With the 2020 season over we recap our Playoff MVP Predictions. Hopefully, you enjoyed the series and fantasy success! It’s been a rollercoaster ride of changing designations, situations flip-flopping, and whole position groups being ruled out. Hopefully, you’ve been able to pull through and been crowned the champion of your league!
Before most fantasy league’s playoffs started, I tried to see the future to help you win your playoffs. Obviously, I’m not psychic, but now the champions have been crowned, it’s time to see how successful my predictions actually were.
All points and rankings will use the following score settings:
- 4 points for touchdown passes
- 6 points for other touchdowns
- -1 point for turnovers
- 0.5 points per reception
- All other scoring is the community accepted “standard”
2020 Playoff MVP Predictions – Recap: Quarterback
My predictions at the quarterback position were pretty good. All of them finished as top 12 at the position in the 3 game playoff stretch – one of them even finished as top 6 quarterbacks. Let’s take a dive into how they’ve done:
Aaron Rodgers (GB)
Rodgers was the one I was easily the highest on, and he pulled through. All season, Rodgers has been throwing touchdowns left, right and centre – putting him firmly in the conversation for league MVP. He added 8 touchdown passes and only 1 interception during the fantasy playoff span. He also scored two rushing touchdowns.
Rodgers’ averaged 25.1 points each week during this stretch. His lowest game being 18.3 against the Panthers – a game where Rodgers didn’t need to work his magic with Aaron Jones totalling over 150 scrimmage yards. All in all, Rodgers has been great for championship-bound teams. Being the QB4 during the span which matches his position rank for the year.
Tom Brady (TB)
If you started Brady throughout your playoff run, you’ll know he got gradually better as the weeks passed. I was a bit worried following week 14 that I had made a mistake choosing Brady. He scored 15.6 points against the Vikings, completing only 15 passes (including 2 touchdowns).
Brady was merely saving up for his week 16 finale; scoring 29.9 points, throwing for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns. Pretty impressive numbers, right? He did all of that in one half of play. 30 minutes of game time. Brady actually got benched because they were so far in the lead. He only totalled 54% of offensive snaps in that game. If you managed to pull through to the final, Brady would’ve helped you to that championship. In the playoff stretch, Brady was the QB7 totaling 68.9 points.
Mitchell Trubisky (CHI)
With Mitchell Trubisky, I was using the angle of him earning the starting job and becoming a nice streaming option for your playoff run. He ended the stretch at QB10. Pretty impressive for someone who only won the starting job back in week 12 thanks to an injury to Nick Foles. Since week 12, Trubisky has run with the job, making both Bears fans and fantasy managers pretty happy. Scoring well in fantasy and bringing the Bears to a win away from securing a playoff seed.
The past few weeks have been up and down for Trubisky, reaching back to week 12 through week 16. His fantasy performances have been: 20.7, 13.3, 25, 14.5 and 24.6 – quite the bumpy ride. If you started him on the correct weeks, he will have definitely helped you get closer to that championship. He could have also been a liability in those weeks which he posted subpar numbers.
One thing to note: Trubisky’s trend of mediocre-to-subpar games continues when facing the Vikings, posting 202 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception – he also added 34 rushing yards. As you’ll see later, Montgomery ran wild. Meaning Trusbisky was not needed to throw as much (only having 21 attempts all game).
Misses:
I’m not going to keep rambling on about my picks being hits (at least in my opinion). Yes, all of these picks did pretty well in my eyes. However, with all the hits, comes a few misses or oversights.
Jalen Hurts (PHI)
Jalen Hurts really came out of nowhere. Eagles starting quarterback to enter the season, Carson Wentz, has struggled all year. The Eagles coaching staff finally gave their 2nd round rookie quarterback, Jalen Hurts, a chance against Green Bay in week 13 for 41% of offensive snaps. The Eagles offense gained a spark and Hurts went on to be the QB3 over the following 3-weeks. With up performances of 19.3, 37.8, and 20.6. Hurts’ rushing ability – totaling 238 yards during the 3-weeks of the playoffs – helped Hurts to thrive in the starting role. The Hurts/Wentz battle will be an interesting story to follow this offseason.
