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 2021 fantasy football season.
Hello and welcome to the official 2021 Fantasy Football Awards Show, presented by RotoBaller. These awards are voted on by RotoBaller's NFL writers, with some commentary by yours truly.
I'm your host, Nick Mariano, and while I'm no Michael Scott, I’ll try to make The Dundies proud as we look back on 2021, look forward to 2022, and have some fun along the way. No matter what, we’ll crack a joke or two honoring some of the fine football players who have had outstanding (for better or worse) performances in the 2021 season.
It remains a bittersweet affair when the fantasy football season ends, as we all come down from the high of chasing championships, mainlining Gus Hansen on Red Zone every Sunday, or placing in the top-10 of FantasyPros' accuracy competition. It's a crazy world out there, so just remember to celebrate all victories big and small. On with the show!
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Most Valuable Player
Also known as The Breakfast Club Award aka the How Come No One Told Me He’d Eat Breakfast With Matthew Stafford Award.
Kupp also wins “Most Consistent” as well. The man feasted all season long, raising the bar for modern-day WRs and earning my nonexistent vote for the NFL’s MVP as well. The Ram is likely becoming the fourth wideout to win the WR triple crown (receptions, yards, touchdowns) in the last 50 yards. You can’t blame Robert Woods’ injury vacating targets because Kupp was crushing it before that and LAR brought in Odell Beckham Jr. immediately. It remained Cooper’s show.
Jonathan Taylor crushed it and provided additional value with so many other early-round RBs succumbing to injury, but Kupp simply went ballistic. The margin between Kupp and Davante Adams was greater than Josh Allen to Tom Brady, JT to Austin Ekeler (or Derrick Henry to JT), or Mark Andrews to Travis Kelce. The only thing Coop didn’t do was go on the Manningcast and win the following week.
Just now on the Monday Night Football Post-Game...
Reporter: "How did you and Matthew [Stafford] develop such a spectacular rapport?"
Cooper Kupp: "Breakfast club helps. Breakfast club helps."This is 100% real. No longer just a meme
— Scott Barrett (@ScottBarrettDFB) December 14, 2021
Fantasy Rookie of the Year
Aka the Chasing Upside Award
Everyone’s always chastised for chasing ceilings with unproven rookies. Well, Ja'Marr Chase punctuated his ROY campaign with a championship-winning Week 17, where the man obliterated the Chiefs for 266 yards and a trio of TDs. If you were wondering who this year’s Justin Jefferson was, then Chase took that challenge literally and finished as the WR5 right behind Jefferson as the WR4. A rookie phenom nestled right up against the Year Two stud portends great things for Chase’s future.
Fantasy Playoffs MVP
Aka The Late Hammer Award
Everyone loves having that hammer in the late game of DFS slates to bring home the bacon. Well, take that philosophy and apply it to the full season you get someone to slam down on your opponents in the playoff weeks.
St. Brown was a top-eight WR in PPR formats in four of the last five weeks, scooping fantasy teams up and scoring with at least eight catches in all five games between Weeks 13-17. He did this with Jared Goff and Tim Boyle as his quarterbacks! Those who either added him or kept him stashed for the stretch were rewarded for looking past the slow start to his rookie campaign.
For anyone clamoring for Rashaad Penny to win this, the Sun God barely edged him out by one vote. Penny was electric in Weeks 14, 16, and 17, but disappeared in Week 15. Some consolation bracket destruction was surely wrought by Penny.
Comeback Player of the Year
Aka The Golden Jacket Award
Would Ja'Marr Chase have won our esteemed ROY award if it weren’t for the stellar resurgence of Joe Burrow after last year’s torn ACL? Probably not. The LSU connection was strong, but Burrow also got it done with Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd as well. He helped his case by finishing strong, responding to a wholly-unnecessary ribbing by Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, Wink Martindale, with 525 passing yards in Week 16 prior to another 446 in Week 17’s win over KC.
Joe Burrow said he didn't think the "gold jacket" comment by Wink Martindale this week was "necessary."
Was he thinking about that at the end racking up 525?
"Maybe."
The accompanying smile suggests there was no maybe about it.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) December 26, 2021
Biggest Fantasy Football Flop
Aka The Fútbol Award
Legend has it that on a quiet night in Sleepy Hollow, you can still hear cries of “But he’s QB-proof” coming from the cemetery. Drafting him was akin to the Headless Horseman coming by every Sunday and chucking a pumpkin at your head anyhow.
There was some optimism in Week 1 despite a 6-35-0 line, he did have 11 targets. Those 11 looks and six catches would never be topped again. He scored one touchdown in Week 2 and that’s it. He never logged more than 70 yards in a game. His best weekly PPR output was 10.8. For someone usually taken around the third round, this burned like little else. ARob was playing the wrong football out there, flopping like a fútbol star.
Flop, no charge
— Allen Robinson II (@AllenRobinson) March 8, 2020
Sleeper No Sleeping Award
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 actually do something during the season. Think Dante Pettis. While Shenault had his moments early on, averaging seven targets per game in Weeks 1-6 with 110 total yards in Week 4, the Urban Meyer experience destroyed all hope.
Shenault has zero touchdowns in 16 games and after topping 45 receiving yards in five of his first six games, he only did that once in his following nine games. Painful stuff. #BlameUrban
Others receiving multiple votes: Trey Sermon, Marquez Callaway, and Bryan Edwards.
