2022 Power Rankings-Season Finale

## Introduction

And just like that, another year is in the books. And what a year it was. Who could forget the time that Pat did that wacky thing. Or when Jared made that brilliant move. Or when Team A won week 8 against Team B by (insert narrow margin of victory). Yes, it was a year to remember. One for the record books.

But we are on to 2023. The past is the past. The future is the future. Finkle is Einhorn. Einhorn is Finkle. And the draft is in three very short days. This year we have 19 keepers, down from our usual 20. Unfortunately, Tom Brady's retirement has thrown Papa's Posse into a votrex of despair and the only answer to it - besides more cow bell - is to start the roster from scratch. Josh Jacobs, newly signed, will be Papa's lone holdover from season 12. Twelve...that was Tom Brady's number! [Cries into pillow]

We have some other interesting keeper selections, which we will talk about a bit later. I once again put off the season finale writeup for so long that Yahoo locked me out and I couldn't finish when I wanted to (sounds like my Friday nights, AMIRIGHT?). So before we truly move on to this season, I owe it to you to finish the last.

Anything specific from last year, you can pretty much assume I wrote it in February. Anything else I probably wrote this morning.

## LOC Honors

Here are the 2022 LOC Honors winners:

* 2022 Comeback Manager of the Year - Papa's Posse (went from 8th to 3rd, their 2nd-best finish in franchise history)
* 2022 Keeper of the Year - Multiverse of Mattness (72nd overall pick Justin Jefferson breaks the record for most receiving yards in a player's first three seasons and does so by 662 yards)
* 2022 Manager of the Year - Pain Train (44 roster moves to finish as the only team over 3,000 regular season points but could not overcome the league's third-toughest schedule)
* 2022 Michael Thomas Steal of the Draft Award - Duck Punchers (107th overall pick and rookie of the year runner-up Kenneth Walker breaks 1,000 rushing and scores 9 TDs in 15 games)
* 2022 Game of the Year - Week 13 Move-A-Palooza: Ma ma momma said (182.66) vs. RIPDab (180.11) - After Paddock 9 and RIPDab had a throwdown fight about RIPDab's roster moves, RIPDab spammed the league with dozens of add/drops. Unfortunately, he dropped Perine on a week when Mixon was injured and it cost him a close matchup that clinched a playoff berth for momma and eliminated RIPDab from bye contention.
* 2022 Alexis Texas "I Got Fucked" Award - Sweet Dee (Bills/Bengals cancellation nullifies what could have potentially been a huge Heart and Soul Bowl upset, though Dee still worked a deal with Commish for the 1st overall pick in 2023)
* 2022 Forgetting Sarah Marshall "Do Less" Award - Paddock 9 (97 roster moves to finish in 9th place)
* 2022 Inconsistency Award - The Shotti Bunch (opened season with four games over 220, then failed to break 190 in five of the next seven games, finished 7-7)
* 2022 Participation Trophy - RIPDab (lost his 5th, 6th, and 7th round picks, including his TE1 and QB1, and still scraped his way to a 5th place finish despite very few roster moves)
* 2022 Tank of the Year - N/A (Due to tight competition, no teams tanked in 2022)
* 2022 Villain of the Year - Week 17 (That one game getting canceled fucked the grand finale for the entire season

We are very sorry, The Stupid Idiots. You were neither good enough nor bad enough to get an award this year.

## The Keeper Rules

Just a rehash the keeper rules:

* Every team may take two, one, or zero keepers.
* Any player drafted between rounds 3-17 is eligible.
* Keepers will cost you a round higher than they were drafted (a 10th rounder will be kept in the 9th, 6th will be kept in the 5th, etc.)
* The Saints Rule of 2019 prohibits a player from moving BACKWARDS in the event of a traded pick. Therefore, if you do not have a pick in the round of your keeper, that keeper now moves to a higher pick and not a lower pick.
* Undrafted keepers cost a 7th.

There was some talk about adding a third keeper. I polled about half the league and everyone I spoke with was okay with this move but would want some form of limit on it. For example, you can't take three of the same position. Or maybe the third keeper has to be outside the top 50 players. Something. But we can maybe discuss that in the opening couple of weeks?

Anyway this was one of those sections that I wrote six months ago and I'm keeping it in because I copy and paste from the previous year so February 2024 me is going to be very grateful that I left it in even though we already submitted our keepers.

## The Nine-Time Champ

Without further adieu, let's get down to business and introduce the reigning LOC Champion....

ME!

That's right, for the ninth year in a row, Mattness won the League of Champions Fantasy Pick'Em Competition.

