Fantasy football 2026 -- week 3 recap

The bad news is that after three weeks of play, the Eagles remain the only team in the NFL not to score any points in the first quarter. The good news is that the last time the Eagles had an opening-game run like this was in 2024, when it took until week 8 for the birds to get any first quarter points. That season ended up OK.

But the early ineptitude raises an important question: Why do the Eagles hate fast starts? It comes down to a variety of strategic decisions by the coaching staff designed to maximize team success:

— They are conserving energy for the fourth quarter, when the scoring matters more.
— They don’t want to set unrealistic offense expectations for the fans.
— The air on the field is actually heaviest during the first quarter, before the players inhale and exhale it to make it easier to move through.
— The team prefers a challenge.
— All the clocks in the locker room run 15 minutes behind.
— They are really bad at game planning.

 

QB: Brock Purdy, 39.28 pts — started by Mom D
WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 26.09 pts — started by Bob
RB: Jahmyr Gibbs, 36.73 pts — started by Joel
TE: George Kittle, 20.47 pts — started by Jonathan
K: Spencer Shrader, 17.00 pts — on the wire
DEF: Jaguars, 19.00 pts — started by Mom D
D: Talanoa Hufanga, 14.50 pts — on the wire

Another week, another top performers award for JSN. I’m starting to think that last year’s top wideout might be good.

Hufanga had a sack, two interceptions, and a return for a TD in the fourth quarter alone of Denver’s comeback win against the Rams Sunday night. His only negative play in the game was when he got a five-yard penalty for excessive use of the letter “a” in his name.

By the way, Mom D also had the second-best RB on the week (Bijan Robinson, 33.67 pts) and the second-best TE (Juwan Johnson, 20.03 pts), so things went OK for her team.

“Eagles” edition

3rd place: Eagles, 0.00 pts — on the wire
2nd place: Tank Bigsby, -1.00 pts — on the wire
1st place: Andy Dalton, -2.00 pts — on the wire

It’s not every week you can get three bonafide losers from the same team, but Philadelphia buckled down and got it done on Monday night. The much vaunted defense had its third disappointing effort in three weeks, and is now worth 7.00 fantasy pts for the year. For comparison, the Vikings defense is the top fantasy play, worth 46.00 pts.

Bigsby, who was great in injury relief last week, had one catch for five yds that ended in a back-breaking fumble on a day when Saquon Barkley was actually running the ball well. But the top price of the week goes to 75-year-old Andy Dalton, who inexplicably remains on the Eagles roster despite bringing no real skills to the table. He threw just one pass in the game — that awful, awful end zone interception that looked like he was aiming for the defense.

For the season so far, Dalton has the lowest fantasy score of any individual. Hopefully he never gets in the game again to improve on that tally.


** Giants QB Jameis Winston was asked before Sunday’s game against the Titans how confident he was in stepping into a leadership role for the team after the injury to starter Jaxon Dart last week. His response was … a lot.

 
"One thing that I do is forgetting those that is behind and reaching forward to what's ahead," he said. “I'm so grateful that we get to focus on winning one play at a time. The circumstances, conditions, and facts, they don't matter. It's us, doing, being doers, not speakers.”

Ignoring that a QB needs to be aware of everyone behind them — forgetting those folks is a great way to get destroyed by a blind-side pass rush — I would agree that facts really don’t seem to matter anymore. Winston and his team won, so congrats to the doers out there.

** Before the season began, USA Today picked the Eagles as the #5 defense in the league and said they had “one of the NFL's strongest interior defensive line rotations” of any team. So, you know remember not to trust their opinions next year.

** Maryland Commies coach Dan Quinn said Monday that QB Jayden Daniels will travel with the team to London and practice this week as he comes back from a dislocated left elbow.

Remember that Daniels suffered three injuries last year, including twice dislocating his left elbow, which forced him to miss 10 games. But, hey, I’m sure this time they will bring him back only when he's ready and not rush the process.

The Miami Dolphins lost RB De’Von Achane to a season-ending knee injury this week, causing major problems for their already anemic offense. In fact, Achane may have been the only player on that side of the ball that a casual fan can name. So it’s time for another quiz: Can you tell which of these names is a wideout from Miami's professional football team, and which are names of staffers at the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys?

S. Lindley

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

M. Washington

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

C. Bell

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

S. Henriques

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

J. Tolbert

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

C. Douglas

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

J. Zimmerman

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

C. Florence

Dolphin receiverDolphin researcher

As always, the quiz doesn’t actually work. So here are the answers:

Malik Washington, Chris Bell, Jalen Tolbert and Caleb Douglas have combined for 24 catches for the nearly anonymous on-field offense. Susan Lindley, Sheila Henriques, Joanne Zimmerman and Celie Florence have been providing sanctuary for marine life since the mid-1980s. None of the eight are very good at football, although Sheila has some underrated speed. 


The Cowboys suffered a shocking, last-second loss to the Ravens on Sunday in the first-ever NFL game played in Rio de Janeiro. But, as always, the result would not have been a surprise to anyone who just looked at the facts and saw the obvious outcome spelled out there:

Dallas Cowboys travel to Rio
** Evil crawl to a loss today, bro

Did you know that the Cowboys have never won a single game in South America in the history of their franchise? The Eagles are undefeated on that continent, for what it’s worth.

** I went 0-2 against Dad this week to fall three behind him in our prognostication standings. Thanks, Giants. Time for me to start forgetting those that are behind and reaching forward to what's ahead.

