In the AFL’s first season as a money league, things got off to a hectic start on draft day. While the league commissioner was in the hospital with his wife and newborn, a manager announced he would not be playing this year. It was a scramble to find a replacement, but one surfaced and joined the fray on short notice.

With a $50 buy-in, a grand prize of $250 for winning the league, and a number of smaller prizes to be claimed over the course of the season, the 2024 AFL Draft went off without a hitch with the move back to FleaFlicker’s draft room.

Three teams made it to a perfect 4-0 start, including newcomer Jeffery McDonald’s MynameisJeff. Two weeks later, MynameisJeff was a perfect 6-0 with a pair of lucky wins and three weeks as a Top 2 scorer. Sitting alone as the top team in the AFL, they seemed destined to be the first team with a first-year manager to make the postseason since 2015.

An unfortunate four-game losing streak and a 3-6 record after that perfect start ended those playoff dreams and opened the door for division rival Sean Kennedy and his Buns of Steel to make a run to the AFL’s #1 seed in the playoffs. A pair of losses in the season’s final two weeks prevented them from being the AFL’s first 13-win team, but their 11 victories were the most in the league in 2014.

While the AFL East was a two-pony race almost from the get-go, the other two divisions were much tighter through much of the season, especially the AFL Central.

After a 3-1 start saw Cory Puffett’s rebranded Wardens of Terminus with a two-game lead in the division, no team was more than one game behind the division leader again until Week 11.

A strong conclusion of the season for Stephen April’s Darth Ja’MarrMarr, including two Tom Brady Awards and two weeks as the #2 scorer over the final six games, ultimate proved the difference as his squad outlasted Alex Kincaid’s High St Homies and Evan Ash’s Dark Avengers, both of whom were alive in the playoff race until the season finale.

The AFL West was this year’s weak division. In fact, from the end of Week 5 until Week 9’s conclusion, there was not a single team with a winning record in the bunch. Anthony Battle’s Visionary emerged from Week 9 with a 5-4 record and never ceded control of the division, ultimately finishing the season three games ahead of his closest competition.

Nobody would have been surprised through the first half of the season that the wild card would ultimately come out of the AFL East. But with the Buns of Steel and MynameisJeff controlling the division and each being at least three games ahead of the other two teams as late as Week 8, anybody would be forgiven for counting out defending Sabol Bowl champion Brandon Saunders and his Champion Pukaman Trainer from pulling off the comeback.

He did just that, though, thanks in large part to a 5-game winning streak to end the season, giving him his third straight playoff berth despite an 0-3 opening to the campaign. Those three straight years making the postseason are tied for the second longest playoff streak in AFL history.

In the semifinal round, Sean’s Buns of Steel handled their business and pretty much had things locked up heading into the Monday night matchup between Green Bay and New Orleans. The Packers defense put up a strong effort for Anthony’s Visionary, but a 20-point night for Josh Jacobs allowed Sean to stretch an already-commanding lead into a 24-point victory.

The other game, between Brandon’s Champion Pukaman Trainer and Stephen’s Darth Ja’MarrMarr, came down to Sunday Night Football between Dallas and Tampa Bay. Brandon held a narrow 2.64-point lead with Rico Dowdle left to play. The Cowboys running back was coming off three straight games with more than 100 rushing yards, but the strength of the Bucs defense was in stopping the run this season and they showed that, holding Dowdle to just 23 rushing yards and 51 scrimmage yards total as Brandon Aubrey went off for 23.80 points in Stephen’s lineup.

Sabol Bowl XII would crown the league’s third multi-time champion no matter who emerged victorious. In a low-scoring affair, the fourth lowest in Sabol Bowl history, a valiant effort by Brock Purdy on Monday Night Football gave Buns of Steel late hope after a nightmarish start to the week on Christmas Day, but a strong game and a late 30-yard touchdown scamper by Jahmyr Gibbs sealed the deal and lifted Stephen to his second career Sabol Bowl title.

Week 1

Jake Moody, playing for Alex Mayo's The Legion, set a new AFL starting kicker record when he scored 27.30 points, breaking Tyler Bass's record of 26.20 points set in Week 11 of the 2022 season, also playing for The Legion.

Moody nailed a pair of extra points and six field goals, two of them from 50+ and another two in the 40-49 range.

Week 6

Evan Ash's Dark Avengers set a new AFL record, dating back to 2016 when starting lineups expanded from eight to nine players, for the lowest score in a winning effort.

