RADIO
RotoBaller's Nick Mariano goes through the staff's picks for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Waiver Wire Add of the Year, and more for the 2023 fantasy football season.
Hello and welcome to the official 2023 Fantasy Football Awards Show, presented by RotoBaller. These awards are voted on by RotoBaller's NFL writers, with my shenanigans and one-off awards tossed in there. I don't get to be goofy on the job that often, so bear with me.
As is tradition, I'm your host, Nick Mariano. I'm not Michael Scott, but I always try to make The Dundies proud as we look back on 2023, look ahead to 2024, and have some fun along the way. Let's laugh, cry, and poke fun at ourselves while honoring some of the fine football players who have had outstanding (for better or worse) performances in the 2023 season.
It remains a bittersweet affair when the fantasy football season ends, but I hope it sparked joy in your life. We all need to escape and act like the sky is falling when really, it's just Skyy failing. Let us celebrate the season that was before fast-forwarding to draft prep for the 2024 season.
Most Valuable Player
Also known as The Wayne Gretzky Award
The fantasy world demanded a healthy CMC and boy, did we get it. He wasn’t the consensus 1.01 pick, as that curse shifted to Justin Jefferson, who missed a month due to injury. In full PPR, McCaffrey outscored the No. 2 RB by over 100 points. Over 25% of his volume!
The Gretzky analogy refers to when Gretzky was so good that he was split into two fantasy players, one for goals scored and one for assists. CMC would’ve been the No. 12 RB in full PPR, even with zero receiving work to bolster him! His receiving line of 67-564-7 would’ve been a low-end WR3/WR4 on that top-36 cusp.
Okay, he’s not quite in the Gretzky realm, but this remains ridiculous. I realize some may be stewing because he was forced from the championship week due to injury. Get over it. CMC remains the MVP. You were spotted tremendous talent, and if you couldn’t surround him with enough then you goofed!
Last Year’s Winner: Travis Kelce
Fantasy Rookie of the Year
Aka the Chasing Upside Award
It’s worth noting that Nacua, who broke the rookie receiving record as a late-round selection, barely edged out C.J. Stroud. The one-vote gap means Stroud can have his name etched in a teeny corner of our official RotoBaller trophy. But Nacua ended his rookie year as a high-end WR1 after flashing incredible body control, tackle-shedding power, and breakaway speed.
His 233 yards after contact trailed only Nico Collins (255) as Nacua stepped up while Cooper Kupp looked to be less than 100% for much of the year. I must note that Nacua did all of this and still led the league in registered drops with 13. He left even more on the table!
Before you judge too harshly, please recall that he competed at BYU and was taken in the fifth round. Is this what his learning curve looked like? Matthew Stafford remains a WR kingmaker and I hope we see more growth in 2024.
Top Rookie WR Seasons by YPRR ('13-'23)
1. Odell (2.753)
2. Puka Nacua (2.746)
3. Justin Jefferson (2.66)
4. Martavis Bryant (2.51)
5. Rashee Rice (2.48)
6. Ja'Marr Chase (2.44)
7. AJ Brown (2.42)
8. Chris Olave (2.42)
9. Christian Watson (2.3)
10. Tank Dell (2.2)— Sam Sherman (@Sherman_FFB) January 18, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Kenneth Walker III
Fantasy Playoffs MVP
Aka The Late Hammer Award
Well, this is as close to a playoff award as any Dallas Cowboy is going to get, eh?
Lamb’s three-week window produced a blazing 420 total yards and three scores as he capped up an insane second-half run. This wasn’t even his best three-week stretch of the year! His Week 8-10 chapter produced a comical 34-500-3 receiving line with a rushing TD sprinkled on top for good measure.
Anyway, Lamb’s playoff tally was ~10 PPR points above the next WR and even edged out CMC by a few points. Of course, a healthy Amari Cooper would’ve had a great chance at stealing the award after Week 16’s 50-bomb, but he would miss Week 17 due to a heel injury.
Last Year’s Winner: Jerick McKinnon
Comeback Player of the Year
Aka The I Get Knocked Down But I Get Up Again Award
Hall took a while to ramp up, but you knew that was part of the deal. The Jets’ offense was still defrosting when Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles on their opening drive, but Hall would carve out a role regardless. After averaging ~10 touches per game in their first four weeks, Hall would come alive in Week 5 with 25 touches for nearly 200 total yards.
He would become the RB4 in PPR formats with an RB-leading 74 receptions to overcome only four rushing touchdowns. Between Weeks 5-17, Hall was the only other RB to come within ~60 points of CMC’s output (Hall had 40 fewer PPR points).
One can’t blindly add a healthy Aaron Rodgers and assume more TDs will follow, as some of the passing volume will be surrendered to more downfield throws, but his overall outlook should improve. Get excited!
Damar Hamlin was active for 2 games and had 2 tackles.
Joe Flacco started 5 games
Breece Hall was 13th in rushing yards, had the most receptions by a running back and played in all 17 of his teams games.
