Fantasy Football Playoff Winners

The 2021 fantasy football season has come and gone, and although it is sad we no longer have fantasy to look forward to every week, we still should take a look back at the players who helped people win their fantasy championships. We all had certain players that helped get us to the playoffs, but I want to focus in on the players who actually brought you home the title with great performances down the stretch, because a few of them are very surprising.

What I have put together are the top 5 at each position from Week 15 through Week 17. The numbers are by total points and based off of Half PPR scoring. These players put your teams on their backs and hopefully helped you take home the trophy and some sweet cash prizes. Let’s take a look at who they are!

Quarterbacks

Mr. Joe Burrow balled out in the playoffs and almost threw for 1,000 yards total the last 2 weeks. The Bengals were up and down, fantasy wise, for most of the season, but when it mattered the most, they came up clutch. Burrow was able to get all of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and even Tyler Boyd involved and all three were top 8 WRs in those weeks. The other four players are guys we would expect there at the end of the season, and for Dak it was great to see him break out of his funk at the right time. Before Week 15, he had many down games and did not look like himself, but he and the team picked it up and gave you the performance we thought they would all season.

Pat Mahomes was similar to Dak in the way that he also had down weeks before playoffs started, but turned it around right at the end. Josh Allen has been QB1 all season and him finishing as QB2 overall in the playoffs was no surprise to anyone. He was consistent for all 17 weeks and never gave you a scare that his production would not keep up. Then we have old man Rodgers who has bene playing like an MVP once again, and giving everyone the middle finger who doubted him all season. It will be interesting to see if a guy like Joe Burrow will make the leap next year and be ranked as a top 5 QB or not.

Running Backs

If you looked at the chart and needed to take a seat and try not to puke, don’t worry, you are not alone; I had to run up to the bathroom a few times while writing this. I will start with JT though who finished as RB3 in fantasy playoffs. This comes as no surprise at all because we have seen the RB1 on the season do it each and every week. We would have liked him to be RB1 in playoffs, but we will take this scoring he gave us. With Montgomery, this is what we have seen and expected the last 2 seasons. He has been a fantasy winning RB for 2 straight years now, and it comes behind an easy RB schedule the Bears always seem to have down the stretch.

Now getting to the top dog Rashaad Penny. If you have listened to us at all, you know our hate for Penny and how he has been a bust ever since coming into the league. Well, apparently it took him 3 and a half years to shut us up because he was in several championship lineups and the people who took a gamble on him a few weeks back, good for you. The one I was shocked about was Devin Singletary, because no one wanted to start a Bills RB all season and rightfully so. Zach Moss was the guy to start early in the season, but Singy pushed his way to the top of the depth chart and made Moss an afterthought. Sony was a fantastic add late in the season when Henderson was banged up and missed time. Not only was he a solid handcuff RB, but when his time came, he made Patriot fans really miss him (although we are doing fine with Harris and Stevenson).

Wide Receivers

Three of the five players here did this all season, so it was no surprise to see Adams, Kupp, and Deebo make this list. They finished as the top 3 WRs in all of fantasy and these are players who helped you get here and also helped you win it all at the same time. They were consistent all year, and besides a game or two with them not showing up, you were pleased. Guys like Kupp and Deebo were players you took in the later rounds and they ended up being massive steals for you.

Another guy on this list is rookie Ja’Marr Chase. He was being picked pretty high because he was the new, hot rookie this season, but it paid off. Those dropped passes in the preseason did not carry over and he took the world by storm. He slowed down later in the season for a few weeks, but right when playoffs hit, he went back to doing what he did to start the season. And perhaps most shocking of all, a waiver pickup up this season finished as WR1 in playoffs. Amon-Ra St. Brown had an unreal end to the season and he did it with multiple different QBs. Even when Goff was out, we were weary on starting him, but he showed us all it did not matter who the QB was because the talent is there. Congrats to those managers who took a shot on this young kid because he was in several championship lineups.

Tight Ends

Now we get to TEs and the top two listed here were the top 2 TEs the entire season. Mark Andrews was getting picked behind guys like Kyle Pitts and TJ Hockenson in some drafts, so I would say he was a steal. In the final few weeks, he outscored Kelce by 18 points! He was leaps and bounds ahead of every TE in playoffs (and for the entire season) and he did this with many different QBs those final weeks. Travis Kelce comes in at #2, and I get he had a “bad season”, but if that means TE2 on the year, then I will take that. He had a stretch of bad games towards the end, but turned it on at the perfect time.

“Best to ever do it” Dalton Schultz finished strong as well, and was one of the best waiver pickups on the season. I myself thought he could not keep it up once the Cowboys had all their WRs healthy, but he proved me wrong. Goedert had an up and down season, but it was good to see him come alive at the end because this was a player who was being dropped in most leagues. Fant had a bad year and really killed you during the season, so I would not be shocked if anyone really trusted him in playoffs, but if you did, he put up decent numbers for a TE to help you.

THE WRAP UP

Well there you have it. These players were the best fantasy players at their positions in the final weeks. Some of them we knew would be here, but there were many we were shocked about. This just shows that you can have your team “set” going into playoffs, but you still have to be involved each week and put bids on these guys and hope you can pick them up. It may be to help you or at the very least it is always good to make sure your opponent doesn’t get them. I hope you won some titles this season and if so, please write a nice thank you letter to these studs.

Stay Fluid, Stay Loose.