Despite a terrific effort by Derrick Henry, who scored 27.72 points as the matchup's highest scorer, and no negative totals in his lineup, only one other player reached double digits and the Avengers only totalled 66.53 points, 3.57 fewer than the previous record of 70.10 by Adam Perez's Sorry For Cheating in Week 14 of the 2016 campaign.

Week 8

Alex Mayo's The Legion came less than one point shy of setting a new AFL record for highest score in a losing effort.

With nearly 39 points from Jalen Hurts and 20-point outings from De'Von Achane, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Kyle Pitts, the Legion scored 146.02 points but it wasn't enough as Alex Kincaid's High St Homies scored 158.58 points.

Week 10

Ja'Marr Chase, playing for Stephen April's aptly named Darth Ja'MarrMarr, set a new AFL starting wide receiver record when he scored 52.65 points, breaking Tyreek Hill's record of 51.40 points set in Week 12 of the 2020 season playing for Anthony Battle's Children of Thanos.

Chase recorded 264 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns on 11 catches, all of which also resulted in first downs.

Week 11

Chris Boswell, playing for Will Massimini's Team Massimini, came quite close to setting a new AFL starting kicker record when he scored 25.30 points.

Boswell had already had a record-breaking 27.80-point outing in Week 1 go to waste as he was unrostered, and in Week 11 nailed six field goals, including three from 50+ yards. A late touchdown for the Ravens could have tied the game and given Boz a chance at a record-setting kick at the gun or in overtime, but the Ravens failed on their two-point attempt and the Steelers ran out the clock instead.

Week 14

Josh Allen, playing for Anthony Battle's Visionary, set a new AFL starting quarterback record when he scored 55.02 points, breaking Lamar Jackson's record of 49.00 points set in Week 5 of the 2021 season for Sean Kennedy's Buns of Steel.

Allen recorded 342 passing yards and 3 touchdown passes while adding 82 yards and 3 scores on 10 rushing attempts.

Sean Kennedy became the seventh manager to reach 75 regular season wins in the AFL. It's taken him 153 weeks, which is the most out of the seven, though his 2015 sabatical means he's within 9 weeks of half of the other six managers.

Evan Ash and Eric Meyer joined five of their leaguemates in taking their 75 losses this season. Evan hit that mark in Week 8 and Eric joined him two weeks later.

Cory Puffett and Anthony Battle are the first two managers to reach 1,000 career all-play wins - that is the number of wins they'd have if they faced all of the other AFL managers every week. Cory reached the milestone in Week 4 while Anthony got there in Week 14.

Jeffery McDonald tied an AFL record first set by Stephen April in 2018 and later tied by Alex Kincaid in 2019 and Alex Mayo in 2020 by scoring 1,000 points in his first nine career games. Five of our managers did it in 10 games back in 2013, but we've now had four consecutive new managers beat that mark.

We had three managers earn their 10th career Tom Brady Award as the weekly high scorer this year.

Stephen April earned his 10th back in Week 2 after 89 weeks in the AFL. He went on to claim three more before the season concluded. Alex Kincaid got his 10th a few weeks later in Week 8 after just 81 weeks in the AFL. He is the fifth fastest manager to reach 10 weekly high scores. Five weeks after Alex, Brandon Saunders finally earned his 10th Tom Brady Award after 168 weeks of play in the AFL. He has the seventh most appearances among the Top 3 weekly scorers but that 10th high score had eluded him for some time.

Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar Jackson joined Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Tom Brady as the only players in AFL history, at any position, to score 2,000 fantasy points. Of the six, only Allen and Jackson have yet to play their 90th game in the AFL, sitting at 85 and 83 career games, respectively. Meanwhile, as a pair of quarterbacks who have often been streamed by their managers alongside other servicable quarterbacks, Kyler Murray and Justin Herbert have made it 16 quarterbacks to score 1,000 points in the AFL after reaching that milestone this year.

Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry became the third and fourth running backs in AFL history to eclipse 1,500 fantasy points, joining Christian McCaffrey and Ezekiel Elliott. Further down the list, James Conner and Nick Chubb have increased the membership of the 1,000 club to 17 running backs. It was highly likely David Montgomery would have joined them had he not suffered a knee injury in Week 15.

