Just like the NFL, we go ahead and pick our “All-Robio” teams based solely on regular season results and since the regular season just ended, it’s time to hand out some hardware for those players who made a difference in 2015. This year, Eric and the Patriots owned the first team with three players. Eric’s included his QB, WR and place kicker. Griff has six total All-Robio players, which is tied for most in one season. This includes one first-team player and what’s probably also a record five second-team All-Robio players.
However, let’s get started first with our league MVP and rookie of the year.
LEAGUE MVP: TOM BRADY, QB NE (ERIC)
I really thought about moving Cam Newton here. He’s been the best player down the stretch, but was unable to pass Brady in points. Devonta Freeman’s early season explosion was impressive, but he cooled down the stretch. This, I’m going with the hated Brady.
His numbers were easily the best all season long, way and above all the quarterbacks who were also considered elite. I also need to take into account that when he did experience a dip in production at the end, it had to do with his three favorite targets getting knocked out with injuries.
Before those injuries, Brady was averaging 390 points per game, never failing to hit 300. That would have been the fifth best performance in league history and that’s comparing it to quarterbacks who played under a different scoring system that allowed them to put up more points.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: TODD GURLEY, RB STL (BOB)
First year quarterbacks, Jamie Winston and Marcus Mariota had their moments. Winston in particular has been solid and has the Buccaneers fighting for a playoff spot. However, he’s still ranked just 15th among quarterbacks (Mariota is 18th, despite missing a couple games). Both are behind Matthew Stafford and I can’t give any award to anyone behind Stafford in anything.
Coming in a close second is Amari Cooper. The Raiders rookie wide receiver has been a legit WR1 this year, finishing our regular season as the 13th best WR in fantasy football. He’s on pace for 80 catches and over 1,200 yards and will have plenty of All-Robio hardware by the time his career is over.
However, I’m going with Todd Gurley. The Rams rookie running back finished 10th among all running backs, despite the fact he basically only played in nine games. For a solid six-week run, he was the best back in football, averaging 326 points per game between weeks 3-8. Yes, as the Rams quarterbacks started throwing the ball to the other team, his numbers dipped drastically (averaging just 101 over his last three), yet he is the best running back prospect this league has seen since Adrian Peterson’s rookie year back in 2007.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-ROBIO
Yep, Eric is the first-team All-Robio king in 2015
QUARTERBACK – TOM BRADY, NE | ERIC
Tom Brady earned his six overall All-Robio award (second most by a quarterback behind Peyton) and second first-team award since 2007. Remember, Eric received Brady in a dump trade last year (giving up Calvin Johnson) and he paid off big time as a fifth-round keeper. Brady scored a league high 4,282 points, averaging 357 points per game.
He never truly had a bad game, breaking 300 nine times, at least 200 in every game. In fact, his numbers only fell at the end because he lost his top three weapons to injury. For Eric, this is just the second time he has delivered a first-team All-Robio quarterback. The last time was way back in 2002 when he had the Raiders’ Rich Gannon.
RUNNING BACK – DEVONTA FREEMAN, ATL | RICH B
What a ride it has been for the second year back. Freeman was kept by me, but then released before the draft. Then he was mistakenly drafted by Burrier ahead of Trevor Coleman, despite being the backup in Atlanta. He barely saw the field the first two weeks and was cut by Rich. Coleman went down with an injury in week three, thus Freeman became the starter. Rich picked him back up and the rest was history.
Freeman put together a record-setting four weeks, averaging 482.5 points per game during that first month as a starter. That pace was obviously impossible to continue and since then he’s averaged a decent 193 PPG since week seven, missing a game and a half due to a concussion. Still, that one month was good enough to help Freeman earn his first All-Robio award.
