This article is part of our NFL Reactions series.
We were reminded early Sunday why many fantasy leagues don't include Week 17 in their playoffs, as players like Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Alex Smith, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Jay Ajayi were all inactive or didn't play. Fantasy owners of those players who had to win this week were surely furious they had to drop them and scour the waiver wire for help. Sure, some leagues use a two-week playoff that helps alleviate some of this concern, but that's not making anyone who had to drop Bell for Branden Oliver or Akeem Hunt feel any better.
But before we jump into the playoffs (wait, is that the Bills in the postseason???) and early 2018 rankings, let's give some shouts to the guys who helped us pay the fantasy bills this season.
QUARTERBACKS
Tom Brady led the league with 4,577 passing yards this season, becoming the oldest player ever to lead the league in passing yards. If there was a knock on Brady it's that he had some of his worst games during the fantasy playoffs, as he threw either zero or one touchdown in Weeks 13, 14 and 15 before passing for 224 yards and two touchdowns (and one interception) in Week 16 and 190 yards and two scores in Week 17. Nevertheless, the Patriots rolled to another AFC East title with the best record in the AFC.
Additionally, thanks in part to Brady, the Patriots had three
We were reminded early Sunday why many fantasy leagues don't include Week 17 in their playoffs, as players like Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Alex Smith, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Jay Ajayi were all inactive or didn't play. Fantasy owners of those players who had to win this week were surely furious they had to drop them and scour the waiver wire for help. Sure, some leagues use a two-week playoff that helps alleviate some of this concern, but that's not making anyone who had to drop Bell for Branden Oliver or Akeem Hunt feel any better.
But before we jump into the playoffs (wait, is that the Bills in the postseason???) and early 2018 rankings, let's give some shouts to the guys who helped us pay the fantasy bills this season.
QUARTERBACKS
Tom Brady led the league with 4,577 passing yards this season, becoming the oldest player ever to lead the league in passing yards. If there was a knock on Brady it's that he had some of his worst games during the fantasy playoffs, as he threw either zero or one touchdown in Weeks 13, 14 and 15 before passing for 224 yards and two touchdowns (and one interception) in Week 16 and 190 yards and two scores in Week 17. Nevertheless, the Patriots rolled to another AFC East title with the best record in the AFC.
Additionally, thanks in part to Brady, the Patriots had three players (Brandin Cooks, Rob Gronkowski and Dion Lewis) all finish with more than 1,000 scrimmage yards, the first time in team history three players reached that mark. Lewis got there in dominant fashion Sunday, rushing 26 times for 93 yards and a touchdown while also catching six of seven targets for 40 receiving yards and another score in the Patriots 26-6 win over the Jets. On the flip side, Gronkowski wasn't targeted a single time against a Jets defense that came in having allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. Again, end the fantasy playoffs in Week 16.
Brady finished the season with 32 passing touchdowns, ending up two behind Russell Wilson and one behind Carson Wentz. Thanks to his rushing exploits (95 carries for 586 yards and three touchdowns), Wilson was the highest-scoring fantasy quarterback, with Alex Smith, Cam Newton and Kirk Cousins rounding out the top five; just who we expected at the beginning of the season. Wilson came into the final game needing 238 passing yards to become the first player in league history with multiple seasons of at least 4,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards. Unfortunately, he came up 17 yards short, surely ruining his New Year's Eve excitement.
RUNNING BACKS
Kareem Hunt wasn't supposed to play Sunday, but an illness to Charcandrick West forced the Chiefs to make him active. Not only that, Hunt got the start and rushed for a 35-yard touchdown on his lone carry, helping him clinch the rushing title with 1,327 yards. Entering Week 17, Todd Gurley had the inside track on the rushing crown, rumbling for 1,305 yards in 15 games, but West's lone carry Sunday helped him become the second consecutive rookie to lead the NFL in rushing yards after the Cowboys' Ezekiel Elliott did it last year.
Gurley may not have won the rushing crown, but he won the title for the highest-scoring fantasy player this season thanks to 13 rushing touchdowns as well as 64 catches for 788 receiving yards (second-most in the league among running backs) and six more scores. Gurley's 2,093 yards from scrimmage were the most in the league by more than 100 over second-place Le'Veon Bell (1,291 rushing yards, 655 receiving yards), who sat out Sunday's win over the Browns, pushing them to the second 0-16 record in league history.
