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 2024 fantasy football season.
Greetings and welcome to the official 2024 Fantasy Football Awards Show, presented by RotoBaller. These awards are voted on by RotoBaller's NFL writers, with some goofy ones thrown in alongside the expected. We are here to celebrate the good, the bad, and the downright frustrating.
Once again, I'm your host, Nick Mariano. We won't have MC Michael Scott in attendance, but let's channel the spirit of The Dundies as we look back on 2024 and look ahead to 2025. We will have reason to smile, cry, and laugh at ourselves as we honor the year's remarkable moments and players.
We know that the fantasy football season ending is a sad time, but try to remember why you play. And we're already gearing up for those early 2025 drafts! Walk with us to send the '24 campaign into the history books and hand out some hardware.
Most Valuable Player: Saquon Barkley
Also known as The Wayne Gretzky Award
Barkley narrowly edges out Ja'Marr Chase for top honors in his first year free of the Giants’ ineptitude. The rusher totaled 2,005 rushing yards with 13 rush TDs after much fussing over Jalen Hurts’ vulturing the tuddies thanks to the “Tush Push.”
Barkley will enter his age-28 season looking to one-up himself and perhaps get more involved in the passing game. He only had three games with fewer than 10 half-PPR points compared to four from Chase, if you needed an objective reason for the edge.
There's also that Chase was "merely" delivering on a first-round ADP while Barkley typically went a little later, creating more value. We won't get twisted up if you feel strongly that it should be Chase, that's totally valid. The two should battle it out all offseason long for 1.01 honors going into next year.
Saquon Barkley leads the league with 36.56% of his team's scrimmage yards this year, 7.92% ahead of No. 2 Bijan Robinson. That's bigger than the gap between Bijan Robinson at 2nd and Tyrone Tracy Jr. at 29th.
— Daniel Kelley (@danieltkelley) December 31, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Christian McCaffrey
Fantasy Rookie of the Year: Brian Thomas Jr.
Aka The Chasing Upside Award
There are several legitimate arguments to be made here, with amazing Year One campaigns from Brock Bowers, Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, and Bucky Irving. In this case, the tiebreak goes to the bigger playoff hero. Well, that narrows it down to BTJ and Daniels.
The second tiebreak goes to the fact that being the overall WR4 is more critical to success than the QB4. We’ll find something else for Daniels shortly. Thomas had a midseason lull as Jacksonville dealt with Trevor Lawrence’s season-ending injury, but then he topped 20 half-PPR points in all three playoff weeks with Mac Jones. That’s another level of fighting through adversity.
Last Year’s Winner: Puka Nacua
Playoffs MVP: Jayden Daniels
Aka The Late Hammer Award
BTJ’s increased output as the WR1 come playoff time was welcome, Jahmyr Gibbs was a true force with 23-26 half-PPR points in each game, and Jonathan Taylor nuked Weeks 16 and 17 if you survived the 9.6 in Week 15.
Shoutout to Sam LaPorta as the only TE with double-digit half-PPR points in all three games as well.
We’ll take this chance to give Daniels his flowers as the playoff QB1. His production had fallen off after a torrid start, with a trio of top-5 weeks in his first four games before a rib injury in Week 7 mixed with tough matchups to tamp our overall excitement.
The party was back on once he got out of the woods against Pittsburgh and Philly in Weeks 10-11. Not only did he throw for 10 touchdowns in each of Washington’s final three fantasy contests, but he supplied these rushing lines: 11-66-0, 9-81-0, and 16-127-0.
It’s important to note how he did this without positive rushing TD variance. There’s room for more here! Cheers to those of you who lifted a trophy on the back of Washington’s promising rookie.
Last Year’s Winner: CeeDee Lamb
Comeback Player of the Year: Josh Jacobs
Aka The I Get Knocked Down But I Get Up Again Award
Coming off of a career-worst 3.5 YPC in his final year with the Raiders, Jacobs entered Green Bay amidst the chatter of RB committees under Coach LeFleur and buzz around rookie MarShawn Lloyd. But Lloyd would battle injuries throughout the year and keep that door open for Jacobs to become a workhorse.
After opening the year as the half-PPR RB26, RB22, RB44, and RB25 while Green Bay waited for Jordan Love to get back on the field, Jacobs would then never finish below the weekly RB23 through their final 12 games. This includes a five-week stretch as the RB6 or better in Weeks 11-15. Blame circumstance all you like, haters, but Jacobs showed up for us.
