Back in August it was easy to say take Christian McCaffrey with the first pick, every time. I don't think Christian McCaffrey helped too many teams get to their fantasy playoffs this year.
Derrick Henry made a bid to carry whoever drafted him straight to a championship until he broke his foot. Dak Prescott was a steal as a mid-round QB, until he started being a worse choice than Taysom Hill out there. Many of the predicted stars that would help us get to the playoffs have either been injured, or simply underperformed, and some mid to late round steals have elevated many lowly-projected rosters to the promised land. Let's take a look at some of the most commonly rostered players by teams who have achieved the postseason.
Quarterbacks
1. Justin Herbert, LA
2. Josh Allen, Buffalo
3. Dak Prescott, Dallas
Justin Herbert headlines the trio of most-rostered fantasy QBs as we enter the first round of the playoffs. Despite a slow start, Herbert came into his own as the season progressed and with his average draft position of 7th QB of the board, managers that waited on QB hit the jackpot with Herbert.
Josh Allen has been plagued by an up-and-down year, and he has not been as active with his legs in the red zone, but he currently is the highest scoring fantasy player of 2021 after a huge 36-point outing against Tampa. Allen faces some tough defenses through the fantasy playoffs, but managers are hoping he can come through.
Dak Prescott began the year looking like the MVP, but over the last five weeks he has degraded into someone who loses you more games than he wins you. Many fantasy managers who limped into the postseason with Dak at the helm are already scrabbling to find a backup plan in case Prescott continues to falter.
Running Backs
1. Dalvin Cook, Minnesota
2. Aaron Jones, Green Bay
3. Joe Mixon, Cincinnati
4. James Conner, Arizona
5. Cordarrelle Patterson, Atlanta
6. Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis
Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon headline this list mainly because they have stayed the healthiest out of the top running backs selected in 2021. Aaron Jones has been up and down with both production and health, but he has had enough big games to get his teams to the promised land.
James Conner proved to be the biggest late-round steal at the position, and Cordarrelle Patterson largely went undrafted, only to help whoever acquired him steamroll their opponents down the stretch.
Jonathan Taylor, who currently leads the league in fantasy RB scoring, surprisingly comes in at 6th on this list, indicating that his prowess alone wasn't enough to get many rosters to the playoffs.
Wide Receivers
1. Cooper Kupp, LA Rams
2. Ceedee Lamb, Dallas
3. Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay
4. Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati
5. Tyreek Hill, Kansas City
6. Devante Adams, Green Bay
7. Mike Williams, LA Chargers
8. Stefon Diggs, Buffalo
9. Deebo Samuel, San Francisco
10. Justin Jefferson, Minnesota
11. Michael Gallup, Dallas
12. Jaylen Waddle, Miami
Cooper Kupp unsurprisingly is at the top of this list, as he is the only receiver (and one of only four non-QBs) to eclipse 200 fantasy points through 14 weeks. Kupp has been a monster and can be legitimately designated a "league winner" due to his mid-round draft status and atomic production with Matthew Stafford.
Tyreek Hill, Devante Adams, Justin Jefferson, and Stefon Diggs were all highly drafted receivers that didn't disappoint, although each had some games that were cringeworthy on the stat sheet. Ceedee Lamb and Chris Godwin exploded as second-tier receivers who out-performed their counterparts at a high rate, while Deebo Samuel, Mike Williams, and rookie Ja'Marr Chase scored the most points above expectation among receivers (for where they were drafted) in the league.
Rookie Jaylen Waddle leads rookies in receptions, but is also top 10 in the league among all players in that category and has been a huge part of the new (and improved?) Miami Dolphins. Michael Gallup is an interesting one, because he has largely been on and off waivers while also on and off IR, but since returning to the team he has been targeted more than Amari Cooper. His consistency as a flex/WR2 sub off the bench has helped a lot of teams through bye weeks or injuries.
Tight Ends
1. Rob Gronkowski, Tampa Bay
2. Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia
3. George Kittle, San Francisco
Gronk! Veteran Rob Gronkowski, after coming out of retirement and winning a Super Bowl, hit the field with Brady again and is one of the premier tight ends in the league. As far as fantasy goes, if you survived the games he missed due to being old and hurt, he was a must start when active and continues to be a target-hog as long as Brady is throwing the rock.
Dallas Goedert was a big late-round sleeper at the position and once Zach Ertz was traded to Arizona he became the only reliable pass catcher to start in Philly. Reliability among tight ends was scare in 2021, so Goedert's stability got a lot of teams to the postseason.
George Kittle is the only one of the Big 3 on this list, largely because he went on IR and was dropped by many managers only to be swooped by other teams with better records when he came back. He came back hard though, and doesn't look to stop, so anyone with this guy rostered is in pretty good shape for their playoff run.
A surprising name missing from the list is Travis Kelce, who leads the league in scoring for tight ends. There are many reason for this, but one of them is draft position. He was generally selected in the first round, and sometimes that doesn't always work out if your later round receivers and backs don't hit as well.
Good luck in the playoffs, hopefully you have Justin Herbert, Dalvin Cook, Cooper Kupp, and George Kittle. If you do, you'll be just fine.
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