What up what is UP BOYYSSSSS we are BACK for the 12th that's right the TWELVE...FTH(?) installment of the Apex Fantasy Football league. Our humble sapling from way back yonder in 2011 has grown into a beautiful girthy oak tree with branches that extend across the plains from Raleigh to Charlotte. Let's dive into the hoopla that we need to cover before we start up the real action.
In the first round, Ryan comfortably beat TK, who had lost some key players to end the season, and Collin, in his playoff debut, squeaked by Mike to set up a Ryan vs Collin championship, which Ryan again won with ease.
Ok let's get into some league changes and proposals.
For this trial run, we will let everyone select 1 keeper. To select this keeper, you will sacrifice your draft pick from the round before he was drafted last season, as far down as the 8th round. So keeping any player drafted in rounds 9-16 will result in losing your 8th round pick. This means that players drafted in the first round last year are not eligible to be keepers. If the player was picked up from free agency, you will sacrifice your 8th round draft pick. For example:
Why am I doing it like this? Well I've done some reading, and this method tends to make people actually have to balance picking a keeper with sacrificing draft capital, and it prevents people from farming first round talent year in and year out.
For each of you, I've made a page where you can quickly see a glimpse of your team at year-end last season, and where you drafted those players. That can be found below:
With the new keeper rules, there may be times where it is not the perfect snake because people have sacrificed a draft position. I am not sure how this will work in terms of setting up the draft order on ESPN, but I hope you all trust me to do it right.
The draft pick selection order is the following:
Hopefully we can organize an in-person meetup to see everyone, pound a couple brews, and talk the shit that you all are so adverse to doing in the group chat, but be on the lookout for that in the next couple of months.
Where We Left
Last year Ryan took home the championship after being really just the best overall team all season. He owned the regular season, going 12-3 with 10 top-5 performances for 22 points, the most anyone has had in a season since 2018. He scored 2,112.76 points, an average of 140.9 PPG, which fell just 50.24 points below Tyler's all-time record of 2,163 in 2018.In the first round, Ryan comfortably beat TK, who had lost some key players to end the season, and Collin, in his playoff debut, squeaked by Mike to set up a Ryan vs Collin championship, which Ryan again won with ease.
Where We Are
So that brings us to now, a budding new season with endless possibilities on the horizon. Will playoff-regular John Luke make it back to the postseason after his extended stay in the cellar? Will we get a new champion from the pool of four members who have yet to win it all (Garrett, Nathan, Collin, and some dick cheese named Jake)? Will Austin's flimsy attempts to write better newsletters than me come to fruition after years of flops? Only time will tell.Ok let's get into some league changes and proposals.
Keepers
I brought up keepers and no one really had an opinion, but Collin Mike and Tmo said they were down so that's 3-0 for keepers. Here is my proposal, that we're going with unless I get some feedback (which, knowing you all, I won't).For this trial run, we will let everyone select 1 keeper. To select this keeper, you will sacrifice your draft pick from the round before he was drafted last season, as far down as the 8th round. So keeping any player drafted in rounds 9-16 will result in losing your 8th round pick. This means that players drafted in the first round last year are not eligible to be keepers. If the player was picked up from free agency, you will sacrifice your 8th round draft pick. For example:
- TK drafted Josh Allen in Round 4 last year. To keep Josh Allen, TK will forgo his 3rd round draft pick
- Jake picked up Cordarrelle Patterson from free agency last year. To keep Patterson, Jake will forgo his 8th round draft pick
- Tyler drafted Nick Chubb in Round 1 last year. Tyler cannot select Nick Chubb as a keeper.
Why am I doing it like this? Well I've done some reading, and this method tends to make people actually have to balance picking a keeper with sacrificing draft capital, and it prevents people from farming first round talent year in and year out.
For each of you, I've made a page where you can quickly see a glimpse of your team at year-end last season, and where you drafted those players. That can be found below:
Draft
So on the topic of draft picks. Be on the lookout for my text asking people about where they'd like to draft. Probably somewhere in/around Raleigh in August, just plan on that.With the new keeper rules, there may be times where it is not the perfect snake because people have sacrificed a draft position. I am not sure how this will work in terms of setting up the draft order on ESPN, but I hope you all trust me to do it right.
The draft pick selection order is the following:
- Nathan
- Austin
- Tyler
- Jake
- John Luke
- Garrett
- TK
- Mike
- Collin
- Ryan
Hopefully we can organize an in-person meetup to see everyone, pound a couple brews, and talk the shit that you all are so adverse to doing in the group chat, but be on the lookout for that in the next couple of months.
Money and Format
I'm not anticipating any changes to the other mechanics of the league.- 15-game regular season, top 4 teams make the playoffs, 1 week per playoff game
- Wins and Top 5 scores to determine standings
- $50 league due, paid before the draft
- $200-$100-$50 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, plus $10 paid weekly to the highest scorer
Schedules
Last but not least, the schedules. Once again, ESPN cannot figure it THE FUCK OUT and just keep a rotating schedule, but your humble league commissioner is here to save the day, as per usual. The table below indicates the teams you'll only be seeing once this season.| Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | John Luke | Collin | Ryan |
| Collin | Tyler | Austin | TK |
| Garrett | Ryan | Nathan | Mike |
| Jake | TK | Mike | John Luke |
| John Luke | Austin | TK | Jake |
| Mike | Nathan | Jake | Garrett |
| Nathan | Mike | Garrett | Tyler |
| Ryan | Garrett | Tyler | Austin |
| TK | Jake | John Luke | Collin |
| Tyler | Collin | Ryan | Nathan |