Prior to his mid-season injury, Stefon Diggs was having a respectable season and came up just shy of 100 points for the year. That was enough to make him the sixth receiver in league history to reach the 1,500 point milestone.

Thanks to a pair of games in the 2024 AFL playoffs, Justin Jefferson became the 13th receiver in league history to reach the 1,000 point milestone. Of 251 receivers who have started games in the AFL's history, only Antonio Brown has played at least 10 games and averaged more points per game than Jefferson.

It feels a little silly to shout out an almost-milestone, but this one is worth it. Travis Kelce had a very poor year by his standards in 2024 and wound up less than 50 points shy of becoming the first non-quarterback to reach 2,000 fantasy points in AFL history. Even so, he is more than 1,000 points ahead of the second best tight end, George Kittle, who is 50 points shy of becoming the second tight end to hit the thousand-point mark.

In similar fashion, Justin Tucker had a lot of difficulty converting longer kicks his year and it cost him a bit in the quest for his own milestone. He finished the season less than two points away from being the first kicker non-offensive player to reach 1,500 career points. He is more than 700 points ahead of the next best kicker in league history. Meanwhile Chris Boswell concluded the 2023 season just shy of 500 career points and blew right right through that milestone during his incredible campaign.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens remain the only team defenses with more than 1,000 points in AFL history. Five other teams are less than 100 points away and hope they can be consistent enough to earn the requisit starts in 2025 to reach that milestone. Meanwhile the New York Jets and Los Angeles Chargers made it 25 team defenses with at least 500 points in AFL history.

While all of the Sunday night Pro Bowl starters had solid games, Jahmyr Gibbs was particularly magnificent. The second-year back for Detroit went nuclear, scoring four touchdowns to become the only player in the NFL with 20 scrimmage touchdowns on the season. He makes it two straight Pro Bowls the Otto Graham MVP comes from the losing side of the ledger.

Sean Kennedy (4x), Jeffery McDonald (3x), Anthony Battle (2x), Stephen April (2x), Alex Mayo, Cory Puffett, Alex Kincaid, Brandon Saunders

Stephen April (4x), Sean Kennedy (2x), Brandon Saunders (2x), Jeffery McDonald, Cory Puffett, Will Massimini, Evan Ash, Alex Kincaid, Anthony Battle, Eric Meyer

Alex Mayo (3x), Eric Meyer (3x), Will Massimini (2x), Anthony Battle (2x), Evan Ash (2x), Stephen April, Cory Puffett, Jeffery McDonald

Brandon Saunders (6x), Evan Ash (2x), Stephen April (2x), Alex Mayo, Sean Kennedy, Cory Puffett, Alex Kincaid, Will Massimini

Eric Meyer (3x), Alex Kincaid (3x), Brandon Saunders (2x), Anthony Battle (2x), William Battle (2x), Alex Mayo, Evan Ash, Will Massimini

Anthony Battle (5x), Alex Mayo (2x), Jeffery McDonald (2x), Evan Ash, Will Massimini, Stephen April, Will Massimini, Cory Puffett, William Battle

Josh Allen (5x), Jalen Hurts (2x), Lamar Jackson (2x), Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Joe Burrow, Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Patrick Mahomes

Alex Kincaid (5x), Evan Ash (2x), Sean Kennedy (2x), Stephen April, Brandon Saunders, William Battle, Will Massimini, Cory Puffett, Eric Meyer

Saquon Barkley (3x), Joe Mixon (2x), Alvin Kamara, Kyren Williams, Derrick Henry, Tank Bigsby, Jahmyr Gibbs, James Cook, Bijan Robinson, Bucky Irving, Zach Charbonnet, James Conner

Stephen April (4x), Evan Ash (3x), Sean Kennedy (2x), Cory Puffett (2x), William Battle, Alex Kincaid, Jeffery McDonald, Eric Meyer

Ja'Marr Chase (3x), Amon-Ra St. Brown (2x), Cooper Kupp, Marvin Harrison, Jauan Jennings, Nico Collins, Chris Godwin, CeeDee Lamb, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Courtland Sutton, Mike Evans, Davante Adams

Alex Mayo (2x), Will Massimini (2x), Cory Puffett (2x), Brandon Saunders (2x), Jeffery McDonald (2x), Sean Kennedy, Stephen April, Evan Ash, William Battle

