Headhunters 3: The Fine Nine

## Introduction

Last week I didn't have time to do the writeup. This week I have all the time in the world and I really don't want to do the writeup. But not all heroes wear capes.

## In Memorium: The Guilloteam

At one point last night Guilloteam remarked "it took a perfect storm to eliminate me" and yeah that's true but also it takes the perfect storm to eliminate everyone. Once you get into the second month of the season it's usually not a "bad" team that's going home. It's a good team having a bad week. It's a number of byes all lining up. It's an important player or two having a bad game. It's a starting RB getting hurt early or in the prior week that keeps them from playing. It's a combo of those things. Every team has survived this long because they've outscored someone else. They all deserve to be here. But someone always goes home. So yeah, it takes a perfect storm. Next week a perfect storm will wreck someone else's ship. This week it was the Guilloteam. They had Cooks and Montgomery on the bye. They had Claypool and Harris hurt. And they had every player perform below projection except for Dan Arnold and D'Andre Swift.

Guilloteam cares only about winning. Aside from that, oddly enough, they cared about beating Nate. The good news for them, if they want to do mental gymnastics, is that they are still ahead of Nate by several hundred points on the season. If Beach McBungalow gets eliminated this week, they can still twist and turn reality just enough to say that they "beat" him.

But yeah, in the actual reality that we all exist within, Pat lost.

The Guilloteam:

## In Memorium: Last Matts Standing

Writing my own obit every year is pretty shitty.

This team should have been good. It was projected over 200 every single week and never could get there. Nearly every player underperformed every week. The last two weeks, Last Matts bid more aggressively on players and actually won some big names. They also came in second on several bids, but mostly to teams bidding money they could not afford. Ultimately, losing Robert Woods on Friday afternoon was probably a bigger blow than anticipated. And losing Aaron Jones mid-game on Sunday definitely hurt, creating a bleak outlook for the future. Had they survived, they'd have been down two starters, meaning they'd be spending money not to better the team but to bolster positions that should have already been filled. Such is life in fantasy, you build and build and build only to have the deck of cards crumble. Some teams, like Dere-lick, are strong enough to survive. Others, like Last Matts Standing, are simply not. Still, they could have made it through to week 11 had they just stuck with starter Antonio Gibson, coming off a bye, instead of swapping in his backup. It is a start/sit decision that will stick with them for a long off-season.

For Commish, this is actually his best performance ever in HH after two week eight exits from 2019-2020. Still, since Tebo scored more than him week one before they merged, Commish technically finished lower than him. And since Bad VRs is run by two managers, and an extra team has been added in 2021, Commish has *officially* finished one spot lower than he did last season. So is that good or bad or the same? Who fucking knows. This is also the second year they were cut with a double-elimination, a classic case of Commish making rules and then getting screwed by them.

For Coach, a rough follow-up to the inaugural 2020 campaign in which they made it all the way to the championship. Last season, they did so by spending a lot of money early and then working with a great roster all the way until the end. Ultimately, they were undone by this since they could not out bid for any single player. Derek spent $1 on anyone they needed and had the lineup of their choosing for week 16. This year, they tried to merge with Commish in hopes that they could save money until later in the game. The strategy was working, but they were hit with a..."perfect storm" the last two weeks.

One team going home. Two heads rolling.

Last Matts Standing:

## Weeks Survived (2019 v 2020 v 2021)

So far every team that has been eliminated finished lower in the standings than they did last season. While in some cases this has to do with the league expansion, it also speaks to the great parity of the league. Many teams left have never made it this far in their franchise histories.

## Dead Money

Keeping track of all the cash that never got spent by teams that are now eliminated.

Dead Money

## Week Eleven-Twelve - The Great Purge

One double left in the next two weeks. I'll try to remember to do this on Thursday so we know for the Patriots game.

## New Releases

Embarrassment of riches this week, and I imagine we will have a LOT of people burning the remainder of their budgets to bring in some of these guys.

