Originally published 12/28/07. Updated 1/6/10.

It’s that time of year again. Much like the post-draft letdown all fantasy owners go through in August or September, the end of the fantasy football season can be a depressing time indeed. I know a lot of baseball fans are already looking forward to spring training and their fantasy baseball drafts, but I’m not a baseball guy, so I need to look elsewhere for comfort. Here are 10 reasons why it’s good that the fantasy football season is finally over. (Seriously, guys, it’s not that bad.)

1. Your busted picks won’t haunt you anymore.
Just think about it: you don’t have to set your lineup for another nine months. No more looking at the injured Michael Turner or the disappointing Brian Westbrook wasting away on your bench. You can add Larry Johnson, Terrell Owens, Marshawn Lynch, Ronnie Brown, Steve Slaton and Matt Forte to that list. All of these guys were early picks that managed to sabotage fantasy seasons to one degree or another. If you only had one of these guys on your team, count yourself lucky. Two or more and your season was probably over before it started.

2. You can start (truly) rooting for your favorite team.
No more fragmented alliances. If you have a favorite team (and who doesn’t?), chances are that at one point or another, you were rooting against them this year. Either your favorite team was playing against a particular player on your fantasy team, or you needed a field goal instead of an extra point from your favorite team’s kicker. At some point, you wanted your team – whose colors you claim to bleed – to fail, somehow or someway. The best thing to do is fess up, ask forgiveness, and cheer as loudly as you can if your team was fortunate enough to make the playoffs.

3. If you won, you can collect your cash.
This only goes for about a quarter of fantasy teams, but if you finished in the money, you can finally collect your winnings. If you won your $50 or $100 league, you should be in for a pretty nice payday. Have you been holding out on buying a new flat screen? Vizio makes a very nice value HDTV. You can get a 55-inch for the same price as the Sony and Samsung high-end 46-inch models. Buy one of these suckers during the after-Christmas sales, order HD from your cable/satellite provider, and watch the NFL playoffs in style. Life is good.

4. No more hovering over the computer on Sundays.
If you’re like me and have multiple fantasy football teams, it can be tempting to watch each and every score. This usually leads to unnecessary frustration as you live and die with every good and bad thing that happens to each of your teams. Forget about figuring out whom to root for. I had eight teams this season and often found myself rooting for and against the same player. I did discover that — to truly enjoy the games — it helps to have only one or two teams or a boatload. The more teams you have, the easier it is to sit back, enjoy the games and just let things happen. You’ll deal with the aftermath on Monday.

5. It’s a great time to gloat (or criticize others for doing just that).
Fantasy football is about entertainment, money and bragging rights, and not necessarily in that order. If you won your league’s championship, it’s time to send out a mass email to your league thanking them for contributing to your TV fund. Describe the features of your new flat screen and talk about how great the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders look on your 55-inch screen in high def (and be sure to use that exact term to irk those in your league that still don’t have HD). If your team missed out on the money and you’re subjected to one of these blowhards, you can tell your league champ that no one likes a braggart. Make sure you point out how much random luck (injuries, draft order, etc.) played into his victory, effectively bringing his fantasy football skills into serious question. Tell him that you learned as a kid how to win graciously and imply that his parents didn’t raise him the right way. That’ll surely piss him off. Bring it up again at the draft and you’ll throw him off his game.

6. The BCS Championship Game and the NFL playoffs are right around the corner.
January is a great time for football. For all its faults, the BCS Championship Game is usually compelling. This year we have a matchup between Alabama and Texas while a few other teams continue to argue that they should have had a shot in the big game. In the NFL, the top 12 teams battle it out every weekend in January for the right to represent their conference in the Super Bowl. In the AFC, Indy looks like the alpha dog, but the Chargers are hot as a pistol. In the NFC, the Saints look vulnerable, and just about every other NFC team that made the postseason seems capable of making a run.

