2019 will go down as an interesting outlier of a fantasy football season when you look back at the course of events. All of the traditional power houses, high scoring teams that are usually in the pantheon of champions were bested by a 6-7 division winner who went on possibly the greatest postseason run in BFFL history: this is the story of the 2019 BFFL Champion Bruce Almighty’s.
The Evolution of the Roster
The team that Bryce assembled on draft day is massively different from the team that won the championship. Bryce was not afraid of developing some overvalued attachment to any player and was constantly in trade discussions to improve the roster. Not every trade or free agency pickup was a net positive, but the flexibility in recognizing that what’s there isn’t working and changing it up is a mental hurdle that a lot of General Managers, including myself, can’t seem to overcome at times. With the #6 pick in the draft, Bryce went DeAndre Hopkins (consensus #1 ranked WR at the time) after five straight running back picks. Pretty smart when you consider the low risk of stud receivers in the first round compared to the volatility of first round running backs. Following up the Hopkins picks, Bryce went with Devonta Freeman, Julian Edelman and Tyler Boyd. Not a bad group of receivers, I probably would have went elsewhere at the running back position. Edelman remained one of the safest WR2 options and Tyler Boyd was a great upside third option with high WR2 potential (finished with 1000 yards and 5 touchdowns despite having some really terrible weeks). Based on the draft alone, I did not predict Bryce would win the division or have a playoff caliber team, just a nice middle of the pack season, but the draft is not where championships are won, it’s just a solid foundation for the GM to build on. Sometimes it helps to think of the draft as a place to build a war chest of assets that you know will be dealt throughout the seasons, traded and improved upon through each iteration of free agency and trades until you can get as close to a Superbowl team as possible. This is what I underestimated and this is where Bryce thrived as a GM and champion. These players were converted into Nick Chubb, Carlos Hyde, Stefon Diggs, Michael Gallup and a championship.
The Strangest Division Race in 2019
One of the biggest lessons reconfirmed of this past season was it doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you end up in the final tournament of six teams and a chance to play in the Superbowl. For the FFC South, they were a laughing stock division with no team over .500 at the end of the season and consistently everyone was in contention for winning the division until the final two weeks of the regular season. As I heard from Chet, it came down to an Aaron Rodgers fumble that prevented Da Moon from winning the division and allowed Bruce to win the division by default. What’s even stranger is if you look at the total points scored in the entire league, Bruce as at 14th place as in only two teams scored less points across the entire season. This shows the importance of schedule, winning your division games and holding the key tiebreakers to get into the playoffs.
Incredible Post-Season Run
Bryce defeated the #5 SLAM BALL (Still hurts Bryce), followed that up with defending champion and #1 seed Mahomies Deezflated Nuts and then capped it all off with a Superbowl victory against another giant in the #3 seed Korriban Warriors. The combined records of these teams was 27-12 (over 69% win percentage). In this incredible playoff run, Bruce scored 73.9 in a wildcard win, an astounding 115.3 in the semi-final round and a great 97.8 points in the Superbowl. Would you believe me if I told you the season was won with a little Fitzmagic? Ryan Fitzpatrick was the Superbowl MVP with a 36.5 fantasy point performance in the final game leading all scorers and winning finals MVP honors.
In conclusion I just want to congratulate Bryce on a great season and capturing his first championship ring. There may be no formula for success or anything concrete I can point to show you how it’s done but hopefully this provided a brief chronicle of the 2019 season and Bryce’s journey to the championship. We will look to follow this up with the traditional interview with the champion shortly after the 2020 BFFL draft. Stay safe in quarantine and I hope to see you all again soon.
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