Tue Jan 7th 2025

2024 Year-end Awards

The 2024 season has come to an end. I'm sad to say that I only won one dynasty championship this year. I lost in the Super Bowl in two other leagues by 3 and 13 points after my opponents' players produced in the high-scoring Monday night football finale. It's hard to win a championship and tough when you lose, but building dynasty teams and playing this great game is a blast.

That said, it's time to say farewell to the 2024 season and jump into offseason mode for 2025. Before I do, I want to present my 2024 Year-End Awards.

---

Breakout of the Year

• Candidates: Chase Brown, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Trey McBride
• All three candidates had breakout years, establishing themselves as every-week starters on dynasty rosters. Brown finished the season as the 11th highest-scoring running back after winning the leading role after Zach Moss was injured. He proved himself worthy of the leading role. Smith-Njigba finished the season as the 8th highest-scoring wide receiver, making good on his first-round rookie pick value after an unproductive rookie season. It was no surprise that he passed Tyler Lockett on the depth chart, but his passing D.K. Metcalf was a welcome surprise. Brown and Smith-Njigba are worthy of this award, but I will give it to Trey McBride, who had a complete breakout after stepping up his game at the end of last season. He scored the 3rd highest amount of tight end points with only one touchdown catch (though he had three total touchdowns given a rushing touchdown and a fumble recover touchdown). He finished with 104 catches, four less than Brock Bowers. He was Kyler Murray's top target, making him a reliable superstar week after week. He and Bowers now occupy the top tier of dynasty tight ends.

Surprise of the Year

• Candidates: Baker Mayfield, Chuba Hubbard, and Jonnu Smith
• Mayfield had a breakout year in 2023, and most thought his great season was tied to Dave Canales, the Buccaneer's offensive coordinator. Canales left to become the Carolina head coach, causing dynasty managers to be more uncertain about Mayfield's dynasty value. To everyone's surprise, he played even better this year with his new offensive coordinator, Liam Coen. He finished the season as the 4th highest-scoring quarterback and scored the most fantasy points in his seven-year career. Jonnu Smith also had the highest-scoring season of his eight-year career. Surprisingly, he became the Dolphin's second-highest targeted player behind Tyreek Hill. He ended the season as the 4th highest-scoring tight end behind Trey McBride. While Smith and Mayfield are worthy of this award, I am giving this award to Chuba Hubbard. Dynasty managers expected Hubbard to begin the season as the starter, but no one expected him to keep the job once rookie Jonathan Brooks was cleared to play. He held off Brooks, and the Panthers signed him to a new contract. He finished the season as the 12th highest-scoring running back and carried dynasty teams all season. Now that Brooks reinjured his knee, he's poised for another great season next year.  What a surprise!

Rookie of the Year

• Candidates: Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas, and Brock Bowers
• I could not limit my choice to three players for this award, which was the most difficult award to give. Nabers and Thomas finished as the 7th and 4th highest-scoring wide receivers despite terrible quarterback play. These two college teammates had incredible rookie seasons. Bowers had subpar quarterback play, too. Still, he set a league record for the number of catches for a rookie (including receivers) and for yards for a rookie tight end. After an incredible rookie season, he's already become the top-ranked tight end in the dynasty. As impressive as these guys played, I'm giving the award to Jayden Daniels, who finished his rookie season as the 5th highest-scoring quarterback. He made the Commanders an instant success and carried dynasty teams. As expected, he was phenomenal on the ground with 864 yards rushing. What was more surprising was his mastery of the passing game as a rookie. He completed 69.4% of his passes and threw 25 touchdowns with just nine interceptions. He was better than anyone expected. My only question is, how did LSU not win a national championship with three of these candidates on the same team in 2023? What a great crop of rookie dynasty managers were blessed with this year.

Veteran of the Year

• Candidates: Saquon Barkley, Terry McLaurin, and George Kittle
• McLaurin capitalized on the outstanding play of his new quarterback, Jayden Daniels, by having the best season of his career. He had his first-ever double-digit touchdown season with 12 touchdowns after years of scoring between four and five touchdowns. He finished the season as the 6th highest-scoring receiver. George Kittle narrowly outscored Brock Bowers to lead the league in fantasy points for a tight end. He had his best season since his second year in 2018. With Deebo Samuel underperforming and Brandon Aiyuk sidelined with injury, he became the focal point of the offense. While Kittle and McLaurin deserve the most valuable vet award, I think Barkley deserves it the most. He finished as the top scoring running back and it was not even close. He could have set the record for the most yards in a season, but the Eagle wisely decided not to play him in week eighteen. He fell two fantasy points shy of his career-best year as a rookie way back in 2018. Six years later, he still proved he could dominate the run game and carry dynasty teams to championships.

Bounce-Back of the Year

• Candidates: Sam Darnold, Kareem Hunt, and Jerry Jeudy
• Several players whose dynasty value was entirely in the dump bounced back to make fantasy relevance. Hunt signed back with his old team, the Chiefs, after Isiah Pacheco was injured. To dynasty managers' surprise, he was a startable asset for a long stretch of the season. He was so good that he cut into Pacheco's workload even after Pacheco returned. He had his most productive season in four years, and I would not be surprised at all if the Chiefs re-sign him for next year. Jeudy wanted completely nuts during the games he played with Jameis Winston.  It was the first time in his career that he lived up to his first-round draft capital with Denver. Even though he was average down the stretch after Cleveland benched Winston, he finished with the highest-scoring season of his career and proved that he can be the WR-1 in Cleveland next year, hopefully with a new quarterback like the one I am pleased to give this award, Sam Darnold. Darnold surprised everyone with the best year of his career by far, finishing as the 8th highest-scoring quarterback of the season. He took hold of coach O'Connell's offenses and masterfully led the team to an amazing season. His outstanding play will make him the story of the offseason, as he's a free agent after this year. His playoff run will determine a lot for his future. What a bounce-back story!

Waiver Wire Player of the Year

• Candidates: Cedric Tillman, Juaun Jennings, and Kayshon Boutte
• It's always challenging to find a future starter off the waiver wire in dynasty leagues, but each year, a few go from the wire to starting lineups and see their dynasty value rise from the ashes. Tillman had several amazing games with Jameis Winston before slowing down and missing time in the concussion protocol. For weeks, he looked like he would become Cleveland's WR-1. It was frustrating for dynasty managers not to see how he could continue his play after the concussion, but all dynasty managers who nabbed him are excited to see what he can do next year. Boutte never had an excellent game, but he proved to be the wide receiver with the most snaps in New England and is paired with a rookie quarterback who will only get better. Boutte never made it into many starting lineups, but he showed enough to be an intriguing player to hold onto. This award goes to Jennings, who became an every-week starter and is poised to be the WR-2 opposite Brandon Aiyuk for the next few years.

Most Valuable Player

• Candidates: Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow
• It's hard to pick a winner between these three players who were the top three scoring players in the league this year. All three were consistently productive throughout the year, and each had one or more outstanding games during the fantasy playoffs. Each are MVP talents, but given his league leading fantasy points and incredible statistical season on the field, I give the award to Lamar Jackson. This season, he passed Michael Vick's record for all-time rushing yards by a quarterback. If you count week 18, he ran for 915 yards. What's most impressive is his 41 touchdown passes with just four interceptions. He continues to improve as a passer and now has the third-highest all-time QBR rating behind only Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. No one thought he could become this kind of passer, but he's proved everyone wrong. What an incredible MVP season for Lamar Jackson.

Leave your comment using the form below

Name
Comment
Enter the code