The 2014 Stewie Awards
Get your popcorn ready – it’s time for the third annual “Stewie Awards.” If you’re unfamiliar with “The Stewies” (named after Jonathan Stewart for being an annual letdown), it is our awards ceremony where I honor (or twist the blade) on the biggest disappointments in fantasy football. The award won’t simply go to the player with the worst statistical season, but the player whose fall from pre-season expectations was greatest. However, after the season Stewart had, we might have to start calling this column the “T-Rich Awards” or maybe “The Dougies.”
We have a (falling)star-studded lineup, so let’s do this!
Our first category of the night is “Biggest Disappointment by a Quarterback.”
The nominees are:
Colin Kaepernick: 19.02 fppg, 3,369 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 639 rushing yards, one touchdown and five fumbles lost.
Jay Cutler: 21.59 fppg, 3,812 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, 18 interceptions, two rushing touchdowns, six fumbles lost and was benched for championship week.
Matthew Stafford: 19.53 fppg, 4,257 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, two rushing touchdowns and three fumbles lost.
Nick Foles: 19.62 fppg, 2,163 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, three fumbles lost and just eight games played.
Robert Griffin III: 13.14 fppg, 1,694 passing yards, four touchdowns, six interceptions, 176 rushing yards, one touchdown, four fumbles lost and just nine games played.
*fppg = fantasy points per game
[inlinead]Here to present the award is last year’s winner, Mike Vick. “Hello. It’s great to be back at The Stewies. Actually, it’s just nice to be anywhere but the bench. I couldn’t even beat out Geno Smith when I signed with the Jets. A Stewie Award is nowhere near the rock bottom I’ve been living. I wrestled a sewer rat for a half-eaten Hot Pocket yesterday. Anyways, this year’s award goes to… Colin Kaepernick.
Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Kaepernick this year in San Francisco. The team traded for Stevie Johnson, drafted Bruce Ellington, signed Brandon Lloyd and got back a healthy Michael Crabtree and Quinton Patton to go with Vernon Davis and the run game. Everyone expected Kaep to take the next step towards being an elite real life and fantasy quarterback. Unfortunately, it did not happen. He barely averaged 200 passing yards and 40 rushing yards per game and barely scored more touchdowns than total turnovers. He was only a top 12 quarterback twice this season and brought down the entire San Francisco offense, specifically Vernon Davis who fell completely off the fantasy radar this season. Now with Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor and a new coaching staff coming in, we really don’t know what to expect moving forward.
Our next category is “Biggest Disappointment by a Running Back.”
The nominees are:
Montee Ball: 7.68 fppg, 172 rushing yards, one touchdown, one fumble lost, nine receptions and 62 yards receiving in five games played.
LeSean McCoy: 12.85 fppg, 1,319 rushing yards, five touchdowns, three fumbles lost, 28 receptions, 155 receiving yards and no receiving touchdowns.
Rashad Jennings: 12.8 fppg, 639 rushing yards, four touchdowns, one fumble lost, 30 receptions and 226 receiving yards in 11 games played.
Zac Stacy: 5.27 fppg, 293 rushing yards, one touchdown, two fumbles lost, 18 receptions and 152 receiving yards in nine games played before being benched.
Bishop Sankey: 6.26 fppg, 569 rushing yards, two touchdowns, two fumbles lost, 18 receptions and 133 receiving yards.
Here to present this year’s award is last year’s winner, Trent Richardson. Actually, I’m being told Mr. Richardson is trapped in the lobby. He encountered a line at the concession stand and immediately fell down. Apparently he cannot make it further than two yards past the line before falling down. The winner is… Montee Ball.
The Montee Ball hype train was chugging along at full capacity this past off-season after Peyton Manning publicly endorsed him as the Broncos starter and a prime breakout candidate. After all, Manning has turned far less talented running backs than Ball into fantasy studs but it never materialized. He had an appendectomy just before the season but was clearly the Broncos feature back through the first four games before suffering a serious groin injury. When he returned in week 11 he lasted just four snaps before re-injuring his groin and eventually landing on injured reserve. His injury opened the door for Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson to explode onto the scene. Now his dynasty stock is trending severely downward and will be a boom or bust late round pick in 2015 after two straight disappointing seasons.