** The Vikings are 3-0. The entire NFC South (Panthers, Saints, Falcons and Buccaneers) is 3-9.

** Per my Ohio sources: This was the first time the Browns, Cleveland Guardians and Ohio State Buckeyes won in the same weekend since 2001. Plus, Michigan lost. Pretty good midwest day all around.

** The Phillies … oh, the Phillies.
(Please note — I wrote the above line Monday night, just assuming the outcome would be upsetting.)

Family Cup — Week 3 standings

House Doyle: 7-2 

House Shane: 5-4 

House Quinn: 3-6 

House Garrity: 3-6

 
Another week, another brutal loss for Shelly — her team is second in scoring but 1-2 on the season after running into two 140-plus-pts performances from Team Doyle. Jonathan similarly would have beaten seven other teams this week but instead ran into Lexi’s buzzsaw, dropping him to 1-2. The only undefeated teams left are Mike and Shane, and the only winless teams are Grandmom Shane and Tommy. Team Quinn is all over the map right now.

Awesome Cup — Week 3 standings

1 — DeVonta’s Inferno (Mom D), 418.96 pts
2 — Death by Chickens (Jonathan), 382.87 pts
3 — Center City Brownout (Capt. Awesome), 359.03 pts
4 — Vert der Ferks (Ant), 354.49 pts
5 — Intravenous de Milo (Mike), 350.24 pts
6 — It's a Real Saquondary (Bob), 338.25 pts
7 — Zeus the Fluffy (Jo), 331.30 pts
8 — No Lemon Drops (Pop), 327.88 pts
9 — All Rogers No Sauce (Joel), 317.60 pts
10 — Blue Collar Killers (Jeff), 271.36 pts

Huge weeks for Mom D (166.39 pts) and Jonathan (140.18 pts) moved them up into the top two spots, while my banged up team barely made it over 100 pts again. Dad would have salvaged his week if Barkley could have found the end zone for the first time this year, but a lot of life would be different if Barkley could find the end zone.

Speaking of life, the NFL doesn’t want you to pay attention to your real life. Steelers and Browns play on Thursday, and we have our first early morning international game on Sunday, where the good people of London have to watch a bad Colts team play the remains of the Commanders. And for some reason, three NFC South teams are playing in the two featured games Sunday and Monday night. Get your rosters set before the anger overwhelms you.

Fantasy football 2026 -- week 2 recap

Sunday’s last-minute Eagles victory over the Titans was the first win for the birds in Tennessee ever, and the first against the Titans/Oilers franchise since 1991. But it was hardly the only milestone of significance in the win:

** That game-winning score with less than 10 seconds left was WR Darius Cooper’s first NFL touchdown catch. The wideout from Tarleton State made the team last year despite being an undrafted rookie.

** The Eagles opened the game with three drives of 10 plays or more, the first time they have accomplished that level of sustained offense in the 21st century.

** Rookie WR Makai Lemon had his first game with positive yards on Sunday. His 14 yards on a single catch in the first half was a marked improvement from his three catches for -5 yds in his debut last week. He did, however, have one rush for -5 yards, so you still have more NFL rushing yds than him.

** Nick Sirianni is now 6-0 in season openers and 6-0 in road openers in his head coaching career, despite being the worst coach in NFL history, according to outside pundits.

** QB Jalen Hurts passed Carson Wentz for fourth place all-time in Eagles history in completions and passing touchdowns. He also set the franchise record for the number of times he made fans scream, “why can’t you play like that every week?!?!”

** WR DeVonta Smith became the first player in league history to detach his ankles multiple times in a game to secure those toe-tap catches along the sideline, two of which directly helped win the game. He’s not skinny Batman anymore, he’s Mr. Fantastic with all the super stretching powers.

 

QB: Josh Allen, 46.82 pts — started by Dad
WR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, 32.83 pts — started by Bob
RB: Jonathan Taylor, 25.87 pts — started by Mike
TE: Travis Kelce, 17.23 pts — started by Jo
K: Harrison Butker, 17.00 pts — on the wire
DEF: Carolina, 28.00 pts — on the wire
D: Devin Lloyd, 17.00 pts — on the wire

 
JSN has already collected 277 receiving yards and four TDs, which puts him on pace for 2,354 yds (breaking the record by almost 400 yds) and 34 scores (breaking the record by 11 TDs). But it should be noted that most of his stats came against the Cardinals, whose defense is roughly the same as playing against real-life cardinals.

Josh Allen is by far the top fantasy scorer thus far, with 86.48 pts. Second on that list? Undrafted (in fantasy) Panthers QB Bryce Young, who is tied for the league lead with six TD passes. We haven’t seen a Panthers QB reliably atop the fantasy scoring chart since Cam Newton played back in 1897. And their defense is a top pick too? Now we’re in crazytown.

WR DeVonta Smith was not among the week’s top fantasy scorers, posting only 19.30 pts. But it should be noted that only 18.80 came from his offensive play — he also got half a point for a tackle on one of Hurts’ interceptions. That guy really did everything Sunday.

