Fantasy football 2025 -- final season standings

It has been a long journey, but we’ve finally arrived at our season's destination: the crowning of the 24th annual Awesome Cup champion. But you can’t have a king or queen without all the peasants below them, so let’s look at how our 11 runners-up fared before we present the trophy:

The B Sharps (Paul)

Yahoo pre-season ranking:1856.86 pts, 7th place
My pre-season ranking: 1736.92 pts, 11th place
Final ranking: 1519.52 pts, 12th place
NFL equivalent: Las Vegas Raiders

It’s no mystery what the problem was for Paul’s team or the Raiders: Not enough good players. For the actual NFL team, that’s because of poor drafting strategy and mediocre free agency moves. For Paul, it was simply about forgetting to start a QB for the last half of the season (-0.30 total QB points from week 9 to week 18). The Raiders addressed their poor play on Monday by firing coach Pete Carroll. Should Paul consider firing himself? It might not be the worst idea…

All Rogers No Sauce (Joel)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1861.38 pts, 6th place
My pre-season ranking: 1657.07 pts, 12th place
Final ranking: 1653.62 pts, 11th place
NFL equivalent: Tennessee Titans

A disappointing finish for both squads, but both showed signs of hope at the end. After starting the season 1-11, the Titans won two of their final five. Joel’s squad? 100+ fantasy points in five of the last six weeks. Sure, he had to weather injuries to QB Kyler Murray and TE Brock Bowers (and RB Aaron Jones every other week). But this squad showed heart, just like the Titans. And … oh, my mistake, the Titans didn’t show heart, just a pulse. Still, that’s better than the lifeless corpse of a team they trotted out in 2024.

DeVonta’s Inferno (Mom D)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1836.60 pts, 8th place
My pre-season ranking: 1844.34 pts, 9th place
Final ranking: 1687.58 pts, 10th place
NFL equivalent: Cincinnati Bengals

I’m looking over both of these rosters and wondering how things went so long. A real-life team that has QB Joe Burrow, WR Ja’Marr Chase and WR Tee Higgins but couldn’t score points? A fantasy team with WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and QB Drake Maye that finished in the bottom three in scoring? Granted, Mom D’s team had zero reliable running backs, and TE Kyle Pitts was good for exactly three weeks this season (enough to make him a top three fantasy TE!) but this still feels like a letdown. As they say in Cincinnati, there’s always next year … to watch the Buckeyes if you want to see professional Ohio football games.

The Fightin Pickles (Sam)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1979.82 pts, 1st place
My pre-season ranking: 2139.82 pts, 4th place
Final ranking: 1724.01 pts, 9th place
NFL equivalent: Kansas City Chiefs

Don’t look now, but I am four-for-four in doing a better job predicting the final standings than Yahoo’s AI algorithms. Sadly, we both overestimated Sam’s team, just like everyone overestimated the Kansas City empire lasting another year. Sam could have changed his team name to Avenue Q with all the questionables on his roster this season: Alvin Kamara, Breece Hall, Bucky Irving and Rhamondre Stevenson all missed games, and that was just his RB corps. WR Brian Thomas Jr. also forgot to show up for long stretches of the season. At least for Sam, he has a chance to redeem his performance next year. Sadly for the Chiefs, this one missed playoff chance means their dynasty is over forever, with no chance of QB Patrick Mahomes ever playing well again. At least that’s what the sports columnists seem to be saying…

Blue Collar Killers (Jeff)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1889.05 pts, 5th place
My pre-season ranking: 1751.13 pts, 10th place
Final ranking: 1742.46 pts, 8th place
NFL equivalent: Atlanta Falcons

Both Jeff’s team and the Falcons were left for dead halfway through the season, but they both quietly climbed up the standings towards respectability. If the Falcons had won just one more game (maybe against the Dolphins? Or the Jets???) they would have snuck into the playoffs. If Jeff had found one reliable wideout to pair with QB Dak Prescott, RB Jahmyr Gibbs or TE Trey McBride, maybe he could have made a run too. Still, this feels like something to build on. Maybe both teams will get their players to show up every week next year. And maybe, just maybe, they can start taking the easy early wins instead of waiting for the second half of the season to succeed.