This year the battle was tougher than ever, but I'm happy to have come out on top.

Let's take a look at the all-time standings:

League Pick'em Appearances by Team
 1

Wow, total dominance by Commish ever since 2014. Back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back. Kings stay kings.

## Glory Bowl XII Recap

I don't remember anything about this game. I'm sorry. I'm sure it was great though.

## THE GUY - 2022

Nobody really stuck out this year. A player who got 40 one week was getting 4 the next. But someone has to be crowned, and who better than the reigning MVP champion, Patrick Mahomes. His second time on this list.

Aww, look at DeMarco Murray in 2013. Memories...

## Stat Chat

* Paddock 9 becomes the winningest postseason manager of all-time (17).
* After never finishing lower than 4th in their first five seasons, Shotti has now finished 6th or lower in four of the last five years.
* Duck Punchers has now lost three of the last four Salty Dolphin Bowls, but is amazingly still only 2nd in appearances behind Nate (5, 3-2). There's a reason why it's not called the Salty Beard Bowl.
* Ma ma momma said now has more top-3 finishes than The Shotti Bunch (6 vs. 5).
* Sweet Dee and Mattness both entered the recordbooks, Dee for 2nd lowest postseason score of all-time and Mattness for lowest game-winning postseason score of all time. However, both teams were hit hardest by the Buffalo/Cincy game and their "records" will carry an asterisk.

## Matchup Recaps

* Ma ma momma said returns to glory with a decent, if not all-time, performance in the Glory Bowl against defending champion Stupid Idiots (6-7). **Next Matchup: 2023 Week 14**
* Papa's Posse caps an incredible season with his first every Salty Dolphin win against long-time rival Duck Punchers (10-11). **Next Matchup: 2023 Double Header, Matchups TBD**
* The Multiverse of Mattness escapes with a complicated and questionable victory in the Heart and Soul Bowl against Sweet Dee (9-8). **Next Matchup: 2023 Week 5, 1st Leg of a Double-Header**
* Paddock 9 continues his streak of 12 postseasons with at least one victory in a Million Dollar Game takedown of the once great king, The Shotti Bunch (7-10). **Next Matchup: 2023 Week 3, 1st Leg of a Double-Header**

## Glory Bowl Championship (2011-Present)

Another game gets added to the history books.

### Consecutive Winners

Two different franchises have won consecutive Glory Bowls

* The Shotti Bunch (Glory Bowls V, VI, and VII)
* Paddock 9 (Glory Bowls IX and X)

### Glory Bowl Margins of Victory

It would be nice to say that the Glory Bowl was close, but the reality is that momma's final players never taking the field is what caused XII to be the 3rd-closest matchup in championship history.

## Playoff Droughts

### Longest Playoff Appearance Droughts by Team

Shotti has never missed playoffs in consecutive seasons, meaning we can likely expect a return to the Festival for the four-time champ. Likewise, Sweet Dee has never missed three playoffs in a row, which bodes well for her to recapture some 2020 magic.

## Points Against Glory Bowl Champions

### Playoff Game Victory Droughts

Updated through 2022 Glory Bowl

Sortable table, click on header arrows.

## All-Time Franchise Playoff Records

Below is the list of all teams who have played in the postseason in the League of Champions. In the case of team name changes, the most recent name is used.

Updated through 2/1/23

## All-Time Postseason Win/Loss Records

Below are the win/loss records for every team for every postseason games. This combines Festival main bracket, Consolation bracket, and all consolation games (including Bowl Week games). It does not discriminate between Glory Bowl wins and Million Dollar Game wins. Therefore, the records should be taken with a grain of salt.

Updated through 2/12/23

## All-Time Combined Win/Loss Records

Below are the win/loss records of every franchise. These records combine both regular season and postseason. They do not differentiate between games won in the Consolation Tournament and the Champions Bracket, nor do they distinguish between games won in the main tournaments or the 3rd, 5th and 9th place games. Due to byes and varying results, most teams have a different number of total games.

## The Salty Dolphin Bowl

Thanks to three touchdowns by Mike Evans against the Panthers, Papa was able to finish the season strong with a blowout SALTY win. It's especially Salty because if Evans had just shown up the week before maybe he would have been playing in the Glory Bowl.

### The Salty Dolphin Bowl (2011-Present)

\*Currently named RIPDab

\*\*Currently named Duck Punchers

### Consecutive Winners

One franchise has won consecutive Salty Dolphins.