“QB trouble” edition

4th place: Jack Strand, -0.04 pts — on the wire
3rd place: Mac Jones, -0.20 pts — on the wire
2nd place: Kenny Pickett, -0.40 pts — on the wire
1st place: Cooper Rush, -0.56 pts — on the wire

Forget Jones and Pickett: Both are former starting QBs who came in for kneel-down duty at the end of their team’s wins. The others…

Rush, who started for the Falcons on Sunday, went 10 of 17 passes for 86 yards with two interceptions before getting benched in the third quarter. That’s a 32.6 QB rating, seven points worse than what you got on Sunday (zero yards, zero TDs, zero INTs = 39.6 rating). It’s incredibly hard to play for more than a quarter as a professional QB and end up with less than zero fantasy points, but Rush was up to the challenge.

And why did we have four worst performers this week? Strand was Rush’s replacement. He went 8 for 15 for 59 yds but only threw one interception, which was a 35.1 QB rating (also worse than you). But his one pick was returned for a 69-yard TD, so that feels more painful.

In summary, you were a better quarterback than all the Atlanta signal callers this week.

For the record, the Dolphins defense was worth -6.00 pts, the worst possible score.


** At the start of the third quarter in the Eagles/Titans game, Fox analyst Drew Brees praised the Philly offense for its efficiency in the first two quarters. “The Eagles have played this first half almost to perfection, except for that one interception,” he stated.

That “one interception” was a 92-yard return for S Amani Hooker that led to the Titans first TD and resulted in a 14-point swing in the game. It’s sort of like saying that 2020 was a great year, except for that one virus thing. Or that Attack of the Clones was an Oscar-worthy movie, except for that Jar-Jar thing. Kinda hard to overlook that one glaring issue.

** After the Browns’ upset win in Tampa on Sunday, Cleveland Coach Todd Monken lashed out angrily at former coach turned commentator Mike Tomlin, who said “The Browns are gonna Browns” after their opening-week loss. “F*** that!” he yelled at reporters during the post-game press conference.

My friend, the Browns have finished with a losing record 20 times in the last 23 years. Cleveland has played in its current stadium since 1999 and has never hosted a playoff game there. Sunday was the team’s ninth win in the last three seasons combined. Maybe string together a couple of victories before you pull out the righteous indignation.

** The Detroit Tigers this week will play their last game in Comerica Park, because next year the site is being renamed for the company which bought out the financial services firm. So welcome in Fifth Third Stadium (rechristened for the unfortunately named Fifth Third Bank), which is somehow not the fifth nor third ballpark in Detroit history, but in fact the fourth.

 
Can’t wait to hear what the announcers do when the second batter in the seventh inning comes to the plate at good old Fifth Third.

 

** Bills QB Josh Allen has scored nine TDs (five passing, four rushing) through two games, putting him on pace for 76 TDs on the year. That would shatter the mark of 56 set by Broncos QB Peyton Manning in 2013.

** Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has 19 catches through two games, putting him on pace for 161 this season. That would shatter the record of 149 receptions set by Saints WR Michael Thomas in 2019.

** QB Baker Mayfield has three fumblers through two games, putting him on pace for 25 fumbles lost this year. That would break the record of 23 set by former Giants QB Kerry Collins in 2001.

** Bills DE Greg Rousseau has four sacks through two games, putting him on pace for 34 this season. That would break the record of 23 set by Browns DE Myles Garrett last season, and it could actually matter too, unlike Garrett’s worthless sacks on a 5-12 team.

** Chargers QB Justin Herbert, who is consistently ranked above Eagles QB Jalen Hurts in every pundit list of the best NFL passers, is 0-2 after two upset losses and is on pace never to win again in his career. He still trails Hurts in playoff victories, as the Eagles QB has six and Herbet has zero.

** Dallas won on Sunday, so they are on pace to be as insufferable as ever.

Dallas used its first-round pick in the 2026 draft to land defensive back Caleb Downs, who they hoped would bring new energy to the team’s defense. And through two weeks, that defensive unit is … still bad, but at least they got lucky when Washington killed its own QB this week. But Downs was destined to be a disappointment to anyone who just looked a little closer at what the letters in his name clearly spell out:

Dallas’ first-round pick: Safety Caleb Downs
** Dude blows. Lacks fire, can’t play, is soft. Darn.

Remember, you can’t spell “Caleb Downs” without “based clown.” And you can’t spell Dallas without two big Ls.


** Dad went 2-1 against me this week, but he insisted that his upset pick of the Commanders over the Cowboys would be worth two points. So that means instead of him being up one, we’re even on the season right now, I guess.

** Commanders QB Jayden Daniels goes down with an injury on Sunday. Giants QB Jaxson Dart goes down with an injury on Monday. Somebody put Hurts in bubble wrap for the week. Don’t worry about Dak Prescott, I’m sure he’ll be fine.

** I’m unhappy with most of my fantasy football teams, but I won my fantasy baseball league for the second year in a row. So, go baseball.


Family Cup — Week 2 standings
House Doyle: 4-2
House Garrity: 3-3
House Shane: 3-3
House Quinn: 2-4

Last year it took Emma until week six to get her first win. This year, she already hit that mark with an upset of Ollie’s team. But it didn’t help with the family standings as Shelly destroyed Jonathan’s team (150.56 to 102.68) and Mike beat up on Pop’s team. Two teams remain undefeated (Mike and Shane) while two remain winless (Grandmom and Tommy). Welcome to the mediocrity that the NFL coverts so much.

