Fantasy Football Championships: Flex Rankings Week 16

Those of you reading this must be playing for a championship. If you’re not and still are reading this then I’d like to say thank you for the click. As for the rest of you I have but only one thing to say.

You’re not finished.

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You’ve been at it for the better part of 16 weeks now. Since the draft you’ve been sculpting a team made up of the best players available to you. You wished you hadn’t missed out on C.J. Anderson but holding onto Jeremy Hill is really paying off now. It was tough watching Brandon Marshall go down for the season but thank goodness you were still able to survive that two point performance out of Peyton Manning.

You have more work to do and guess what.. The fantasy football gods don’t care that it’s Christmas or Hanukkah or any other holiday you want to celebrate. They don’t reward complacency. They know, as well as you should that this is the worst time you could stop what you’ve been doing.

This season I played in only four leagues. It was a considerable drop from my usual six or seven leagues. I felt I needed to do a little trimming so I focused in on only my highly regarded leagues.

First, there was the one I have been in the longest. An old roommate and bunch of our friends and friends of friends. I’ve never actually won that league but I have slew of second and third place finishes.

Then there’s the Dynasty League I started up this year. It’s a collection of different players from different leagues that I know and we all came together to try a league none of use have ever done. I didn’t get Andrew Luck, and I’m super pissed about it.

There’s another league I am in with a bunch of guys I used to work with. That one is one where I take a lot of chances I other wise wouldn’t in more serious leagues. That’s the league where I’ll do something like draft two WR’s in the first two rounds and see how I do. Like a test league.

Then there’s the really important league. My Super-Big-Time-League. This league has only been around since 2008 but this is the league where I have faced my stiffest competition.

The slimming down of leagues seems to have done well for me. In three of these leagues I have made the championship. I don’t have one more match up to worry about. I have three.

The league I missed out on the championship I still made it to the second round of the playoffs.

All three paths to all three championships are all different. One league I was the number three team the entire season. I kept at it, replaced players quickly when they went down, took some chances and got a little lucky.

In the Dynasty team started 1-4, went on a run late and built what so far looks like a real contender. I had to be patient with a few of my players in this league, guys like Mike Evans and Tre Mason carried me later.

In the Super-Big-Time-League and I was at or near the top nearly every week. All but three guys that I drafted have been either cut, benched or got injured. It’s those three players that have carried me through the season despite erratic play form the rest of my roster.

Those three players?

Andrew Luck, Le’Veon Bell and Rob Gronkowski.

None of these players were first or second round picks. In this league I drafted Bell in the third round, Gronkowski in the fourth and Luck in the fifth.

My first round pick? ..Montee Ball

Hey.. I was the ninth pick.

So you see some of what I have had to deal with.

And now, with one more week to go.. I have a shot at the hat trick. Three leagues, three championships in one season.

I know this isn’t a lot of real good fantasy football advice, but this is my column. If I want to gloat about having three teams who could possibly win me three different championships in one season then I will. Because I can. This is is after all what this is all about. Selfish gloating.

As you go over my final rankings for the season remember the same old mumbo jumbo. I use a standard ten team league as my basis of judgement. If someone is injured I generally rank them based on what I feel are there chances to play are. I also consider how effective they will be if they do suit up.

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