How time flies! Here we are, already two weeks of the RazzBowl are in the books. I’d have written you all updates about it, but I was cruising the Rhône river from Avignon to Orange, sampling Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the region’s finest vignerons.
In other words, I was drunk.
Which also explains my $3 FAAB purchase of one Jameis Winston after the games of Week 1. Yikes.
But my team has sailed, even with my traipsing through the vineyards of southeastern France, to a Top 15 position in the Overall standings. I know, I know… you’re impressed.
Each week I’ll be taking a look back at the FAAB action of the immediately-passed waiver run — like the Week 1 FAAB spend, by some teams, of 100% of their budget on Sony Michel, others spent 100% budget during Week 2 on Eli Mitchell — before taking a look at the top of the Overall standings.
Here are some fun Full Budget Bids (or very close) from the first three FAAB runs of the 2021 RazzBowl:
| Week | Player | League | Winning Bid | Runner-Up Bid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LAC RB Justin Jackson | 7 | $9 | $1 |
| 1 | LAR RB Sony Michel | 12 | $9 | None |
| 1 | LAR RB Sony Michel | 17 | $10 | $7 |
| 1 | LAR RB Sony Michel | 18 | $10 | $10 |
| 1 | BAL RB Ty’Son Williams | 20 | $9 | $1 |
| 2 | SF RB Elijah Mitchell | 8 | $10 | $10 |
| 2 | SF RB Elijah Mitchell | 13 | $10 | $9 |
| 3 | ATL RB Cordarrelle Patterson | 1 | $10 | $3 |
| 3 | ATL RB Cordarrelle Patterson | 6 | $10 | $1 |
You can’t even hate on some of these. Sure, one manager paid 90% of their budget for Sony Michel and could have had him for 10% since no one else bid; elsewhere, two managers both bid 100% and it had to come down to tiebreaker. You just never know. Personally, my $3 for Winston in Week 2 went uncontested, and after his Week 2 performance… well… let’s just say I’d love to have that budget back.
There were other scenarios where managers blew their entire budget (or close to it) on several winning bids, having assumed they’d be unlikely to win them all. The RazzBowl, being a “better ball” format with limited FAAB, can be difficult to navigate, whether players are used to the FAAB process or not. You have to bid at least 10% of your budget, in 10% increments, and after the games of Week 10, there are no more opportunities to change your roster at all. The budget is literally use-it-or-lose-it, and unless you’re in first place, the argument that your team can’t get better — even marginally — through FAAB rings hollow to this correspondent.
So how does the top of the standings look right now?
Among the Top Five spots, four out of the five drafted in the back half of their drafts (Bobby LaMarco and Nick Hefley drafted 11th, Kurt Brown 12th, and fifth-place Nick Spencer 7th). Only Scott Jenstad, who had the first pick in his draft (he took Christian McCaffrey, natch), in 4th, had a top-half draft slot among this elite group.
No player is on all five rosters, as far as I can tell… but everyone except Spencer has Amari Cooper, whose Week 1 performance is a big reason for their success. A couple appearances of Kyler Murray and Cooper Kupp don’t surprise, but three of the five share Quintez Cephus (ADP: 276) on their rosters. Those late round picks are where the edge is found, folks.
Spots 6-10 have quite a few names familiar to those who follow Razzball, the RazzSlam, or fantasy baseball and football Twitter in general. Three of the five had draft slots in the top half, but not Razzball’s own Joey Wright, in 6th place, who drafted 10th. Following him are Kev “RotoSurgeon” Mahserejian, “Stack Attack” Nick Mimikos, RazzBowl Co-Commissioner BDon, and Vlad “RotoGut” Sedler, a veritable “who’s who” of the Fantasy Sports industry.
There weren’t any players I could find on four or five rosters in this group, though we do see more Kyler Murray and Cooper Kupp, and three of these five roster Joe Mixon.
Shoutout to Kevin Lyons, an “Average Joe” player and close personal friend who finds himself at 11th place overall, just behind this murderer’s row of fantasy industry luminaries.
Good luck to all the RazzBowlers in Week 3!