1. George Kittle
2. Justin Jefferson
3. Aaron Jones
4. D'Andre Swift
5. Lamar Jackson
6. Antonio Gibson
7. Justin Herbert
8. Adam Thielen
9. Clyde Edwards-Helaire
10. Melvin Gordon III

## Week Ten Bidding Results

#### Quick-hit thoughts

* I have a theory that my dad does not understand as the game goes on, people bid less and less on players since they have less and less money. Ultimately, you can boil it down to a % of total remaining budget. It's not as much a dollar value as a percent of the leftover cash each week, that's what a player is worth. Spending nearly 100% of your budget on Chris Godwin makes zero sense in week 10.
* Also, did Out of Luck think they were bidding on Darrell Henderson? Why spend so much on a player who will be back splitting carries in 1-2 weeks?
* Bad VRs only competition for Matt Stafford? Themselves. Waste of money.
* Beach McBungalow tanked to gain waiver priority early on, but then lost waiver priority to the only other team that tanked the same week. Chess match.

Last Year's most expensive week ten player: Michael Thomas ($300)...remember him?

## Week Ten Results

* Biggest Climber: Bad VRs (^9)
* Biggest Faller: The Guilloteam (v8)

## Kings of the Castle

### 1. Bad VRs

They're good. They've had three first place finishes in the last four weeks and they are the only other team to finish first besides Dere-Lick since week 5.

### 2. Out of Luck

This is the only team that actually BEAT their projection this week. However, with ony $10 left they really won't be changing much for the rest of the season.

### 3. Dere-lick

They haven't skipped a beat since losing Henry, but similar to the above team they have no money so they won't be improving any time soon. This is all they got, but is it all they need?

### 4. The Titanic

Been in the top tier for the entire season but we'll see how they match up with everyone after this week's feeding frenzy. Seems pretty obvious, but of course all the teams that have used their budgets are up top. It comes back to haunt at this point in the season when the teams below them can get similar caliber players but way cheaper. Should be interesting to see if these top four teams can hang on once the bottom of the pack bulks up.

## On the Chopping Block

### 5. Return of the Mac

They're the lowest scoring team left alive but they have the money to do something about it.

### 6. Beach McBungalow

Probably would not be down here if they had simply started the Dallas Defense they spent $11 to acquire, but a weekend trip to Philly threw this manager for a loop and caused them to forget their lineup. No harm done, as finishing low is better as long as you don't get chopped. They're not the first person to tell me they forgot about this league though, which is funny considering this league has a pretty decent payout IMO. Not a bank-breaker but certainly worth setting a lineup for...

### 7. RemDawg Forever

Nine of their winning bids were for under $100, with the biggest being DK Metcalf in their opening week. Now, with so little money left, they are still starting guys like Cole Beasely and Jakobi Meyers. Granted, all that matters is the total fantasy points scored. Name on the jersey means nothing. But cannot help but feel that they are a double-elim candidate this week.

### 8. Sloppy Seconds

Sloppy Seconds, the team no one is talking about. Many have fallen since their resurrection and the beat goes on for Bobecue. What drives them? The unquenchable thirst for revenge? Something darker? Their best finish was 7th in 2019 and they are approaching that mark now in 2021, already having survived longer than ever before.

### 9. Neck-fix and chill

It was looking like a Romeo and Juliet situation with Pat and D heading into Sunday Night Football. Then Patrick Mahomes happened.

## Dungeon Dwellers

2021 teams that finished second-to-last, narrowly avoiding elimination:

## Single Season Scoring Records

As teams get eliminated their season will be added to the record books.

## All-Time Combined Points Scored

As teams get eliminated, their updated totals will be added to the record books. For the moment, Derek moves into third all-time in scoring. That will certainly change with each elimination moving forward.

Pat falls PAINFULLY short of breaking the league record for total points scored and CP retains the title of scoring champ for the remainder of this season. No team currently playing has the chance to catch him in 2021.

## Conclusion

See you Thursday for the final Wheel of Fate and Happy Hunting!