Last Year’s Winner: Breece Hall
Early Waiver Hero: Chuba Hubbard, Chase Brown
Aka the George Washington Award
We honor one of America’s early heroes as the Continental Congress made arguably the greatest FAAB add of the 18th century in nabbing their signal-caller.
Hubbard was already drafted around ~RB40 and had a miserable 14 yards in Week 1, looking worse than Miles Sanders while most dreamed of Jonathon Brooks’ eventual return. He fared better in Week 2 (10-64-0 rushing, four catches) before exploding as the half-PPR RB9 per average points from Week 3 on.
Chase Brown was just behind him as the RB10 in that span.
Last Year’s Winner: Kyren Williams
Special “Fool’s Gold” Corollary Award: Isaiah Likely - Week 1 FAAB blow-up that faded out.
Biggest Fantasy Football Flop: Travis Etienne Jr.
Aka The Trent Richardson Award
Etienne couldn’t get going after a decent first month, which likely did enough to keep fantasy managers hanging on longer than one should. After all, Etienne had over 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons and had just seen increased usage at the goal line and in the passing game in Year 2.
But alas, Tank Bigsby came on enough as a rusher to force a timeshare after struggling mightily as a rookie last year. ETN went from 340 opportunities (rushes + targets) over 17 games to just 202 in 15 contests.
Falling from 20 opps per game to 13.5 is brutal. Some of that is injuries, but he never even hit 20 in a single game! Then there’s slipping from 12 TDs to just two. Will he be a part of their 2025 resurgence?
If ETN is the Flop Team’s RB, then C.J. Stroud can be QB with Jaylen Waddle and Deebo Samuel Sr. at wideout. Dalton Kincaid can line up at TE.
Last Year’s Winner: Tony Pollard
Sleeper No Sleeping Award: Caleb Williams
Aka The Wake Me Up, I Can't Wake Up Award (Song lyric always made me laugh)
We heard much about how Williams, the top pick of the 2024 draft, was going to become the first Chicago Bear QB to pass for 4,000 yards. But that was before horrid coaching, poor decision-making, and a subpar line led to a league-leading 68 sacks.
Even with the line, though, Williams’ 2.66-second time to pressure mark was the fifth longest out of regular starters, per Fantasy Points Data Suite. He also had 11 more throwaways than anyone else, as he avoided danger well and only threw six interceptions.
But only 20 TDs (zero rushing) won’t pay the bills, and anyone clinging to hope after his four-touchdown performance in Week 6 got crushed with a four-game stretch with zero TDs. None! There is reason to believe, but whoever coaches Chicago in 2025 must be able to help him get there.
Last Year’s Winners: Jahan Dotson, Dameon Pierce, Skyy Moore
Midseason Savior: Bucky Irving, Jonnu Smith
Aka The “Damn Son, Where’d You Find This?” Award
Irving was the RB38 through five games, popping on film but still stuck behind Rachaad White as the “two” in Tampa’s one-two RB punch. But then Week 6’s 51-point blowout yielded Irving’s first 100-yard game, and while it would take another few weeks for the true takeover, many hit the wire. Irving would be the overall RB9 between Weeks 6-17 as savvy managers scooped a true top-10 rusher.
Then there’s Smith, who was my most-drafted player in 2024, only to supply just nine scoreless catches in four games. Then we saw some smoke with a 7-96-1 line in Week 7, but three duds would follow until we consistently hit it big. Smith would score seven TDs in Miami’s final eight games of the year en route to being the top-scoring TE following Miami’s Week 6 bye.
Arthur Smith was cooking when he was feeding Jonnu Smith over Kyle Pitts last year
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) December 22, 2024
Last Year’s Winner: Trey McBride
Most Consistent: Jahmyr Gibbs
Aka The Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming Award
This award stays in the Motor City with Gibbs, whose worst half-PPR output was 9.4 in Week 13, but he otherwise hit double digits every week. It took a David Montgomery injury to fully unlock his top form to get us over the finish line with 16 or more in six of his last seven games. This includes at least 23 points in every postseason-week game.
Last Year’s Winner: Amon-Ra St. Brown
Most Inconsistent: Jayden Reed
Aka The Biggest Headache Award aka the Hallelujah, Holy S&%# Where’s the Tylenol Award
Reed came out firing with over 30 half-PPR points in Week 1 before another boom in Week 4. He was solid in between, but the rushing output stopped after Week 5. He had 38 total yards between Weeks 6-7 but then came alive with 113 yards in Week 9.