Schwarbombs (Jo)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1790.42 pts, 12th place
My pre-season ranking: 2095.47 pts, 5th place
Final ranking: 1877.48 pts, 7th place
NFL equivalent: Indianapolis Colts

I’m six-for-six against the computer, folks. Even for me, this is a great fortune telling performance. Sadly, it’s not as great for Joanna. Schwarbombs had a consistent problem getting the home-run scorers, with uneven QB play from Bo Nix, Daniel Jones and Brock Purdy all year. Jo’s second favorite player ever, RB Kenneth Gainwell, kept her team afloat for long stretches. And she did snag the top WR on the season, Ohio State alum Jaxon Smith-Njigba. But what she really needed to succeed was leadership from her favorite player ever, QB Nick Foles. But St. Nick skipped her locker room this year, so it’s coal all around.

Vert der Ferks (Anthony)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1958.50 pts, 2nd place
My pre-season ranking: 2001.77 pts, 7th place
Final ranking: 1920.77 pts, 6th place
NFL equivalent: Carolina Panthers

Anthony had a top three QB (Josh Allen), two top tier WRs (Puka Nacua and Justin Jefferson), a top five TE (Jake “Turd” Fergeson) and a top three kicker (Brandon Aubrey). What is this team doing down here? Sure, his RB corps was the remains of Jaylen Warren and something called Woody Marks (please note, I have not checked to see if this is a real human). But surely this team had to at least be sniffing the top of the standings, right? No? They just barely made the top six? Better than the Panthers, who are heading to the playoffs despite a losing record. That’s just gross.

Goederts and Monsterts (Bob)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1894.72 pts, 4th place
My pre-season ranking: 2317.00 pts, 1st place
Final ranking: 2074.93 pts, 5th place
NFL equivalent: Buffalo Bills

My first predictions miss — I’ll have to settle for a 7-1 lead against the artificial intelligence for now. This wasn’t a failure by Bob, but it was a bit of a setback. Like the Bills, he was the pick to dominate the league. And like the Bills, he had a good year, just not as good as some had hoped for. RB Christian McCaffery was the Bob Squad MVP (start rooting against him now, professor) while QB Jared Goff and TE Travis Kelce produced solid if not spectacular numbers. WR AJ Brown? Maybe too much drama for this team to reach its full potential. A top five finish is nothing to be ashamed of, but one has to ask why this team can’t live up to its preseason hype year after year.

Saquontum Leap (Capt. Awesome)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1821.49 pts, 9th place
My pre-season ranking: 2233.44 pts, 3rd place
Final ranking: 2079.62 pts, 4th place
NFL equivalent: 2024 Philadelphia Phillies

Ninth place. Ninth! That’s what Yahoo predicted for this team. Two fantasy stud RBs in Bijan Robinson and Kyren Williams. Two rookie stars in TE Tyler Warren and WR Emeka Egbuka. And they predicted ninth? Granted, QB Lamar Jackson was a mess this season. If I had just grabbed a top 12 QB instead of relying on the one-time Baltimore great, I would have finished with about 100 more points, putting me on the doorstep of another title. But like Kevin Patullo foolishly calling a run up the middle on every first down, I stuck with Jackson for too long and slipped off the medal podium. Fourth place is impressive, but my team has bigger expectations than that each year, so they’ll be staying in the doghouse until next September.