RUNNING BACK – ADRIAN PETERSON, MIN | GRIFF
After missing nearly the entire 2014 season because he beat his kid with sticks, the top pick in the 2015 draft bounced back nicely, averaging 263.5 points per game. He cracked 300-points five times, nearly hitting the 500-mark twice (scoring 492 in week 1 and 494 in week 12). He was the best back in football heading into the final game, but struggled against the Seahawks, producing only 48 fantasy points and hands the fantasy rushing title back to Freeman. This is Peterson’s seventh All-Robio award and third first-team Award (2010, 2012, 2015).
WIDE RECEIVER – ANTONIO BROWN, PIT | ERIC
You know, there’s a good argument to be made to have Antonio Brown as the league’s top pick next year. He’s that fucking good, as long as Ben Roethlisberger is healthy. Think about it, he scored just 128 points less than the top running back (Freeman) and that’s in a league that doesn’t reward receptions like most league’s do. Hell, take away that bad three-game stretch where Michael Vick was the “quarterback” and Brown averaged just 74 points per game. He averaged a stunning 319 PPG in his other nine contests. That would blow away the record for most points score by a wide receiver. This is the second straight year Brown has earned first-team All-Robio, becoming just the fifth receiver in league history to do that in back-t0-back seasons.
WIDE RECEIVER – JULIO JONES, ATL | MATT
Julio Jones fell all the way down to the 11th pick in the draft, the fourth overall receiver and that probably shouldn’t be happening. Until a late surge by Antonio Brown, Julio was the best pair of hands this season. He averaged 255.5 points per game on the year, breaking 400 twice and 300 two more times. Surprisingly though, this is Jones’ first ever All-Robio award. For Matt, this is the second straight year he’s produced a first-team receiver (Demaryius Thomas was last year).
TIGHT END – ROB GRONKOWSKI, NE | BOB
No surprise here. Gronkowski remains the one guy who can miss games and still easily hold the top spot. He averaged 218 points per game, 38 points more than the next tight end and if you want to compare him to wide outs, he would have finished ninth among receivers and that’s with missing one game. Because of his inability to avoid injury, it’s unlikely Gronk will ever catch Tony Gonzalez for most All-Robio awards (Tony has 11, tied with Peyton Manning). However, he could certainly break his record for most fist-team awards. Gonzalez finished with five 1st-team awards in his career. This year’s award is the fourth time since 2011 Gronk has gotten it. One more and he wins a set of steak knifes.
PLACE KICKER – STEPHEN GOSTKOWSKI, NE | ERIC
Along with Brady and Gronk, the Patriots landed three All-Robio players this year. This is Gostowski’s third first-team All-Robio award, leaving him just one back of David Acker’s record of four (for a kicker). He missed just one field goal all season and none under 50 yards, while leading the league in extra points tried and made (43 for 43).
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS – BRONCOS, DEN | MATT
It’s difficult to compare current defenses with past defenses only because we have lowered the points that a defense can get. So if you compare the Broncos 187.5 PPG to the past first-team All-Robio defense/special teams, you might thing they weren’t that impressive. You would be wrong though. Starting last year, the defensive points took their biggest hit when I made changes. Last year’s top defense were the Buffalo Bills, who averaged 35 points less per game than the 2015 Broncos. At one point, before injuries started to play a part, Denver’s D was averaging over 80 more points per game than the second best defense this year. They led the league in sacks, interceptions and defensive touchdowns, tied for third in fumble recovers. That’s good.
SECOND-TEAM ALL-ROBIO
Griff caught six total All-Robio studs this year.
QUARTERBACK – CAM NEWTON, CAR | GRIFF
Cam is the man. Surprisingly, this is Cam Newton’s first All-Robio award of any kind. Actually, it’s not that shocking because Newton has had a habit of getting hot come fantasy playoff time. If we handed out these awards when the NFL regular season ended, he would have a couple of these bad boys in his closet. Anyhow, Cam came on strong late again, producing one 400-pt game and a pair of 500-pt games in the season’s final five weeks. If you combine his passing and rushing yards, he has over 3,500 yards and 32 touchdowns.
