Well, folks, your buddy Mitch is back after a couple of weeks with some bad news. We lost our two title games, and frankly, it was not close. We had two byes headed into the semis, won both handily, and had high hopes for the finals even though we were clear underdogs to start the week. Unfortunately, in one league, we just could not overcome the Thursday Night Football game that saw Zeke, CeeDee, and Schultz get our opponent to a big lead.
We never led in the matchup but had a chance until the Vikings decided to no-show. The second game was relatively close at the coin flip, and that is where the story ends. We had three double-digit players, while our opponent dropped three players over 20 and one over 30 points against us. To say we took a beating would be an understatement. Good thing we split the pot prior to kick-off!
Alas, Mitch is back to provide some thoughts on the 2022 season and @BobbyLamarco, and I will be chatting about running back busts on the Tuesday night Razzball YouTube channel. I will follow today’s article up with some of the other positions throughout the month of January. As always, if you have questions or comments, feel free to drop those at the bottom of this thread.
As much as I still do not believe it, I think the managers who subscribed to Zero RB probably won your league. If you are one of those managers and went WR/TE/QB heavy early and landed RBs like Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, Jamaal Williams, Kenneth Walker III, and/or Rhamondre Stevenson in the middle/dead rounds, then you probably high-stepped into the playoffs.
Moving from 2022 to 2023, I will stay away from Zero RB, but I will at least look a little deeper into how that strategy worked and how best to employ some of the analysis to help form my future rosters.
Coming in at the top of my RB busts list is the tandem closest to my heart as a diehard Packers fan. I was so high on the double-headed RB monster of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon heading into the season, and it just did not work out. Jones was off the board in the early second round in most drafts I participated in, and Dillon went around the dead zone when I was targeting QB. If you rostered Jones, you feel as if this is the quietest, strangest 1,100-yard rushing season ever.
The days of 1,000 yards being the bar set for elite RB status are no longer. In today’s fantasy football landscape, we need 1,000+ yards, 70+ catches, and double-digit TDs to truly be elite. Our guy Jones missed two of those marks, and it was not close. Logging a respectable 1,121 yards, 59 catches, and seven total TDs makes his ADP a bust in my book. Consider where you could have landed a guy like Tony Pollard and his 1,007 yards, 39 catches, and 12 total TDs and Jones is seen as a bust.
Add to the frustration in Green Bay is AJ Dillon, who had a solid 770 rushing yards but at only a 4.1 YPC clip, and you have the makings of a double bust. Dillon’s receptions were lower than I expected, and his TDs were nice but came during a stretch of games while the offense was humming. We need sustained success from our RBs, and neither of the Packers truly brought that in 2022.
If you need a little more information, consider that both Jones and Dillon played in all 17 games this season. A full game more than most seasons, and they still only mustered middling stats from a fantasy perspective. Combined, the pair netted just over 110 rushing YPG and less than 1 TD per game. You expect those stats, or close to them, from Jones alone. Overall, this 2022 season is a bust for the Green Bay backfield.
Quite possibly the biggest RB bust of 2022 is the one I considered to be the top pick heading into draft season. Jonathan Taylor was clearly the favorite RB in this year’s draft class. Those landing the first overall pick may have considered Christian McCaffrey for about half a second prior to selecting Taylor 1.01.