* RIPDab (2015 Salty Dolphin Bowl and 2016 Salty Dolphin BowlI)

## The Heart and Soul Bowl

Very weird game here. Obviously, we will never know what would have happened if the teams had played through until the end, but Burrow was off to a fantastic start for Sweet Dee. Would it have been enough to close a 50-point gap, with Gabe Davis going for Mattness? The world will never know.

### The Heart and Soul Bowl (2011-Present)

\*Currently named PainTrain

\*\*Currently named Papa's Posse

^ Currently named Paddock 9

^^ Currently named Sweet Dee

~ Currently named The Multiverse of Mattness

## The Million Dollar Game

Paddock 9 becomes the second team to win back-to-back MDG's in LOC history. Five teams have been to three or more Million Dollar Games but P9 is the only one of those five that has never lost.

### Consecutive Winners

Two teams have won consecutive Million Dollar Games:

* Multiverse of Mattness (2019, 2020)
* Paddock 9 (2021, 2022)

## Bowl Game Appearances by Team

With Papa making his first Salty appearance, and Shotti showing up in the MDG for the first time, there are now just a few bowls that have not been played by every single team.

* Idiots and Duck Punchers have never played in the Heart and Soul Bowl (7th place).
* Sweet Dee has never played in the Salty Dolphin Bowl (3rd place)
* Pain Train has never played in the Million Dollar Game (9th place)

## List of Finishes by year

Color-coded on desktop only.

2011-2014

2015-2022

## Total 2022 Starters

I can't tell if this is good or bad for the league, but the 2022 champion started the fewest players this season. Maybe he got lucky, or maybe his draft was SO good that he really didn't need to move his roster around very much.

## Parity Chart

As I do every year, here is the parity chart. The team on the left beat the team on the right. It’s not as neat as a circle would be but what this basically says is any team is capable of beating any team on any given Sunday.

* Mattness > Sweet Dee
* Sweet Dee > Paddock 9
* Paddock 9 > The Shotti Bunch
* The Shotti Bunch > Pain Train
* Pain Train > Papa's Posse
* Papa's Posse > RIPDab
* RIPDab > Duck Punchers
* Duck Punchers > The Stupid Idiots
* The Stupid Idiots > ma ma momma said
* ma ma momma said > Mattness

## Draft Analysis

I don't know if people enjoy this but I'm doin' it anyway. It's the Draft retrospective! Now, I will admit, when I do this at the beginning of the following season it loses a little bit of juice. And I would have loved to just get this shit done at the end of 2022. But I'm still doing it.

### Round 1

* Best Pick: Christian McCaffrey - 2nd (Papa's Posse)

The two highest scoring non-QB players of 2022 were both drafted by Papa's Posse, and taking the chance on CMC in the 1st paid off massively as he got traded to the 49ers and went on an insane run. This comes a year after CMC was ranked as the worst pick in the 1st by Multiverse of Mattness.

* Worst Pick: Mark Andrews - 9th (The Multiverse of Mattness)

Passed on Travis Kelce, who finished with 369 points, for Mark Andrews (219.85). Not terrible (third among TE). but not a first round pick and a definite choke job yet again. Pain Train close 2nd with JT, who only played 11 games.

### Round 2

* Best Pick: Tyreek Hill - 11th (The Stupid Idiots)

The only non-keeper WR to break 370 points (and he hit 397).

* Worst Pick: Breece Hall - 12th (Multiverse of Mattness)

Breece was starting to heat up when he snapped his leg off.

### Round 3

* Best Pick: Josh Allen - 21st (Pain Train)

In a season where everyone seemed content to sit on QB, Pain Train jumped early and snagged a baller.

* Worst Pick: Allen Robinston - 30th (Sweet Dee)

There were some stinkers in this round. Papa took Courtland Sutton with the 22nd pick. Sweet Dee had another pick here and took Zeke Elliot. Multiverse bet on a breakout season for Gabe Davis that never came. But Allen Robinson is the biggest bust of them all.

### Round 4

* Best Pick: Amon-Ra St. Brown - 34th (Duck Punchers)

The Fantasy Sun GAWD is projected to be a first rounder in LOC in 2023.

* Worst Pick: Kyle Pitts - 37th (Paddock 9)

Usually try not to include keepers in this but need to make an exception for the worst keeper of 2022.

### Round 5

* Best Pick: Josh Jacobs - 42nd (Papa's Posse)

Top scoring Flex player of 2022, Jacobs/CMC was the nastiest player combo of the season. Jacobs nearly carried Papa to another miracle championship.

* Worst Pick: Darnell Mooney - 49th (Multiverse of Mattness)

The worst part is that Justin Fields ultimately popped in 2022, but Mooney was still left in the dust.