RUNNING BACK – DOUG MARTIN, TB | COLBY
Colby has three total All-Robio players and none were drafted in the first three rounds. Instead, Colby relied on veteran sleepers to get the job done. Coming off two very bad seasons, Martin wasn’t drafted until the fifth-round, but he’s been a stud all season long. Averaging 239 PPG, he had one three-game stretch in weeks 4-7 where he averaged 395 points per contest. This is Martin’s second All-Robio award. The last was back in 2012 with Masterson, when was first-team All-Robio and he also brought home the rookie of the year trophy. Oddly enough, this is only the second running back since 2008 that Colby has had that ended up on an All-Robio list. The other was first-team DeMarco Murray last year. Prior to that, the last All-Robio RB was Jamal Lewis in 2007.
RUNNING BACK – MARK INGRAM, NO | ROB M
Averaging 225 points per game, Mark Ingram had a very quiet successful season for Rob, who kept Ingram in the 10th round this year. Maybe because the Saints sucked, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned Ingram’s name more than 2-3 times all year and two of those times have been me talking about how I’m not mentioning Ingram. I probably should have been talking about him more. Sure, he never rolled off a 400-point game or anything, but he also failed to score 190 points just twice all year. This is the fourth time in five seasons Rob has had either a first-team or second-team All-Robio running back (Rice in 2011, Martin in 2012, Lynch in 2014 and now Ingram in 2015).
WIDE RECEIVER – DEANDRE HOPKINS, HOU | RICH B
Considering how bad the quarterback play has been in Houston, one could argue that Hopkins is probably the best receiver in football. Imagine if he had a capable quarterback, the dude could be putting up 1,700 yards and 15 scores without breaking a sweat. He already has a career high in receptions (86) this season with four games left to play. He’s on pace for 1,500 yards and he already has 10 touchdowns.
WIDE RECEIVER – ODELL BECKHAM, NYG | GRIFF
After a inconsistent start to the season where he cracked 300 once, but failed to hit 100 twice in his first four games, Beckham has come on strong in the second half of the year. He’s produced five 300+ games in his last seven outings, including back-to-back 344 and 385-point performances to end the season. This is Beckham’s first All-Robio award, with many more expected to come over the years. He is the first wide receiver to earn at least a second-team nod for Griff since Wes Welker got 1st team back in 2011.
TIGHT END – GREG OLSEN, CAR | COLBY
For a hot minute to begin the season, Olsen seemed to struggle. He had 162 points through week two and scored just 56 points in week four. However, he got hot, started to pile up 300-pt games and has been a consistent 150-180 point guy down the stretch to reclaim his rightful spot as second best tight end (thanks to Jimmy Graham’s season ending injury). In fact, this is is second straight 2nd-team All-Robio award and this is just the second time in Colby’s history that he has produced an All-Robio tight end. Vernon Davis earned a second-team for him back in 2009.
PLACE KICKER – JOSH BROWN. NYG | GRIFF
The Giants kicker made 25 straight field goals until he missed a crucial one this past weekend. Still, the 36-year-old kicker has been in the league for thirteen seasons and this is his first All-Robio award. Add in the Panthers DST below and that means half of this year’s second-team All-Robios are on Griff’s squad (five total 1st and 2nd team players).
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS – PANTHERS, CAR | GRIFF
The Panthers DST started hot, cooled midway through the season, then finished with a flurry, delivering a pair of 300-pt performances to lead Griff to the second seed. They finished the season giving up just 1,046 rushing yards in our regular season, second only to the New York Jets D.
THIRD-TEAM ALL-ROBIO
Colby nails a sleeper late in the draft.
QUARTERBACK – CARSON PALMER, ARI | COLBY
The Cardinals quarterback beat out Aaron Rogers by just 38 fantasy points for the final quarterback All-Robio award. He averaged 316 fantasy points per game, which is pretty damn good for a quarterback drafted in round 11. In fact, this is the second time in Palmer’s career where he was drafted after the ninth round in our draft and ended up as an All-Robio (2005 was the other time).
