This is halftime folks. I had to finish the performance review for my team today, and so this week's rankings is going to evaluate each team's goals and competency at mid-term. Hai, you must be very happy that you no longer have to deal with this crap at work. As I don't have much time, I'll write about the top 5 teams first. Mostly, goals deal with the impact of the keepers and draft, while competency deals with free agent pickups and managing roster starts over the course of the season.
1. Victor
Goals: Victor has exceeded expectations at the start of the season. After four long years, Victor is back to being a playoff resident. Three of his keepers have been invaluable contributors to the season to date. Peyton has been fantasy MVP so far, and Jamaal Charles and Marshawn Lynch form the best pair of running backs in the league. Victor is on a pace for an average weekly score of over 90 points, which is higher than the record 88.1 from Tuna in 2007.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
Competency: Victor has managed to offset a mediocre draft with judicious and timely free agent pickups, despite the handicap of having the bottom waiver wire priority each week. He has done a commendable job streaming defenses each week based on match-up. For the first time ever, Victor is #1 in efficiency ratings this late in the season, which is a very noteworthy turnaround from the usual bottom 5 in efficiency rankings. Victor hasn't been as successful in the Wide Receiver management, but that hasn't hurt his team because there hasn't been any monster seasons from that position so far this year.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
2. Donny
Goals: Donny has succeeded in building his team through the draft. He achieved the best sleeper pick with Knowshown Moreno in the 9th round. Giovanni Bernard and TY Hilton are future Pro Bowlers. Donny's keepers have been solid. Cam Newton and Megatron have had big weeks and propelled Donny to victories. Donny has put himself as a solid playoff contender at the mid-season mark.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
Competency: Donny has been a savvy waiver wire player. His pickups of Julius Thomas and KC Chiefs early in the season has paid considerable dividends. Donny's efficiency would have been better than average had he not missed out on starting TY Hilton by one minute in a match vs. Tuna. Going forward, Donny's team faces a greater challenge than the current 2nd easiest schedule, but Donny's management talent should be enough to cover.
Rating: Meets Requirements
3. Andrew
Goals: Andrew has achieved a substantial turnaround from last year's 2nd worst record. Last year, he was disengaged, disorganized, and disenchanted. This season so far, his team is now tied for the Caucasian division, and would have had the outright lead if not for an unlucky week 7 narrow loss to Victor. This is the year that Andrew finally obtained a QB to lead his pass-happy scoring. The trade for Aaron Rodgers has helped Andrew find stability in that position. Judicious draft picks in Jordy Nelson and the Seahawks offense have reshaped his team as well.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
Competency: Andrew has been surprisingly efficient this season, ranking third. He no longer starts players on the bye. While Andrew has sparingly played the waiver wire, his recent pickup of Percy Harvin shows Andrew is committed to patience and the long haul this season. Like Kevin last year, Andrew is making the 3-WR offense work without a strong RB contributor.
Rating: Meets Requirements
4. Kevin
Goals: Kevin's goal of repeating as champion is still feasible. He managed to leverage his keeper WRs and TE to deliver consistent scoring. Kevin's draft was respectable with hits like Josh Gordon and the Bengals DST offsetting duds such as Shane Vereen and Tavon Austin. Kevin's team does not have a very high ceiling, but it also has a pretty elevated floor.
Rating: Meets Requirements
Competency: Kevin has combined some nice free agent pickups with deficient managing, ranking 10th in managerial efficiency, worst in the league. Half of the missteps with his managing have occurred at the QB position because Luck and Rivers are both good but inconsistent. The other half surprisingly was mostly at the RB position, where Kevin started the wrong RB about 3 times. I don't expect Kevin to remain at the bottom however, as the situation of his DST is now settled and he's no longer invested with the Indy running game.
Rating: Partially Meets Requirements
5. Hai
Goals: Hai's midterm record has been disappointing to date, where 3 of Hai's keepers can be considered as disappointments or outright busts. Running backs was supposed to be a position of strength but Spiller and Ridley (until lately) were poor contributors. Hai partially offset this by drafting pretty well, getting about two-thirds of his picks right. Stafford in the 4th round and Justin Blackmon in the 8th have been steals.
Rating: Partially Meets Requirements
Competency: Hai probably has the most agonizing "what-ifs" losses due to the close margins. But Hai has a good chance to improve on his 6th ranked efficiency. Going forward, Hai is in pretty good shape. Since most of the duds (like Colston and Spiller) are now identified, Hai will be more efficient. Three of Hai's losses were within 4 points or less, and better managing should lessen the chances for those kinds of losses His recent waiver wire pickups have also been an impressive haul: Jordan Reed, Harry Douglas, and the Panthers defense.
