With 13 weeks of Football closed and in the books, I think now would be a good time to head towards the finish line of our 2024 Fantasy Football MVP race. For those reading who don’t play fantasy football, or don’t know how it works, here’s a quick sum up.
It’s basically you and a bunch of friends (regularly 8,10,12) drafting fake teams of real NFL players to form your fantasy team. Usually your team will consist of a quarterback, a couple of running backs, some wide receivers, a Tight End, a Kicker, and a team Defense. Along with that you’ll have a couple of extras from those positions to store on your bench. Those are mostly the basics as far as rosters go, but every league’s different. For example lots of leagues have a FLEX player in their lineup, which is typically just a word for another RB/WR/TE. Some league’s will have other stuff like individual defensive players, wacky scoring rules, and other stuff I can’t even think of at the moment. So you have your team, and every week of NFL Football your team faces against somebody else in your league, and who ever’s team scores more points that week, earns a win. Typically league’s will have Fantasy Playoffs so something like four teams with the best records face in the playoffs, and then a championship. Oh! And you score points based on your players performance in his game. So for example if I have Arizona Cardinals Quarterback, Carson Palmer , and he has 3 TDs one day, and each touchdown is worth five points, that’s already fifteen points from Palmer. He’ll also typically get me points based on how many yards he threw for as well, so on a typical day I’m gonna have around 30-45 points from Carson Palmer . Again, it all depends, all league’s are different.
‘Typical’ Count : 4.. well that makes 5 now…
Anyways, that brings us to our main event ; The 2024 Fantasy Football MVP Finish Line .
Throughout the season there’ve been tons of STUDS, and tons of DUDS. Countless guys who have had amazing seasons, and then some who’ve had the total opposite. This article’s going to talk about a couple of the STUDS we’ve seen so far this season who could hold up the most prized award in Sports history… the 2024 FANTASY FOOTBALL MVP! So let’s get to it, and take a look at our nominees.
Cam Newton , Carolina Panthers, QB – Anytime you’re the front runner for Most Valuable Player of real Football, you kinda have to be a nominee for the fake football MVP award as well. For one, Cam’s led a team of basically no name receivers to 12 weeks of winning, and for that he’s a no brainer on this list. But he’s had the stats to back it up. This season, only three running backs have had more rushing Touchdowns than Cam. Along with that, he’s the only player in the NFL to be in the top 30 for rushing yards, along with Passing Yards. Cam’s been absolutely dominant this season, and deserves a spot on the MVP nominees. I think the only question here on out is will Cam continue to lead the Panthers to a perfect regular season?
Tom Brady , New England Patriots, QB – Even with the last two most recent games, Brady’s still up there in MVP votes, and if he isn’t, I highly doubt you have Brady on your fantasy team, or know who he is in that matter. The biggest stat here has to be that Brady’s second in passing yards this season, and that’s only because Carson Palmer already played this week. Brady’s also in the lead as far as Touch Downs go… well sorta. He’s tied for 31 with … Carson Palmer. UGH Damn you Carson Palmer! Always trying to ruin my articles even more! Anyways, even on his bad days Brady finds a way to get you points from his shipload of passing yards, and pounds of touchdowns as well. A sure fire nominee.
Todd Gurley , St. Louis Rams, RB – You wanna talk Rookie of the year, he’s there. Gurley’s had quite the freshman year this season, and his 835 yards tell the whole story. Just for more fat to chew, Gurley averages 83.5 yards per game amongst running backs, which happens to be 4th best in the league. The only thing about Gurley though, when he’s having a good day, it’s a great day, but when he’s having an off day, it’s a really off day. 4 games with over 100 rushing yards, all four of those games he had at least 120 yards, but the six games where he didn’t hit 100 yards, four of those games he rushed for less than 50 yards. Get it? Got it? Me neither. Anyways that’s the flaw on Todd Gurley , re-read it if you have to.
Devonta Freeman , Atlanta Falcons, RB – Leads the NFL in rushing touchdowns, top 8 in rushing yards, need I say any more? There was a time this season where DeVonta Freeman was the best player in Fantasy Football, and for that I think he deserves some recognition. Through weeks 3-7 Freeman totaled 151 fantasy points in standard scoring leagues. Freeman was unstoppable at one point this season, and would still be a very deserving MVP in my eyes.
