TRADE 2: RB Swap

Pawnee continues to drive the trade market, and continues to upgrade on draft value as they send 21st round pick JK Dobbins to Phoenix for 7th round pick Devin Singletary. Pawnee originally offered Dobbins to Phoenix prior to week one, for undrafted WR Adonai Mitchell, but the Uprising declined, and ended up seeing the cost skyrocket, while Adonai is back on the waiver wire.

PAWNEE ACQUIRES RB DEVIN SINGLETARY

PHOENIX ACQUIRES RB JK DOBBINS

The Pride and McFlys are matched up this week, and both teams are suffering from a combination of injuries and bye weeks: to wit, with Dobbins, Montgomery, and Pollard all on bye Pawnee opted to potentially downgrade at a position of strength (Dobbins was slotted behind Rhamondre Stevenson, Montgomery, and Pollard, even after previously trading Zack Moss) as they seek to dig out of a 1-3 hole.Pawnee was scheduled to start fullback Carson Steele alongside Stevenson until they added Singletary, who has put up RB3 numbers through the first month. Unfortunately for Pawnee, almost immediately upon completion of the deal, Singletary was downgraded to 'doubtful.' The team scooped up his rookie backup Tyrone Tracy to hedge bets in week five, and will hope to catch lightning in a bottle if it comes to that.

For Phoenix, this is an upside play; JK Dobbins was hyped as a potential superstar after being a second round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but despite showing promise, injuries constantly derailed him, limiting him to eight games across the past three seasons. In a new situation, his September was one to remember, as he showed the burst that made him an interesting prospect. With a clean bill of health and a higher ceiling than Singletary (and Travis Etienne and Aaron Jones set to play in week 5) it was a deal that made sense for Phoenix. Rumor is they tried to get a wide receiver upgrade in the mix, but were ably rebuffed.

XVI: Week Four Results

Week 4 Matchups

 

• Phoenix Uprising236.98Binghamton Snipers199.30
  FinalRecap
• Deputy Van Halens204.12Mar-a-Lago Treason175.34
  FinalRecap
• Hill Valley McFlys226.34NJ Sanitation Crew197.90
  FinalRecap
• HoChiMinhLeadFarmers185.77Pawnee Pride234.34
  FinalRecap
• NY Finest195.10South Philly Rum Ham173.78
  FinalRecap
• Savannah Petes133.38South Park Cows232.22
  FinalRecap

TRADE 1: Surplus Gains

Pawnee drafted too many running backs and not enough receivers, gambling they could address the problem with a gain as another team's running back arsenal wore thin. Philly got two premier backs and one temu back, waiting to see early season roles before investing in a third starter. It worked out for both teams- but at what cost?

PAWNEE acquires WR Michael Pittman Jr 

PHILLY acquires RB Zack Moss

Pittman is off to a dreadfully inefficient start, but he was a fourth round pick earlier this month, and becomes a great 'buy low' opportunity for the Pride, who shore up their WR situation with a bonafide veteran playmaker with healthy targets. Presuming the offense he is saddled to improves as the season goes on, Pawnee should benefit long term; flip-side, they have put themselves in a 1-2 hole with one of the lowest point totals in the league. 

While Philly drafted two premier running backs in Breece Hall and Rachaad White, but neglected to get much in the way of depth, waiting until the 19th round to draft Alexander Mattison, who has scored three TDs in three weeks but shown little floor. Enter 10th round pick Zack Moss, who has served in a bellcow role. Philly is also 1-2 and a big part of that is Rachaad White being virtually invisible the past two weeks- now they can give him time to find his legs without being a black hole in the lineup.

Both teams address needs created by neglectful drafting (intentional or otherwise) but this has to be seen as a value pickup for Pawnee. That said, if the Rum Ham have one of their secondary receivers (Nailor, Meyers, Cooks, Moore, or Boyd) outproduce Pittman the rest of the way, they've given themselves a more balanced roster to endure byes and injuries. If Pittman continues to struggle and his value continues to dwindle, this could end up incredible foresight by Philadelphia.