Our next category is “Biggest Disappointment by a Wide Receiver.”
The nominees are:
Josh Gordon: 10.86 fppg, 24 receptions, 303 receiving yards and no touchdowns in five games played. Suspended weeks 1-11 and 16.
Michael Floyd: 10.46 fppg, 47 receptions, 841 receiving yards and six touchdowns.
Justin Hunter: 7.98 fppg, 28 receptions, 498 receiving yards and three touchdowns
Cordarrelle Patterson: 6.00 fppg, 33 receptions, 384 receiving yards, one touchdown, 117 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Percy Harvin: 10.12 fppg, 51 receptions, 483 receiving yards, one touchdown, 202 rushing yards and one touchdown. Traded during the season.
Last year’s winner, Justin Blackmon, could not be here due to a scheduling conflict at the Papa John’s he currently working at. The winner of the most disappointing wide receiver is… Cordarrelle Patterson.
This was a tough decision and strong case can be made for Justin Hunter for all the same reasons, but Patterson was the choice. Given Norv Turner’s addition as offensive coordinator and the glimpses we saw from Patterson during his rookie year, expectations got way out of control. He was being drafted as a top ten wide receiver in dynasty start-ups after Turner didn’t miss an opportunity to talk up the potential of Patterson and all the plays he was designing for the explosive playmaker. Unfortunately, it never translated to the field. His route running was awful and he wasn’t able to develop chemistry with rookie signal caller, Teddy Bridgewater. He was eventually phased out of the offense and replaced with Charles Johnson, who has been a dynasty deep sleeper for three seasons now. It ended up being Johnson, not Patterson, who broke out, but not all is lost with Patterson.
He remains raw, but still possesses all the explosive traits you want in a wide receiver. Another off-season with Teddy Bridgewater and Norv Turner can only help. We’ve all gotten spoiled with the immediate production of rookie wide receivers, specifically the historic 2014 class. It’s going to take dedication and commitment from Patterson to continue to develop but he’s in a good spot.
The next award is “Biggest Disappointment by a Tight End.”
The nominees are:
Jordan Reed: 8.77 fppg, 50 receptions, 465 yards receiving and no touchdowns in 11 games.
Jordan Cameron: 7.84 fppg, 24 receptions, 424 yards receiving and two touchdowns in 11 games played.
Kyle Rudolph: 6.57 fppg, 24 receptions, 231 yards receiving and two touchdowns in seven games played.
Vernon Davis: 4.49 fppg, 26 receptions, 245 yards receiving and two touchdowns in 14 games.
Ladarius Green: 2.97 fppg, 19 receptions, 226 yards and no touchdowns in 15 games.
Here to present the award is last year’s winner, Jared Cook. “It’s truly an honor to be here among other great athletes who also fail to live up to their potential. It’s hard out there. Did you know they expect you to play every week? It’s pretty ridiculous. I mean, c’mon.”
“This year’s award for biggest disappointment by a tight end is… Vernon Davis.”
Vernon Davis is the first two-time Stewie winner. He also won the first ever Stewie award for biggest disappointment by a tight end in 2012. This season was the most disappointing by far, though. With the 49ers looking to open up the playbook to “unleash” Colin Kaepernick, one of the main beneficiaries should have been Davis and it looked promising in week one. He only caught four balls for 44 yards, but two were for touchdowns. It appeared Davis would continue to be the 49ers’ premier red zone threat. He finished the season with just those two touchdowns. Granted, some of it can be related to the injuries the 49ers suffered on the offensive line, but he was an afterthought throughout the season when they desperately needed playmakers.
I personally put a lot of the blame on Eric Mangini, who was named the tight ends coach prior to the 2014 season. He’s an awful coach with zero imagination and an undeserving ego. I don’t know how you have one of the top six or seven tight ends in the entire league and fail to figure out how to use him in some capacity.
This concludes the 2014 Stewie Awards. Hopefully you weren’t a victim of these many underachievers. I’d love to hear who you believe deserves the Stewie this year. Leave it in the comment section below or hit me up on Twitter @OlingerIDP.
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