Jan. 2: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady passes during the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins in Foxborough, Mass. (AP)
Another fantasy football season is in the books, and as usual, it ended with seemingly half the NFL’s fantasy stars being inactive in the campaign’s final week. For the love of God, if your league championship game is held in Week 17, can you please organize a coup against your commissioner and switch the title game to Week 16 like the rest of the sane world? It’s really not such a difficult concept, and it’s been widely used for about 15 years. Get with the program, people!
Let’s review the 2010 fantasy season All Pro-style by naming an All-Fantasy Team, an All-Flop Team and an All-Surprise Team. These teams are subjective, as they’ve been determined by looking at multiple fantasy scoring formats, and penalize players a bit extra for missed games in Weeks 15 and 16. Players who missed significant time due to injury have been passed over on the All-Flop list in favor of those who were just plain disappointing. Finally, no team defenses or kickers are included, because they’re crapshoots to begin with, and you shouldn’t ever draft them with high expectations.
All-Fantasy
QB: Tom Brady, Patriots
RB: Arian Foster, Texans
RB: Jamaal Charles, Chiefs
WR: Roddy White, Falcons
WR: Brandon Lloyd, Broncos
Flex (RB/WR): Dwayne Bowe, Chiefs
TE: Jason Witten, Cowboys
MVP
Foster was taken in the third or fourth round of many drafts, but he was clearly fantasy’s best player after racking up 2,218 yards from scrimmage, 66 receptions and 18 touchdowns. In one league we know, Foster scored 37 percent more fantasy points than the next-best running back. You might think Foster is a one-hit wonder, but his season was so good that we’ll be betting big on him in 2011.
All-Surprise
QB: Michael Vick, Eagles
RB: Peyton Hillis, Browns
RB: Darren McFadden, Raiders
WR: Brandon Lloyd, Broncos
WR: Stevie Johnson, Bills
Flex (RB/WR): BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Patriots
TE: Marcedes Lewis, Jaguars
Biggest surprise
As good as Foster was, Vick was unowned in most leagues when the season started. After that … wow. PETA’s favorite signal caller threw for 3,018 yards and 21 touchdowns, ran for 676 yards and nine more touchdowns, and did all that despite missing almost five games due to injury. Vick’s ability to run makes us worry that he’s a big injury risk, but after this year’s phenomenal fantasy performance, don’t you have to pick him in the first round next season? As in life, you can’t be great in fantasy football if you don’t take a few chances, right?
<b>All-Flop</b>
QB: Matt Schaub, Texans
RB: Ryan Mathews, Chargers
RB: Beanie Wells, Cardinals
WR: Randy Moss, Patriots/Vikings/Titans
WR: Michael Crabtree, 49ers
Flex (RB/WR): Steve Smith, Panthers
TE: Brent Celek, Eagles
LVP (Least Valuable Player)
This train wreck of a season from Moss qualifies as one of the all-time fantasy flops. Moss caught nine passes for 139 yards in his first four games with the Patriots, and then bitched his way out the door via a trade to the Vikings. In Minnesota, Moss caught 13 passes for 166 yards and two scores in four games, insulted a local restaurateur serving food after a Vikings practice by saying, “I wouldn’t feed this **** to my dog!”, and was waived shortly afterwards. The desperate Titans then claimed the four-time All-Pro, but he was terrible, catching a paltry six passes for 80 yards in eight games, and having trouble getting on the field at times because – according to head coach Jeff Fisher – fellow wideout Kenny Britt played the same position (!!!). That’s quite a season for a guy many of you drafted in the first or second round. On the bright side, at least Moss wasn’t boring – at least until he got to Nashville.
2011 projected first round
1. Arian Foster, Texans (RB)
2. Jamaal Charles, Chiefs (RB)
3. Adrian Peterson, Vikings (RB)
4. Chris Johnson, Titans (RB)
5. Aaron Rodgers, Packers (QB)
6. Andre Johnson, Texans (WR)
7. Peyton Hillis, Browns (RB)
8. Roddy White, Falcons (WR)
9. Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars (RB)
10. Michael Vick, Eagles (QB)
11. Calvin Johnson, Lions (WR)
12. LeSean McCoy, Eagles (RB)
We really hope you get to draft these guys, because with the NFL owners and players headed toward an apparent stalemate in their labor dispute, you could be forced to turn your attention toward fantasy basketball, hockey or bass fishing in the fall. Oh, the horror!
Thanks for reading "Wide Write" all season. We hope to see you back here next year!
John Halpin writes his "Wide Write" fantasy football column every week during the NFL season for FoxNews.com. He also writes fantasy columns and early-morning blogs at FoxSports.com/fantasy, and co-hosts a daily fantasy podcast. You can receive more fantasy news and contact John by following him on Twitter (@jhalpin37), or e-mailing him at jhalpin37@gmail.com.
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