Kyle Pitts (2x), George Kittle (2x), Dallas Goedert, Pat Freiermuth, Tucker Kraft, Cole Kmet, Mark Andrews, Mike Gesicki, Travis Kelce, Jonnu Smith, Trey McBride, Brock Bowers, Sam LaPorta

Will Massimini (4x), Anthony Battle (3x), Alex Mayo (2x), Sean Kennedy (2x), Eric Meyer (2x), Stephen April, Brandon Saunders

Chris Boswell (4x), Ka'imi Fairbairn (3x), Wil Lutz (2x), Jake Moody, Harrison Butker, Evan McPherson, Tyler Bass, Jason Sanders, Brandon Aubrey

Brandon Saunders (2x), Alex Kincaid (2x), Will Massimini (2x), Cory Puffett (2x), Eric Meyer (2x), Jeffery McDonald, Alex Mayo, William Battle, Evan Ash, Stephen April

Detroit Lions (2x), Houston Texans (2x), Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons

$276 - Stephen April (AFL Champion, 10 positional high scores, 4 Tom Brady Awards)

$115 - Sean Kennedy (AFL Runner-Up, Regular Season Champ, 7 positional high scores, 2 Tom Brady Awards)

$15 - Will Massimini (11 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$13 - Brandon Saunders (5 positional high scores, 2 Tom Brady Awards)

$12 - Evan Ash (8 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$12 - Anthony Battle (8 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$12 - Alex Kincaid (8 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$12 - Cory Puffett (8 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$11 - Eric Meyer (7 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$10 - Jeffery McDonald (6 positional high scores, 1 Tom Brady Award)

$7 - Alex Mayo (7 positional high scores)

$5 - William Battle (5 positional high scores)

Don Shula Banner (AFL East Champ) - Sean Kennedy

Tom Landry Banner (AFL Central Champ) - Stephen April

John Madden Banner (AFL West Champ) - Anthony Battle

Frank Reich Banner (AFL Wild Card) - Brandon Saunders

Sabol Bowl XII Champion - Stephen April

Butkus Award (Consolation Champ) - Cory Puffett

Snyder Award (Consolation Loser) - Eric Meyer

Mickey Loomis Award (Best Draft) - Brandon Saunders

Les Snead Award (Best in-season management) - Cory Puffett

Mickey Loomis Award

Grading a draft is an inexact science. I've spent time developing and refining what I believe to be the ideal strategy, which I apply to my preseason projections to set my draft strategy and then apply to the actual results of the season in my attempt to channel Captain Hindsight.

The spark notes version is this: On average, 12 quarterbacks, 12 running backs, 24 wide receivers, 12 tight ends, 3 kickers, and 3 defenses should be taken in the first half of the draft along with the next best 30 flex-eligible players. The second half of the draft should see around 6 quarterbacks, 9 kickers, 9 defenses, and the 72 highest scoring players from any of the three skill positions. I set teired value-over-replacement (VOR) by position to determine the ideal order for each player to be taken in those two halves of the draft. Any player who was drafted or who appeared in a game during our season is included and excess players outside the top 192 are still ranked to assess their draft value, which is the difference between their recommended draft position (determined by teired VOR) and their actual draft position.

Using this metric, we have had just four managers with a net positive draft value out of 144 graded drafts (12 a year for 12 seasons). One of those four was Brandon's draft this season where he netted an estimated 51 spots in draft value.

Because draft value can be highly volatile year-to-year, our true rank of managers all-time is based on how they did against the average draft score of that season. This year, Brandon's score was 53.6, giving him the second best draft in AFL history behind only Sean Kennedy's 2018 draft score of 55.8.

Some of Brandon's best picks in this year's draft were:

• Puka Nacua, kept 177th overall (+111 value)

• Chuba Hubbard, 112th overall (+94 value)

• Houston Texans, 153rd overall (+82 value)

• J.K. Dobbins, 120th overall (+81 value)

• Rico Dowdle, 121st overall (+76 value)

• Brian Thomas, 88th overall (+65 value)

Nacua was a fantastic keeper, even after factoring in his missed time due to injury. Brandon didn't get much use out of the Texans before dropping them, so while it was a great pick, they didn't help his case for a Les Snead Award.