Awesome Cup — Week 2 standings
1 — Center City Brownout (Capt. Awesome), 255.32 pts
2 — DeVonta’s Inferno (Grandmom D), 252.57 pts
3 — Death by Chickens (Jonathan), 242.69 pts
4 — Vert der Ferks (Ant), 236.45 pts
5 — It's a Real Saquondary (Bob), 233.78 pts
6 — Intravenous de Milo (Mike), 233.70 pts
7 — No Lemon Drops (Pop), 230.25 pts
8 — Zeus the Fluffy (Jo), 220.45 pts
9 — All Rogers No Sauce (Joel), 204.38 pts
10 — Blue Collar Killers (Jeff), 178.31 pts

Only 35 pts separate first place from eighth (and only 9 pts from fifth to third, if you prefer those two random numbers together), so no one is dominating this season yet. I managed to hold onto the top spot by less than a FG, even though my team failed to top the 100-pts mark in its second week of action. Mom D, on the other hand, dominated the week with 140.17 pts, thanks to 29.50 pts from WR Davante Adams on Monday night. Imagine what her team will look like when TE Brock Bowers finally returns from the dead.

Speaking of zombies, the Eagles don’t play until Monday night, when they face the remains of the Bears. Falcons/Packers is the Thursday night contest. The rest of the slate is set for Sunday, but get those rosters set early and often, who knows when the NFL may decide to move up some games to another day.

Fantasy football 2026 -- week 1 recap

The Eagles on Sunday unveiled their new gameplan under first-year offensive playcaller Sean Mannion, who was tasked with revitalizing a stagnant offense from last season. The differences were subtle but significant. Here’s a closer look at the new wrinkles:

— Instead of predictable runs on first down, the team used predictable runs on first and second down.
— QB Jalen Hurts fell to the right side on easily avoidable sacks instead of falling to the left.
— Last year the offense ignored WR AJ Brown for long stretches of the game. On Sunday, they switched that up by ignoring WR DeVonta Smith for long stretches.
— Rookie wideout Makai Lemon and Barkley combined for four catches for -8 yards, so that was … a choice.
— Hurts actually remembered how to run again, which was nice to see.
— Instead of being frustrating for the entire game, the offense was only frustrating for long sections of the game.

I, for one, am looking forward to what Sean Patullo brings to the table for the rest of the schedule.

QB: Caleb Williams, 41.26 pts — on Ant’s bench
WR: Jalen Coker, 25.20 pts — on Jo’s bench
RB: Derrick Henry, 34.17 pts — started by Jonathan
TE: Isaiah Likely, 21.20 pts — on Joel’s bench
K: Evan McPherson, 19.50 pts — started by me
DEF: Pittsburgh, 19.00 pts — started by me
D: TJ Watt, 14.50 pts — started by Jonathan

Jonathan and I are in mid-season form. Everybody else? Eh.

Williams barely edged out Bills QB Josh Allen (39.66 pts) as the top QB of the week. Both passed for two TDs and rushed for two TDs, but Williams had 41 more rushing yds on the day. Jalen Hurts finished 6th. Dallas QB Dak Prescott finished 17th, but Anthony opted to start him instead of Williams.

Watt had four tackles, two sacks, and a game-sealing interception returned for a TD in Pittsburgh’s 20-13 win over the Falcons, but it was a quiet day other than that.

“Welcome back” edition

3rd place: Nick Mullens, -0.30 pts — on the wire
2nd place: Kyler Murray, -0.38 pts — on Jeff’s bench
1st place: Tyrone Tracy Jr., -0.60 pts — on the wire

Makai Lemon did not end up on the worst performers list, but you’ll be happy to know that you have more career receiving yards right now (zero) than the Eagles first-round pick (-5). Bring that up in your next job interview.

Murray took a brutal hit early in Sunday’s Viking/Packers game, which led to Minnesota having to turn to backup QB Carson Wentz for the remainder of the contest. And that went about as well as you’d … wait, wut? Wentz had three TDs and 25.22 fantasy pts, better than Jayden Daniels, Jordan Love and Jared Goff? And the Vikings won? Sadly, Wentz had a 0 percent start rate in Yahoo fantasy leagues, so it looks like no one benefitted from that surprise.

The worst defense of the week was the Texans (-4.00 pts), a team which was widely hyped as the best defense in all of football this year. Let this be a lesson to you yet again never to trust anyone who says they know something about football.


** Just before 1 pm on Saturday, with eight minutes left in the first quarter of the Penn State/Temple game, ESPN broke into its broadcast with its first official “game update” alert of the season. And what news did they flash up on the screen?

 
“Ohio State vs. Texas, start at 7:30 pm”

That’s not an update, folks. That’s just a date. Or a redate. But there is nothing new to provide on a game set to start seven hours later.

Thankfully, the network kept providing that start-time info to viewers throughout the day, in case you were worried a time distortion had occurred. Oddly enough, Ohio State seemed to think the game ended about 40 minutes before it actually did, but that’s a separate issue.

** Chargers coach John Harbaugh last week stated that “when all is said and done … [QB Justin Herbert] will be considered one of the greatest ever at his position.” Herbert responded to the praise by passing for 209 yds, one TD and one INT in an upset loss to the Cardinals, who are expected to win fewer than five games this season.

 
Maybe Herbert’s position is actually “unjustified hype machine?” Because he is awfully good at not meeting expectations.

** NFL.com headline on Monday: “What we learned — the top 39 takeaways from Sunday’s Week 1 action.”

Finally, a web site that doesn’t skimp by only giving me three dozen lessons learned.

