BARLEY DIVISION
THE UGG LIFE (UGG)
Owner: Mike "Mooch" Petronis
2023 Season: 5th Place
2022 Season: 3rd Place
The Team
(Elite Contract,
*not-graded)
QB:
Patrick Mahomes#
RB:
David Montgomery, Najee Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson, Devin Singletary
WR:
Rashee Rice, Michael Pittman, Amari Cooper, Brandin Cooks
TE:
Hunter Henry, Juwan Johnson, Travis Kelce
K*:
Nothing to see here...
DEF*:
New England Patriots
Elite Contract: (Top 10 QB, Top 15 RB, Top 20 WR, Top 5 TE) + (Under or within $5 for Auction Value)
(# - Mahomes is the #1 QB in FANTRAX Dynasty. He could be paid over $20 his AV and retain Elite Contract Status)
“Sponsored” by Fantraxhq.com
Players to Watch (PTW):
Rhamondre Stevenson (RB): Mooch really needs some solid performances from all his players in 2024. But Stevenson, whom The Life invested a great deal of CAP, must breakout this season for UGG to win games. Stevenson got paid over the offseason, and is poised to be the bell cow even with Antonio Gibson sharing the backfield. If Stevenson truly gets into the Top 10 for RB production, then UGG will have some competitive games. However, if Stevenson goes the other way as has happened with "overpaid" RBs in the past, then the prognosis for UGG is truly dire. Antonio Gibson has more "juice" than Zeke, arguably. Furthermore, Stevenson's longevity is in question as he's faced injury in every year he's played. Still, the dynasty football talking heads like Stevenson to do great things; Mooch is counting on this math helping his franchise's chances in 2024.
Michael Pittman, Jr. (WR): The Life has a number of aging and/or troubled and facing suspension players in his receiver room. The one area of youth and hope is in the Indianapolis Colts receiver room with Pittman, Jr. Troublesome for Mooch is Anthony Richardson's penchant for feeding his tight ends targets over his receivers. Furthermore, with guys like Adonai Michell arriving in the offseason, the competition for routes, targets, and catches will be difficult. Pittman, Jr. came on strong toward the end of the season when UGG needed him, achieving point production at or over projections. He has the talent and capacity to continue a great season in 2024. At issue are the changes in the Indy offense and subsequent questions regarding who will be the primary players to make a difference in fantasy.
Practice Squad (Taxi)
Cedric Tillman (WR - RS2)
Keon Coleman (WR - RS1)
Trey Benson (RB - RS1)
Drake Maye (QB - RS1)
The PiTS
(TK’s Player in the Spotlight) - Keon Coleman WR Buffalo Bills, is the breath of fresh air Josh Allen has hoped for his whole NFL career. Coleman will jet to WR1 status from Game One on, and Mooch will immediately sign this talented route runner to a Rookie Contract. Despite a difficult and challenging 2024 season where The Life miss the playoffs, Mooch will celebrate selecting a dude any dynasty team would like to build around.
CAP (2024) - $54 ($3DM)
Draft Capital (2025 +): 9 Picks (1x 1st)
OVERALL GRADE
D-
The UGG Life is in a world of hurt mostly due to having everything that could go wrong occur in the 2023 season. Recall, Mooch gave up 1st Round Picks for players that were hurt or soon retained the dreaded IR designation following trade. Indeed, The Life seemed doomed out the gate. This is important context as it placed UGG in a hole as far as draft picks go, but more importantly as far as player contracts are concerned. Heading into the Spring Auction, UGG had less than 10 contracts, many of which were falling to the lower end of their respective depth charts.
UGG spent some CAP in the Spring Auction with Rhamondre Stevenson. Furthermore, he brought over DFFL's reigning Top 5 TE in Travis Kelce for a Franchise Tag and bought Patrick Mahomes - another Top 5 QB over from JWW. If both Travis and Patrick attain numero uno status within their fantasy positions, UGG still has so many holes in his roster that the points probably won't add up to any winning score come season start. If Rhamondre breaks out as some predict, UGG still has to get significant points from his aging stable of receivers.
UGG's CAP headed into a very limited Fall Auction does nothing to assist his gaps in depth and receivers. While Mooch has a good deal of 2nd round rookie picks and one 2027 1st, I suspect he will want to keep them to compete in some good upcoming rookie drafts.
The prognosis for UGG is simply not good. Could Amari Cooper, Brandid Cooks and Najee Harris become top scorers in DFFL in 2024? Of course! However, with the many uncertainties in all of those offenses, Mooch must feel he's in Vegas playing the penny slots. Given UGG's ability to beat out CAB in the waning days of 2023 to attain #5, Mooch, like Chad, is tough to bet against - even when the chips are down. BUT...even if UGG gets 50% of their squad to achieve great things, they will still be up against a pretty competitive Barley Division where the likes of TMW, JWW and DMM appear savvy enough to prevent an UGG run to the playoffs.
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