City Hands (Mike)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1806.47 pts, 10th place
My pre-season ranking: 1999.96 pts, 8th place
Final ranking: 2172.68 pts, 3rd place
NFL equivalent: Denver Broncos

Mike missed out on a second-place finish by less than 1.5 pts, but it would have been more if not for WR Zay Flowers’ 118 receiving yds and two TDs in the fourth quarter of the last game of the season. As it was, his squad turned in a solid performance despite all the pre-season questions, most of which turned out to be accurate! QB Jayden Daniels was a bust. The Detroit defense was a mess. WR Garrett Wilson missed most of the season. And yet, through solid coaching, Mike managed to rise up the standings with a RB corps of Travis Etienne, Zach Charbonnet and the remains of Josh Jacobs. He turned QB Caleb Williams into a viable starter. He weathered the death of TE George Kittle (not dead, but also MIA for most of the season). This was a management masterpiece. Quint would be proud.

Still The Best (Jonathan)

Yahoo pre-season ranking:1801.46 pts, 11th place
My pre-season ranking: 2095.45 pts, 6th place
Final ranking: 2173.86 pts, 2nd place
NFL equivalent: New England Patriots

For those of you keeping score at home, I’ve beaten the Yahoo predictions 10 times out of 11 so far, with one team left. And I nailed that too. That’s 11-1 against the computer’s prediction skills this season. Clearly my scientific rigor and dedicated research team is far superior to theirs.

The good news here is that the boy did not win his third Awesome Cup title in a row, which would have made him insufferable. The bad news is he almost did. Despite inconsistent play from QB Jalen Hurts, nothing from rookie RB Ashton Jeanty, and constant questions at TE, Jonathan again put together a better fantasy roster than most of us. His namesake, RB Jonathan Taylor, helped a lot, as did a WR group with Tetairoa McMillan, Stefon Diggs and Terry McLaurin. And he lucked out with the Texans defense. But just like the Patriots, the dynasty had to end sometime. Thankfully we didn’t have a deflategate to worry about here.

That just leaves one team, full of champions:

One Plus One is Three SBs (Pop)

Yahoo pre-season ranking: 1939.36 pts, 3rd place
My pre-season ranking: 2244.32 pts, 2nd place
Final ranking: 2223.14 pts, 1st place
NFL equivalent: 2024 Philadelphia Eagles

I lauded Dad at the start of the year for finally abandoning his pursuit of QBs early in the draft and instead loading up on RBs. How did that work out? He fielded two top-five backs this year (Derrick Henry and De’Von Achane) and got the #1 overall fantasy QB off the waiter wire in week two. That’s not just good coaching, that’s championship general manager work. TE Dallas Goedert also helped his mid-season surge to the top. WR Rashee Rice was solid before both his legs fell off, and the rest of his cast of misfit toys — RB Rico Dowdle, WR DJ Moore — came through when it counted.

Dad was the first coach to win back-to-back titles in league history. Now, a decade later, he’s only the third person to have his name engraved on the Awesome Cup three times.

Congrats to Pop — we'll all be coming to for the trophy again next season. Thanks everyone for following along all season. Only 248 days until the 2026 fantasy season begins, so start doing your research now. 

Fantasy football 2025 -- week 18 recap

Reasons why earning the #2 seed in the NFC would have been the wrong move for the Eagles:

** The #2 seed is scheduled for a second-round home playoff game, if the team wins. This all comes right after the holiday season, when everyone has just hosted family and friends for multiple parties. Adding two more home get-togethers is exhausting. Better to go on the road in week two.

** The NFC’s #2 seed was already scheduled to play the Packers, a team with green, white and yellow uniforms. That could be confusing for the green and white clad Eagles. An easier opponent for Philly is the 49ers, a team with a better record and explosive offense but also mostly red outfits.

** Philly is cold in January. Does the team really want to play multiple games in the northeast’s elements? It’s a safer plan to go on the road in the playoffs to someplace that might have nicer weather, like Chicago.

** Getting the #2 seed would have meant outscoring the Commanders, and putting up more than 24 points in a game is not what these Eagles believe in.

** The Eagles were the #2 seed last year, and they won the Super Bowl. Getting it again this year might set unrealistic expectations of postseason success.