With a total value of +51, and a +509 from those six picks, where did he lose value? Brandon lost 422 picks worth of value from these five draft picks:

• Jonathon Brooks, 97th overall (-174 value)

• Dalton Kincaid, 81st overall (-98 value)

• Jaylen Waddle, 40th overall (-65 value)

• Jaylen Warren, 96th overall (-47 value)

• Xavier Worthy, 64th overall (-38 value)

The Brooks pick in particular crushed Brandon's draft grade. It seemed through much of the season that the idea was to hopefully turn that around into positive value for next year's draft in the form of a TAXI keeper, but when Brandon activated Brooks from his TAXI in Week 10 and later dropped him, that went out the window.

Still, even with these less-than-stellar picks, which are inevitable, Brandon showed his chops by drafting a team that was able to withstand an 0-3 start to come back and earn a playoff berth.

Runner-Up: Alex Kincaid (-216 total value, Draft Score of 26.9)

Worst Draft: William Battle (-820 total value, Draft Score of -33.5)

Les Snead Award

In-season roster management is also a tricky concept to assess. Coaching and optimization are good ones to consider for power rankings but they don't tell the whole story. Coaching as we track it, in particularly, is problematic for end-of-season awards because it's dependent on platform projections.

Instead, our metric for the Les Snead Award looks at every player a manager used over the course of the season, considers his average fantasy points per game played in the NFL and his average point total per appearance in that manager's lineup, takes the difference and multiplies it by the number of appearances for that manager. That results in an adjusted point total for that player which gets added to all the others for that manager.

This year, Cory set AFL records by earning 194.2 adjusted points and a GM score of 18.6 to earn his second straight Les Snead Award.

Last year, Cory had 9 of 41 players across the league with an adjusted point total of +10.0 or higher. This year he had 9 of the 43 players to hit this number. Of 14 players with an APT of +20.0 or higher, Cory had 5, and of 6 players with an APT of +30.0 or higher, Cory had 3 of them.

• Zach Charbonnet, 22.6ppg in 4 games vs total avg of 10.6ppg (+48.1 adjusted points)

• Jared Goff, 26.8ppg in 5 games vs total avg of 19.7ppg (+35.6 adjusted points)

• Dallas Cowboys, 19.4ppg in 3 games vs total avg of 8.4ppg (+32.7 adjusted points)

• Tyrone Tracy, 13.1ppg in 9 games vs total avg of 10.1ppg (+27.6 adjusted points)

• Cedric Tillman, 16.2ppg in 2 games vs total avg of 6.0ppg (+20.5 adjusted points)

• DK Metcalf, 12.1ppg in 7 games vs total avg of 10.2ppg (+13.7 adjusted points)

• Cole Kmet, 10.0ppg in 3 games vs total avg of 6.1ppg (+11.7 adjusted points)

• Kirk Cousins, 14.6ppg in 4 games vs total avg of 11.9ppg (+11.1 adjusted points)

• Brandon Aubrey, 13.1ppg in 8 games vs total avg of 11.8ppg (+10.3 adjusted points)

Cory made great choices all season on when to start players and when to aquire or dump players via trade. He earned an extra four points with Jake Bates over the last six games than he would have gotten from Brandon Aubrey, He traded away DK Metcalf, and Kirk Cousins just before they fell off, aquired Jared Goff just in time to get both of his explosive starts, and didn't chase points from Zach Charbonnet when Kenneth Walker was active.

Now, nobody makes all the right moves throughout a season. Inevitably there will be a handful of times you miss players' big games and then try and fail to catch that magic later. Fortunately for Cory, he had just four players finish double digits in the red.

• Jerry Jeudy, 7.2ppg in 3 games vs total avg of 12.3ppg (-15.2 adjusted points)

• Rashid Shaheed, 8.0ppg in 4 games vs total avg of 11.1ppg (-12.5 adjusted points)

• Josh Downs, 8.4ppg in 6 games vs total avg of 10.5ppg (-12.5 adjusted points)

• Christian McCaffrey, 8.8ppg in 5 games vs total avg of 11.1 ppg (-11.1 adjusted points)

While Cory made a few very savvy trades this season, one mistake he made was giving up on Jerry Jeudy just before the breakout he was anticipating during draft prep arrived. He also got dinged for starting an inactive Christian McCaffrey in Week 1.

Runner-Up: Brandon Saunders (71.4 adjusted point total, GM Score of 6.3)

Worst In-season Manager: Alex Kincaid (-88.2 adjusted point total, GM Score of -9.7)

Dennis Dixon Award (Luckiest Manager) - Jeffery McDonald

Takeo Spikes Award (Unluckiest Manager) - William Battle

Dennis Dixon Award

Four different manager tied for the highest win differencial compared to Top 6 scoring weeks, so it went to a tiebreaker which is to use win differential compared to managers' all-play records.

