Greetings, good friends! Like a case of rosé at one of my backyard barbecues, Week 4 is cashed, and we are almost halfway through the pre-Cutline period of the 2021 RazzBowl.
So crack open a bottle of your favorite old world nebbiolo — maybe a Barolo, maybe a Barbaresco — and pour a tall glass of grown up grape juice as we dive into this week’s FAAB activity and the current standings atop the leaderboard.
Shut Up and Take My Money
We’re into that part of the RazzBowl where the severely limited FAAB budgets are beginning to run dry. Your intrepid correspondent, for instance, is completely broke and won’t be making any more moves this tournament. However, there was still plenty of action in the RazzBowl’s 21 leagues.
Mostly $1 and $2 bids, with a lot of the same names showing up league after league — Alex Collins, Kadarius Toney, Samaje Perine, Dalton Schultz, Taylor Heinecke, Brandon Bolden — but there were a handful of interesting / surprising bids out there. Take a look at the below table, listing all the FAAB pickups for more than $2 this week:
| Player | League | Winning Bid | Runner Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| NE RB Brandon Bolden | 4 | $10 | None |
| BUF TE Dawson Knox | 7 | $3 | $3 |
| BAL RB Latavius Murray | 8 | $3 | $2 |
| WAS QB Taylor Heinecke | 13 | $4 | None |
| KC WR Josh Gordon | 13 | $3 | None |
| ATL RB Cordarrelle Patterson | 17 | $3 | $1 |
| SEA RB Alex Collins | 19 | $3 | $1 |
Those two un-contested bids in League 13 were by the same manager. Sure hope that ends up being a good use of 70% of his FAAB.
But hoooooo boy, spending 100% of your season-long FAAB on Brandon Bolden? And then having your bid uncontested? Brutal.
Simply brutal.
At any rate, let us leave the world of FAAB behind and take a look at the Overall Standings.
Rising and Falling
I particularly liked pointing out who jumped up the standings the most after the Week 3 games, so I figure we’ll take a look at that together each week — along with who had the worst week in the tourney. Fan Scott Larson saw his rank jump more than anyone else this week, rising 189 spots to 89th Overall, largely behind monster games from Tyreek Hill and Dak Prescott, alongside David Montgomery and Kenneth Gainwell’s big games. In terms of most points scored, new Overall leader Kev “RotoSurgeon” Mahserejian compiled a tournament-best score of 226.70 with over 30 points each from Daniel Jones, Deebo Samuel, Cordarrelle Patterson, and D.J. Moore.
On the other side of the vineyard, MLB Network’s Craig Mish lost the most footing in the Overall, dropping 94 spots to 181st. Five of his “best balling” players scored under 10 points apiece, and CeeDee Lamb’s 3.3 points made it into his Flex. Not to be outdone by Mish, however, FantasyPros editor and ranker Pat Fitzmaurice scored just 103.8 points, with six players under 10 points each. Chins up lads, there’s always next week, Craig and Pat!
The Top Ten
I’d like to start by recognizing the three managers who have been in the Top Ten since I started paying attention (after the games of Week 2): Bobby LaMarco remains in 2nd place, Nick Spencer dropped a few spots from the top to 6th, and tournament co-creator BDon took one step up from 6th to 5th. Freakin’ amazing work to stick around so long, fellas!
In addition, three other players remain in the Top Ten from last week: Matt C drops a few spots, from 3rd to 7th, Michael Salfino moves up from 5th to 3rd, and Mitch Bunker holds steady in 4th place.
That leaves four newcomers to the Top Ten, including previously-mentioned new current leader, RotoSurgeon! Big performances on Kev’s team that have led him here after four weeks include NFL MVP front-runner Kyler Murray, and breakout WRs Deebo Samuel and D.J. Moore! Host of the WooFantasy Podcast, Nick Hefley has risen to 8th thanks in large part to Tom Brady, Austin Ekeler, Marquise Brown, and Travis Kelce. NumberFire’s Kenyatta Storin is in 9th, and with Cordarrelle Patterson, Cooper Kupp, and D.J. Moore, it’s no surprise. Lastly, it gives me great pleasure to mention that in 10th place is fan (and my personal friend) Kevin Lyons, and having both Tom Brady and Josh Allen on his roster (along with breakout Deebo Samuel and stalwart Derrick Henry) is a big reason why!
Congratulations as always to our current Top Ten, but remember: Win. Your. League. Or, at least, finish in the top three. That gets you into the Championship Bracket after the Cutline!
Until next week, cheers!