Top QBs of the year
3rd place: Drake Maye, 413.39 pts — 15th QB drafted (Mom D)
2nd place: Josh Allen, 414.62 pts — 2nd QB drafted (Ant)
1st place: Matthew Stafford, 442.88 pts — undrafted

No one took a QB in the first two rounds this year, which is good news, because nearly all of the early QBs disappointed. Allen was the only QB drafted in the top five to finish in the top five, and the best passer by far was still available the day after the draft. Stafford threw for the most yards, had 12 more TD passes than anyone else (46 total), and was not among the 24 QBs picked by our respective teams (Pop grabbed him mid-September). Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson, the first QB off the board (picked by me) finished as the 20th scorer in the category, thanks to a mess of injuries and a series of awful appearances.

Top WRs of the year
3rd place: Amon-Ra St. Brown, 220.80 pts — 5th WR drafted (Mom D)
2nd place: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 242.13 pts — 14th WR drafted (Jo)
1st place: Puka Nacua, 253.33 pts — 9th WR drafted (Ant)

Puka caught 129 passes from Stafford this year, so it should be no surprise that he takes home the top fantasy wideout title for Rams too. There was a huge gap between the top five and the rest of this crop, with Chris Olave (33rd WR off the board) finishing at six but 74 pts behind first place. Only those top three and Ja’Marr Chase (4th WR in fantasy scoring) were really reliable enough all year to carry teams.

Top RBs of the year
3rd place: Jahmyr Gibbs, 307.87 pts — 3rd RB drafted (Jeff)
2nd place: Jonathan Taylor, 327.20 pts — 7th RB drafted (Jonathan)
1st place: Christian McCaffrey, 336.30 pts — 5th RB drafted (Bob)

This was our best drafting category of the year, but that happens when you take 13 running backs in the first 24 picks. Still, all of these guys went early and delivered on their promise. Bijan Robinson, James Cook, De'Von Achane, Derrick Henry and Kyren Williams rounded out the top eight, and were all gone before the start of the third round. The only big disappointment? Saquon Barkley, the #1 overall pick, finished as the #14 scorer. Not a bust, but nowhere near as fun as 2024.

Top TEs of the year
3rd place: Dallas Goedert, 136.40 pts — 12th TE drafted (Pop)
2nd place: Kyle Pitts, 136.87 pts — 20th TE drafted (Mom D)
1st place: Trey McBride, 211.60 pts — 2nd TE drafted (Jeff)

Hey, an Eagle who had a good offensive year! Goedert didn’t play week 18 and still finished in the top three, thanks to 11 receiving TDs on the season. That’s tied for second among all players — not just tight ends, but wideouts too. McBride just missed out on the season receptions title to Puka, 129 to 126. And Kyle Pitts scored in the single-digit fantasy points every week except for three, when he collected 61 or his 136.87 pts. Fifth place at this position? Some dude named Travis Kelce.

Top Ks of the year
3rd place: Brandon Aubrey, 188.10 pts — 3rd K drafted (Ant)
2nd place: Ka'imi Fairbairn, 194.50 pts — 5th K drafted (Jonathan)
1st place: Jason Myers, 203.00 pts — undrafted

 
Myers scored 171 real-life points this season, breaking the previous record for a kicker set by … David Akers in 2011. But that wasn’t with the Eagles, so it’s OK. Jonathan drafted Fairbairn but ditched him after the bye week in favor of Cam Little, who now owns the longest and second-longest kicks in NFL history, so he at least got the drama he wanted out of the position. And Ant gets his third top performer on this list, which makes you wonder why his team was never near the top of the standings.

Top DEFs of the year
3rd place: Jaguars, 153.00 pts — undrafted
2nd place: Texans, 177.00 pts — 9th DEF drafted (Jonathan)
1st place: Seahawks, 187.00 pts — 12th DEF drafted (Pop)

 
Defenses are always a crapshoot when it comes to fantasy. Seattle had three defensive TDs, three return TD and three blocked kicks, so they get top billing even though they had fewer turnovers than the Texans. I’m looking at all the stats now and still don’t understand how the Jaguars are on there. They were 8th in points allowed and 27th in sacks. They were second in interceptions, but this ranking still feels weird.

