Lineup Advice: Week 17, Wrap-up & Sound Off
Thank you all and be sure to read this …
What a season!
I exclaim that every season but I can honestly say that, every year, it feels justified. While I don’t have statistics or reports to back this up, it seems that 2019 was a year where recent fantasy league history just didn’t mean that much. Many top players fell from grace. Antonio Brown, Todd Gurley, Alvin Kamara and even Saquon Barkley and Patrick Mahomes, while still productive and dynasty cornerstone pieces, under-achieved compared to expectations. On the other side of the coin, Lamar Jackson, Austin Ekeler, Aaron Jones and Chris Godwin all erupted and played vital roles on many fantasy teams.
But overarching it all were the injuries. Oh, the injuries! It wasn’t just early season ending injuries that colored 2019, it was the sheer number of critical players lost during key playoff and championship weeks that were so impactful. Dalvin Cook, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Adam Thielen, D.J. Chark, Calvin Ridley, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs and many others succumbed to injury at what could be considered perfectly bad times. Most of these names were crucial components for teams making it to fantasy playoffs, if not the championship.
For myself, while it could have been worse, the fantasy playoffs were brutal. It still ended up being a good year but considering the number of my teams that made it to the playoffs, it could have been so much better. In fact, if not for a very surprising .45 point championship victory (crossing my fingers for no stat adjustment), this would have been the first year that none of my teams brought home a championship. I play in nine dynasty leagues, all of them with savvy coaches so any championship is well earned. Some of these leagues have very unique formats and one of the teams, my primary one in fact, I have purely for enjoyment, strictly focused upon my favorite players with winning being secondary. I’ll have an article up about this one in the future as I believe it is something all of you should be doing to keep fantasy fun.
But, alas, I know many of you may still use week 17 in your leagues. Some use the week as a bonus week of sorts. Some use it as their true championship week while others use it as one game in a two-week playoff. Whatever or however you use week 17, if you need lineup advice, feel free to chime in below as you’ve done every other week.
For those of you whose fantasy seasons have come to an end, this is the time for your to vent your frustrations or shout your conquest(s) from the rooftops. Have you ever been so frustrated that you wanted to scream at other coaches about their horrible start/sit decisions that cost YOU a chance at fantasy glory? Have you wanted to wallow in frustration at a bad beat that cost you the ring in your championship game? Maybe you’ve wanted to dance around and gloat in your victory but decided to, instead, win with dignity? Whatever you have to say, however you want to say it, this is the time and place to do it. I realize many of you may want to sound off against or for my own fantasy advice to you throughout the year. I fully realize that my advice, if followed blindly, may have cost you the big game. It’s all good and you can say whatever you would like. I fully understand the trials and tribulations of offering advice in a column such as this. If you are overly concerned, just use a new nickname to remain anonymous.
The point is, this week is for ANY of you that have something to say about anything fantasy related. This is your opportunity to sound off. Please keep it family-oriented as we here at DLF do try to run a family-focused and high-values site. Profanity in context can be okay, but let’s not get carried away. Use this time to get anything off your chest but make sure not to be offensive. I’m sure all of you can figure out where that line is.
Lastly …
This is, by far, the most enjoyable ‘article’ I do. It’s what allows me to directly engage with our community one-on-one on a weekly basis. Those of you that know me know I love connecting with each of you on a personal level and lineup advice is a great vehicle for just that. As many of you have alluded to, this year especially, it’s a ton of work every week during the season and as DLF has grown, it’s become even more difficult to keep up, stay focused and, most importantly, keep my quality of advice at a level where I expect it to be. I’ve always said that I treat each question as if it were my own team with the championship on the line. Each question can take ten minutes or more depending on the length, options, variables and the number of sites/metrics I use are taken into consideration. As DLF continues to grow its membership, it’s been more and more difficult for me to keep to that promise. In fact, I spend so much time in the middle and end of each week on the advice, I’ve not been able to complete my other DLF tasks to the degree I’d like to.
For the first time since starting my lineup advice series years ago, I/we are taking a hard look at what needs to be done differently. I know change won’t be embraced by the masses if it adversely impacts the service you’ve all come to expect. We have some larger global site changes that may take place which could factor into the decision as well. Or, it could be that nothing changes at all. But as DLF is a very transparent organization founded on a foundation of very high values, ethics and commitment to honesty and integrity, I like to be up front with all of you.
More to come on this later as we get into the off-season. Until then … now, it’s your turn.
And, even more lastly, from our family to yours, we are wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous, healthy and prosperous 2020!
Now … SOUND OFF!
You can find Jeff on Twitter at @dlf_jeff
- Lineup Advice: Wrap-up, Thank You and Goodbye (TTFN) - January 1, 2024
- Lineup Advice: Week 17 – Championship Edition - December 26, 2023
- Lineup Advice: Week 16 – The “What is” Edition - December 19, 2023