RUNNING BACK – CHRIS IVORY, NYJ | ROB M
Rob lands a second All-Robio running back this season. Ingram earned a second-team award, while Ivory will “settle” for third team. He averaged 222 points per game and would have challenged for second-team if he didn’t miss a game early in the season. Like Ingram, Ivory didn’t produce the monster games that make us gush, but he was a workhorse, who almost always put up points. He failed to hit 190 just twice, which means out of Ingram and Ivory, these two scored 190 or above in 18 of their 22 games.
RUNNING BACK – LAMAR MILLER, MIA | BOB
With a team that featured both Le’Veon Bell and Todd Gurley, it’s a bit of a surprise that Lamar Miller is the one who earns an All-Robio award for Bon. Granted, Bell would have been first-team if he didn’t get hurt and Gurley was on his way until the Rams started to struggled the final month of the season.
Miller, a ninth-round keeper, got off to a rough start, failing to break 150 points in the season’s first five weeks. However, with the old coach fired, the Dolphins committed to getting the ball into Miller’s hands and the points started the pile up. During the next five weeks, Miller averaged 333 points per game, highlighted by a 592-point effort in week seven. The 592 points was the most points scored by a running back in 2015. This was Miller’s first All-Robio award and this is just the second time since the Chris Johnson days (2009) that Bob has produced an All-Robio running back (Le’Veon Bell last year was the other).
WIDE RECEIVER – ALLEN ROBINSON, JAC | ROBIO
Robinson proved to be a rare bread, a second year back who improved and lived up to his sleeper status and get onto the All-Robio team. Drafted in the sixth-round this season, Robinson is my only All-Robio player. It’s only the fourth time in my 17-year career that I didn’t have multiple All-Robio players. Anyhow, despite only catching 65 of his 125 targets, Robinsonn averaged over 16 yards per reception and has already broke 1,000 yards and scored 11 touchdowns for Jacksonville. By this time next season, we could be mentioning him in the same conversation as Julio, Dez or Antonio.
WIDE RECEIVER – BRANDON MARSHALL, NYJ | BOB
Marshall becomes the first receiver in history to record 1,000 yards receiving for four different teams. That sounds like a compliment, but one would think a player as good as him wouldn’t have been shipped off to so many times. Anyhow, this is Marshall’s second All-Robio award ( he earned second-team back in 2012).
TIGHT END – GARY BARNIDGE | GRIFF
The Browns’ tight end is the only undrafted free agent pick up to earn an All-Robio award. The eight year vet exploded onto the scene back in week three, when he scored 270 points with Johnny Manziel at quarterback. In fact, no matter who the quarterback was, Barnidge produced, averaging 235 points over his next five games. Down the stretch, he’s been a bit inconsistent, but still remains one of the best free agent pick ups this season. With six All-Robio players this year, Griff ties me for the most ever in one year (I had six in 2010) and he’s now moved past me for most All-Robio players in a career.
PLACE KICKER – GRAHAM GANO, CAR | MOLLY
Gano is one of those sneaky All-Robio awards that Molly gets credit for. He was undrafted and untouched until week 11, playing in just three games for the Mollipops, but that’s how things work out sometimes. He also benefited from the fact that Dan Bailey, who is actually ranked the third best kicker, is currently a free agent and my rule is, if the player is not on a team, he’s not All-Robio eligible. Anyhow, Gano actually missed five field goals this season, but had the second most attempts this season (30).
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS – SEAHAWKS. SEA | MOLLY
The Seahawks are a bit of a surprise on this list. Lately, they’ve played well, but in the first half of this season, they could do very little right, blowing fourth quarter lead after fourth quarter lead. However, they did average 170 PPG, delivering a trio of 200+ games and did finish the year as the second best pass defense, behind only the Broncos.
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