Just one week into the NFL season, teams are already dealing with a host of major injuries that could reshape their playoff fates. Consider:

** Patriots WR AJ Brown is out at least four weeks with an ankle injury, putting a dent in the New England passing attack.
** Rams DE Myles Garrett will get knee surgery after getting injured in his new team’s opener, and the timetable for his return is unclear.
** Falcons QB Tua Tagovailoa had an oblique strain ahead of Sunday’s game, a total surprise given his long history of good health on the football field.
** Packers DE Micah Parsons is still recovering from a pre-existing knee injury, which is totally the only reason the Packers choked against the Vikings and QB Carson Wentz.
** Raiders TE Brock Bowers was scratched with a knee injury just a day before the season opener, but it didn’t matter because Las Vegas was playing the remains of the Dolphins.
** Browns QB Deshaun Watson was not hurt in Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars, striking a terrible blow to Cleveland’s offensive gameplan for the year.


In the offseason, Dallas QB Dak Prescott coined the term GOTI to describe the team’s scoring attack this season: Greatest Offense There Is. And he followed up that offseason boast with a season opening performance of … 20 points scored, worst among NFC East teams and 22nd in the entire league. Lots of pundits took the opportunity to mock the Cowboys for the misstep (and their loss to the New Jersey Giants) on Monday, but a careful rearrangement of Prescott’s slogan shows what he actually thought of his team’s real potential:

Dallas: Greatest Offense There Is
** False. I see no threat, as dregs left.

Here’s your reminder that since 2000, the Cowboys have won just four playoff games, fewer than all but four teams. But they’re totally still a relevant franchise worthy of the annual hype!

** First week of the season, and Dad and I split our picks — we went 2-2 in the four contests we had different and 10-6 overall. I would have put money on the Packers beating the Vikings, but then again, I didn’t know the unstoppable force that is QB Carson Wentz would be leading Minnesota for the day.

** Tampa Bay rookie LB Josiah Trotter — son of Eagles LB Jeremiah Trotter and brother of Eagles LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. — made his NFL debut on Sunday, recording four tackles, one sack, an interception and a defensive TD in his team’s loss to the Bengals. I’m starting to think that family might know how to play defense.

** The cheapest Eagles/Titans tickets on SeatGeek are $142 each. Does anyone really want to see this game that badly?

Family Cup — Week 1 standings

House Doyle: 3-0
House Shane: 2-1
House Quinn: 1-2
House Garrity: 0-3

Last year’s House champions picked up right where they left off last year. Not only did Ollie, Lexi and Mike all win their opening matchups, but they had three of the four highest scoring squads of the week. Team Shane’s record took a hit with a head-to-head matchup between Jonathan and Emma (news flash, our team lost again) but still posted a respectable start to the year. And Share overcame my bad QB advice (Stafford over Purdy looked like an obvious move) to gain his house’s first victory of the year.

Awesome Cup — Week 1 standings

1 — Center City Brownout (Capt. Awesome), 155.43 pts
2 — All Rogers No Sauce (Joel), 138.25 pts
3 — Death by Chickens (Jonathan), 136.90 pts
4 — Vert der Ferks (Ant), 124.13 pts
5 — Intravenous de Milo (Mike), 120.92 pts
6 — No Lemon Drops (Pop), 115.92 pts
7 — DeVonta’s Inferno (Grandmom D), 112.40 pts
8 — It's a Real Saquondary (Bob), 107.41 pts
9 — Zeus the Fluffy (Jo), 105.14 pts
10 — Blue Collar Killers (Jeff), 99.21 pts

We’re starting the year off right — My three-headed monster of QB Lamar Jackson, WR Zay Flowers and RB David Montgomery combined for more than 70 pts, and getting another 38.50 pts out of my kicker and defense helped a bunch too. Joel had a solid run but left 38 pts on his bench, so there is room for improvement. Everyone in the league topped 100 pts for the week except Jeff (just one five-yard catch short!), so you all deserve a hearty pat on the back.

But don’t rest on your laurels. The games start again Thursday with the Lions and Bills, so hit the waiver wire early and get those rosters set.

Fantasy football 2026 -- preseason rankings

In some ways, the fantasy season is already finished, because mistakes and successes on draft day linger throughout the season. Sure, coaching can play a part in the finish, but your fate has likely already been sealed. So let’s look at how the league is going to play out this season.

But first — I promised a mystery coach in the last post, and that manager is … another ghost. Sam has opted to step away from the competition for this season, which leaves us with 10 teams still on the field. Rather than muck up that nice number, that’s what we’ll stick with. The good news is your odds of winning just jumped from 8 percent to 10 percent! The bad news is your available excuses for failure have decreased.

Onto the final season standings (probably):

All Rogers No Sauce (Joel)
Yahoo ranking: 1993.42 pts, 3rd place
My ranking: 1851.13 pts, 10th place
There’s nothing really wrong with Joel’s team — three solid RBs, three solid WRs, a Pro-Bowl-level QB. I just hate most of those players. QB Drake Maye? Got lucky last year. WR Drake London? Has to catch passes from the worst QBs in the league. RB Travis Etienne? Do we have to watch the Saints this season? The karma on this team just feels funky, sort of like WR Ladd McConkey’s name. Do be surprised if the negative chemistry ends up sending this squad all McConkey by season’s end.

Vert der Ferks (Ant)
Yahoo ranking: 1975.85 pts, 4th place
My ranking: 1944.34 pts, 9th place
Another year, another team where Anthony forgot to block all the Cowboys on his pre-draft rankings list. So while we have a perfectly reasonable group here, the truth is that Ant will look to sabotage his own squad every time he logs in and sees WR CeeDee Lamb and RB Javonte Williams starting back at him. It’s even more upsetting when you see the formidable Eagles Defense backing them up. And he even has TE Jake “Turd” Ferguson on his bench again. It’s a real mess.