### Round 6

* Best Pick: Drake London - 58th (Stupid Idiots)

Over 200 points for the rookie.

* Worst Pick: Michael Thomas - 51st (Stupid Idiots)

The rare best pick/worst pick double feature. Idiots had two picks in the round. He nailed one and got screwed by the other.

### Round 7

* Best Pick: Rhamondre Stevenson - 70th (Mattness)

Mattness had a lot of "feelings" about a lot of players, but this was one he got right. StevenSZN took over and now he is projected over 50 picks higher (keepers excluded) in LOC. This was a strong round, with Pain Train taking Pollard, Duck taking Herbert, and Idiots taking DeVonta Smith.

* Worst Pick: Hunter Renfrow - 65th (Shotti Bunch)

In a round with so many studs, Renfrow stands out as a dud.

### Round 8

* Best Pick: Jalen Hurts - 77th (Paddock 9)

As Hurts heated up, so did P9. It was nearly enough to get him in the playoffs after an awful start.

* Worst Pick: Kyler Murray - 75th (RIPDab)

RIPDab knew enough not to waste a keeper selection on Kyler, but the temptation was too strong in the 8th and he took Kyler anyway. It backfired.

### Round 9

* Best Pick: Patrick Mahomes/TJ Hockenson - 99th/90th (Momma/Idiots)

Two insane steals this late in the draft. People were taking backup RBs in this round, and then these guys came along and took the top scoring player in the entire league (Mahomes - 686) and the second-highest scoring TE (238).

* Worst Pick: Darrell Henderson Jr. - 86th (RIPDab)

It was a rough stretch in the draft for DAB...

### Round 10

* Best Pick: Chris Olave - 95th (RIPDab)

...But he turned it all around by taking a rookie WR who finished with 234 points and over 1,000 yards.

* Worst Pick: Skyy Moore - 97th (Mattness)

Five picks before George Pickens went Skyy, a player who basically didn't play the entire year. But he's due!

### Round 11

* Best Pick: Kenneth Walker III - 107th (Duck Punchers)

Steal of the draft and a bonafide stud keeper, possibly for years to come.

Worst Pick: Kadarius Toney - 104th (RIPDab)

Even a change of scenery wasn't enough to really ignite Toney into the player many thought he would be.

### Round 12

* Best Pick: Garrett Wilson - 111th (Stupid Idiots)

Idiots hits on another rookie stud, this time a player who is good enough to keep thanks to a stellar pairing with future-HOFer Aaron Rodgers in NYC.

* Worst Pick: Tampa Bay Defense - 120th (Pain Train)

This was a pretty strong round. Every pick scored over 100 points on the season. Tampa Bay, however, finished as just the 14th-ranked defense in LOC and did not stay rostered by Pain Train.

### Round 13

* Best Pick: Jakobi Meyers - 127th (Duck Punchers)

People slept on Meyers and his 204 fantasy points in 2022, but he was by far the best pick in a round of total stinkers.

* Worst Pick: Trey Lance - 124th (Paddock 9)

Not enough attention is being paid to the fact that Trey Lance is a certified draft BUST on a level not seen since JaMarcus. This is the second year in a row that Trey Lance was considered the worst pick of a round (last year Paddock 9 took him 131st overall). Other awful picks this round were McKissic, Russell Wilson, and LAR defense.

### Round 14

* Best Pick: Tyler Allgeier - 132nd (Mattness)

Yay, he hit one! Allgeier may be a one-hit wonder, but Mattness got solid production out of him.

* Worst Pick: Jalen Tolbert - 140th (Pain Train)

3.2 points.

### Round 15

* Best pick: New England Defense - 150th (Stupid Idiots)

NE may have sucked but their defense still scored.

* Worst Pick:  Isaiah Spiller - 141st (Pain Train)

10.33 points.

### Round 16

* Best Pick: Jamaal Williams - 160th (Pain Train)

There you go, guy! Williams was a surprise smash pick in 2022.

* Worst Pick: Jameson Williams - 151st (Stupid Idiots)

The other J. Williams taken in the 16th wasn't as great. Jameson is having a troubling start to his NFL career and you have to imagine his time is running out fast.

### Round 17

* Best Pick: Isaiah Pacheco - 166th (RIPDab)

258 points for Isaiah as a 17th round pick, a round that didn't exist before Covid. But for the last round in the draft, this round was sneaky fire. Shotti took Calvin Ridley, who is set up to be back in action this year. Mattness nailed a flyer pick with Brian Robinson, fresh off some gun shot wounds.

* Worst Pick: Dustin Hopkins - 163rd (Sweet Dee)

Got hurt.

