thomas in Week 4

William Battle earned 29.5 points and a win

2.     Washington Football Team instead of Carolina Panthers in Week 1

Sean Kennedy earned 27.64 points and a win

3.     Cam Newton instead of Drew Brees in Week 2

Alex Mayo earned 21.40 points and a win

4.     Drew Lock instead of Matthew Stafford in Week 9
Evan Ash earned 20.28 points and a win
5.     J.K. Dobbins instead of Marquise brown in Week 11
Evan Ash earned 19.0 points and a win
 
Worst Starts of the Year against projections
1.     Cam Akers instead of Darrell Henderson in Week 3
Alex Mayo lost 20.5 points and a win
2.     Sammy Watkins instead of Cole Beasley in Week 13
Andrew Perez lost 18.0 points and a win
3.     Jerick McKinnon instead of Justin Jefferson in Week 6
Evan Ash lost 30.7 points
4.     Tom Brady instead of Aaron Rodgers in Week 9
Anthony Battle lost 27.94 points
5.     Devonta Freeman instead of Michael Gallup in Week 3
Andrew Perez lost 21.3 points
 
Season Leaders
Single Game Highs
QB – Dak Prescott (Week 2, Cory Puffett) & Patrick Mahomes (Week 3, Alex Kincaid) – 42.40 points
RB – Dalvin Cook (Week 8, Stephen April) – 50.60 points
WR – Tyreek Hill (Week 12, Anthony Battle) – 51.40 points*
TE – Darren Waller (Week 13, Stephen April) – 38.50 points*
*Single-game positional records
 
Season Leaders
QB – Josh Allen (Stephen April, 15 games) – 404.20 points (#2 all-time)
RB – Dalvin Cook (Stephen April, 14 games) – 345.00 points (#5 all-time)
WR – Tyreek Hill (Anthony Battle, 14 games) – 277.20 points (#1 all-time)
TE – Travis Kelce (Cory Puffett, 7 games & Sean Kennedy, 7 games) – 240.96 points (#1 all-time)
 
Regular Season Bests & Worsts
Points
Best – Stephen April (1785.02 points | 127.50 ppg)
Worst – Andrew Perez (1365.90 points | 97.56 ppg)
 
20-point Games
Most – William Battle, Alex Kincaid, Will Massimini & Cory Puffett (13 games)
Fewest – Andrew Perez (8 games)
 
30-point Games
Most – Stephen April (8 games)
Fewest – Evan Ash, Sean Kennedy & Andrew Perez (2 games)
 
Passing Yards
Most – Alex Kincaid (4510 | 322.1 ypg)
Fewest – Sean Kennedy (2830 | 202.1 ypg)
 
Passing TDs
Most – William Battle (36)
Fewest – Evan Ash (20)
 
Passing INTs
Fewest – Alex Kincaid (5)
Most – William Battle (14)
 
Passer Rating
Best – Alex Kincaid (111.2)
Worst – Evan Ash (85.0)
 
Passing Yards per Attempt
Most – Brandon Saunders (8.5)
Fewest – Alex Mayo (6.7)
 
Rushing Yards
Most – Stephen April (3066 | 219.0 ypg)

Fewest – William Battle (1478 | 105.6 ypg)
 
Rushing TDs
Most – Stephen April (29)
Fewest – William Battle (9)
 

Rushing Yards per Attempt
Most – Andrew Perez (5.0)
Fewest – Evan Ash (3.8)
 
Receiving Yards
Most – Cory Puffett (4666 | 333.3 ypg)
Fewest – Alex Kincaid (2929 | 209.2 ypg)
 
Receiving TDs
Most – Stephen April & William Battle (31)
Fewest – Alex Mayo (14)
 
Receiving Yards per Catch
Most – Will Massimini (12.8 ypc)
Fewest – Alex Kincaid (9.4 ypc)
 
Pct. Points from Passing
Highest – Alex Kincaid (20.6%)
Lowest – Sean Kennedy (13.4%)
 
Pct. Points from Rushing
Highest – Eric Meyer (31.7%)
Lowest – William Battle (14.3%)
 
Pct. Points from Receiving
Highest – Brandon Saunders (49.3%)
Lowest – Alex Kincaid (36.2%)
 
Pct. Points from Defense
Highest – Alex Mayo (13.7%)
Lowest – Alex Kincaid (6.4%)
 
Pct. Points from Kickers
Highest – Andrew Perez (9.4%)
Lowest – Cory Puffett (5.8%)
 
2021 Offseason Forecast
Thank you all for a wonderful 2020 season! It’s truly a pleasure to serve as your commissioner.
 
We will tentatively schedule our 2021 Rules Summit for Saturday, February 6, the day before the Super Bowl, to discuss rules changes for next year. Some rules will be put up for a vote, others will go into effect unless managers have a strong argument against their implementation.
 
We will have our first offseason Cut Day on Saturday, February 13, after which date any players on Injured Reserve will be manually dropped from their teams’ rosters.
 
The 2021 Division Draft is scheduled for Sunday, May 2, the day after the NFL Draft concludes.
 
Our 2021 Draft Pick Draft will begin on Saturday, June 5. The order in which we will select our draft spots is on the league website.
 
And finally, keeper selections will be due by midnight on Friday, September 3, two days before the 2021 AFL Draft.
 
I am starting a fantasy baseball league for 2021 and anybody in this league has first priority on a spot in that league before I open it up for other interested people.
 
Enjoy the NFL playoffs!

-Cory Puffett