7. If the season lasted another week, you’d probably be single (if you aren’t already).
Let’s cut the crap. Aside from a few oddballs, most women hate fantasy football. Over their lives they’ve learned to tolerate football, but the appeal of fantasy football just doesn’t compute. As the holiday season rolls around, most wives and girlfriends want you to focus on them, not on the score of your fantasy football game. Luckily, the only meaningful games that took place over the last couple of weeks had money on the line, and if there’s one thing that can get a girl interested in fantasy football, it’s the prospect of her boyfriend/husband winning some extra dough (which, of course, would be spent on her, not on a new flat screen).

8. March Madness isn’t too far off.
Not too long after the Super Bowl, college hoops heats up with a plethora of conference tournaments that have NCAA tourney berths on the line. Once March Madness tips off, you’re looking at three thrilling weekends of college hoops action. It starts with the frenetic first weekend, where 48 teams are eliminated, and continues with the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight, which generally feature a load of great matchups and Cinderella stories. By the third weekend, only four teams remain, but they are battle-tested and ready to put it all on the line for a ring. It’s arguably the best three weeks of sports, and it’s less than three months away.

9. The NBA playoffs tip off three weeks later.
I know, the NBA season can be a grind, but once the playoffs start, things can really heat up. The financial state of the NBA has turned the league into a collection of haves and have-nots, so the postseason should feature high quality basketball. Is Shaq the answer in Cleveland? How about Vince Carter in Orlando? Or Rasheed Wallace in Boston? Was the Ron Artest-Trevor Ariza swap a good idea for the Lakers? Can Richard Jefferson revitalize the Spurs? Are the Mavs for real? Can the young Thunder make the postseason? Plus, this summer’s free agency period figures to be one of the most interesting of all time with big names like LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amare, Joe Johnson and Carlos Boozer possibly changing zip codes.

10. Training camp starts in August.
Once the NBA free agency period is over, it’s time to start researching for your draft. Who are the top rookie running backs that are sure to get major time this season? Which early round draft picks have the best chance to continue their dominance and which ones are most likely to falter and sabotage your season? Who will be 2010′s Miles Austin or Ray Rice? Just answer these questions correctly and the other guys in your league could be buying you a flat screen next January.

Photos #1 and #2 from fOTOGLIF

By the time the fantasy football season is over, I usually want to crawl into a hole and forget about the topic for a few weeks. But one thing occurred to me as I watched the Week 17 games — there really are a lot of quality TEs out there.

Take a look at 2009′s scoring breakdown for TE1 through TE12, for a high-performance, PPR league compared to the five previous years:

In short, nine slots (TE3, and TE5-TE12) set six-year records. There was unprecedented depth at TE in 2009.

What does this mean for 2010?

Well, there are no fewer than eleven players that I’d feel very comfortable with heading into next season: Dallas Clark, Antonio Gates, Vernon Davis, Brent Celek, Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Kellen Winslow, Heath Miller, Owen Daniels and Chris Cooley (provided they look strong in training camp), and star-in-the-making Jermichael Finley.

Moreover, there are a few more guys whose stock could rise (or stay high) if their environment improves (or stays consistent). For example, Zach Miller (6.2-63-0.3 over the last six games) emerged as the Raiders’ most consistent receiver after JaMarcus Russell was benched. Visanthe Shiancoe should have another top 10 year if Brett Favre plays another season. Greg Olsen (TE10, ranked 8th in targets amongst TEs) should have a better year with another offseason to work with Jay Cutler. John Carlson (TE13, 10th in TE targets) played a lot better with Matt Hasselbeck under center than without. Dustin Keller should improve alongside Matt Sanchez. Even Kevin Boss showed starter potential once he finally got healthy.

That’s 17 players, and I haven’t even yet mentioned grizzled vets Jeremy Shockey or Todd Heap, who each showed flashes of their old selves and different points in the season.

