Who were the biggest fantasy football disappointments of 2019
As the 2019 fantasy football season has come and gone, we take a look back on which players let us down the most.
The 2019 regular season in the NFL may be over, but it never gets old reflecting on some of the highs and lows of another year on the gridiron. This segment will focus on some of the bigger disappointments in fantasy football this year. They may have cost you a championship ring in the end or even worse, didn’t even help you reach the postseason in your league. Regardless, the outcome was still the same which is that you did not win your league and had to deal with the pain of seeing someone else claim the title that you methodically set out to win back in the dog days of summer. Let’s get to it.
David Johnson (ARI)
It was torture watching my favorite NFL player completely wither away right before my very eyes as I helplessly looked on.
Back in early September, I conducted my eighth annual fantasy football draft with my friends and family. This year was going to be different, I told myself. I was picking fourth and in the prime position to finally get my hands on the player that I’ve been enamored with for the past three years.
David Johnson lit up the league back in 2016 with his 2,000 plus yards from scrimmage and 20 total touchdowns. He was am absolute fantasy god that year and my father was the only one who saw it coming before our draft in 2016. That was because he scooped Johnson up on the waiver wire in 2015 to help him claim his second-ever championship.
With that said, Johnson won my heart and I craved to have him on my roster since then. 2017 was a disappointment as he dislocated his wrist in the third quarter against the Detroit Lions during Week 1. 2018 was decent as he finished RB11 that year averaging 15.3 fantasy points per game. Arizona’s deplorable coaching staff had an adverse effect on Johnson’s production but I was impressed with how he still made the most of something pretty bland and hopeless.
The Cardinals decided to shake up their coaching staff this past offseason. With an offensive-minded coach like Kliff Kingsbury in control and a talented, young quarterback under center, Johnson’s resurgence for 2019 appeared to be very likely. After watching Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara, and Christian McCaffrey go before me in the draft, it was time. The moment I had waited for. There was no hesitation with the pick as my heart raced when I spotted his name sitting right there for the taking.
It was done. David Johnson was finally on my roster with the fourth overall pick of the 2019 Catalano Football League draft. The stage was set for Johnson to light it up as he did three years prior.
At first, it looked like he was going to prove his worth as he was RB6 while averaging 17.7 fantasy points per game for the first six weeks of the season. Things were looking up for Johnson as he was being utilized more in Arizona’s passing schemes.
Then disaster struck as he suffered an ankle injury prior to Week 7’s matchup against the Giants. He was also dealing with some back problems a little before that too. A combination of these issues wound up derailing Johnson’s season as he was taking more time than expected to heal. The Cardinals were growing a little impatient and decided to acquire Kenyan Drake from the Miami Dolphins at the end of October.
Drake’s presence completely shifted the balance of power in Arizona’s backfield. What once used to be mainly Johnson’s was no more. Drake eventually usurped Johnson’s number one starting role and was one of the hottest waiver-wire pickups down the stretch of the season.
Meanwhile, Johnson practically road the bench as he barely saw the field even when he was supposedly healthy to suit up. It appears that the Cardinals are ready to move on from Johnson, although management has yet to commit to what they plan on doing in preparation for next season. One thing’s for certain, he was a major letdown for many fantasy managers who invested in a first-round pick in him like me.
As it turns out, there were plenty of other backs to have selected over Johnson that could have been the difference in your season. As for me, during the first six weeks of the year, I was 4-2 and sitting in second place within my division. This was largely because of Johnson’s presence in my lineup. As soon as he went down, I lost eight straight and missed the playoffs. There were obviously other bad picks I made in my draft that caused this disastrous losing streak but Johnson was a major culprit.
Having your number one running back, let alone your number one pick tank on you usually doesn’t yield positive results. Johnson’s future in Arizona remains in limbo for now. I am very interested to see what jersey he will be donning come September.