Fantasy Football Podcast 2015 - The Footies: 2015 Awards Show, Playoff Challenge, DFS w/Chris Meaney

907 yards, 11 touchdowns, 40 catches. 40 catches for 367 yards. Monster year. He was the number four back on the entirety of the year. He had 38% of the vote coming in second with 22% was David Johnson. Third was Jordan Reed with 16% of the vote. And fourth was Blake Bortles with 10%.

Such an important category. The Waver Wire Wonder is generally a guy that wins a lot of championships. Last year, last year it was Justin Forsett, that gold off the Waver Wire. Every year we want to know who gets this award. So DeWill, congratulations. Congratulations. I mean, Hightower really should have gotten a little bit more love, I think, just because of the clutchness. It's a he didn't have a full body of work, which I completely understand. But I saw a.

of a nugget, a factoid. Tim Hightower, the most common player among championship teams. Wow. Wow. Last year, that was O'Dell Buckham Jr. Right. So Tim Hightower this year, a guy who hadn't taken a carry since 2011 comes in and makes that kind of a fantasy impact. It made me just laugh a little bit to look at the top running backs and see.

DeAngelo Williams and Tim Hightower and these names of guys that you just never, you couldn't have, in a million years, you could have thrown darts at a wall all day and you never would land on those guys, especially Tim Hightower. So we're going to take the footies into the positional categories. Yes, we are. So we'll start with the fantasy wide receiver of the year and we asked the voters factor in draft position, big game performances, and impact to your fantasy football team and the nominees.

for fantasy-wide receiver of the year were Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr., Doug Baldwin, Alan Robinson, DeAndre Hopkins, and rounding out the category, Brandon Marshall. And I'm going to have to take this over from you. Did we have a late... Because late vote has changed the outcome of this. What? We have... I'm looking at the live vote. This is unprecedented. Wait, where's...

This is like, wait, is the winner, Columbia? This, this is Steve Harvey. We are in Steve Harvey territory right here. Unfortunately, I, I'm looking at the actual up-to-date, live stats, and then I look back to our doc, and it is a different name. Wow. And so I'm going to need at number one. Oh, my goodness. And the winner of the footie. I don't even know. I'm excited. Wide receiver of the year with 26% of the vote.

Well, very close. Second place was 24% of the vote. Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown came back late. Number two, the very close second is Alan Robinson. I am in complete another shock right now. Alan Robinson was running away with this in the beginning. The first 500 votes that came in, it was like, okay, well, that one's clearly going to Alan Robinson. The word Alan was.

right at the front of my mouth before I got flagged down. I had to grab it. Incredible. Well, I will tell you this. A 30-vote lead. He won. Antonio Brown deserves it. And he is, you know, look, he might not have been as value-based a pick as Alan Robinson. But Antonio Brown has shown that he is the best wide receiver in the league. Maybe the best fantasy player in the league. Yeah, and we've talked about.

Probably too early and too much about the fact that he would be a worthy number one pick next year. But Antonio Brown, he is an absolute monster. Congratulations. Antonio. And third place was Brandon Marshall was 16% of the vote. DeAndre Hopkins and then Julio Jones. So yes, big surprise there. Apparently the second best one receiver year.

Of all time, and Julio Jones is only best. That's only good enough for fifth. Maybe because some people who owned him had a similar opinion as I did, which is the most ridiculous opinion of all. But he didn't help me a bunch. He didn't score enough touchdowns. I mean, he had the yards, but he didn't get the touchdown. Look, Antonio Brown won weeks, and he won him consistently. Julio Jones from weeks four through the second to last week of the year.

had like two touchdowns. So he came out and he gave you 10 to 20 points, which you loved. It's fine. He didn't win your week. Antonio Brown came out and some of the performances that he put up. Against Denver? I mean, that was, we didn't speak on this, but the individual performance of the year, I actually voted for that Antonio Brown in week 15 against Denver. Look, if Julio had won people.

More leagues? He would have won that category. There you go. Well, let's find out who won people leagues at the running back position. The fantasy running back of the year, factoring in all those things. The nominees were Devonta Freeman, Adrian Peterson, Old Man Strength, Doug Martin Bounceback, DeAngelo Williams Waver Wire Gold. Old Man Strength. And Todd Gurley, rookie sensation. And the winner, when factoring in where they drafted Impact,

Total performances is Devante Freeman. Mr. besmirched name himself was the fantasy running back of the year. Just hearing it roll off your lips. He was not that involved in weeks one and two and finished the year as the number one running back, who you could probably find on waivers.

might have been drafted but was not expected to do much. I think he was drafted in a good amount of leagues. What was he held on to? A lot of people dropped him after week one and two. Here's the first two weeks of Devonta Freeman running the ball. 10 for 18, 12 for 25. And I'm just... And Mike was cackling in the corner of the studio. I am happy that you are bringing these back up. Just to show. Be smirching his name so that...

so that people can be confident to keep him for next year. He ran away with this one. 44% of the vote. Very close second place. DeAngelo Williams actually took second place just above Adrian Peterson. Both had 18% of the vote. And then Gurley and Doug Martin. All guys that had great years helped you in different ways. Freeman certainly took teams from mediocre to dominant for a big portion of the...

of the year. So, all right, let's move on to the fantasy tight end of the year. The fantasy tight end of the year footy award. The nominees were Tyler Eifert, Rob Grunkowski, Jordan Reed, Maximum Barnage himself, Gary Barnage, and Greg Olson, all guys with incredible years, and the winner of the footy for fantasy tight end of the year.