Throw in the fact that Dallas Clark’s stock may slide due to the return of Anthony Gonzalez, and 2010 is shaping up to be a year when fantasy owners would be wise to wait on the TE position. It will obviously still pay to have a stud TE, but with this many quality players, there’s no telling who those studs will be. Would you be shocked if Brent Celek or Vernon Davis outscored Dallas Clark and/or Antonio Gates next season? Me either.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Most fantasy football leagues held their championship games last week, but there are still a few holdout leagues that schedule their title games for Week 17. To that end, here are a few players that I like, and a few that I don’t.

The “love ‘em” players are listed in the order that I’d start them this week.

The Steelers need a win, and Ben Roethlisberger has a great matchup against the Dolphins’ 23rd-ranked pass defense (allowing 236 yards, 1.3 TD per game)…The Giants have struggled to stop the pass of late and phoned it in against the Panthers last week, so Brett Favre should have a good game, especially since the Vikings need to win…The Browns have a sketchy pass defense, so David Garrard should have a nice line in a game that the Jags have to win to have a shot at the postseason…Desperate? Josh Freeman has a nice matchup against the Falcons, who are ranked 28th against the pass. Matt Ryan and Co. looked pretty good in Week 16, so the Bucs will likely have to throw to stay in the game.

Ray Rice should destroy a Raider defense that has struggled all year to stop the run…Frank Gore should go nuts against the Rams…Look for Jonathan Stewart to have another big week with DeAngelo Williams likely sidelined…With the Jaguars still (sort of) alive for a playoff spot, Maurice Jones-Drew has the potential to have a big game against the Browns’ 28th-ranked rush defense…Need a few sleepers? Justin Forsett, Jerome Harrison, Fred Jackson and Maurice Morris should produce in Week 17.

The Eagles haven’t been that great against the pass in the last few weeks, so Miles Austin should be able to get off in a game that the Cowboys would very much like to win…DeSean Jackson should be in starting lineups this week. The Eagles face their arch-rival and the Cowboys have the league’s 21st-ranked pass defense…Greg Jennings and Donald Driver should be able to post nice fantasy lines against the Cardinals’ 22nd-ranked pass defense.

It’s tough to recommend Carson Palmer this week against the Jets, who have the stingiest pass defense in the league. He has played well the last couple of weeks, but in the previous six games, he only had four touchdowns. The Jets have given up eight TD all season…The Broncos have been pretty good against the pass this season, so Matt Cassel (who has been spotty) isn’t likely to post big fantasy numbers.

The Packers are pretty good against the run, so don’t expect Tim Hightower or Beanie Wells to go off this week…He’s still startable, but Cedric Benson faces a pretty stout Jets rush defense…The Vikings are 4th in the league against the rush, so Ahmad Bradshaw isn’t likely to go off this week. Remember, Jacobs is out, so Bradshaw wouldn’t be bad if you’re desperate.

Chad Ochocinco has been talking smack to Darrelle Revis, but the simple fact of the matter is that this is a terrible matchup for the Cincy wideout…The Saints are going to rest Drew Brees, so don’t expect Marques Colston or Robert Meachem to do much this week.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Tank: Where’s your guy?

You: Should be here any minute.

Tank: He’s solid?

You: Yeah, I guess. He’s my long-lost uncle. I met him at our family reunion last month. He said if I knew of any fantasy leagues to let him know.

Phil: I can’t believe Ken’s wife forbade him to play the day before the draft. She forbade him.

Tank: Ridiculous.

There’s a knock on the door.

Tank: That’s your guy?

Phil answers the door. It’s your Uncle Nostradamus.

Nostradamus: What up, playas?

Tank: Nice beard.

Phil: Thanks for filling in last minute.

Nostradamus: No worries. Where is everyone?

Tank: We’ve got them on speakerphone.

Nostradamus: Sweet. Let’s do this. What’s my pick?

Phil: Well, Ken – the man with no testicles — had the #1 overall pick, so you get to go first. You know how to play?

