Why do fish prefer football over basketball? Because they are afraid of nets!
One of the biggest and coolest fantasy football tournaments of the year is the Scott Fish Bowl (#SFB12). The great Scott Fish (@ScottFish24) arranges an amazing charity fantasy football tournament annually. This year there were more than 3000 participants. Check out the awesome charity work Scott Fish spearheads for the holidays using the Scott Fish Bowl.
On Tuesday we spent over $10,000 in Minnesota buying toys for @ToysForTots_USA — one of many shopping trips around the country for #fantasycares.
Thanks for all the support for @FantasyCaresOrg this year. You did this and so much more! Thank you for being an awesome community! pic.twitter.com/Bc20F6ivIj
— Scott Fish (@ScottFish24) December 8, 2022
Michael Salwan (@mraladdin23), a first-time SFB entrant, has been compiling some awesome data for the SFB this year. Now he brings us the ultimate tool to prepare for SFB13! Michael has dissected which players led their teams to the playoffs and those that bombed their squads. Let’s look at the players and see if we can gather insights for the future! Before that, if you want to check out the draft picks of your favorite The League Winners authors, head over to the article here.
DIVISION WINNERS
The next five players not shown in the chart above are Josh Jacobs (ADP 70.04), Tyreek Hill (ADP 42.3), Christian Kirk (ADP 109.18), Jamaal Williams (ADP 186.83), and Daniel Carlson (ADP 176.96).
Key Takeaways:
- Interesting to see that Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are the only first-round quarterbacks on this list considering this is a Superflex league. Meanwhile, you have three quarterbacks outside round 1 that make the list; with Geno Smith being the clear value pick here.
- Also very interesting is that only one running back whose ADP is in the tenth round makes the list while three wide receivers make the list. Expanding to top-15, the numbers are three running backs (both outside the top five rounds in ADP) and five wide receivers. Zero-RB folks will say this proves their point but how many actually chose either Josh Jacobs, Rhamondre Stevenson, or Jamaal Williams after drafting other positions in the early rounds? The key is hitting on those outperformers in the draft.
- Volume is key as well. All five wide receivers had more than 25% target share while also having a minimum of 97 targets for the season thus far. Cooper Kupp would have been on this list if not for injuries. Justin Jefferson has the stats but does not make the list – likely due to draft capital cost. He is fourth in terms of fantasy points but had a two-round cost above the top-3 WRs.
- Shout out to Linda (@Lindlions) for advocating kickers as Daniel Carlson makes it into the top-15 list.
PLAYOFF WINNERS
The next five players not shown in the chart above are Stefon Diggs (ADP 31.01), Joe Burrow (ADP 5.97), Jamaal Williams (ADP 186.83), Geno Smith (ADP 208.17), and Tony Pollard (ADP 100.7).
Key Takeaways:
- Now the running backs even the field as we stretch the field to those that made the playoffs teams with two of each in the top-10 and four RBs and three WRs in the top-15. Again hitting on your first five-round draft picks was crucial here.
- Being a Superflex league, it makes QBs dominate this list with five of the top 10 and seven of the top 15 being QBs on this list. So going QB early was always the right move but it mattered which QBs to target. More on that in the next section.
- Also, Travis Kelce is a no-brainer in round 1 as he provides positional value like no other player in the league. With The Scott Fish Bowl being a TEP league, one would think another TE would’ve made the list but the position is so scarce and has high weekly volatility. My biggest mistake was not taking Kelce at the 1.08 and going after the wrong type of quarterback instead.
NON-PLAYOFF WINNERS
The next five players not shown in the chart above are Darrell Willaims (ADP 175.96), Javonte Williams (ADP 42.64), Darren Waller (ADP 175.96), Dak Prescott (ADP 11.37), and Hunter Renfrow (ADP 102.15).
Key Takeaways:
- Two aging QBs make the list as 1-2 in Rusell Wilson and Tom Brady with ADPs of the late first round. In the top ten, you see four aging QBs and one injured QB make the list of teams that did not make the playoff. This is insightful, especially for those in the back end of round 1. Bypassing aging QBs for either younger Komani QBs (Jalen Hurts) or other top players (Kelce, WRs) at other positions makes more sense. If in the back end of round 1, make sure to grab QB talent in the 3-4 round like Tua and Fields. I drafted Russell Wilson (1.08) and Justin Fields (5.05). Fields early season coupled with injuries later to WRs killed my squad.
- The rest of the top 10 list is filled with injured players which is something no one can predict. So do not let this year deter you from a similar strategy in SFB13 and hope for some good injury luck next time.
- An interesting note here is that only one wide receiver made the list as a fourth-round ADP who was injured for almost the entire season. The one major lesson I will take away is to load up on receivers early since I could not even find a starting three due to injuries.
CONCLUSION
Quarterbacks dominate The Scott Fish Bowl but make sure to pick the young Komani code and/or studs in lieu of aging veterans. The veterans carry little upside unless a lot of factors go their way. Target stud wide receivers as soon as you can and target running backs after. Hero WR may be the way to go in SFB. The early part of the draft dictates most of the success for getting into the playoffs with some late-round lottery hits making the case. However this year, no waiver wire pickups had a tremendous impact on teams vying for playoffs. I think that will change for those in the playoffs so stay tuned for the next article. It will cover the players that helped propel their teams to the next round of playoffs and the players that bombed their squads. Spoiler alert: injury again plays a huge role.
In the meantime, make sure to follow Michael Salwan (@mraladdin23) for all of his hard work in compiling this data. It is a goldmine for those in the Scott Fish Bowl. Check out his data here.
