Fantasy Playoffs MVP: Seahawks' Rashaad Penny vs. Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown
Andy Behrens and Scott Pianowski explain which players balled out in this year's fantasy football postseason.
Video Transcript
ANDY BEHRENS: I don't know if I should call this the waiver ad of the year for the fantasy playoffs or if I should just call this the fantasy playoff MVP. I feel like there are two strong candidates that were almost surely added at some point during the season from waivers, and they are Rashaad Penny and Amon-Ra St. Brown. I don't even know who to pick here. So I'm going to let you go first.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Yeah. I'm fine with either one of them. They were both basically league winning plays for the last three weeks of the season, and a really good year. If you scrimped on running back, all you had to do in the playoffs is if you came up with a Penny, you came up with to Singletary at the right time where he's been more involved with Buffalo over the last week or so, those types of plays.
I feel bad because a lot of people ask me St. Brown questions in Week 17. And the only reason he was still a start-sit question was because Jared Goff wasn't playing, and because Tim Boyle-- one touchdown 13 interceptions in college. Tim Boyle is-- why is he even in the NFL? And I didn't universally rubber stamp St. Brown to play in Week 17 for people, and then he still had a monster game anyway.
They got him involved in the running game. They got him involved in sweeps. He's always open. And he did it where their running back's got hurt. They did have a moment where Craig Reynolds was effective. The way the Lions played, the fact that they covered 11 out of 17 games for Danny Campbell even though they only won 3 and 1/2 games, that's something to be said for that.
But it got to the point where St. Brown was the only person that Lion opponents had to worry about, because Hockenson was hurt, and D'Andre Swift had a lost season, Jamaal Williams missed some time, and the backup quarterback's playing. Basically, your game plan should have been OK, they have one dynamic receiver. Let's try to erase that guy and nobody did it.
He was fantastic his final six games. I think he may have played himself at least into the fourth round next year, maybe even the third round next year. And if Jared Goff can be a competent quarterback, if they can get a healthy Swift, a healthy Hockenson, this could be a fun offense. Their offensive coordinator position is open. Anthony Lynn is not coming back, and he actually lost the play sheet a few weeks ago anyway.
But I'm curious to see who comes in and who's the next mastermind of the Lions, because there could be a fun offense here. Campbell is a good coach, and I think he hits the right emotional keys. But there's some potential with this offense. I'm going to lean towards St. Brown just because I'm in Michigan. It's been a fun story. He even got to show off in front of his dad and in front of Equanimeous St. Brown. Are there more St. Browns? What are they named? I need to know the whole-- I need a reality show with the St. Brown family.
But it's just cool to see Detroit have some hope. They've been a tortured fan base for a long time. That place was rocking yesterday. Yeah, they beat a Green Bay team that checked out at halftime. I get it. Jordan Love is a drop down from Aaron Rodgers last I checked, but it's just cool to see Detroit have some hope. And to find it in the fourth round receiver, that's something.
ANDY BEHRENS: Six straight games at the end of the season with double digit targets for St. Brown, six straight games with at least eight catches. And he got it done to when D'Andre Swift came back. As much as I like TJ Hockenson, it's not like I think TJ Hockenson is somebody who's going to severely block St. Brown moving forward.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Targets are a receiver stat. OK. Harmon would tell you this. There's the reason why Diontae Johnson walks off the bus, and he's got 10 targets in his pocket. When you dominate market share, when you dominate target share, that's a statement about the receiver. That's a very good signal to buy.
ANDY BEHRENS: I will just say in defense of Rashaad Penny, it's one of the better stories I can remember, and one of the more improbable. It ties into the [? CPAT ?] story in that way. I didn't see it coming. I will say that every place that I used like a last round or second to the last round pick on Rashaad Penny, I'm sure I dropped him in all of them.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Of course. [INAUDIBLE]
ANDY BEHRENS: I reacquired him on one. But who's going to hold on to him all year? He finished with 671 rushing yards in his last five games. That is 43% of his career total. He came into the league in 2018. That is just wild to me. He rushed for 135, 170, and 190 over his last three games with four touchdowns.
So an incredible finish for him. He doesn't have a team next year. The Seahawks declined to pick up his fifth year option, which I totally understand. Because he hasn't done anything at the point that they had to make the decision. He hadn't been healthy. And he's now a free agent going into-- man, the guy obviously made himself a little bit of money. He was fantastic. When he got in the open field, nobody could catch him. I just loved it.