Nostradamus: Is this a PPR league?

Phil: Yep. 18 rounds. You’re up.

For every pick Nostradamus stands up and proclaims his selection like he’s David Stern at the NBA Draft.

Nostradamus: With the first overall pick in the draft, I select Chris Johnson, RB, Tennessee.

There’s laughter on the speakerphone.

Tank: No Adrian Peterson or Maurice Jones-Drew?

Nostradamus: Nope. I’m predicting 2300 yards and 14 TD through Week 16.

Tank: You know LenDale White is still there.

Nostradamus: Non-factor.

The draft proceeds and AP, MJD, Forte, Turner, Steven Jackson, LT2, Fitz, AJ, DeAngelo, Randy Moss, Slaton, Gore, Calvin, Brees, Westy, Brady, Wayne, Boldin, Barber, Portis, Smith 1.0 and Greg Jennings are all taken.

Nostradamus stands up.

Nostradamus: With the final pick in the second round, I select Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay.

Tank: You’re taking Rodgers over Peyton Manning?

Nostradamus: Yep – I’m projecting at least 4200 yards and 33 TD, including four rush TD. The kid is going to the Pro Bowl. Manning isn’t even going to play a full game in Week 16.

Phil: All right, what’s your next pick?

Nostradamus: With the first pick in the third round, I select Wes Welker, WR, Patriots.

Phil: That’s reasonable.

Nostradamus: Thanks, but I’m not going to start him in Week 15. He’s going to struggle against Buffalo.

Phil: Um, okay.

The draft moves on and Brandon Jacobs, Peyton, Roddy White, Ronnie Brown, Bush, Colston, Bowe, Pierre, Kevin Smith, TO, Grant, Marshall, Witten, Housh, Ochocinco, Roy Williams, Warner, Gates, Lynch, Rivers, McFadden and Anthony Gonzalez are drafted.

After Tank takes Gonzalez, Nostradamus chuckles.

Tank: What?

Nostradamus: Nothing. Anthony Gonzalez is a solid pick. I just have this image in my head…

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Tank: Of what?

Nostradamus: Nothing. (chuckles again)

Phil: You’re up.

He rises again.

Nostradamus: With the last pick in the fourth round, I select Ray Rice, RB, Ravens.

Tank: You know Baltimore is a RBBC, right?

Nostradamus: I know it’s supposed to be a RBBC, but I’m projecting 1,900 yards and eight scores for Rice. He’s going to catch at least 74 passes this season. He’s golden in a PPR league.

Tank: What about McGahee?

Nostradamus: He’ll get off to a nice start, but suddenly fall off a cliff.

Phil: What’s your next pick?

Nostradamus: With the first pick in the fifth round, I select Dallas Clark, TE, Colts. Top TE this season.

Phil: I guess I could see that.

The draft proceeds and Braylon, Knowshon, Derrick Ward, Addai, Gonzo, TJ, Vincent Jackson, Romo, Larry Johnson –-

Nostradamus chuckles.

– Holmes, McNabb, Bryant, DeSean, Eddie Royal –-

He chuckles again.

– Fast Willie, Beanie, Jonathan Stewart, Driver, Lee Evans, Matt Ryan, Schaub and Jay Cutler all go.

He stands up.

Nostradamus: With the last pick in the sixth round, I select Ricky Williams, RB, Dolphins. Both of my RBs have a bye in Week 7 and he’s going to score three times against the Saints that week. I probably won’t even have to start another RB.

Tank: Yeah, yeah. Whatever, ZZ Top. What’s your next pick?

Nostradamus: With the first pick in the seventh round, I select Brent Celek, TE, Eagles.

More laughter on the speakerphone.

Nostradamus: Laugh if you want, but he’s going to rack up 69 catches for 875 yards and eight touchdowns this year, and he’s going to have a big Week 16 when my starter – Clark – is only going to play half the game. Otherwise, I’d go with Vernon Davis, but he’s going to tail off at the end of the season.