Top Ds of the year
3rd place: Marcus Jones, 66.26 pts — 6th D drafted (Pop)
2nd place: Jack Campbell, 66.50 pts — undrafted
1st place: Myles Garrett, 74.00 pts — undrafted

OHMIGAWD! WE DRAFTED A TOP DEFENSIVE PLAYER!

Sure, it wasn’t the top defensive player, and if Yahoo’s draft rankings made any bit of sense some team would have picked up Myles Garrett. But none of that matters. Congrats to Pop for snagging a defensive stalwart in the draft for the first time since … gosh, I really cannot find any record of us drafting one of the top three players before. Give me time, there are a lot of old blog posts to go through.

QB: Mitchell Trubisky, 36.86 pts — on the wire
WR: Zay Flowers, 23.20 pts — started by Mike
RB: Rhamondre Stevenson, 34.57 pts — on Sam’s bench
TE: Colston Loveland, 17.07 pts — started by Jonathan
K: Ka'imi Fairbairn, 26.00 pts — on the wire
DEF: Broncos, 24.00 pts — started by me
D: Tyree Wilson, 16.50 pts — on the wire

While it probably warms the hearts of Bears fans to see their old draft bust, Trubisky, leading the Bills backups to a blowout win, the real story here is about what he didn’t do on Sunday: throw an interception. That means the New Jersey Jets are the first team in NFL history to get through an entire season without picking off a single pass, an astounding achievement of incompetence. Seriously, just by luck they should have ended up with one or two.

If Fairbairn could have just kicked two more 50-yard FGs in addition to the six other three-pointers he nailed on Sunday, he could have ended as the league’s top fantasy kicker. That’s gotta hurt.

Good to see Zay Flowers having a solid performance now that my pay leagues are over and he can’t contribute anything to my fantasy football finances.

“Worst performers of the season” edition

5th place: Kyle Allen, -0.30 pts — on the wire
4th place: Gardner Minshew, -0.32 pts — on the wire
3rd place: Mecole Hardman Jr., -0.70 pts — on the wire
2nd place: Jimmy Garoppolo, -1.00 pts — on the wire
1st place: Jalen Milroe, -1.60 pts — on the wire

Milroe was the starting QB at Alabama in 2024, so he should be used to losing. He only appeared in three games this season, but did manage four yards rushing and a fumble in that short stint, earning him the lowest score of any player for the season.

But, hey, he’s just an unlucky rookie. The next three guys — Garoppolo, Hardman and Minshew — are all on the wrong side of their careers and the wrong side of zero in the points column. Former Eagles QB Minshew actually had three appearances this season where he scored negative fantasy points before he got into the Chiefs’ week 16 loss and blew out his knee. Hardman was cut by the Chiefs earlier this year, fumbled away a punt for the Bills, and is probably done for his career.

At #9 on the list: former Eagles QB Nick Mullins, at -0.09 pts. Two former Eagles QBs! But not Super Bowl winning QB Kenny Pickett, that guy finished the year with 9.72 fantasy points in four appearances, or 6.04 points behind Tanner McKee, the man who was backing him up last season.


** Following Alabama’s Rose Bowl loss on New Year’s Day, Crimson Tide Coach Kalen DeBoer said he was disappointed in the college football playoff defeat but said that “it's a fine line between being here and being at the top.”

Just to be clear, that loss by Alabama — a team that has won six national championships since 2009 — was a 38-3 shelling at the hands of Indiana, a team that has won two Big Ten titles since 1967. The 35-point “fine line” drubbing was the Crimson Tide’s worst bowl game performance ever.

But it was a close 35-point drubbing. A little fine tuning and I’m sure the team wouldn’t have lost by more than 28.

