This past week demonstrated the effects that COVID-19 can have on both the National Football League, and fantasy football. Certain teams in the WTBU Fantasy League managed to still cruise to wins, while others got hammered by players forced to miss this week. Let’s put all of it together and look at the week 5 power rankings.
#10 The Flavortown Trash Can Lids (1-3) — Aksahi Wadhwani [Last Week: 7]
Added: None
Dropped: None
Nick Chubb now sits on IR with a knee injury, dealing a major blow to Akshai’s already weak roster. Still, he got strong performances from his other two running backs in Todd Gurley II and Mike Davis, but the only productive players he had last week were his quarterback and his kicker. All of the Patriots Akshai has on his team appear to be useless without Cam Newton, not to mention the Pats might have their own COVID-19 outbreak coming with Newton and cornerback Stephon Gilmore already positive. With all that, Akshai’s team will be very boom or bust this week versus Hannah’s Bananas
#9 Baby Chark (1-3) — Ethan Fuller [Last Week: 8]
Added: TE Robert Tonyan (Free Agency, later dropped), TE Eric Ebron (Free Agency), K Daniel Carlson (Free Agency), WR N’Keal Harry (Free Agency)
Dropped: Jets D/ST (Waivers), K Mason Crosby (Waivers), WR Corey Davis (Waivers)
Here is a truly hilarious fact for you. Despite being the orchestrator of the dumbest fantasy football trade I’ve ever seen, involving him and The Jackson 9, Ethan’s team has outscored them by twenty points this season.
That aside, The Jackson 9 have a far higher ceiling than Ethan’s team. He is still without star WR Michael Thomas, he continues to deal with the inconsistency of Darrell Henderson Jr., Michael Gallup, and Noah Fant, and will likely be without RB Austin Ekeler for the near future. While his next matchup against The Ladies Love Sosi is not the toughest, Ethan’s team continues to weaken.
#8 The Ladies Love Sosi (2-2) — Perry Sosi [Last Week: 9]
Added: QB Jared Goff (10/3 Free Agency later dropped), RB Jeff Wilson Jr. (10/3 Free Agency, later dropped), WR Hunter Renfrow, RB Chase Edmonds (Free Agency), QB Justin Herbert (Free Agency), K Stephen Gostkowski (Free Agency)
Dropped: RB Tevin Coleman (Free Agency), TE Dallas Goedert (Free Agency), RB Mark Ingram II (Waivers)
Perry’s team had its best week in Week 4, with all of his WRs going off against their opponents. On top of that, Zeke Elliot and Deandre Swift also did well for him. The major issue lies in the QB situation. Jared Goff and Carson Wentz are both bad fantasy QBs, and neither will provide consistently high production like Cam Newton can. For this coming week, Perry’s team will be without Swift and Matt Prater with no backup kicker. Perry’s team does not look like it can repeat a 140+ point performance this week.
#7 Hannah’s Bananas (2-2) — Hannah Yoshinaga [Last Week: 10]
Added: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (Free Agency), WR Marquise Brown (Trade), TE Mike Gesicki (Trade),
Dropped: TE Logan Thomas (Waivers), TE Jonnu Smith (Trade), WR Preston Williams (Trade)
I meant it when I said that Hannah’s team would only sit at No. 10 temporarily. Her team actually performed better than expected after four starters went down to the COVID-19 cancellation of Steelers-Titans. Thanks to strong games from Matt Stafford, Antonio Gibson and DeVante Parker, and an unreal return performance from George Kittle, Hannah reached 135 points.
However, this week she is starting Ryan Fitzpatrick (the QB epitome of boom or bust), and unfortunately only Kittle and James Conner have especially high ceilings this week, while many of her WRs, including Parker and newly acquired Marquise Brown are questionable for this week. All of this keeps her at No. 7 for the week.
#6 Suh-Tang Clan (2-2) — Patrick Donnelly [Last Week: 2]
Added: K Greg Zuerlein (10/1 Waivers, later dropped), QB Gardner Minshew II (Waivers), K Chris Boswell
Dropped: QB Jimmy Garoppolo (Waivers), K Greg Zuerlein
Patrick’s team makes the major drop for this week. After a really poor performance against Senior on JV, his team faces many hurdles entering this week. Davante Adams and T.J. Hockenson both have byes this week, Kenyan Drake continues to grow increasingly unproductive, and Jerry Jeudy will likely not play this week due to the COVID-19 cases in the Patriots organization.