Then we got four straight games with under 50 total yards, buoyed by three TDs. We held on but got zero TDs in the fantasy playoffs. You could really insert any GB WR here. Take the Tylenol and shake it off, y’all.
Last Year’s Winner: Davante Adams, Gabe Davis
Tinder Ghost of the Year: Cooper Kupp
Aka The Pls Respond Award
We started off hot with an insane 14-catch performance (110 yards, touchdown) on 21 targets in Week 1 before Kupp suffered an ankle injury in Week 2. Things looked promising, and we were content to delay getting serious as Kupp got right on the injured reserve.
Kupp returned from injury in Week 8 and put up between 11.5-25.6 points in five straight games before his first real dud in Week 13. But he followed that up with 17.7 in Week 14 so we were feeling good going into the playoffs.
Little did we know that he would become the premier screen blocker down the stretch, turning a paltry nine targets into four catches for 53 scoreless yards in Weeks 15-17. We’d been hoodwinked, bamboozled, catfished, and ultimately crushed.
Last Year’s Winner: Stefon Diggs
2024 Comeback Player of the Year Award: J.K. Dobbins, Jerry Jeudy
Aka The Jon Snow Award
Dobbins ran strong to open 2024 after suffering a torn ACL in Week 1 of the 2023 season. This was a runner who had already endured a torn ACL and LCL in 2021 as well, so pessimism was warranted.
But he blew up with over 130 rushing yards and a score in their first two games and had eight TDs through 10 games before enduring a knee sprain in Week 12. He finished as the RB17 on a per-game basis and RB23 in totality in half-PPR after holding an RB41 ADP.
If you look beyond injuries and accept “rebounding from being terrible,” then Jeudy fits the bill. He was the WR12 on the year in half-PPR settings thanks largely to staying healthy and enjoying several Jameis Winston starts. He becomes the WR26 on a per-game basis but this is still leaps better than the WR58 status from last year.
Last Year’s Winner: Anthony Richardson
The Fred the Fish Award: Kenneth Walker III
Aka The My Leg Award
Walker battled a sports hernia and an ankle sprain during his breakout rookie campaign of 2022 and then lost time and effectiveness to an oblique strain in Week 11 of ‘23. Unfortunately, KW3 injured his oblique/abdomen in the fourth quarter of Week 1 this year after gaining 103 yards.
This would be his only 100-yard rush game of the year. And then he battled through poor usage and scheme (OC Ryan Grubb has been fired) only to hurt his calf and ankle coming out of Week 13.
He briefly returned in Week 16 but would suffer another ankle injury that ended his season. We deserve a fully healthy season from the elusive Walker, ideally with a good line and play-caller, when next year comes. But will drafters avoid him, given this history?
Last Year’s Winner: Christian Watson
The Whitest Sneakers Award: Brandon Aubrey
Aka The Kickers Matter Too Award
This Pam Beesly-inspired award goes to the best kicker of the season, who is once again Mr. Aubrey. The B.A. Boot performed well given the circumstances one year after making the most field goals (36), including a perfect 10-of-10 from 50-plus yards as a rookie. He scored double-digit points in standard kicker scoring across all of Dallas’ first six games.
Then the wheels fell apart in JerryWorld but that didn’t stop Aubrey from helping us with 38 total points in the fantasy playoffs. While Chris Boswell technically edged him on total points, he only put up half of Aubrey’s playoff tally, and we’re comfortable with Aubrey as next year’s No. 1 kicker.
Brandon Aubrey now has 37 field goals in 2024, the most in a season in Cowboys history, passing the previous mark of 36 made field goals that he had in 2023.
— Dallas Cowboys Public Relations (@DallasCowboysPR) January 5, 2025
Last Year’s Winner: Brandon Aubrey. The man has really clean shoes.
Staff Shoutouts
- The Goal-Line King (aka Mike Tolbert Vulture Award): Jalen Hurts
- The Antonio Brown Crashout Award: Tyreek Hill
- Player Most Likely To Make You Quit Fantasy Football: Kyle Pitts
- The Secretariat Triple Crown Award: Ja’Marr Chase
- Finally Getting His Due: Baker Mayfield
- Became Good Right After I Dropped Him Award: Mark Andrews
- Best Fantasy Playoff Defense: Atlanta Falcons
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