Dynasty League 2024: My Predictions
MY PREDICTIONS
League MVP: Jalen Hurts (Fantasy Fairies)
The edge definitely belongs to QBs in the new scoring system, but it's not a lock. I think Hurts wins the NFL MVP this year, and I think that translates to the fantasy world as well. My runner-up is Amon-Ra St. Brown (Michael Style), definitely not someone you'll see making a surprise run at the NFL MVP, but he has a good chance to do so in our league. Yahoo predicts: QB Josh Allen (Fear Itself) with Jalen Hurts (Fantasy Fairies) as the runner-up
League OROY: Marvin Harrison Jr. (NUKEM)
Trying to predict this has a little to do with how well I think the rookies will do and a lot to do with trying to figure out who has the best chance at starting regularly for their teams. This year, that was really difficult to try and figure out. I think Yahoo's picks, Daniels and Williams, could see a little playing time for their teams with a chance at a whole lot if they play well from the start, but it's not a guarantee. I considered picking Malik Nabers given the opportunities that will be there for him to start, but there's too much volatility with Daniel Jones, plus if Ladd McConkey heats up that could hurt Nabers' rotational usage with Storm Surge. On the flip side of that, Harrison has a pretty well established QB. And there's the roster aspect, obviously Jefferson is NUKEM's WR1, his RBs aren't really a threat to eat into his Flex starts and his Receivers behind Jefferson have a lot of potential with at least one red flag each. Aiyuk's contract, Pittman's QB, Ridley's QB and consistency, Sutton's legs, and Brown's hamstrings. If MHJ gets going like he's expected to, he could entrench himself as NUKEM's WR2. My runner-up is Jonathon Brooks (The Empire). He's supposed to miss the first 3-4 weeks, which will put him behind the 8-ball, but I think he has a good chance to be a regular in Bryar's lineup when he does get on the field and starting 7-8 games could still be enough to come in second this year. Yahoo predicts: Jayden Daniels (NUKEM) over Caleb Williams (Michael Style)
Championship: NUKEM over Kade's Dawgs
The way I did this last year, accurately predicted Michael Style to win it all, but got his opponent (Kade's Dawgs) wrong. I guess that's a bad omen for Curt once again, but a great one for Pastor Dad.
Yahoo predicts: ay_Bilat finishing with the best record and the Ferocious Felines finishing second
FUN STATS
-ay_Bilat: Yahoo has Trey's team going 14-0. The other two times Yahoo has predicted a team to go 14-0, that team ended up 9-5, and finished second in their division. Also working against him is the continuation of the Yahoo Jinx. No team that Yahoo has picked to finish first in our league has actually done so, the best finish has been 3rd place, twice (both times by Trey in 2021 and 2023).
-Fantasy Fairies: From 4-10 in year 1 to 7-7 in year 2, but you came up just short of the playoffs. There have been five other teams through the years that have had a 3+ win jump from one year to the next, only one of those five didn't make the playoffs that year (Michael Style from year 1 to year 2), welcome to the club. If it makes you feel better, he did make it the year after that.
-Fear Itself: You have more division titles (4) then any other team in the league (the next closest would be ay_Bilat with 2). Your dominance over the East has played a big part in that second highest winning percentage in the league your team carries as well. But, last year marked the first year the East ever got close to putting four teams into the playoffs. The division seems to be balancing out, will you be able to maintain your grasp on the top?
-Ferocious Felines: A 6th place finish last year was the first time since year one that you didn't at least make the 3rd place game. And now, Yahoo has you projected to finish 2nd in the league, which is their highest projection for you ever (4th place projection last year was the previous high). Feel that? Feels like a sudden change in pressure to me.
-Kade's Dawgs: Last year marked the first year your team didn't finish with a winning record, it wasn't a losing record either, but that's not the point. ay_Bilat is now the only team to have a winning record every year. On the plus side, your playoff streak remains alive, as you, Fred and Trey are the only teams to have made the playoffs every year. Last year definitely looked like a step back though, a sign of things to come?
-Michael Style: Last year you managed to do two firsts for the league. You became the first team ever to be the lowest scoring team in your division and still win your division title. You also became the first team ever to be the lowest scoring team in the playoff bracket and still win the championship. A trophy is a trophy, but I have a feeling that won't be a feat easily replicated.
-NUKEM: Speaking of one year turnarounds. The biggest turnaround in league history was a 5 game jump by Fear Itself from year 1 to year 2. Two teams have made a 4 game jump (Space Rangers year 3 to 4 and Michael Style year 4 to 5). All this to say that you would just need to get to 9-5 to shoot to the top of that list.
-Space Rangers: My team has the highest winning percentage of any team to not make the championship (4th highest winning percentage in the league, just barely more than the Ferocious Felines, who also have a championship appearance). I guess that's fitting as a Vikings fan. I'm hoping my big swing this offseason pays off.
-Storm Surge: We have had a new coach take over an existing team two times prior to this year. Both of those teams only managed 4 wins in their coach's initial season (Cody in 2020 at 4-9 and Ryan in 2022 at 4-10). Add in the fact that Simon's overall regular season record with this team was 21-47 and the deck certainly looks stacked against our newest coach.
-The Empire: Six. That's the number of regular season wins you need this season so that your total wins from year 3 to year 6 would equal what you did in the first two seasons (17 wins). This is the first time Yahoo has you projected to make the playoffs since year 3, so maybe there is some hope?
-Draft Stat: This marked the first year we've ever had a Wide Receiver go #1 overall (including in our inaugural draft). So, congratulations to Marvin Harrison Jr.
-Draft Stat: This was the first year since our 2020 draft that 5 QBs were drafted. It's also the most Rookie QBs we've ever had selected (all 5), beating out the 2021 class (4 [Trevor Lawrence, Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones]). For those of us that drafted QBs we'll be hoping this class performs better than that one did. And in order to make room for the extra QB picks, we also saw the lowest number of Tight Ends selected at 2.
-Draft Stat: One other thing I found interesting was the number of Veterans selected, which was just 3. Prior to this draft we had seen at least 6 veterans taken every year. But hey, at least Kadarius Toney's streak of three straight years being drafted was finally brought to an end.