Blue Collar Killers (Jeff)
Yahoo ranking: 1849.96 pts, 9th place
My ranking: 1999.96 pts, 8th place
I’m just gonna say it, I think Jeff hates the north. Most of his team plays way below the Mason-Dixon line: Four Jacksonville teammates, two Texas players, Tampa WR Emeka Egbuka, the Rams defense. Does LA count as the south? Even his northern players have a southern bent — WR Ja’Marr Chase plays in Cincinnati, or as the locals call it, south Ohio. Probably. It should be noted I never visited there the whole time I lived in Columbus.

It's a Real Saquondary (Bob)
Yahoo ranking: 1936.75 pts, 6th place
My ranking: 2051.77 pts, 7th place
I’m taking pity on Bob and not ranking his team in the top spot this season, but it’s only because I don’t like the players he has. QB Jayden Daniels has bust written all over him. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III isn’t going to have rushing success in an Andy Reid rushing attack. TE Kyle Pitts shows up for three games a year max. RB Breece Hall plays for the Jets. That’s all a tough hill to climb.

No Lemon Drops (Pop)
Yahoo ranking: 1839.44 pts, 10th place
My ranking: 2145.45 pts, 6th place
Solid name from Dad, and I’m dumbfounded why the computer experts are so down on this team. He’s got fantasy superstar QB Josh Allen. He’s got RB Saquon Barkley and WR Justin Jefferson, both solid performers. He’s got sleeper TE star Harold Fannin Jr. He’s got good potential in TE Sam LaPorta. He’s got reliability in TE Travis Kelce. He’s got potential in TE Mark Andrews … oh, wait, I see it now. At least he can run a lot of triple TE sets.

Death by Chickens (Jonathan)
Yahoo ranking: 1881.82 pts, 8th place
My ranking: 2195.47 pts, 5th place
The boy has finished in one of the top two spots each of the last three years, but it’ll be more of a struggle this season. He has assembled the all-injury all-stars: QB Joe Burrow, WR Malik Nabers, TE George Kittle and RB Jonathon Brook all missed significant time last year on the IR. At least he’s got RB Christian McCaffrey as a solid bet, right? I mean, that guy never gets hurt…

Intravenous de Milo (Mike)
Yahoo ranking: 1964.77, 5th place
My ranking: 2239.82 pts, 4th place
The supporting cast looks great here: RBs Jonathan Taylor and Chase Brown, WRs DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle, TE Tyler Warren and the Lions DEF. But everything hinges on QB Justin Herbert, who has a reputation as an elite quarterback despite never doing anything elite. He finished as the #2 fantasy QB in 2021 and hasn’t finished inside the top 10 since then. But maybe this is the year that Chargers Coach Jim Harbaugh can find a way to unlock his potential through cheating, like he did at Michigan.

Center City Brownout (Capt. Awesome)
Yahoo ranking: 2013.78 pts, 1st place
My ranking: 2283.44 pts, 3rd place
Well, crap. Every year I rant on here how the Yahoo predictions are complete and utter garbage, and now the algorithm likes my team the most. That’s a bad, bad sign. It should be noted that I have an all-Pro QB (Lamar Jackson), two killer fantasy RBs (James Cook and DeVon Achane) the top fantasy TE from last year (Trey McBride), and a pair of defensive studs (Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett), so I understand the computer’s reasoning. But part of me worries that if I succeed, I’ll be validating the stupid computer. Will that hold back my coaching genius? We will see.

Zeus the Fluffy (Jo)
Yahoo ranking: 1881.83 pts, 7th place
My ranking: 2344.32 pts, 2nd place
At the risk of causing problems in my own home, this looks like a solid team to me. QB Jalen Hurts facing down his doubters. RBs Omarion Hampton and Quinshon Judkins quietly amassing fantasy points. A wide receiving corps that has Puka Nacua, Chris Olave, Tetairoa McMillan, Luther Burden III before we get to the bench? And the Broncos DEF, which could be the best in the NFL. This is a solid team, and the algorithm hates it. I couldn’t be more confident this will all work out.

DeVonta’s Inferno (Grandmom D)
Yahoo ranking: 2010.39, 2nd place
My ranking: 2417.01 pts, 1st place
The only thing better than a stable of stud wideouts — like Jo’s team — is a stable of stud RBs, which this team boasts. Bijan Robinson, D'Andre Swift, Jadarian Price and MarShawn Lloyd will all get a chance to play. TE Brock Bowers could have a huge bounce back season. WR AJ Brown is probably gonna break out Philly hearts. And QB Matt Stafford — all 87 years of him — is back for one more ride with one of the best offenses in the league. All the pieces are here for Grandmom to succeed and claim her first title. No pressure.

There you have it, folks. The Eagles open the season on Sunday, but the Patriots and Seahawks square off in the opener on WEDNESDAY followed by an Australia game on Thursday evening. Hey, you had six months not to watch pro football. Now get ready for it all the time, whenever it’s least convenient.

Get those rosters set, and good luck.

Fantasy football 2025 -- Family Cup draft order announcement

The ShaneDoyleQuinnGarrity Family Cup fantasy league is officially back for its second season, bringing our four houses back again to the field of battle to answer which bloodline remains the finest at … randomly guessing which professional athletes will collect the best statistics. Honestly, the stakes could not be any higher.