Jordan Reed. Hey! Rule 86 running away with it, 42% of the vote. Grancowski came in second. Eifert and then Barnage. Heck of a year for Jordan Reed, a guy who, when you followed the rule, which is if Jordan Reed is healthy, you play him. He was another guy that took teams from good to great, from great to championship.

and carried teams. Absolutely. Especially clutch in the playoffs. For Rob Gronkowski to not win the award for the best fantasy tight end, it takes a performance like a guy who goes undrafted finishing right behind Rob Grancowski and Jordan Reed was the number two tight end in many formats off of waivers and was consistent and did it every time he played. I mean, Jordan Reed, you, Mike,

I believe might even be keeping Jordan Reed in our league of record. He has shown that. That was my point that I was going to talk about, where Jordan Reed has, when he came into the league, it was, this guy is very interesting. Let's see what he can do. A couple flashes here and there, but mostly hurt. Same thing last year. We thought, okay, well, Reed, this is going to be the year. This year, training camp gets hurt.

and we don't know how long he's going to be out. And then it is, so we actually liked his replacement, Niles Paul. Niles Paul out for the year. And then Jordan Reed happened to be ready to play for opening day and has just turned into a guy that is going to be worth the risk. You have to have this guy in your team. He's, it's no longer, oh, he gets hurt all the time. I don't want, I don't care that he gets hurt all the time. Because if the chance that he plays.

Every game. I have an elite, an elite level tied in. In our league of record, 23 points behind Rob Grunkowski. And that was, so Gronk also missed a game. I was going to say, you know who else has been somewhat injury prone? Rob Grongkowski. But it doesn't matter because he's so good that you take that risk. And yeah, Jordan Reed could, he still has to prove it for more time than he has, but he could be taking that leap into that.

upper echelon category. And the thing is, is this winner, Jordan Reed winning by more than double the votes of Rob Gunkowski shows, again, a player that was on teams that won games. You know, a difference-making type of player like Tim Hightower, like you mentioned before. So, all right, that does it for the tight-in. So the fantasy quarterback of the year when factoring everything we've asked the voters to think about. The nominees fantasy quarterback of the year. Tom Brady.

Cam Newton, Carson Palmer, Blake Bortles, Russell Wilson. Who is that? Who is that? Russell? Russell Wilson. And Andy Dalton, Andy Dalton, he still made his way onto the ballot because he was that good. He deserved. He deserved to be on the ballot. Absolutely. Absolutely, you deserve to be nominated. And the winner for fantasy quarterback of the year. No shockers here. Cam Newton. Cam Newton. Oh, and we are dabbing.

In the studio, by no... Cam Newton, fantasy player, the highest fantasy score of the year, so there is absolutely no question about this one. More than double, the second place guy who was Carson Palmer, had a great year. Blake Bortles finished third. Andy Dalton even got a few votes down at the bottom, but Cam Newton with 53% of the vote. And what's amazing about this list, who would be the highest...

drafted guy of last year, who was? Was it Russell Wilson? Yeah, Russell Wilson would have been the highest drafted of this list. Followed by probably Carson Palmer. No. No, Cam Newton would have been. People still drafted Newton in about the eighth. Yeah, they did. But when you look at the list, I think the point you're making is your top quarterbacks that you came into this year drafting aren't even a part of this list. And this was a pretty wide list.

Well, now let's get to the list. I like this one. That everyone cares the most about. It was, I believe, the most diverse group of voting. There was no runaway winner here. There were close seconds, close thirds, and everyone got a vote. It is for the nickname of the year. Very excited. Which nickname does the Foot Clan enjoy the best? Here are your nominees, these wonderful nicknames.

Betty Crockett Gilmore. You've got Marty McBride for Martavis Bryant. And of course, the big salad. One of Mike's personal favorites. Sean Drone, John Drone. Rule 86, the aforementioned Jordan Reed. You've got maximum barnage, also at the tight end position. Maybe my favorite, Guns Mahoney. Guns Mahoney. Who's Guns Mahoney, Jason? Guns Mahoney is...

Guns Mahoney. No, it's Dan Campbell. Okay. Peach cobbler? You got a peach cobbler out there for, man, we had a lot of nicknames for Pete Carroll. For Pete Carroll. Two coaches have nicknames. That's good. Well, we also had coobs. That's true. So, you know, he just didn't make it on the list. That wasn't a big stretch. No. Cubiac. Cubes. Let's do coobs. Yeah. You know, we didn't put David Johnson. That's not a nickname because it's not a nickname. It's just singing it. Same with Russell.

Worship. That's true. Also nominees, the Deptart Assassin, Fred Jackson himself, friend of the show, and Dirty Cake. Also, Sammy Biscuits. We left him on. We're giving him an honorable mention. All of these guys got great votes. I'm going to take you back from third place on. Oh, I like that. At third place. The third place winner was Guns Mahoney. People enjoyed. I was surprised. This was a shocker. A complete shocker to me.

As far as nicknames go, Guns Mahoney was a complete throwaway. You're wrong, sir. I think it all came from when you were like, when you were like, Dan Campbell. That's who we're talking about. Three or four times in a row, you just referred to him very casually as Guns. When Guns Mahoney is making his decision with Lamar Miller in the backfield, and Guns Mahoney tells Ryan Tannahilda, and I'm like, and his name's Dan Campbell. I think if you look on his birth certificate, it's Guns Mahoney. In second place.