Rating: Meets Requirements
Tomorrow: The bottom half of the rankings
1. Victor
Goals: Victor has exceeded expectations at the start of the season. After four long years, Victor is back to being a playoff resident. Three of his keepers have been invaluable contributors to the season to date. Peyton has been fantasy MVP so far, and Jamaal Charles and Marshawn Lynch form the best pair of running backs in the league. Victor is on a pace for an average weekly score of over 90 points, which is higher than the record 88.1 from Tuna in 2007.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
Competency: Victor has managed to offset a mediocre draft with judicious and timely free agent pickups, despite the handicap of having the bottom waiver wire priority each week. He has done a commendable job streaming defenses each week based on match-up. For the first time ever, Victor is #1 in efficiency ratings this late in the season, which is a very noteworthy turnaround from the usual bottom 5 in efficiency rankings. Victor hasn't been as successful in the Wide Receiver management, but that hasn't hurt his team because there hasn't been any monster seasons from that position so far this year.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
2. Donny
Goals: Donny has succeeded in building his team through the draft. He achieved the best sleeper pick with Knowshown Moreno in the 9th round. Giovanni Bernard and TY Hilton are future Pro Bowlers. Donny's keepers have been solid. Cam Newton and Megatron have had big weeks and propelled Donny to victories. Donny has put himself as a solid playoff contender at the mid-season mark.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
Competency: Donny has been a savvy waiver wire player. His pickups of Julius Thomas and KC Chiefs early in the season has paid considerable dividends. Donny's efficiency would have been better than average had he not missed out on starting TY Hilton by one minute in a match vs. Tuna. Going forward, Donny's team faces a greater challenge than the current 2nd easiest schedule, but Donny's management talent should be enough to cover.
Rating: Meets Requirements
3. Andrew
Goals: Andrew has achieved a substantial turnaround from last year's 2nd worst record. Last year, he was disengaged, disorganized, and disenchanted. This season so far, his team is now tied for the Caucasian division, and would have had the outright lead if not for an unlucky week 7 narrow loss to Victor. This is the year that Andrew finally obtained a QB to lead his pass-happy scoring. The trade for Aaron Rodgers has helped Andrew find stability in that position. Judicious draft picks in Jordy Nelson and the Seahawks offense have reshaped his team as well.
Rating: Exceeds Requirements
Competency: Andrew has been surprisingly efficient this season, ranking third. He no longer starts players on the bye. While Andrew has sparingly played the waiver wire, his recent pickup of Percy Harvin shows Andrew is committed to patience and the long haul this season. Like Kevin last year, Andrew is making the 3-WR offense work without a strong RB contributor.
Rating: Meets Requirements
4. Kevin
Goals: Kevin's goal of repeating as champion is still feasible. He managed to leverage his keeper WRs and TE to deliver consistent scoring. Kevin's draft was respectable with hits like Josh Gordon and the Bengals DST offsetting duds such as Shane Vereen and Tavon Austin. Kevin's team does not have a very high ceiling, but it also has a pretty elevated floor.
Rating: Meets Requirements
Competency: Kevin has combined some nice free agent pickups with deficient managing, ranking 10th in managerial efficiency, worst in the league. Half of the missteps with his managing have occurred at the QB position because Luck and Rivers are both good but inconsistent. The other half surprisingly was mostly at the RB position, where Kevin started the wrong RB about 3 times. I don't expect Kevin to remain at the bottom however, as the situation of his DST is now settled and he's no longer invested with the Indy running game.
Rating: Partially Meets Requirements
5. Hai
Goals: Hai's midterm record has been disappointing to date, where 3 of Hai's keepers can be considered as disappointments or outright busts. Running backs was supposed to be a position of strength but Spiller and Ridley (until lately) were poor contributors. Hai partially offset this by drafting pretty well, getting about two-thirds of his picks right. Stafford in the 4th round and Justin Blackmon in the 8th have been steals.
Rating: Partially Meets Requirements
Competency: Hai probably has the most agonizing "what-ifs" losses due to the close margins. But Hai has a good chance to improve on his 6th ranked efficiency. Going forward, Hai is in pretty good shape. Since most of the duds (like Colston and Spiller) are now identified, Hai will be more efficient. Three of Hai's losses were within 4 points or less, and better managing should lessen the chances for those kinds of losses His recent waiver wire pickups have also been an impressive haul: Jordan Reed, Harry Douglas, and the Panthers defense.
Rating: Meets Requirements
Tomorrow: The bottom half of the rankings
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