The trade market has been slow, but credit Pawnee with taking an approach and seeing it through, working through options rather than taking the first deal on the table, while Philly has never been shy about making bold moves without staking themselves to perceived value over actual production.

Settings Update

 My intention with the shift to divisional play was to have standings tiebreakers be as follows:

1. Overall Record
2. H2H Record*
3. Divisional Record
4. Total Points For

This was (mostly) effect until today, and at the end of the season, everyone will have 10 divisional games and 16 total games, so it will even out, and originally, the division winners would clinch the top two seeds, with the next two best records making the playoffs as #3 and #4. Under the initial system, New Jersey ws ranked higher than Hill Valley due to their divisional record (3-0 to 0-0) in the Legends Division, but also, Mar-A-Lago was the #2 seed with a 1-0 division record, pushing Hill Valley to #3.

After reviewing this issue and playing with the settings, have decided seeding will go by overall standings, with both division winners guaranteed a playoff spot, as this is more indicative of a team's prowess. So now, the overall standing tiebreakers should be:

1. Overall Record
2. Total Points For

The 'divisional leaders' that secure a playoff spot will be tie broken as such:

1. Divisional Record
2. Total Points For

So in this instance the 'issue' could be, if the top three overall records are in one division, and the fourth best overall record is in the other division, but they only have the second best 'divisional record' in their division, we'd see #1, #2, #3, and #5 advance in an unlikely scenario. Moral of the story, try to win all your games, but if you cannot do that, try to win your divisional games more.

*Finally, my understanding is that Head-to-Head record will ONLY come into play in an instance where a playoff game ends in a tie, which is exceedingly unlikely with fractional points turned on.

In summation, the standings now tiebreak overall record by total points for, and the divisional leader standings are purely based on divisional record. That is why you see the playoff picture as:

• 1. Hill Valley 3-0 is now the #1 seed (they were #3)
• 2. New Jersey 3-0 is now the #2 seed (they were #1) but remain the 'division leader'
• 3. Mar-A-Lago 2-1 is now the #3 seed (they were #2)
• 4. Phoenix edges out South Park (both 2-1) for the #4 seed on total points for
• 12. Deputy Van Halens 0-3 are the final winless team.

XVI: Week Three Results

 

Week 3 Matchups

 

• Phoenix Uprising186.66Deputy Van Halens168.79
  FinalRecap
• Binghamton Snipers189.30Savannah Petes183.90
  FinalRecap
• Hill Valley McFlys255.06South Park Cows172.61
  FinalRecap
• HoChiMinhLeadFarmers175.76NJ Sanitation Crew219.08
  FinalRecap
• Mar-a-Lago Treason206.18South Philly Rum Ham145.02
  FinalRecap
• NY Finest207.47Pawnee Pride136.80
  FinalRecap

XVI: Week Two Results

 

Week 2 Matchups

 

• Phoenix Uprising194.72Savannah Petes252.97
  FinalRecap
• Binghamton Snipers181.10Hill Valley McFlys209.73
  FinalRecap
• Deputy Van Halens169.62South Philly Rum Ham207.90
  FinalRecap
• HoChiMinhLeadFarmers160.22South Park Cows161.99
  FinalRecap
• Mar-a-Lago Treason244.66Pawnee Pride169.90
  FinalRecap
• NJ Sanitation Crew237.64NY Finest210.36
  FinalRecap

XVI: Week One Results

 

Week 1 Matchups

 

• Phoenix Uprising199.46South Philly Rum Ham178.05
  FinalRecap
• Binghamton Snipers154.76HoChiMinhLeadFarmers191.54
  FinalRecap
• Deputy Van Halens163.87Pawnee Pride199.60
  FinalRecap
• Hill Valley McFlys238.32Savannah Petes235.23
  FinalRecap
• Mar-a-Lago Treason215.88NJ Sanitation Crew240.49
  FinalRecap
• NY Finest162.88South Park Cows178.76
  FinalRecap