It should be clear cut Breece Hall. https://t.co/QUfUhTpnpl
— Michael Kaplan 🇮🇱 (@OfficialKappy) January 10, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Geno Smith
Early Waiver Wire Hero
Aka the George Washington Award
Football is America, and Washington was one of America’s early heroes. Williams was the RB4 from Weeks 1-6, then missed about a month only to return with a wild 204-yard, 2-TD Week 12 en route to being RB2 from Weeks 12-17.
He was as close as you could get to CMC in those final weeks and he was languishing on most waiver wires ahead of Week 1. Much like Washington, Williams would also unite several ragtag rosters and constantly overcome the odds for victory.
Tank Dell also gets a lil’ shout here, as he was heating up for a beautiful second half before somehow being schemed into a goal-line plunge pile as a blocker.
Last Year’s Winner: N/A
Biggest Fantasy Football Flop
Aka Trent Richardson Syndrome Award
Pollard’s opening weeks held such promise, but then he became allergic to hitting the hole and suffered some of the worst goal-line variance/decision-making that these eyes have seen in some time. Now, Pollard was still the RB14 in PPR and didn’t completely disappear, but the way it went down is deserving of the award.
It feels like a lifetime ago, but each of Pollard’s first three weeks delivered 15 or more PPR points. He would only hit double-digits once over his next six games. We are wallowing. But wait, there’s hope! Pollard then scores 16 or more in four straight. Great, we’re back! What’s that, the playoffs are starting?
Yes, Pollard teams know that he vanished come playoff time. Zero touchdowns, only four catches for 10 yards, and barely 3.5 yards per carry. Some will say the writing was on the wall with his returning from such a serious injury, but leg health can’t be blamed for all of this:
Tony Pollard has 11 carries from inside the 5-yard line this season. He’s scored two TDs on them.
Merry Christmas! pic.twitter.com/UhcIY1zmLS
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) December 25, 2023
Last Year’s Winner: Kyle Pitts
Sleeper No Sleeping Award
Jahan Dotson, Dameon Pierce, Skyy Moore
Aka the Wake Me Up, I Can't Wake Up Award
Not just a hilarious song lyric to me, this line epitomizes a popular “sleeper” pick being unable to spring into action and do something during the season.
Dotson was unable to display any chemistry with Sam Howell in the early going and produced zero weeks of top-25 PPR production when Curtis Samuel was healthy. We got two top-10 performances in Weeks 8-9 with Samuel out, and then he goose-egged in Week 10. Just after drawing everyone back in, how polite. Washington as a whole floundered, but Dotson failed to live up to the preseason hype.
As for Pierce, it’s rough to watch such a step backward at RB in the face of such epic quarterbacking. One can’t blame Davis Mills here. Pierce failed to record a single game with four yards per carry and ended 2023 under three. The 145-416-2 rushing line pales in comparison to Devin Singletary’s 216-898-4 line, with the FAU alum also logging 30 receptions to Pierce’s 13.
The scheme/calls/line didn’t do Pierce any favors, with his 1.2 average yards before contact ranking lowest among RBs with at least 50 carries. Singletary (who had a 2.6 figure in that stat) was simply better suited to the zone-blocking runs, with Pierce largely just plodding forward. Let’s hope they can revive him come next year.
Moore was listed here last year! I don’t think I’ve seen a repeat for the years I’ve been doing this. How special is that? Many of us wanted him to be better than he was, leaning on a Year 2 surge that wasn’t in the cards.
Folks misread Andy Reid’s unwillingness to lean on a rookie as Reid’s unwillingness to lean on this rookie, versus someone like Rashee Rice. Someone had to fill the void as KC’s No. 1 WR and the bets on Moore (and Kadarius Toney) simply were not it. Remember the Justyn Ross hype, too? Sheesh.
Last Year’s Winners: Gabe Davis, Chase Edmonds, Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore
Midseason Fantasy Savior
Aka The “Damn Son, Where’d You Find This?” Award
Many players had a viable case here, with other notable mentions being Rashee Rice, Devin Singletary, and Chuba Hubbard. However, McBride’s surge at a notoriously difficult position to excel at really made him pop. While he did fade in Weeks 16-17, his run from Weeks 8-15 as the TE2 propelled many to the top.
Crazy that #AZCardinals TE Trey McBride didn’t become the starter until halfway through the year and finished with more catches (81) than:
Mike Evans
Tyler Lockett
Terry McLaurin
DeAndre Hopkins
Brandon Aiyuk
Amari CooperAmong other notables.
Sky is the limit.
— Donnie Druin (@DonnieDruin) January 12, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Justin Fields
Most Consistent
Aka The Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming Award
St. Brown was a top-20 WR in PPR for all but three of his games played this year. Two of the other performances supplied stat lines of 6-102-0 and 2-49-1. I never looked at those and shook my head.
He truly only had one “dud” in Week 14 before being a top-seven wideout in each of Weeks 15, 16, and 17. He had a convincing case for Playoffs MVP and undoubtedly helped many of you hoist the championship trophy.