Josh Allen (BUF)
The QB1, and overall top scorer, during the playoff stretch, was a big miss from me. Allen didn’t have a great schedule coming up; Pittsburgh had been a tough defence to face, and New England who have previously had Josh Allen’s number. Allen’s breakout has been mesmerising to watch, both from a fantasy point of view, and an NFL fan’s point of view. Allen has scored 89.3 total points during the 3-week playoff run, with two monster games in weeks 15 (37.7 points) and 16 (32.3 points) to complete the fantasy season. Although Allen may be a step behind Rodgers and Mahomes in the NFL MVP conversation due to a series of “down” games mid-season, Allen is easily my fantasy playoff MVP for the quarterback position.
2020 Playoff MVP Predictions – Recap: Running Back
Like my predictions for the quarterback position, my running back predictions did pretty well. All were a top 12 option during the playoff run, with two being in the top 3 at the position. Only one of them, however, has been consistent – and it isn’t who you’d think. Let’s take a look:
David Montgomery (CHI)
Wow. Just wow. This season has been a tale of two halves for David Montgomery. He struggled during the 10 weeks before his bye (this includes one missed game), ranking as the RB20. When Montgomery came back from his bye, he was a changed running back. Prior to his bye, Montgomery’s highest-scoring game was 20.2 points; since his bye, he’s only scored below (yes, below!!) 20.2 points once. That was against the Jaguars in week 16 where he scored 19.1 points.
Montgomery’s past 5 weeks has turned around his season. Being the RB1 overall, launching him from RB20 prior to his bye, to RB6 on the season. Unsurprisingly, Montgomery’s best games have come from those where he has scored touchdowns. He had just two games prior to his bye with a touchdown, both totalled more than 15 points. After the bye, Montgomery scored at least 1 touchdown in each of his 5 games, totalling 7 in this stretch. All of these games were against bottom of the pile rushing defences, but Montgomery has done what some running backs have not been able to against these teams.
Enough about the past 5 games, we’re interested in the past 3. In those games, Montgomery has 438 scrimmage yards and 4 touchdowns, including 2 games over 100 rushing yards during the fantasy playoff run. He’s scored 70.8 points, placing him at RB2 during this stretch. If you managed to squeeze into the playoffs with Montgomery on your roster, he would’ve become a consistent starter to help you to that championship.
Derrick Henry (TEN)
Derrick Henry has put up good overall numbers – 69.2 points (RB3) – during the 3 game playoff stretch, but his weekly numbers declined as the playoffs went on. Henry started off his playoff run with a monster 35.2 points against the Jaguars, rushing for 215 (215!!) yards and 2 touchdowns in week 14. Week 15, you maybe were not expecting the same monster game, but Henry definitely helped your team with 24.2 points (147 rushing yards, 1 touchdown). Henry definitely did not perform to expectations during week 16. Against a poor rushing defence, Henry was expected to post another huge week; instead, he was “held” to 98 yards scoring 9.8 points. He did not record a target or a touchdown in this game. I hope you had other guys (maybe someone like Alvin Kamara?) on your roster for your final.
Aaron Jones (GB)
Jones ended the stretch as the RB11 with 43.6 points. Although he was pretty good, I would not say he put up MVP numbers. Jones had a mediocre game to start out the playoffs, posting 69 rushing yards and 2 catches for 6 yards – 8.5 points. He then put on a show in week 15 against the Panthers, gaining 158 scrimmage yards (only 5 rushing yards from 150) and a touchdown scoring 23.3 points. Jones’ great play was the reason Rodgers did not need to play exceptional. In the finals week, Jones got injured midway through the game (he did play in odd snaps afterwards, only logging 38% of snaps. In a game script that favoured the run for both sides, Jones rushed for 94 yards on just 10 attempts, adding 2 catches for 14 yards – posting 11.8 points for your championship team. His performance was mediocre purely down to two factors: he didn’t score a touchdown and rookie AJ Dillon ran over the Titans defence with a Henry-Esque run style in the snow.
Miss:
With me selecting the RB 2 and 3 in my predictions, I obviously cannot select multiple players in this “miss” section. He’s the RB1 during the stretch – and over the course of this season – did you guess who it is?
Alvin Kamara (NO)
What a championship week. If you did make it to the finals, Kamara was probably a big reason why you did. He is the RB1 on the year, and he has not changed that during the fantasy playoff run. He scored 18.9 and 16.9 points during weeks 14 and 15 which is pretty mediocre for Kamara. The Saints somehow realised they had a star in running back against the Vikings in week 16, giving Kamara the ball 25 times (22 attempts, 3 catches), for 172 scrimmage yards (155 and 17 respectively). Oh I forgot to mention, he rushed for 6 touchdowns – yes, you read that right, 6 touchdowns – equaling an NFL record. He could’ve broken it had the Saints not taken Kamara out of the game in favour of Taysom Hill with the ball on the 1-yard line. I’m sure you’re aware as this has been all over Twitter, or it has probably been discussed in your leagues, Kamara scored 54.7 points to help you win your championship.
