Fantasy Mid-Season Awards

Well the season is half over, so I figured it is time for a Mid-season Fantasy Football Awards list. This season has been very interesting to say the least, with a plethora of big name injuries, while only nine teams are currently more than 1 game below .500. For these awards I will be ignoring injuries, so players like David Johnson, OBJ, and Dalvin Cook won’t be listed under the “bust” award. Hopefully they will only find themselves on the Comeback Player of the Year award next year because the league is definitely more fun with those guys around. There are also some players who deserve more than one award, but I am limiting each player to only one award. Let’s get rolling.

Fantasy MVP

• DeShaun Watson — DeShaun Watson is currently 3rd overall fantasy scorer and is only two points behind 1st. Remember when the Texans thought Savage was their starter? LOL. If it hadn’t taken Bill O’Brien one half of football to realize what he had in Watson, he would definitely be the number one scorer in Fantasy right now. Keep killing it rookie.

• Alex Smith — As everyone expected, the 24th ranked fantasy QB coming into the season is currently leading the league in scoring. With Tyreek Hill’s speed, Kelce having a career year, and the emergence of Kareem Hunt, Smith has the weapons to attack all three levels of the defense and the Chiefs’ 3rd ranked offense has been taking full advantage of that.

Biggest Bust

• Amari Cooper — Amari Cooper remembered how to catch the ball for one game, putting up 210 yards and two touchdowns, which is the only reason he is the 20th ranked fantasy WR right now. If you take that game out, Cooper is averaging less than 7 points per game, good for 68th amongst WRs. Moving forward I see him producing below top 50 WR value, so trade him while you can. He came into the season as the 9th ranked receiver and has been nothing but a disappointment this season.
• Jay Ajayi — Ajayi was the 7th ranked RB coming into the season. He is currently behind Dalvin Cook in fantasy scoring. Dalvin Cook hasn’t played for the last four and a half games, in case you were unaware. Maybe a change of scenery will help Ajayi climb out of the hole he has dug himself, but with LeGarrette Blount still listed as the starting RB, I don’t have too much faith in Ajayi moving forward.

Biggest Draft Steal

• Kareem Hunt — If you drafted before Spencer Ware’s injury then holy crap Kareem Hunt is the steal of the century. If you drafted after the injury, Hunt climbed into the 3rd or 4th round, but is still an amazing steal. He currently has 1070 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns. I’m rooting for him to break the 2000 yard mark, and at this point I don’t see him slowing down, so he will be fun to follow throughout the season and into the postseason.
• Adam Thielen -Thielen came into the season as the 45th ranked WR and is currently 2nd in the league in yards, 4th in the league in receptions, and the 6th ranked fantasy WR. Thielen is also the only WR this season with at least five receptions in every single game. Not too bad considering he is playing with a 3rd string QB throwing him the ball. At this point, he is 100% a must play the rest of the season regardless who is under center.

Comeback Player of the Year

• Todd Gurley — Gurley’s rookie year in 2015 was incredible. His 2nd year slump was so much worse than anyone expected. This year he not only returned to his rookie self, he is exceeding what he did then and is currently 5th in fantasy scoring. He is a major reason the Ram’s offense is currently the 2nd highest scoring offense, and a major reason that the Rams will be making the playoffs for the first time since moving to LA.

• AJ Green — Green missed the last six games of 2016 with a hamstring injury and ended his record five seasons of 1000+ yards to start a career. 46 yards short… Needless to say, he is well on pace to break 1,000 this year, and since the Bengals made a change at offensive coordinator after week two, Green is averaging 18.62 PPG. This Bengals team isn’t great, and it might be close to the end of the Andy Dalton/Marvin Louis era in Cincy, but Green should be around for a while. He is currently the 5th ranked WR, right where he was projected, but after last season’s injury it is still awesome seeing him back and healthy.

Waiver Wire Pickup of the Year

• Will Fuller — Since returning from injury, Fuller has 11 receptions for seven touchdowns, with an average of 20.95 fantasy points per game. Antonio Brown is only averaging 19.8 PPG. Granted, this level of production and this insane reception:TD ratio won’t hold up, but for the the Texans last 4 games, Fuller has definitely carried many fantasy teams to wins.
• Jerick McKinnon — Since Cook’s injury, McKinnon has averaged 106 yards from scrimmage and 21.6 fantasy points per game. After Cook went down, people were unsure if McKinnon or Murray would be seeing a majority of the work from the backfield. Four games later, it is obvious that McKinnon is their guy, so if you managed to scoop him off waivers you’re feeling pretty good.

Kicker of the Year

• Harrison Butker — Okay, this one is just fun because Buttkicker went to Tech but oh my God he has been unconscious this year. Butker has only played five games but he is 18/19 on FGs and hasn’t missed an extra point yet. He is averaging 15 points per game which is beyond absurd for a kicker. The Chiefs trust Butker from anywhere on the field, and he has delivered. He is still only owned in 75% of leagues so if you have the chance to pick him up, he has the potential to play a major part in helping you win games the second half of this season. Go Jackets.

As I said, this has been a weird year, and there are definitely some players who deserve multiple awards (Alex Smith, Deshaun Watson) but for now, these are the players worthy of some mid-year hardware. I am going to revisit these awards once the fantasy season wraps up so it will be interesting if these players can continue their dominance, or lack thereof, for the final six or seven weeks of fantasy football.

Herm out.