Midseason Fantasy Savior
Aka the “Damn Son, Where’d You Find This?” Award
If you didn’t hear that drop in your head upon reading that then I don’t know if we can be friends. Anyway, Renfrow was an afterthought in most drafts as we propped up Darren Waller, speculated on Bryan Edwards and Henry Ruggs III, and wondered if Derek Carr could take that next step. Without a score in the first couple of weeks, Renfrow was among those early cuts for upside on the waiver wire.
All told, Renfrow was providing a safe floor with a modest ceiling early on, checking in as PPR’s WR29 between Weeks 1-7 (WR35 on a per-game basis of those with >4 games played). Then Darren Waller got injured on Thanksgiving and Renfrow blasted off with 8-134-0, 9-102-0, and 13-117-1 between Weeks 12-14. He cooled a bit in the playoffs but still scored a touchdown in Weeks 16 and 17 to bring you home.
WR Hunter Renfrow has been reliable all season for the #RaiderNation, especially on 3rd down. Here, @MattBowen41 highlights his route-running abilities, with shifty moves vs. ISO coverage to create space for QB Derek Carr in the pass game. #NFL @PGutierrezESPN | @GregCosell pic.twitter.com/vIBdnTk3fs
— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) January 8, 2022
The “I Miss You” Award
The Probable Tag
Let it be known that this writer finds it stupid that the NFL has a 50/50 “Q” tag and the 25/75 “D” tag but no more 75/25 “P” tag. That is all.
Most Inconsistent Award
Aka the Biggest Headache Award aka the Hallelujah Holy S&%# Where’s the Tylenol Award
In my opinion, this guy was a frontrunner for the award after this but we’ll respect the voters. Metcalf came out of the gates hot with a stellar first half, catching eight TDs in eight games with no fewer than 10 PPR points in any of them. Between that and his track record, Metcalf was a must-start each week. And then Russell Wilson got injured, but we held fast in deploying DK through the Geno Smith era.
Metcalf would only cross the 10-point PPR threshold once in the following five games, and that was only 11 points, with zero touchdowns to show for it. Russ came back but looked like a shadow of himself thanks to the finger injury’s effects and we suffered for it. Confidence was shattered going into the playoffs and his 6-52-0 line in Week 15, plus the 2-41-1 line in Week 16, didn’t really pull folks back in. Then he goes nuclear for three touchdowns in the championship Week 17, surely leaving someone in a shallower format screaming with DK on the bench. Absorbing those low scores in the second half made for serious headaches.
Tinder Ghost of the Year
Aka the Pls Respond Award
This award is to honor those in the fray of online dating who are overcome with joy and excitement upon receiving a new match. You get a couple of messages deep and things appear promising and for a brief moment, you can see a bright future. The GIFs are perfect, the jokes are landing, they’ve eclipsed 80 yards in four of their first five games with six TDs in that window.
And then they’re gone. Poof. Like it meant nothing at all, you’ve been ghosted.
Anyway, that’s essentially what Mike Williams did to us all here. After a wild 31-471-6 line in five games, we only got two catches in each of his three following games. He would only score twice in the next 10 games. We were left out in the cold. Other multiple vote-getters were DJ Moore and Cordarrelle Patterson.
2022 Comeback Player(s) of the Year Award
Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley & Jerry Jeudy
Aka the Jon Snow Award
Sometimes our favorite characters/players are dead for a season, but we can just whip up some magic and they’ll be back next season. Right? And then we proceed to royally muck up a beloved television show beyond comprehension to the point where a global pandemic where people are stuck inside with nothing but streaming still renders the show unwatchable. Uh, yeah.
Both McCaffrey and Barkley have performed at levels in the past that justified them as a potential top overall pick in fantasy football drafts, so buying into them for next year’s comeback award automatically has merit. Jerry Jeudy had a ton of hype coming into 2021 but a combination of injuries and Teddy Bridgewater/Drew Lock unable to push the ball stonewalled this campaign.
As the writer, I’ll break the tie. CMC played in all 16 games in his first three seasons but has only tallied 10 contests in the last two years. However, his per-game averages are still wild and he’s my pick.
The “Get This Man Away From My Players” Award
Joe Judge
Get this man away from my players. That’s it. Frank also shouts out another coach for 2022:
I'll make your 2022 draft prep easier for you:
Avoid every player that plays for Matt Rhule and Joe Judge.
— Frank Ammirante (@FAmmiranteTFJ) January 8, 2022
The Fred the Fish Award
Aka the Copy and Paste This Entire Section Each Year Award
I genuinely feel for the guy and recognize that Fuller entertains us with flashes of greatness, only to have them rudely interrupted with an injury, much like Spongebob’s Fred the Fish character. Fuller only played in two games this year, failing to make a splash in either, and has now only played in 31 games across the past four years. I don’t mean to make light of a dedicated athlete trying to perform at the highest level, but injury-prone naysayers have to hate this.
The Whitest Sneakers Award
Aka the Kickers Matter Too Award
This Pam Beesly-inspired award goes to the best kicker of the season, Mr. Folk. I know the Ban Kickers movement is strong, but for those who don’t mind some additional luck thrown into the mix, Folk led the kicking charge. Though I must point out that he only kicked two field goals in Weeks 15-17, so special shoutout to Cincinnati’s Evan McPherson for finishing 2021 with double-digits in six of the last seven games.
- Nick Folk is first in points scored, tied first in field goals made, tied fifth in field goal %
- Gunner Olszewski is is second in yards per punt return and fourth in punt return yards
- Jake Bailey is tied eighth in yards per punt
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) January 4, 2022
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