Heading into the draft, this is where the nerves kick in. This is when you come to realize that if you fuck this up, if you fail yourself and your team by drafting a God-awful squad, you just ruined four months of your life. We’ve all been there, so let’s take a walk down tragedy lane and see the worst season everyone has had in this league.
Note: They’re ranked from least worst-to-tragically worst.
1. RICH CALDERON
SEASON: 2015
RANK: #144
W-L RECORD: 5-8
POINTS PER GAME: 1,213
There is something to be said for never truly sucking. Come on, it takes a lot of good fortune to win it all, but it takes a certain skill set never to end up in the basement. This is a skill set Calderon has.
He’s only missed the playoffs four times in his career that began back in 2003 and only once has he “earned” a top three pick. Four times he finished the season in ninth place, one spot from the playoffs. He’s never been eliminated prior to the season’s final week before.
2012 was the year he finished 11th, but according to the Robio algorithm, that was not his worst year in this league. That distinction falls to his performance last year. His five wins tied him for a career low and his 1,213 PPG was his third worst showing, although that stat can be deceiving. Rich scored less back in 2006 and 2007, back when the league as a whole scored less fantasy points. 2015’s point total was 10th in the league, the lowest Rich has ever finished in points.
On top of all that, Rich had just two 1,500-point games, two games below 1,000, including a pair of weekly low scores (just his sixth and seventh for his career). He went a sad 1-6 against the top half of the league and never managed to win two in a row.
Having said all that, Rich’s worst season remains the best of all the bad ones. Next up…
BOB CASTRONE
SEASON: 2005
RANK: #150
W-L RECORD: 3-10
POINTS PER GAME: 1,125
Bob has been so dominant in this league for so long, you can be forgiven if you’ve forgotten he’s sucked once or twice. Granted, he’s only missed the playoffs twice. The first was his first year in the league when he blew a 5-1 start to miss the post-season. Of course he went on and won the title the following year, so there’s that.
Anyhow, in 2005, Bob put forth the worst title defense in league history. He began the season with five straight losses, three of which were weekly low scores. He went on to produce a couple of wins, plus a couple more weekly low scores, before ending the year with a surprising 1,812-1,414 victory over me. It was the only time he broke 1,400 on the season.
Bob finished with a career low 3-10 record, producing five weekly low scores (to one weekly high), averaging 1,125 PPG, a career low. Fun fact: Bob averaged over 1,250 per game in a season just once (2004) in his first five years in this league.
GRIFF COOMER
SEASON: 2008
RANK: #169
W-L RECORD: 4-9-0
POINTS PER GAME: 1,166
Considering that Griff has been in this league since the beginning, it’s pretty impressive that his worst season isn’t too tragic.
Heading into 2008, Griff was coming off a 4-9 season, but the follow up act proved to be even more disappointing. He started off the year slowly, dropping his first three divisional games, but appeared to right the ship winning three of four, including one weekly high score.
Yet, Griff failed to hit 1,00 in three of his last four and managed just one win in his final six, missing the playoffs for the second straight year with another 4-9 record. While his opponents again scored the most points that year, his squad did him no favors, averaging just 1,166 points per game, a career low by 85 PPG. He hasn’t missed the playoffs since.
COLBY HALL
SEASON: 2007
RANK: #183
W-L RECORD: 4-9-0
POINTS PER GAME: 1,039
Like many up above, Colby hasn’t really missed the playoffs that often (just three times) and when he does miss the show, it’s not by much. The one exception was his 2007 season. He started the year with a rough weekly low score, scoring just 578 points in a loss to Molly. Three weeks later he was 0-4 after a horrific 652-617 defeat to Calderon. He got an ugly win in week five, beating me 876-805, but that would be followed up with three more losses. Down the stretch, he would score one 1,500-pt game and win three out of five, but that was good enough just for a 4-9 record, his career worst, earning him the top pick in the 2008 draft. His 1,039 PPG were his career low by 143 points per game, as he produced three weekly lows and five games total under 1,000.
MATT NEATOCK
SEASON: 2008
RANK: #182
W-L RECORD: 3-10
POINTS PER GAME: 1,090
In 2008, Matt became the second defending champ to do the exact opposite of that, following in Bob’s 2004 footsteps and going from first-to-worst. Despite having his three core keepers back, healthy top picks, an absolute steal with Aaron Rodgers in round ten, plus a 2-0 start to the season, Matt would lose his next five and finished the year dropping nine of 11 games.
While he was never truly awful, earning one weekly low, failing to break 1,000 just three times, he never sniffed 1,500, never broke 1,400 and hit the 1,300-point mark just twice (both loses). His three wins and 1,090 PPG were both career lows. Ironically, after going from first-to-worst, he became the only person on this list to go from a career worst-to-first when he won it all a second time in 2009.
JEFF GREENBLATT
SEASON: 2012
RANK: #188
W-L RECORD: 2-11-0
POINTS PER GAME: 1,143
Jeff has had plenty of bad seasons in Robioland as a solo artist, but his 2012 proved to be his worst. He began the year 1-3, with three of his opponents breaking the 1,500-point mark. Yet, things actually got worse. Over the next five weeks, he would not to reach 1,200 in any game, failing to hit 1,000 three times, losing all five. He’d earn only one more win, upsetting the eventual champ (me) in week twelve, 1,463-1,058. The 2-11 was Jeff’s worst showing, although his 1,143 PPG was only his third worst. He finished the year with four games below 1,000, four weekly low scores, breaking 1,500 just once. Ironically, his two wins both came against teams that finished among the top-six.
