Stars’ no-shows lead to early playoff exits in cruel fantasy football twist

NFL Week 17 is here and with it comes the fantasy football championships. For some, this is a time of euphoria as dreams of hoisting that championship trophy dance through our heads like so many sugar plum fairies. For those less fortunate, it felt like the nutcrackers did their job. There is nothing worse than fighting through a 14-week regular season only to see those stud players who helped carry you to the playoffs come up short when it matters most. 

In a season dominated by running backs, the first round of the playoffs was a miserable week. Saquon Barkley, currently on his way to breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, delivered a paltry 65 yards in Week 15 and let everyone down. Derrick Henry, De’Von Achane and Chuba Hubbard all did the same. And what’s worse, as if to troll those who were bounced from the first round of their playoffs, they all posted dominant performances in Week 16, making their owners the belle of the ball in their consolation brackets. 

Running backs weren’t the only tormentors. Sam Darnold, Kyler Murray, Matthew Stafford and Brock Purdy all came up short in Week 15 and to add insult to injury, Josh Allen went from hero to zero in Week 16. Some may want to throw Jalen Hurts under the bus as well, but at least his failure was injury related. The rest of them have absolutely no excuse. Strong matchups and momentum carried over from previous weeks were tossed into a dumpster out back, waiting to be set ablaze. 

Also living in that dumpster are a number of wide receivers who delivered the goods throughout the regular season but vanished into thin air once the fantasy playoffs began. Cooper Kupp is now living on a milk carton, Amari Cooper is doing the same and one of the greatest value picks in 2024 fantasy football drafts, Darnell Mooney, spent the past two weeks asking those two guys if he could bunk with them. Jerry Jeudy got the rug pulled out from under him with the Browns quarterback change, and if anyone out there sees Jauan Jennings, kindly tell him the fantasy community is done with him. 

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It’s a brutal way to go down in fantasy football. The regular season is an absolute grind. You scratch and claw your way through waivers each week, endure some of the most untimely injuries, and when you finally make it to the big dance, you can’t even boogie with the guys who brought you there. Start your studs, they say? Heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking. The best you can do now is sit back and hope the hurt dissipates enough that you don’t pass over these guys in drafts next year. They couldn’t possibly hurt you this much again, could they?

Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football news and advice.