2020 Playoff MVP Predictions – Recap: Wide Receiver
Wide receiver was easily my worst segment in terms of the predictions I made. I didn’t want to pick some of the more obvious guys; that’d be boring, right? But on this occasion, I got way too spicy. Only one of my picks turned out to be a top 12 player at the position during the fantasy playoffs.
Allen Robinson (CHI)
As I alluded to, Allen Robinson was the only one of my predictions who ended the playoffs as a top 12 option at the wide receiver position. Robinson had 3 pretty decent games. However, his scores fluctuated during the playoff stretch, only having 1 game with more than 20 points (week 14 – 22.8 points), while his lowest game was in week 15, with 10.3 points. Robinson didn’t carry your team in any week, but he will have been a healthy contributor. What is surprising is Robinson had two games over 100 yards and the one game where he didn’t hit that milestone, he was only 17 yards off.
Chris Godwin (TB)
With this pick, I managed to predict the right team but picked the wrong player at the position. Godwin ended the stretch as the WR28, scoring only 32 points. He managed to get back to expectations in week 16 with 84 yards on 5 catches and a touchdown – scoring 16.9 points. However, Mike Evans was the WR championship-bound rosters needed – ending the stretch as the WR4. Although Evans had a tough week 14 game – scoring only 7.1 points, Evans made up for that in week 16 with a monster, 10 catches, 181 yards and 2 touchdown performance, amounting to 35.1 points. With the huge game in week 16, he not only helped save a lot of rosters against some other huge scores, but he also saved his overall ranking during the playoff stretch, being the WR4.
Keke Coutee (HOU)
I definitely got too spicy with this pick. Although I was choosing Coutee as a sleeper style pick, similar to Trubisky in the QB section, I did not anticipate Coutee being the WR39 during the playoff stretch. He scored a total of 27.6 points over these 3 games, having 131 total yards and 2 touchdowns on only 13 catches, he was a massive disappointment for me. I’m not sure what else to put here, apart from: I’m sorry on this one.
Misses:
Stefon Diggs (BUF)
The fantasy community, both on Twitter and in league chats I was in, were very split on Stefon Diggs during the past offseason. Being recently traded to a team headed by a quarterback with the lowest completion percentage in the league, fantasy managers were definitely eager to see how it turned out. We wanted a show, we got one. Allen has been on fire this year, part of that comes down to Diggs. Diggs is on track to set multiple franchise records and has been the WR3 on the year. More importantly for this article, he’s been the WR1 during the fantasy playoffs with 81.3 points, just under 15 points clear of the next best wide receiver on that year. He’s had the most receptions, yards and is tied with the next miss for most touchdowns during the playoff run (for wide receivers). It’s definitely worth mentioning, Diggs had a monster game in week 16 – totalling 37 points (9 receptions for 145 yards and 3 touchdowns) – but that was only to top off a consistent playoff performance; not dropping below 20 points in the 3-week span of the playoffs.
Davante Adams (GB)
As I mentioned just, Davante Adams is tied for the most touchdowns for a wide receiver during the playoff stretch with 4. This has helped Adams be the WR2 during the past 3 games, totalling 66.4 points. This season, Adams is the WR1; scoring the most touchdowns (17) and having the 3rd most yards and receptions for wide receivers. He’s another wide receiver within reaching distance of breaking franchise records. Adams had a down week in week 15 – a product of Aaron Jones running (literally) up and down the field against the Panthers’ defence – if you managed to get to the final with Adams on your roster, He did not disappoint with a monster: 11 reception, 142 yards and 3 touchdowns totalling 37.7 points. He’s been outstanding all year, and he made sure he showed up in week 16.
That’s it for my 2020 MVP Predictions Recap. A few hits and a few misses in there, but overall, I don’t think that was too bad – lets just never talk about those wide receiver predictions again, alright?
So that’s our 2020 Playoff MVP Predictions Recap! Hopefully, you won your league. We have big plans for this year, so keep an eye out for our articles, as well as our social media channels. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And, as always, if you want something more specific to your league- reach out!
Image Credit: Brad Rempel – USA TODAY Sports