Last Year’s Winner: N/A
Most Inconsistent Award
Davante Adams & Gabe Davis
Those who drafted Adams will weep upon seeing his name lumped in Davis, but they’ll understand. Can we escape 2023 by simply blaming Las Vegas’ QB situation? I know Adams had stellar games in Week 15 (8-101-1) and Week 17 (13-126-2), but pushing us in consolation brackets doesn’t ease the pain.
Adams had a seven-game TD-less streak in Weeks 4-10 and couldn’t crack 60 yards in five straight games within that time frame. But the spike weeks remind us that hope springs eternal and this probably was all an indictment of the Raiders/Josh McDaniels. Antonio Pierce knows ball, they would be wise to bring him aboard. (Shoutout Raiders DST for being the No. 1 unit in both Weeks 15 and 16 for the playoffs.)
For my money, Davis makes Adams’ inconsistency look innocent. Please recall Davis scored in four of Buffalo’s first five games in 2023 before combining for 27 yards in his next two games. Gross. But then he drops a 9-87-1 line! Then a zero. This pattern would carry on.
Next, he at least gets 56 yards to provide hope. Then another zero before a zesty 6-105-1 ahead of their bye. He follows that up with back-to-back zeroes before a 4-130-1 performance in Week 16. It was maddening and most of our faith had been lost by the time the late-season boom games came.
Last Year’s Winner: Amari Cooper, D'Andre Swift
Tinder Ghost of the Year
Aka The Pls Respond Award
Not to be outdone for awards by his teammate, Diggs now gets his turn. He was his dominant self between Weeks 1-9, posting six WR1-caliber finishes without any true dud performances. From then on, he would never finish as a top-15 WR in any week again. In fact, he would only crack the top 40 in two of his remaining eight games.
You couldn’t bench him, the potential was too high! This connection seemed so promising, but every time you checked your phone for hope, all you saw was pain. He left many of us on “Read” in the second half and will simply have to make it up to us in 2024.
2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award
Aka The Jon Snow Award
This was Kyle Pitts last year, so do tread carefully! We didn’t get to see much of Richardson before a severe shoulder injury required season-ending surgery after Week 5. He only played in two complete games, finishing as a top-four QB on the week in each of them. His punishing rushing approach led to an elite 25-136-4 line alongside a 3/1 TD/INT ratio in the passing game.
But said approach punished Richardson and the defense alike. He would exit Week 2 early due to a concussion, which led to his missing another game the following week. And then he suffered the Grade 3 AC joint sprain on what appeared to be a fairly routine tackle on a rush toward the sideline.
Each hit taken increases the variance, so while the rushing upside might be incredible, you are wielding a heavy double-edged sword. If he can find a balance in ‘24 then we’re cooking.
Anthony Richardson on how significant his long-term health was during his decision to have season-ending surgery:
“I didn’t want to get it at first, I wanted to play… but I was thinking about the future and all the Super Bowls we want to win. It was an easy decision.” pic.twitter.com/Biou8ADuhC
— Noah Compton (@nerlens_) January 11, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Kyle Pitts (lol)
The Fred the Fish Award
Christian Watson
Aka The My Leg Award
Who among you will give Watson your hamstring as tribute? Green Bay says they’re developing a plan to better protect Watson’s legs moving forward but we’ve lost so much time already. Jordan Love’s strong development curve could’ve lifted Watson to an elite season, but now we have yet another injury-marred season to scare us come draft day next year. Michael Thomas also qualifies but that felt too easy.
Last Year’s Winner: Will Fuller
The Victim of Their Circumstances Award
Patrick Mahomes, Bijan Robinson, Garrett Wilson, Kyle Pitts
Aka The Copium Award
This goes out to the players in the trenches who were done dirty by things (mostly) out of their control. Maybe it’s an organization failing to secure reliable WR depth, Arthur Smith failing to utilize a star that Atlanta invested an early pick on, or Aaron Rodgers blowing out a tire. We are very willing to overlook the relative shortcomings of their 2023 season and head directly into ‘24.
Last Year’s Winner: N/A
The Whitest Sneakers Award
Aka the Kickers Matter Too Award
This Pam Beesly-inspired award goes to the best kicker of the season, Brandon Aubrey. The rookie (he played in the USFL in 2022-23) made the most field goals (36) and was a perfect 10-of-10 from 50-plus yards.
Many of you don’t care about kickers, and some may have removed them from the equation entirely, but FF is still a luck-twisted game and kickers have their part to play. Aubrey made the most of his home dome and strong offense to put together an exceptional year.
Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month. He won the award in both October and December as a first-year player.
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) January 11, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Justin Tucker
Some Staff Shoutouts:
Mustache (Must Stash) Player for 2024: Keaton Mitchell
The Goal-Line King (aka Mike Tolbert Vulture Award): Jalen Hurts
The Steve Smith Sr. Roast Award: Jerry Jeudy
Player Most Likely To Make You Quit Fantasy Football: Kyle Pitts
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