The BEN Fantasy Football Newsletter

NOTE: Any rankings appearing before names in this edition refer to ESPN power rankings, not my own rankings nor the actual fantasy standings. Additionally, last week’s ranking will be used to recap the below matchups, and the new rankings will be used near the bottom where the Power Rankings and the preview for this week’s matchups are.

Welcome to October, managers! The injuries are piling up. Week 4 has come and went, let’s see what happened!

It’s been an up-and-down season for Johnny so far, but this week was definitely an up for him. Evidently, it wouldn’t have taken much to beat Caden, but double digit performances by everyone on Johnny’s team besides…Derrick Henry…helped propel Johnny to have the second highest score among all managers this week. Josh Allen typically had his 24.86 points, and it’s not hard to believe Courtland Sutton had 19.1. But the real story was Drake London and George Pickens. Drake finally broke out this week, dropping 25 points. And George Pickens once again took advantage of CeeDee’s absence and dropped 33.4 points! And with everyone on Johnny’s bench also having double digit performances, things might be looking up for him.

The league’s unluckiest team so far lost again. But this one didn’t have any luck attributed to it, Caden just got embarrassed. Josh Jacobs had 31.7 points from Sunday Night Football, but that was about the only thing Caden might’ve appreciated about his team. Tyler Warren had 18.3 points, but everywhere else on his lineup was a disaster. It was definitely a decision starting Tory Horton, who only dropped 2 points. But it was one more point than David Montgomery scored. For Caden, he just has to realize that CeeDee will be back soon. With a score of 93.52 points, Caden will have to answer to the press this week!

And there’s an interesting development. 4 weeks down, and every week the lowest scoring team has always been the loser of the Matchup of the Week…

Another win for Luke has heads turning around the league. Jahmyr Gibbs and Bucky Irving combined for 43.2 points! Jake Ferguson had a night with 17 points. Michael Pittman Jr. had 15.1 points. They were able to hide DJ Moore and Jerry Jeudy combining for only 15.6 points. Luke could’ve scored even more points if he had started Marvin Mims Jr. with 20.5 points or Xavier Worthy with 17.1 points. It all proved to be enough to outlast Mohit. However, the concern is if Bucky Irving is alright or not, and its something Luke will have to monitor closely.

We’re going to go first person here. I finally reaped the benefits of drafting Ashton Jeanty, scoring an enormous 33.5 points. James Cook was James Cook (22.5), and Jalen Hurts was adequate with 19.4. But disaster struck. Malik Nabers tore his ACL in the 1st quarter after only having 4 points. After me being so hyped for his start this week with Jaxson Dart throwing him the ball, we barely got to see it, and we won’t see it again this season. I consider this to be the most devastating injury in Fantasy Football so far, and my prayers go out to him. I also signed a petition for MetLife Stadium to change its field from turf to grass permanently. These are the types of injuries that change the course of a fantasy team’s season. There’s a lot of pondering and trading to be done in the immediate future. And it does suck because this was still a winnable week. Tucker Kraft had 10.6 points, but it easily could’ve been 22+ points because he was mere inches away from scoring 2 touchdowns (one of them I believe should still have counted, but NFL refs ruin everything). I finally benched Ladd McConkey just to start Keenan Allen’s measly 8.7 points, after dropping double digit performances every other week. Quentin Johnston had 23.8! And Will Lutz didn’t kick a single field goal, although the matchup was already over by that point.

Number 1 goes down! Sudais claims an electric win over Patrick in what was a nailbiter. Patrick Mahomes had 27.3 points, Deebo Samuel had 20.1 points, and Chase McLaughlin had 18.5 points as a kicker! They were able to hide another disappointing start from Jamarr Chase, with 7.3 points. A huge win for Sudais and the team, as they move back to a .500 record, a week after having to answer to the press!

And being undefeated comes to an end for Patrick. Despite having his three WRs Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Marvin Harisson Jr. (!) drop a combined 67.2 points, it wasn’t enough to carry him to a win. As to who’s fault that was, you can look at the Packers defense, his RB room, and…Lamar Jackson? Packers Defense had a NEGATIVE 5 points thanks to tieing with the Cowboys in overtime, 40-40 (which is a disgusting thing in the NFL that should be made impossible to do immediately)! RBs TreVeyon Henderson and Tony Pollard only combined for 23.2 points. And Lamar Jackson, despite being projected 22.8 points, only had 10.68 points. Now it’s not the worst amount of points in the world for a QB, and he was playing the Chiefs, but for a top tier QB, you have to demand a higher floor. He might’ve taken his first loss of the season, but regardless there’s still not much to panic about.