In case you forgot how our inaugural season finished, House Doyle (Mike, Lexi and Ollie) etched their family name into the championship trophy, while Jim managed to bring honor to Team Garrity by winning the individual title. Everyone is back again this year, and the team mascots are present for the official draft order selection ceremony at Fort Awesome.

First, a little clarity on the draft order rules. Each house will pick in reverse order of finish from last year (Team Quinn, Team Shane, Team Garrity and Team Doyle) to ensure balance among all of the families. That means not two teammates will pick back-to-back. All of Team Quinn and 2/3rds of Team Shane are present for the selection ceremony, but none of them will be allowed to pick any names out of the Sorting Helmet. Instead, that honor will fall to Joanna, who will likely be rooting against all of our teams soon enough as she has to put up with me running two leagues of nonsense.

All of the house mascots are ready to cheer for their warriors, so let us dive in:

Pick #12 — Mike (Team Doyle)

A mighty squeal goes up from Team Doyle’s Cunning Axolotl, which embodies the family’s spirit of adaptability and strategic prowess. Mike finished second in the standings last year, so any sensible system would have had him picking low this season. But this is not a competition for the sensible, it is a competition of passion and heart, so the next pick goes to…

Pick #11 — Shelly (Team Garrity) 

Team Garrity’s striking mascot, the Skittish Emu, emits a loud drumming noise as a sign of warning to the other families. Shelly finished fourth in the league last year — not good enough for a medal, but that’s ok because we never gave out any medals. She’ll have to rise above her draft position to repeat this season. The next name out of the helmet belongs to…

Pick #10 — Pop Shane (Team Shane) 

The Noble Otter of Team Shane spins onto his back and beats his belly in a confident challenge to the other families who have dismissed his family’s chances this season. Pop finished a disappointing ninth in the league last year but first in the Awesome Cup competition, so maybe that success can translate better for his whole clan this season. Our last family now gets its first player onto the board:

Pick #9 — Tommy (Team Quinn) 

That high-pitched clicking noise you are hearing is the battle cry of Team Quinn’s animal spirit, the Aggressive Anteater. This family failed to place any teams in the top half of the standings last season, but they have been scouring the football headlines for advantages the whole offseason, like their anteater has been vacuuming the ground for morsels to eat. Ignore them at your peril. Speaking of peril, the next player on the draft order is …

Pick #8 — Lexi (Team Doyle)

Team Doyle’s mascot is also named Lexi, so this is going to be a confusing situation throughout the year. Her team finished first in the regular season but third in the playoffs, so she’ll be looking to swim to another strong finish with the help of her team. Unfortunately, her whole team is one hour behind the rest of the football world in Wisconsin, so they’ll always be trying to catch up. Onto the next family:

Pick #7 — Jimmy (Team Garrity)
Jimmy was the only member of Team Garrity not to make the playoffs next year, but he’ll have to redeem himself from the back half of the draft. The emu has started pecking at the axolotl’s tank, so we could have a major problem here soon. Moving quickly along…

Pick #6 — Emma (Team Shane)
The otter applauds the selection by attempting to wash the draft slip on its belly. Emma’s team was the hard-luck loser for most of last year, finishing 1-11-1 in the regular season but 2-1 in the loser bracket playoffs. Five names remain in the helmet …

Pick #5 — Shane (Team Quinn)
Our most confusing coach — Shane is on Team Quinn, not on Team Shane, obviously — will pick on the earlier end of the draft. That’s assuming he survives the anteater, who has started licking everything in the hopes of finding protein. Our final representatives from each house are all that is left in the pile. Next up:

Pick #4 — Ollie (Team Doyle)

Ollie becomes the standard bearer for his family, grabbing the top pick available to his clan. The house axolotl smiles in approval. Actually, it’s hard to tell, those weird little salamanders always look like they are smiling. Onto the final three names…

Pick #3 — Jim (Team Garrity)
Last year’s champion wins again — Jim snags a high selection which will get him pretty much anyone but RBs Jahmyr Gibbs or Bijan Robinson (unless other coaches make weird picks). His house emu bobs its head in response, then goes searching for grasshoppers to eat. Another name out of the helmet, and our draft runner up is …

Pick #2 — Jonathan (Team Shane)
The youngest Awesome Cup champion in league history had a tougher road in this league last year, but getting the second selection in the draft should help in year two. The otter tosses a clam his way for good luck. The animals have turned this place into a disaster. Let’s wrap this up with our final coach:

Pick #1 — Grandmom Shane (Team Quinn)
Both Grandmom and the house anteater glance around the room, trying to remember how the Garrity-turned-Shane landed in Team Quinn. No matter. Whatever her allegiance, she gets the top pick in this year’s draft, setting up her team and house for success.

The draft is set, folks. The order is getting put into the system your player rankings need to be squared away ASAP. Now is the time to block all those Cowboys from getting on your roster. I’ll switch the league over to autodraft sometime after Friday night (Sept. 4) so don’t delay.

Just like the Fast and the Furious movies, this league is all about family. Don’t crash and burn. Remember what you are fighting for: 

Fantasy football 2026 -- Awesome Cup draft order announcement

It’s hard to believe it, but 2026 marks the 25th season of the Who Needs Linebackers fantasy league. I remember when we first started this competition, I thought, “I wonder if I’ll spend half of my life making nonsensical fantasy jokes for an adoring fan base of around a dozen friends.” Always follow your dreams, folks.