Phil: You think Vernon Davis is going to have a good year?

Nostradamus: Big time.

As the draft proceeds, Nostradamus starts to scribble furiously on a pad of paper. Santana Moss, Cotch, Cooley, Lance Moore, Olsen, Palmer, Felix, Hines, Avery, Winslow, Big Ben, Berrian, Jamal Lewis, Julius Jones, Daniels, Donald Brown, Holt, Walter, Lendale, Leon Washington, Hester and Cassel are taken.

Nostradamus: All right, I gotta bounce. I’m going to take Steve Smith 2.0 and Darren Sproles here and my nephew will have the rest of my picks.

He hands you a folded piece of paper.

You: Um, okay.

Phil: Wait, what’s your team name?

Nostradamus: (he stares at Tank) How about Just Got Paid, in honor of the ZZ Top song?

Tank grunts.

Phil: What about your dues?

Nostradamus: My nephew has me covered. Late!

He leaves.

Tank: Who is that guy?

You open the piece of paper. It reads:

Dear Nephew,

– N.

Uncle Nostradamus’s final roster:

QB: Rodgers, Henne, Moore
RB: C. Johnson, R. Rice, R. Williams, Sproles, Charles, Harrison
WR: Welker, Smith 2.0, Austin, S. Rice, Sims-Walker
TE: Clark, Celek

Most leagues held their championship games last week, but if you’re league is still going, feel free to post your lineup questions here and I’ll do my best to answer them. Be sure to provide your lineup requirements and the type of scoring system your league uses (standard, PPR, TD-heavy).

Fire away.

For all intents and purposes, the fantasy football season is over. Most leagues (wisely) hold their championships in Week 16 to avoid the kind of debacle situation that happened yesterday in the Colts game.

So in lieu of our normal list of waiver wire pickups, I’m going to list a few guys that might be able to help a team that has another game to play in Week 17. I’m looking for two things: 1) the player is readily available on the waiver wire and 2) has a good matchup in Week 17.

Josh Freeman (2.6)
Freeman has averaged 208 yards and 1.1 TD in eight starts and has a nice matchup with a sketchy Falcons defense in Week 17. He throws a lot of picks (2.0 per game), but if you’re in a league that doesn’t penalize too heavily for INTs, he wouldn’t be a bad Week 17 play. Atlanta’s offense is picking up now that Matt Ryan is back under center so the Bucs will probably have to throw to stay in the game.

Justin Forsett (54.6)
Julius Jones re-aggravated his ankle and ribs against the Packers, so expect Forsett to carry the load in Week 17 against a Titans defense that had trouble keeping LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles in check. Forsett is a Sproles-like back, so he should have success against Tennessee.

Donald Brown (58.1)
Brown will probably get the start against the Bills’ league-worst rush defense. Don’t let his numbers (16 carries, 22 yards, TD) against the Jets worry you. He should have a big game against the hapless Bills.

Sammy Morris (33.0)
It looks like Laurence Maroney fumbled his way out of the Pats’ RB1 job. He had four carries for 22 yards before fumbling the ball on his fifth carry as he headed into the endzone. Sammy Morris took over and rushed the ball 12 times for 95 yards and a TD. Moreover, he has a pretty good matchup in Week 17 with the Texans.

Austin Collie (37.6)
He doesn’t have a great matchup (BUF), but the Bills were torched last week against the Falcons, and with Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon and Dallas Clark likely limited or sidelined, Collie could be in for a big day.

Muhsin Muhammad (17.2)
Muhammad’s days of consistent domination are long over, but with Steve Smith sidelined with a broken arm, Muhammad figures to get the lion’s share of targets in a very good matchup against the Saints. New Orleans should be able to put some points on the board, so expect the Panthers to throw the ball to try to stay in the game.

