The FanDuel Fantasy Awards: NFL Halfway Point

Well, it’s week 9 which means the NFL season is just about half over…..right?? Where did the time go? It’s been an excellent season in NFL so far and we have some hardware to give out to commemorate it. If you’re in a season long league and it isn’t going as well as you’d hoped(like if you took AP with your first overall pick) you may have to resort to making some crazy moves to save your fantasy team:

Most Valuable Fantasy Player ?

Of course, this award goes to the best overall fantasy player so far through the 2016 NFL season: David Johnson.
To be totally honest, I wasn’t sold on Johnson being a top 4 pick in standard leagues, and I was definitely not going to pay $8,100 for him week 1, but DJ is no fluke and has impressed even more after a strong rookie campaign. Through 8 weeks, Johnson has an incredible 1,112 yards from scrimmage and has 35 receptions on the year, which makes him the #1 player in PPR formats. What makes DJ such a great option is his consistency, even in his last game he struggled on the ground( just 10 attempts for 24 yards) he still ended with 18 points on DraftKings…he truly is matchup proof.

 

Sleeper of the Year ?

There are a ton of worthy candidates for this award, but nobody deserves it more than Melvin Gordon III.
After a rookie campaign where Gordon didn’t reach the end zone even once, he has definitely made up for lost time in his sophomore season as he’s found pay dirt 10 times through San Diego’s 8 games. After the injury to Danny Woodhead, Gordon stepped up big for the Chargers and through 8 weeks, only DeMarco Murray has more games of at least 11 fantasy points. MGIII has made for the perfect waiver wire pick up in 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

Fantasy Rookie of the Year ?

There’s almost no competition for this next award, as the consensus pick for Fantasy Rookie of the Year is without question Ezekiel Elliot. I was absolutely shocked to see Jerry Jones take Elliot with the 4th overall pick, but I was even more shocked when I saw Elliot going an average of 4.7 in standard fantasy league drafts. After a subpar first two weeks in terms of YPC, Elliot has exploded averaging 24.3 DK PPG in the last 5 weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fantasy Bust of the Year ?

Hopefully you didn’t draft him in your season long leagues, this next award goes to Adrian Peterson.
I know it’s unfair to give a player the “bust label” when they suffer an injury, but given the circumstances of drafting AP, it has to be handed out here. If you drafted AP in season long you most likely had the 1st or 2nd overall pick, which means you didn’t get another pick for basically two whole rounds. Peterson played in the first two games of the season and just didn’t look like himself, as he rushed for an abysmal 50 yards on 31 carries. 

 

 

 

 

 Fantasy Zombie of the Year ?

Matthew Berry coined the phrase “Fantasy Zombie” for Packers WR James Jones last year, described as a player who is “back from the dead” and putting up great fantasy numbers just like old times. After spending last season in Chip Kelly’s doghouse, Demarco Murray has come back in a big way in 2016 and is most certainly “back from the dead” Murray comes into week 9 as the 3rd highest scoring flex player in all of fantasy and hasn’t had a week with less than 13 fantasy points yet on the season. Great to see Murray back and playing to his full potential again in Tennessee. 

 

 

 

 

 

NFL RedZone Player of the Year ?

Our last award goes to the most entertaining player to watch on NFL RedZone: Odell Beckham Jr. It’s pretty close between OBJ and Antonio Brown, but between the one-handed catches, kicking net proposals, and match ups with Josh Norman, you never know what you’re going to get when you watch Odell play. He is electric on the field and coupled with his creative end zone celebrations, you always have to tune in when the Giants take the field to watch #13 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Credit Tykes.co for images)

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