** Late in the Bengals-Browns contest, Cleveland was driving down the field for a game-winning FG attempt when Cincinnati CB Dax Hill got rolled over during a tackle. As he struggled to stand up, Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham gave this assessment.

“Hill is still down. You know how guys get in a three-point stance? He’s in a nine-point stance. That’s both legs, and his forearms, and his chest and his head. That’s not good.”

Not sure that’s the best time to be cracking jokes, Dave — especially when it’s your own defensive stud lying injured on the ground.

** During the Texas-Colts game, Indianapolis — already eliminated from postseason contention — faced a fourth and goal from the four-yard line with just 2:30 left in the game. The coaches opted to kick a FG instead of going for the touchdown, and Texans radio analyst Andre Ware immediately justified the move.

“This is the right call,” he told listeners. “It doesn’t matter what your record is. It doesn’t matter if you’re heading to the playoffs or not. This is the right call for this team.”

It was an odd defense by Ware, considering the Colts were losing by two at the time. Was there anyone listening who thought Indianapolis shouldn’t take the lead? If they were heading to the playoffs, should they have risked the three in favor or more style points? Or should they have just laid down and lost for their playoff-bound division rivals?

The Colts ended up losing by eight, so I guess the right call was to try for an 11-point play there.

The final week of the NFL season saw a host of laudable milestones that in reality meant nothing at all. Consider:

** Browns DE Myles Garrett set the single-season sack record on Sunday by recording his 23rd QB tackle of the year. It’s a remarkable, difference making feat. Just think of how much worse the 5-12 Browns would be without all of those great defensive plays. 4-13? Thank goodness Garrett can elevate that squad to greatness.

** Bears QB Caleb Williams finished with 3,942 passing yards this season, breaking the Chicago single-season record of 3,838 set in 1995. It’s a great moment for the player and a sad moment for the franchise, as it remains the only one in the NFL never to have a QB top 4,000 yards.

** Vikings WR Justin Jefferson posted his sixth 1,000 season on Sunday, making him only the third player in NFL history to accomplish that feat. It’s also historic because the other two — Randy Moss and Mike Evans — managed to reach the mark and also win a playoff game. But not Jefferson, the greatest wideout in league history not to win any games of consequence.

** The Cowboys potent offense this season boasted a 4,000+ yard passer, a 1,000+ yard rusher and two 1,000+ yard receivers. It’s the second time in team history that they’ve achieved the feat, matching 2023. But it’s the first time they’ve done it without making the playoffs, a truly impressive display of pointlessness.


Given the chance to finish their season at 8-8-1, the Cowboys opted to bench most of their starters in their season finale to keep them fresh for the offseason. As a result, they lost to the lowly Giants and finished with a losing record for the first time since 2024.

Some misguided fans will be upset with how the football year ended for the once mighty Dallas franchise (mighty, like, 30 years ago), but they should take comfort in this anagram epitaph for the season:

Dallas Cowboys team craters, drops out of the playoffs again
** God hears prayers of all. So, tactics off, bad men lost. Pout away.

The last time the Cowboys posted a losing record three years in a row was 2000-2003, as the Eagles ascended from a good team to a juggernaut with four straight NFC East titles. We can only hope those days are returning again.

** I closed out the season going 9-4 in picks against Dad, taking the title of the family’s top prognosticator for a sixth season in a row. For the season I went 182-90, a 67 percent accuracy mark, down a bit from last season. But it’s still better than all 11 of the professional football “experts” that ESPN pays, so you’re getting better returns on your money if you ignore them and stick with me. 

Now onto playoff picks against Dad, where I think I’ve been crushed for about 10 years straight.

** I had a whole bit planned on the NFC South having three 8-9 teams tied for first place but I couldn’t type it out without getting physically ill.

** I mean, at least we don’t have to hear calls for Jalen Hurts to be benched in favor of Tanner McKee anymore.


Week 18 standings

The final Awesome Cup standings will be released Tuesday.