Gotham Commentary, 2017

By special request, I will start doing my analysis of Gotham each year, in additional to Middle Earth. Gotham is in it's 3rd year, and is a dynasty league. Klent Starks was our first Champion and Dave Groves is the defending champ. Will Dave repeat? Will Klent make his second playoff appearance? Find out below!

Top Three

Gotham's Reckoning (Nathan Koehler)

I have one of the best teams, no question. I drafted well, and I've made the trades I needed to give myself a legitimate shot at a Championship. The problem? I've never won in any league. There's going to be a lot that I will have to overcome. I have Rodgers, Freeman, AJ Green and Antonio Brown as my core, but barring injury, I should have a shot for the next few seasons.

The Odell Beckham Joker (Colin Capps)

Colin is The Reckoning's Evil Twin. He has a plethora of fantastic receivers and Colin has the smarts to continue to build and rebuild on the fly. Beckham, Mike Evans, Jordy Nelson and Greg Olsen lead his receiving corps and what an impressive group that is! Colin's running backs are a bit suspect, which may be his only weakness.

Beware The BatBear (Kevin and Braxton Koehler)

When Dad and Braxton combine forces, you know to expect great things. The BatBear has been consistently good, but will be hampered by the loss of David Johnson this season. Speaking of injuries, the BatBear is already have some issues with the loss of Andrew Luck for an unknown time and the inevitable injury of Big Ben at some point in the season. I'm still not worried about the team and expect them to make the big dance.

Wild Card

The Asylum (David Groves)

Dave clearly has a good team, since he's the defending champ. However, I'm placing him into the wild card slot as he's reliant solely on the Patriots. It did win him a Championship last year, but I don't think that will be a sustaining strategy going forward. However, this season, he may still make a big run. As of this writing, Gronk and Brady are back!

Miss Playoffs

Team Starks (Klent Starks) 

Klent is rebuilding his team a bit. He's certainly gotten better but may still struggle this year. It happens. At least it's a Dynasty League! I expect that Klent will return to his former glory sooner rather than later.

Middle Earth Fantasy Football Commentary, 2017

As is my tradition, I'm going to evaluate all of the teams that we've put together in our Middle Earth Fantasy Football league (a week late, no less, but I'm trying). It took Jonathan three years to rebuild the team he was given, but he prevailed and won his second Championship, and now wears The One Ring as his prize. Will he repeat? Find out below!

Top Three

Andwise Puttifoot (Jake Thompson)

Jake took Zeke at #1 overall last year and was the best team in the league during the regular season. He was also voted as MVP. Unfortunately for Jake, he met John in round one of the playoffs and was sent packing. Jake has again built a great team, and with Zeke set to play the full season, he's sitting pretty with a stacked roster. Since I'm doing this post-week one, I can say that the loss of David Johnson will hurt Jake, but no doubt that he will find a great replacement on waivers.

Rubber Ducky Rohirrim (Kevin Koehler)

Am I getting redundant with putting Dad in the top three every year? Maybe, but I can't deny his talent for building great teams. He has two top WRs in Mike Evans and Amari Cooper and his running backs, Ty Montgomery and Kareem Hunt, should be consistent to lead Dad to another great season. The question for him (just like me) is, can he make it through the playoffs?

Minas Morgul Scream (Nathan Koehler)

Yes, I'm putting myself in the top three. I've tried to be humble, but I think I have a good team this year. My keepers, Jordy Nelson and Antonio Brown, will be great and Le'Veon Bell will lead my running game, barring any injuries and shaking off his post-holdout daze. If I can stay healthy, I believe I have a good shot at making a deep playoff run.

Wild Card(s)

Newton's Nazgul (Jonathan Barrett)

Jonathan is great owner and has proven that he can be left with absolute garbage to build from and still win a Championship. He has a solid running core but has already been battered by injuries. No doubt, though, that he can keep rebuilding his team through waivers as he has shown over the many years. I'm placing him as a wild card because even when he hasn't had some of the bigger names in the game, he's still won The Ring.

Bonus Wild Card

Manning Helm's Deep (John Barrett)

John is the unsuspecting type of player that will creep up with a few wins, squeak into the playoffs and then upset teams that should never lose (i.e. Jake). He's shown, too, that he can take The Ring for himself and always bodes well, despite lacking some of the bigger name players (like father, like son?). John will rely on LeSean McCoy and Doug Baldwin, but that hasn't hindered him in the past. John may be a sleeper team that could shock someone in the playoffs.

Miss Playoffs

Riders of Romohan (Colin Capps)

Honestly, Colin probably doesn't deserve to be here in the Miss Playoffs slot, and I may be very wrong to put him here (but I'm going to anyway!). Colin is going to live or die by Odell Beckham, AKA Eli Manning and Jay Ajayi. I'm sure he will fix up some of his team's issues via trade or FA, but it's possible that he will struggle this season unless he makes a blockbuster trade.