And with Patrick losing, Isaac is the only remaining undefeated team in the league after taking care of business against Ryan! Caleb Williams might’ve only had 11.78 points, but that was just a blip in the radar considering the performances of others. Quinshon Judkins continues to impress with 21.5 points. Garrett Wilson, despite the Jets being 0-4, had 20.2 points. And the monster himself, Puka Nacua had 36 points and is the frontrunner of finishing as WR1 in Fantasy Football. Isaac might be starting to think about what jersey he wants.

It was a valiant effort from Ryan if I say so myself, but when you run into a buzzsaw you usually don’t make it out of the other side alive. Bijan was Bijan with 28.1 points, and Drake Maye continues to impress with 23.22 points. The Lions Defense also dropped 20 points! But not much else to look for encouragement. David Njoku only had 3.1 points. And Ryan suffers a devastating injury of his own in Fantasy Football, as Tyreek Hill scored 12.7 points before dislocating his knee and tearing his ACL in the process. He’s now out for the season. Jaylen Waddle only had 7.8 points, but if there’s any consolation, he should have higher production for the rest of the season with Tyreek out. After having a sliver of hope last week, things are going from bad to worse for Ryan’s team.

Carson scores the highest amount of points this week among all managers after enjoying 20+ points from Jordan Love, Omarion Hampton, Christian McCaffrey, and Emeka Egbuka. It didn’t even matter that the 49ers Defense dropped a donut. CMC continues to be dominant with 26.1 points, and the signs point toward him being even more dominant, with the 49ers running a hospital at this point. Omarion Hampton continues to prove that he has arrived with 27.5 points.

And Eric suffers another loss. A.J Brown continues to be one of the most fustrating wide recievers in the league with only 2.7 points. One has to argue if he’s better off starting DK Metcalf or even Khalil Shakir. Everyone else actually scored double digit points, but it obviously wasn’t enough to match Carson’s output. Eric now shares the lowest record in the league with Caden and Ryan.

As I’m writing this, there was a trade that was completed.

Eric gets:

Caden gets:

Commissioner’s Opinion: Seems like a pretty mid-level trade for both sides, not sure what the idea behind it is but both teams swap WRs (and Eric reunites with Tee Higgins). I’d have to lean towards Caden winning this, but just by a slight margin. I also don’t really think this trade has a lot of significance.

Week 4 of the Lucky Rankings are here. As a reminder, this is a ranking that tries to quantify how “lucky” is team over a season. As the season moves on, the more refined and accurate this data becomes. A reminder that if you end up being the most lucky team, you will infact get a trophy for it.

The farther away from 0 you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. Alternatively, the more greener/redder you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. 0 is the baseline, meaning your record is exactly what is expected at that point.

Let’s take a look at the ESPN Power rankings after Week 3.

Everyone moved. Here is the Commissioner’s Power Rankings:

Here’s a visual of the ESPN Power Rankings so far:

As we move on to Week 5, let’s see the matchups:

Here’s a chance for Luke to build off a win and attempt to get above .500. Will Bucky Irving suit up or will he have to turn to another RB like…Julius Chestnut? Will Jake Ferguson continue his hot-streak? A lot of doubt about his team could be squashed if he can get a win here. On the other hand, Ryan is desparate to right the ship. Only two other teams are in similar territory as he is, and a win here could help separate him from the other two. But his best player, and I’d argue THE best player in Fantasy Football, Bijan Robinson, is on a bye week. Will he still be able to pull out a win? Ryan is currently favored to win this week by a slim 52% - 48% margin.

The other matchups include:

#7 Johnny (2-2) vs. #6 Mohit (2-2)#4 Sudais (2-2) vs. #1 Isaac (4-0)#8 Eric (1-3) vs. #2 Patrick (3-1)#3 Carson (2-2) vs. #10 Caden (1-3)

Make sure you submit a question for Caden to answer in his Press Conference! Each manager can submit a question, and the more people that send a question, the better. You’re limited to one question. You can send it in the fantasy group chat, or directly to me if you want it to be a surprise question (to be clear, Caden will know who sent what question, but the questions will not be revealed to him until close to when its time to answer them, giving him little to no time to prepare answers).

If you haven’t read last week’s edition, here it is:

Thank you for being in this league.

By participating in this league, you agree to follow the rules. The commissioner reserves the right to issue rulings regarding league matters so long as they don’t conflict with pre-existing rules or previously proposed, but rejected, amendments. These rulings include, but are not limited to: vetoing trades despite public vote, collusion, tanking, and inactivity.