November’s Impact on NFL Fantasy Owners

The time has come. The fantasy playoffs are among us in Fantasy Football leagues. Most people only have a few weeks remaining to either prepare for the playoffs or even try to get in. AHS students are frantically changing their line-ups and adding players to help them win their leagues

As we do for every month, we will take a look at star players, surprising playmakers in the waiver wire (a place to grab undrafted players), and critical injuries that impact rosters.

What a month it was for the quarterback of the undefeated Carolina Panthers, Cam Newton. In November, he was the leading quarterback by 20 points, scoring 103.82 points. He had two 30 point games in November, the first this year for any position to do that.

There is no rust in the performance of Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson’s year long suspension from last year, as he is now the best fantasy running back in the league. In November he scored five touchdowns and totaled over 600 yards in only four games.

Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown has come back from a terrible October, to lead all wide receivers in points in November. In week 9 against Oakland, he had 284 receiving yards, the most in NFL history without a touchdown. Anytime Ben Rotlestihburger is the quarterback, except Antonio Brown to be the number one receiver in the league.

There have been some major injuries in the month of November that have crushed fantasy owners’ playoff dreams.

Marshawn Lynch, a running back on Seattle, has had a rough 2015 not being healthy for most of the year, but now he is officially out for the rest of the regular season with an abdominal injury. He had been a first round pick in 93% of Yahoo! drafts, so this hurt many owners expecting Lynch to lead their team, like AHS junior Nick Noll.

“It was dissapointed to draft Lynch so high and have him never 100% healthy” ,says Noll. “A healthy Lynch is one of the best running backs in the league. Unfortunately, he had too many injuries this year.”

Jimmy Graham, a tight end on Seattle, had been a huge disappointment for fantasy owners who drafted him. Last year’s number two tight end has had a difficult 2015, and it ended in week 12 with a knee injury.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had finally come back in week 11 to try and save the Cowboys season. After throwing three interceptions, he broke his collarbone against Carolina. This has become a lost season for the Cowboys as Romo played only two full games this season.

In November, there were busts in some players. In the RB position has been Falcons running back Devonta Freeman. Freeman averaged 7.75 points per week in the month of November and was out for one of those weeks with a concussion.

Another bust of November was Green Bay receiver James Jones. Coming off a bye, Jones hasn’t averaged over 10 points a week. His average for November has been 4.96 points per week, three of which were 0.20 points or less. It has been from a lack of catches and plain targets.

In addition, the third bust of the month goes to Broncos reciever Demaryius Thomas. Last season, Thomas earned 230 fantasy points and had 11 touchdowns. So far in this season, Thomas has 100 points and two touchdowns.

November was full of surprises this month, and they helped spark fantasy owners to some much needed wins.

Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston was drafted first overall in the 2015 NFL draft. He proved to be one of the better young quarterbacks in the game in November. He started the year off slowly, but is now become comfortable with this offence. In November, he averaged 19.38 fantasy points and only threw three interceptions, compared to averaging 14.34 fantasy points points in October and September, while throwing eight interceptions in three of those games.

Another surprise player this year had been Jacksonville wide receiver Allen Robinson. Jacksonville is not the first place you look for fantasy talent, as they have not had a top 20 receiver in ten years. But Robinson is now a top five wide receiver. He has scored double digit fantasy points in his last seven straight games, the longest streak by any receiver this year.

The waiver wire is used by fans to try and help make the fantasy playoffs Here are some people that are on most waiver wires that should be picked up immediately: Matthew Stafford, David Johnson, and Kamar Aiken

Quarterback Matthew Stafford has been on a tear during the Lions three game win streak. He played one of the best games of the year by a quarterback, throwing for five touchdowns and over 300 yards. With games against St. Louis, New Orleans and San Francisco, Stafford is going to be a top five quarterback acording to NFL.com anaylist Michael Fabiano.

“Since [the Lions] fired their offensive coordinator,” says Fabiano, “Stafford has become an elite quarterback in fantasy. With his upcoming schedule, he will be a starter in any fantasy lineup.”

With injuries to Arizona’s starting running backs Andre Ellington and Chris Johnson, David Johnson is the last running back on the depth chart and is a must own in all leagues. In Arizona’s run heavy offence, Johnson is going to get the majority of the carries for the rest of the year, and is an immediate starting running back on any fantasy team.

Injuries have also hurt the Baltimore Ravens, who have lost their starting running back, quarterback and wide receiver. Now, the only offensive weapon on the team is wide receiver Kamar Aiken. He has gotten double digit fantasy points since quarterback Joe Flacco and Running back Justin Forsett were put on IR.

All stats used in this article are according to Yahoo! sports.