Jermichael Finley (26.7)
He’s still out there on almost three-quarters of ESPN waiver wires and I have no idea why. He has gone over 70 yards receiving in four consecutive games and has three TD in that span. With a nice matchup against Arizona in Week 17, another nice outing is likely.

Todd Heap (38.8)
The four TD that Heap has scored the last two weeks came completely out of nowhere — zero TD in the previous 11 games — but he seems to be rolling now and although the Raiders aren’t a great matchup, he is a big target in the Ravens’ passing game, especially with Mark Clayton sidelined and Derrick Mason banged up.

David Thomas (1.7)
As long as Jeremy Shockey is sidelined, Thomas is a starter-caliber TE, at least in PPR leagues. He has 13 catches for 102 yards over the last two weeks, so if Shockey sits again, Thomas should have a solid outing against a Carolina defense that is better against wideouts than it is against tight ends.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Tom Brady & Randy Moss
This duo came through in a big way in Week 16. Brady threw for 267 yards and four TD while Moss had 4-45 and three TD. Moss also came up pretty big in Week 15 (5-70-1), but anyone that had Brady going that week probably wasn’t playing in the title game in Week 16. (He only threw for 115 yards and a TD against the Bills.)

Matt Ryan & Roddy White
I own a few leagues with a buddy of mine and we were in a quandary at QB. We had Jay Cutler and Matt Cassel on our roster, but neither guy was very appealing this week. Cutler seems to have given up on the season and Cassel had a bad matchup against a good Bengals defense. Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman were on the waiver wire and we ended up going with Freeman because he had been quite solid since taking over as the starter in Tampa. We figured that a matchup with the Saints would offer plenty of opportunity to throw. Besides, Ryan was facing the Bills who had been great against opposing QBs in recent weeks. Well, we should have gone with Matty Ice. He threw for 250 yards and three TD, and we would have won had we plugged him in. His favorite target, Roddy White, also rewarded owners that stuck with him after he had averaged 3-37 over the last two weeks. He posted 8-139-2 against the Bills, and will be the difference in more than a few championship games this week.

Todd Heap
All Heap did the last two weeks was catch seven balls for 93 yards and four TD. That’s right — four TD. Funny story: In my auction league, when Owen Daniels went down midseason and I unwisely gambled all of my bidding bucks on Chris Cooley’s failed comeback attempt, I ended up trading away Laurence Maroney for Todd Heap, and I didn’t start him in Week 15 or Week 16. What can I say? The guy averaged 2.5-28-0.0 the previous four weeks. Who knew he’d catch four TD in the next two games? Anyone forced to start him got a nice surprise in the fantasy playoffs.

Jonathan Stewart
It must have been a tough week to have DeAngelo Williams and not have Stewart as a backup. He had 28 carries for 206 yards and a TD against a Giants team that desperately needed a win. That’s impressive. In Week 15, he had 109 yards and a score against the Vikings, who have one of the best rush defenses in the league. Let this be a lesson to those owners who draft Williams next season — you better get Stewart as insurance.

Donovan McNabb & Brent Celek
The Eagles almost lost the game, but McNabb posted a great line that probably won a few fantasy championships this week. He had 322 yards, three TD and also ran for 29 yards. As a result, Celek was a difference-maker at TE this week. He went for 4-121-1, catching a 47-yard pass from McNabb in the second quarter.

Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark & Joseph Addai
We were all ready to bench our Indy studs in Week 16, figuring that they’d play maybe a half of football before leaving the game. But then Manning tells Rachel Nichols this morning that he thinks he would play a full game if it stayed competitive. Suddenly, fantasy owners were scrambling to get these Colts back in the lineup. Sure enough, midway through the third with the game still very competitive, Indy pulled its starters. Manning finished with 192 yards and zero TD, Addai with 40 yards and a TD, Clark with 4-57 and Wayne with 3-33. Fantasy owners with Addai or Clark in their starting lineups probably got by with their limited output, but those that had Manning or Wayne found themselves behind the eight ball.

Photo from fOTOGLIF