On top of all this, Dalvin Cook faces a tough RB defensive matchup against Seattle, Robert Woods will face the same for WRs in Washington, and he has some choices to make of which backups to start. If he picks the right players, and everyone exceeds expectations this week, Patrick’s team will put up a fight against the white-hot The Philips Heads.
#5 The Jackson 9 (2-2) — Brady Gardner [Last Week: 4]
Added: K Joey Slye (Free Agency)
Dropped: QB Kirk Cousins (Waivers)
Brady’s team moves down again this week to No. 5 after a tough performance against Happy Golladays coupled with The Philips Heads and The Philadelphia Pigeons (who Brady is playing this week) all trending up. No one on his team blew away their expectations for Week 4, and DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green really let his team down. Unfortunately, due to player injuries and many of his players having not great but not terrible matchups this week, I see this week as a tough challenge for Brady against the current No. 2 team.
#4 The Philips Heads (1-3) — Joe Pohoryles [Last Week: 6]
Added: K Randy Bullock (Free Agency), WR Preston Williams (Trade, later dropped), TE Jonnu Smith (Trade), Cardinals D/ST (Free Agency), RB D’Ernest Johnson (Waivers)
Dropped: K Stephen Gostkowski (Free Agency), Chiefs D/ST (Free Agency: added, later dropped), WR Marquise Brown (Trade), TE Mike Gesicki (Trade)
Joe’s team’s elite production finally earned him a win in this league. It may have taken a 185+ point performance, but with Joe Mixon, Amari Cooper, Randy Bullock and his trio of Seahawks all going off last week, nothing was going to stop his team. He didn’t even have his first round pick in Derrick Henry playing! He also faces a favorable matchup in a depleted Suh-Tang Clan roster this week.
I wouldn’t expect another performance that high from the league’s No. 2 offense, with Cooper, Mixon, Derrick Henry and newly acquired Jonnu Smith all facing tougher matchups this week. Not to mention that his two Titans might not play this week as the Titans have yet to get their COVID-19 outbreak under control. Joe will likely have another good week, but not another insane week.
#3 Happy Golladays (Formerly New York Danny Dimes) (3-1) — Daniel Multz [Last Week: 5]
Added: TE Mo Alie-Cox (Free Agency, Later Dropped), RB J.K. Dobbins (Waivers), WR Marquez Valdez-Scanling (Waivers), TE Greg Olsen
Dropped: TE Austin Hooper (Waivers), QB Daniel Jones (Waivers), WR Allen Lazard (Waivers)
My team continues to remain consistent as ever, scoring exactly between 135 and 140 points, yet again. However, there are three concerns surrounding my team heading into this week. The first is that I’m playing Senior on JV this week: the highest-scoring offense in the league. The second issue is my WR-roulette that I’ve had to play every week.
Kenny Golladay having a bye makes this easier, but there’s always a tough choice between Tyler Boyd’s high floor, Cooper Kupp’s consistent end zone attention, and CeeDee Lamb slowly settling in as the No. 2 WR on Dallas. Finally, in six total games since Week 2, Josh Jacobs and Clyde Edwards-Helaire met their projections just once. Nevertheless, my team produces at an expected high level, always with the potential to exceed.
#2 Philadelphia Pigeons (2-2) — Ben Silver [Last Week: 3]
Added: TE Jimmy Graham (Free Agency)
Dropped: None
Ben’s team moves up one spot despite a lackluster performance last week against Baby Chark. Many of his starters face tough matchups in Week 5. Miles Sanders and Zach Ertz, Kareem Hunt, and Keenan Allen all face tough defenses in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and New Orleans respectively.
However, Hunt will be even busier without Nick Chubb in the offense, and Kyler Murray, Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs face equally easy matchups. Ben’s team has a lower floor than usual this week, but also has a higher ceiling, especially against a Jackson 9 team with many tough matchups of their own.
#1 Senior on JV (4-0) — Chad Jones [Last Week: 1]
Added: None
Dropped: None
This week was by far not the best Chad’s team ever had. Only Adam Thielen and Odell Beckham Jr. performed exceptionally well, and they made up for a struggling Hunter Henry and a non-existent Calvin Ridley. This can certainly be attributed to the tough defenses those two faced last week in Green Bay and Tampa Bay, respectively, but it is noteworthy that a clear WR1 in Ridley saw no catches, yards or TDs despite Julio Jones’ early departure.
This week presents a strong chance for the league’s last undefeated team to take its first loss. Happy Golladays certainly needs to step up, but with Aaron Jones out on a bye this week, and Alvin Kamara, Beckham Jr., Ridley and David Montgomery facing taller mountains to climb, the odds are stacked in his favor less than usual.
WTBU Sports 