MOLLY COOMER
SEASON: 2010
RANK: #190
W-L RECORD: 3-10
POINTS PER GAME: 1,091
In 2009, Molly produced her worst season, winning five games, averaging just 1,185 points per game. Then she followed that up with an even worse performance. In 2010, Molly started off fine, defeating Eric 1,477-818. After a week two loss to Griff, she lost a tough one to me, 1,801-1,707. She rebounded in week four with a low scoring victory over Masterson. At 2-2, there was little reason to believe this would get so ugly.
Yet, the wins stop coming and by week seven, she was putting up some truly awful numbers. She would drop eight of her last nine, fail to hit 900 four times (failed to hit 1,000 six times), producing four weekly low scores and went 0-7 against the top-six. She finished 3-10 on the season and two of those wins came against two teams that year that are sitting below Molly on this list. While the three victories remains a career low for Molly, the 1,185 points is only the fourth lowest point average she’s had in her career.
ROB MASTERSON
SEASON: 2010
RANK: #191
W-L RECORD: 2-11
POINTS PER GAME: 1,090
While Rob’s last four seasons have all appeared in the most recent top-100 list, things weren’t always so sunny for Masterson. In fact, he has three seasons in the bottom 25. The worst of the bunch, like Molly one spot up, was in 2010. Also like Molly, Rob began the year with a win, defeating Calderon by just 35 points (1,261-1,226). Yet, he never found his groove and the losses began to pile up. He would break 1,300 just twice all year. One of those times ended up being the only other time Rob would win, defeating Eric in week six, 1,358-912. He would finish the year with seven straight defeats.
The two wins were a career low for Rob and the 1,090 points per game was his second worst output (In 2005, he averaged just 1,056 PPG). He failed to hit 1,000 four times and had the weekly low score twice. The good news is, like Griff and Bob, his worst season was the last time Rob failed to qualify for the playoffs.
ROBIO MURRAY
SEASON: 2009
RANK: #194
W-L RECORD: 2-11-0
POINTS PER GAME: 1,062
You know, I’ve really shit the bed the last two years, delivering back-to-back three win seasons, yet they don’t compare to my 2009. That year I never broke 1,500 (the first time in my career). Hell, I never even broke 1,400 points in any game. My game high that season was 1,303 points, which proved to be one of my two wins. I began the year with eight straight defeats, before beating Griff, dropping my next three and then finishing that awful mess with a win over Masterson. Oddly enough, the following season I would become the first team to win 12 regular season games, finishing the year 14-2. The +10.5 game difference remains a league record.
RICHARD BURRIER
SEASON: 2013
RANK: #195
W-L RECORD: 2-11
POINTS PER GAME: 1,081
Burrier certainly had his struggles between 2007-2010. He earned the last playoff spot twice (losing in the quarters both times), earning four straight losing seasons, missing the post-season twice. Yet, after righting the ship in 2011-2012, Rich fell off a cliff in 2013.
He began the year with three straight losses, but after an amazing 1,908-1,569 victory over Masterson, maybe just maybe Burrier had it figured out. He didn’t. He would earn just one more win (week seven against Matt) and had one of the worst finishes in fantasy history. He would drop his final six games, failing to hit 1,000 in any of the six. His two wins was a career low (by two games). His 1,081 PPG was his second worst showing. While he did have one weekly high score, he failed to hit 1,000 seven times (tied for fourth most in a season) and four weekly low scores, including the last three that season.
DON VOZZOLA
SEASON: 2003
RANK: #196
W-L RECORD: 4-10-0
POINTS PER GAME: 966
Shocking, I know…back-to-back Vozzola boys at the bottom of this list. Don has been pretty awful lately, missing the playoffs four years running, producing a stunningly bad 17 total wins (17-35). Yet, none of those years can match the true awfulness that was 2003. That year, as we should all know, Don started the season scoring 603, 505 and 263 in three loses (the worst three game stretch in league history). He pulled off a win in week four, but that proved to be a fluke, as he dropped his next four. Despite breaking 1,500 just once, Don somehow got better down the stretch, scoring three wins in his final six games to avoid this season becoming the worst all-time.
His four wins that year weren’t even Don’s worst showing (he’s done that twice recently and won just three last year). However, he averaged just 966 points per game. That’s obviously his career worse and the fourth lowest of all-time.
ERIC VOZZOLA
SEASON: 2010
RANK: #198
W-L RECORD: 2-11
POINTS PER GAME: 919
There is no question that points are going up in fantasy. The stats prove that. So over the last few years, when teams have done well, they’ve done very well, breaking scoring records. Yet, the same is true for losing. After the last half decade, we’ve been blessed with some awful teams. Five of the seasons on this list, including four of worst six, have come in the last five years and a stunning three of them came in 2010. Molly and Masterson were the two others that year, but the worst of the worst was Eric.
He began the season failing to break 1,000 in his first two, both loses and didn’t taste victory until week five (against Matt). He would end up losing seven of his last eight. His only other win came against three-win Molly, who scored the weekly low during that game. Eric would break 1,300 just once, 1,200 just twice and 1,100 points three times. Eric would deliver three weekly low scores, failing to hit 1,000 eight times. Oddly enough, Eric would go 1-12 the following season, but that year avoided being the worst because he averaged a not awful 1,209 points per game. In 2009, Eric averaged just 919 PPG, the lowest amount of points scored in a season among active teams in this league.