Antonio Brown , Pittsburgh Steelers, WR – Take away the slate of struggling games without Roethlisberger, the Bengals, Seahawks games and there’s no receiver better than Antonio Brown this season. Every week other than the five games I just mentioned, Antonio Brown’s had well over 100 yards, and six touchdowns, including a week 9 domination over the Raiders, a game where Brown tallied 284 receiving yards, and an even more impressive 306 yards of scrimmage. Again, take away those yucky performances, and Brown’s without a doubt receiver of the year… again.
Julio Jones , Atlanta Falcons, WR – Since I’ve been playing the numbers game all night, I might as well keep it up. 159 targets, 1,338 receiving yards, 6 touchdowns. It’s been quite the season for Julio Jones . In 13 games this season, he’s hit 90 yards in 9 of them. In those nine 90+ yard games, six of them have been 130+ yard games. Julio Jones is another prime example of “when he’s hot, he’s really hot, but when he’s cold, he’s really cold.” 6 games of 100+ yards, all have been 130+ yard games, three of those have been 160+ yard games. See what I mean? Julio’s had an unbelievable season, and could easily be Fantasy MVP this season.
DeAndre Hopkins , Houston Texans, WR – When you’re catching passes from Brian Hoyer , and putting up over 1,000 receiving yards, you deserve more than just a nominee. You deserve like three. It’s been a big year for DeAndre Hopkins . He’s officially taken over the WR1 role in Houston, and he’s set the bar pretty high for the next guy in line. In 2024, he’s already passed Andre Johnson in franchise scores, and has the most receptions by any player ever in 12 games. If ya want fantasy points, DeAndre provides them. Check this out, he’s had 5 games this season with over 100 yards, and 7 games with at least 1 Touch Down. No doubt on how talented this young man is anymore.
Odell Beckham Jr, New York Giants, WR – If you thought he was a beast last season, take a look at his stats this season. Beckham already beat his last seasons previous best in terms of receiving yards, 1,305, with a whopping 1,154 this season. He’s currently on a five game streak of 100+ yards, and he isn’t showing any plans of stopping. The receptions might not be that much, but they’ve been enough to keep him competing with other Pro Bowl Wide receivers. I can’t stand it when people say to me “Odell’s overrated.” False. I do believe people hype up his crazy catch last season, but he’s so much more than that catch. The man can do it all. He can burn you deep for six, or catch a screen pass and take it 45 yards and possibly the distance. End of the day, he’s most likely owned 100+ receiving yards, and one or two scores as well. Easily a top 7 Wide Receiver, and an easy top candidate for Fantasy MVP.
Rob Gronkowski , New England Patriots, TE – This one’s a no brainer. When healthy, there’s no one better than Gronk at his position, or any position really. His receptions have been going down, but you wouldn’t know it considering the fact he’s 1st in Tight End receiving yards, and 2nd amongst Tight Ends in TouchDowns this year. Gronk’s looking to make it back to back years with at least 1,000 receiving yards, and at least 10 TouchDowns.
My Vote — Personally, I think there’s a couple of good candidates on here, but there’s only a select few that are great per say. Cam’s had a great year, but you can’t just hand him the MVP trophy because of the fact his team’s still unbeaten. Might as well give every man on the 53 player roster the trophy if that’s the case. The 2 running backs I mentioned could easily hold up a Fantasy MVP trophy, but like most running backs have had tons of bad games. Games with less than 60 yards, zero touchdowns, that kinda stuff. So as of now I cross out Cam, DeVonta Freeman, and Todd Gurley. The 4 WR’s have all had spectacular seasons, but they’re all kind of at an even rate. If I had to choose though, I’d go with Julio. If you’re talking PPR, Julio’s your obvious MVP, same with receiving yards, considering the fact he has the most in the NFL. AB’s had a few really bad days, as has DeAndre. Odell’s been a beast yet again, but to me Julio’s the clear #1 choice. As far as Gronk goes, his vote goes pretty far as well. He’s done so much for the Pats and for his fantasy owners this season. I’d bet that anyone who owns Gronk is either on their way to Fantasy Playoffs, or already in the Playoffs. Too tough of a decision here, so for now I’ll leave it at this. Brady, Gronk, and Julio would be my top 3, give me who ever you want there.
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Alex B.