Nine running backs surpassed 1,000 rushing yards this season (three fewer than last season but three more than 2015), with Gurley and Mark Ingram the only ones to rush for more than 10 touchdowns. Ingram had more than 1,000 rushing yards for the second consecutive season and doubled his 2016 rushing touchdown total, but he basically ended the regular season as an afterthought to rookie teammate Alvin Kamara, who not only returned a kickoff 106 yards for a touchdown Sunday but also led the Saints with 44 rushing yards and a touchdown while catching six of seven targets for 84 receiving yards. Kamara was a revelation this season, and his success with Ingram helped them become the first pair of running back teammates to reach 1,500 scrimmage yards in the same year.
Additionally, with his kickoff return in Sunday's game against the Bucs, Kamara became the first rookie since Gale Sayers in 1965 to have at least five rushing touchdowns, five receiving touchdowns and a return touchdown in the same season. Kamara's 13 offensive touchdowns made him one of six running backs to reach double-digit scores (Gurley 19, Ingram 12, Gordon 12, Hunt 11, Bell 11), while only two receivers (DeAndre Hopkins 13, Davante Adams 10) and one tight end (Jimmy Graham) reached that level.
Kamara's future is very bright, and it'll be interesting to see if the Saints try to bring Ingram, an unrestricted free agent, back for another run.
And while we want to fawn over the kid, let's give props to a player who's almost old enough to be his dad and is still adding his name to the record books. Colts running back Frank Gore rushed 24 times for 100 yards Sunday against the Texans, helping him eclipse 14,000 rushing yards for his career. If that sounds impressive it's because Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders and Curtis Martin are the only other players in NFL history to get that many. And yes, they are all in the Hall of Fame. Gore's career screams as an accumulator, with his best season coming back in 2006 (his second in the league) when he rushed for 1,695 yards, and he never hit 1,250 after that, but there has to be some kind of acknowledgement for a player who lasted as long as he did playing one of the most physically brutal positions in sports.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Despite not playing in Weeks 16 and 17, Antonio Brown finished as the league leader in receiving yards, catching 101 of 163 targets for 1,533 yards, his fifth consecutive season with at least 100 receptions. Brown failed to score at least 10 touchdowns for the first time since 2013, which helped the Texans' DeAndre Hopkins end up as the highest-scoring wideout this season. Despite playing with a number of different quarterbacks, Hopkins caught 96 of a league-high 174 targets for 1,378 yards and 13 touchdowns in 15 games, the second time in the last three years that he's had at least 1,300 yards and 11 scores. If Deshaun Watson can fully return from his serious knee injury, Hopkins will have a great opportunity to repeat his prolific play next season.
Hopkins was one of 13 wide receivers to reach 1,000 yards this season, though the low touchdown man on the list was Julio Jones, who scored just three times, including two against the Bucs in Week 12 when he caught 12 of 15 targets for 253 yards. There is no questioning Jones' ability to rack up yards, as he reached 9,000 career receiving yards in only 95 games, the fastest to that mark in the history of the league by three games. Additionally, Jones joined Marvin Harrison (1999-2002) as the only players ever to have four consecutive seasons with at least 1,400 yards. Total touchdowns for Jones in that span: 23. And in Harrison's: 52.
Not to beat a dead horse here, but Jones finished with the same number of receiving touchdowns as Odell Beckham and half as many as Cameron Brate.
TIGHT ENDS
Speaking of Brate, he and teammate O.J. Howard combined for 12 receiving touchdowns, more than any other tight end combination in the league except Jimmy Graham (10) and Luke Willson (four). Brate actually led the NFL in tight end touchdowns last year (he tied with Hunter Henry), though five players finished ahead of him this year. In terms of receiving yards, Rob Gronkowski took home that crown with 1,084 even with Sunday's donut against the Jets. Gronkowski has now surpassed 1,000 receiving yards in three of the past four seasons, and he'll surely go into next year as the top player at the position yet again. There's no denying Gronkowski's impact, it's all a matter of staying healthy.
LOOKING AHEAD
For those who are done with fantasy football for the season, I hope it was an enjoyable one. For a number of reasons, the NFL is getting a bit harder to love (seriously, what constitutes a catch?), but fantasy football sure makes it more fun. And for those who jump into fantasy leagues for the playoffs, we'll have rankings up next week before the fun starts up again next weekend.
As a Jets fan, I barely remember what it's like to have my team in the playoffs, but I'd like to congratulate Kevin Payne, Mark Stopa and all the other Bills fans out there for finally getting their team back in the playoffs (as if they had something to do with it). Just when it looked like the Ravens were going to steal the final AFC wildcard spot, Andy Dalton threw a last minute touchdown to knock Baltimore out. Surely, he'll never have to pay for a wing in Buffalo ever again.