Speaking of dreamers, we have a whole bunch of managers here aspiring to unseat last year’s Awesome Cup champion, Pop. He showed exceptional poise and strategery throughout the 2025 season, but that’s all in the past now. All teams start with a clean slate and the same visions of glory.

And that all begins with the draft. In case you have forgotten, here are the rules established for the draft order selection process. Since all of our managers can’t be present, and since this is a special anniversary season, I have invited famous #25s from NFL history to stand in for each of our teams. The youngest resident of Fort Awesome is ready to pull the names out of the sorting hat, and the first coach on the board is: 

Pick #12 — Mystery coach
OK, I guess we’re not completely ready for the season. Paul has opted to step away from his coaching duties this season to pursue a lucrative contract coaching a fantasy futebal team, riding the excitement of the World Cup to new heights. We wish him well. There is another ready to step in his place, but that team won’t be announced until next week. In the meantime, the mystery’s coach’s representative — Seahawks Super Bowl champion CB Richard Sherman — tosses his #25 jersey to the floor and asks what all this nonsense is about. We quickly shift to the next name:

Pick #11 — Pop
Last year’s champion should be picking at the bottom of the order this season, so this feels right. Pop’s proxy — Eagles DB Patrick Chung, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots — raises an eyebrow in silent resignation. Then he points to Pop’s three Awesome Cup titles, and we move along to the next name:

Pick #10 — Capt. Awesome
My fourth-place finish last season was the eighth top-four performance in the last 10 years, but I’ve only got one championship over that time frame to show for my team’s excellence. Hopefully they will be inspired this year by my #25: Eagles All-Pro RB Shady McCoy, who plows over Chung and Sherman just to make a point. The youngest Fort Awesome resident asks why I need a representative if I’m in the room for all of this. I tell her to trust the process, and we plow ahead:

Pick #9 — Bob
Tough draw for Bob, who should be drafting a little lower than this based on his 5th-place showing in 2025. Still, the pick gets a fist pump from Eagles RB Charlie Garner, who wore #25 back before Bob graduated from high school. Bob could use a back like that for his squad this year. Another name comes out of the helmet:

Pick #8 — Ant
Ha! Ant picked #8 last year and ends up in the exact same spot this year, thanks to this ridiculous system. His 6th-place finish last year was respectable, but lacked some of the excitement needed for true victory. But perhaps he can pull some of that from Mr. Excitement himself, Anthony’s team rep, the great running back … Reno Mahe, all 212 pounds of him. Did you know he spent five years on the Eagles and totaled just 196 rushing yards? In fairness, he did collect 95 kickoff and punt returns for 851 yards. That’s not a lot of fantasy points, but every bit helps. Next coach on the clock:

Pick #7 — Mike
Mike finished third last season but hasn’t snagged the trophy since the Covid-mess year of 2020. This year, he’s got a rejuvenated team and a new attitude, just like his team mentor: Former Packers and Eagles RB Dorsey Levens, the only player to wear #25 in green for both teams (probably, I’m not fact checking that). He turns to give Mahe a high five, but Reno cowers and scampers away. We also move along:

Pick #6 — Sam
Same finished in 9th last year even though Yahoo named him the best team based on their pre-season projections. Who knew AI could make mistakes? Sam’s stand-in is the greatest #25 in Carolina Panthers history: Two-time Pro Bowl DB Eric Davis, who intercepts the draft slip and spikes it on the ground. This being a carpeted room, it just kind of sits there. After a moment of silence, we pull the next coach’s name:

Pick #5 — Jonathan
The boy finished second last season but ends up picking in the top half of the draft, because fantasy football is not fair. His proxy — Eagles Hall of Fame WR Tommy McDonald — signals TD in celebration. If this kid wins his third title in four years, we’re gonna have to kick him out of the league. We grumble and push ahead:

Pick #4 — Jo
It was a tough seventh-place finish for Joanna last season, but she’s ready to kick that aside and start this year anew. And in steps in her proxy to help her do that: Five clones of Eagles punter Jeff Feagles, who wore #5 during his career. The youngest Fort Awesome resident complains that there should not be any extra math work in these silly blog posts. I agree, and we turn to…

Pick #3 — Jeff
Blue Collar Killers is on the board with a solid pick to start off the season. His rep — Buckeyes RB Bo Jackson, who wears a college #25 — strikes the Heisman pose in jubilation. He then asks if participating in this exercise makes him eligible for any extra NIL bonuses. It does not. We have just two names left…

Pick #2 — Grandmom Doyle
Grandmom can thank her granddaughter for setting her season up on the right track, giving her once of top two players in the league to build around. Her representative, Eagles All-Pro FB Tom Sullivan, knocks over a set of chairs in response to the pick. That leaves our draft day winner as …

Pick #1 — Joel
Joel finished second to last in 2025, but snagging the top pick should help him start faster in 2026. His proxy … oh, Richard Sherman is back, demanding a real person to represent … so, sure, Richard Sherman strikes a defiant pose to dare all rivals.

That’s it, friends. The draft order will be put into the system in the next few days, and the draft switch will be turned on after Friday (Sept. 4) night. That means it’s time to get your player rankings all squared away: Block all the Cowboys, block the Patriots, block Eli Manning (just to be safe).

Thanks again for joining up for a season of nonsense, and Go Birds.

Oh, and here's a final reminder of what you are playing for:   

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.