## 2023 Keepers

So now we come to this. It is draft day 2023. I'm excited. I have butterflies. I keep tweaking this writeup, adding things, subtracting things, doing all kinds of stuff besides just sending it to you guys for some reason. So maybe it's time to do that. But first, let's go over everyone's keepers (with my HOT takes included).

### Sweet Dee

* Joe Burrow - 3rd
* Austin Ekeler - 4th

Chantel is one of several managers capitalizing on the low cost of QBs in 2022, a season that saw Patrick Mahomes go just four picks before Melvin Gordon and an equal number of picks after Darrell Henderson Jr. Burrow and Ekeler being back to back so early will create a tier 2 talent void on the roster, but Chan is still expected to own the top 2 RBs of the year.

### Multiverse of Mattness

* Justin Jefferson - 7th
* Jaylen Waddle - 9th

Mattness the Keeper King is one of two managers keeping two WRs, all but guaranteeing that round 1 will be a non-WR pick for the Commish. Jefferson being 1.01 in the 7th round is a huge boost to Mattness's prospects, but these same two players were kept last season and it didn't make a difference.

### Paddock 9

* Stefon Diggs - 2nd
* Jalen Hurts - 7th

P9 is trying to rekindle an old flame by keeping Diggs around. Diggs was a staple of the 2020 championship run and is in his last season of keeper eligibility. Passing up on Pacheco and White way later in the draft, shows his willingness to yet again punt the RB position. Last year, that strategy cost him a lot of early wins.

### The Shotti Bunch

* DeAndre Hopkins - 7th
* Calvin Ridley - 16th

Hopkins in the 7th instead of Deebo in the 5th is the biggest headscratcher of this keeper class. At 31, Hopkins is four years Deebo's elder, and moves from one shaky offense to another. That said, the value for Ridley could be patience rewarded. Shotti had to hold Ridley on the active roster the entire 2022 season in order to make it to this point.

### Pain Train

* Davante Adams - 3rd
* Tony Pollard - 6th

Similar to Diggs, Adams was a staple for Pain Train during back-to-back 2nd place seasons, and has been the cornerstone of the offense for half a decade. This is the last year Davante can be kept, so it is truly the final dance for Adams and Pain Train. After showing some shades of brilliance each of the last two seasons, fantasy managers everywhere are having their faith rewarded as the Cowboys finally hand Tony keys to the RB room in Dallas.

### RIPDab

* Dallas Goedert - 8th
* Chris Olave - 9th

Major shakeups at keeper for RIPDab. Last year it was Cooper Kupp replacing Kyler Murray, while Aaron Jones was held over yet again. Now, RIPDab is moving on from all his old flames. The youth in Olave means he could get several more years of value, while locking in D.G. removes the urgency at the risky TE position.

### Duck Punchers

* Kenneth Walker - 10th
* Travis Etienne - 13th

While Walker may not be on the level of Jefferson, the RB value here is akin to Commish's WR value in the earlier rounds. With all due respect to me, this is arguably the best pair of keepers in 2023. With the RB room set, Duck can focus on tier 1 and tier 2A WRs early in the draft, and won't have to worry about losing a round to keepers until people are starting to contemplate defenses and kickers.

### Papa's Posse

* Josh Jacobs - 4th

This year, Papa chose flexibility over certainty. Instead of grabbing Mike Williams at ADP like last season, he has decided to keep only one player. Josh Jacobs signing to LV right after the keeper deadline is indicator #1 that this might be a Papa Year.

### The Stupid Idiots

* Nick Chubb - 9th
* Garrett Wilson - 11th

A top-3 keeper pairing this season, Chubb and Wilson are a great start for Idiots as he attempts to reach the Glory Bowl for a third-straight season (done just once before). Chubb is still just 27 and being drafted as RB5 in PPR scoring leagues, while Wilson is also being taken in the top two rounds of 10-team leagues.

### Ma ma momma said

* Ja'Marr Chase - 4th
* Patrick Mahomes - 8th

Saying goodbye is never easy, but that's what Momma had to do with George Kittle this year. They gave it a good run, culminating in an improbably Glory Bowl victory in 2022. But it's best to go out on top, and if MMMS wants a decent chance at a repeat in LOC Year 13, Chase and Mahomes needs to anchor this roster. Chase has two more years of eligibility, meaning this championship pairing will be together at least through 2025.

## Tonight

The draft is at 8PM tonight. See everyone then and we will work on our Week 1 power rankings after that, where we will break down the draft results, the schedule, and the season ahead.

Until then, COMMISH OUT!