Jeffery had four lucky wins and just two unlucky losses this season and also finished 1.9 wins above expected compared to his breakdown. He went 9-6 this season despite a 78-87 all-play record that suggests his deserved record was 7.1-7.9, right in line with 7 times he actually finished in the top half of the league in scoring.

The luckiest of Jeffery's victories was his Week 11 win against Will Massimini when he finished 11th in scoring in the league.

Runner(s)-Up: Alex Kincaid joined Jeffery by finishing 2 wins above expected, also with four lucky wins and two unlucky losses. As a matter of fact, Evan Ash joined them identically and Will Massimini had two lucky wins against no unlucky losses. But of those three, Alex had the best luck compared to breakdown finishing 1.3 wins over expected by that metric.

Takeo Spikes Award

The only manager without a single lucky win in 2024, William suffered three unlucky losses over the course of the season. The worst of them was his Week 6 loss to Sean Kennedy when he finished third in scoring.

Comming off a Dennis Dixon Award in 2022 and a runner-up mention for last year's luckiest manager award, it seems William was due for a bad luck season. If you're ever going to have one, at least it came in a year when he finished among the four lowest scorers for the season.

Runner(s)-Up: Cory Puffett was one of five managers who finished 1 win below expected vs Top 6 scoring weeks, but of those five his +/- compared to all-play record was the worst at 1.4 wins below expected.

George Halas Award (Most wins earned via coaching) - Evan Ash

Bill Belichick Award (Most points earned via coaching) - Brandon Saunders

George Halas Award

Though he finished with the sixth worst point differential based on coaching decisions this season, Evan picked and chose his risks pretty well, all told. He was one of three managers to finish with a positive win differential based on coaching decisions. The other two managers finished one win up and Evan netted two coaching wins.

On the year, Evan totalled 39 coaching risks, 10 more than any other manager. That's an average of 2.6 per week! In the two weeks he earned a win based on coaching, he took exactly one risk each.

In Week 5, he added Tre Tucker instead of Trey Sermon, who had a high enough projection to deserve a spot in his starting lineup instead of Tank Bigsby. The choice to stick with Bigsby earned Evan 10.89 points in a game he won by 9.59 points over Anthony Battle.

Near the end of the season, in Week 13, he made the decision to start Mark Andrews at tight end instead of Cade Otton. That decision earned Evan 13.23 points in game against Stephen April which he won by just 1.19 points.

Runner(s)-Up: Stephen April edged out another manager who finished up by one win thanks to a better coaching point differential. Stephen earned his coaching win a week after Evan's second with a 4.5-point gain on the decision to start Brandon Aubrey instead of Will Reichard, who he added that week and had a higher projection.

Bill Belichick Award

Brandon Saunders earned back-to-back Hue Jackson Awards early in the season when he cost his team 37.34 points and a win between Weeks 2 and 3.

In both weeks, it was his decision to start Xavier Worthy while leaving Malik Nabers on his bench that cost him those points. Brandon stuck to his guns by protecting Nabers' eligibility as a 2025 TAXI keeper but wisely pivoted away from Worthy and instead embraced Brian Thomas as a stalwart in his lineup.

He wound up earning that win back in Week 4 by gaining 2.4 points in a very close contest. But he had two big point hauls that contributed significantly to his AFL-best 44.64 net coaching points. He was one of just three managers to finish in the black.

In Week 9, Zay Flowers started for Nabers and Brandon traded away Jahmyr Gibbs and aquired Chase Brown in his place. Flowers and Brown outperformed their counterparts and helped Brandon earn 27.07 points.

Two weeks later, it was the decision to add Jonnu Smith instead of Dawson Knox for a spot start at tight end that helped Brandon to 22.13 net coaching points.

Runner(s)-Up: Sean Kennedy had the AFL's second highest net coaching point total with 22.45 points despite never earning more than 10 coaching points in any single week, largely thanks to his AFL-best success rate of 64.0% on his coaching risks.

Worst Coach(es)

Anthony Battle & Alex Kincaid each cost their teams more than 120 points over the course of the season while Eric Meyer cost his team 111 points and two wins.

Dick Vermeil Award (Biggest leap from 2022 Snyder bracket) - Anthony Battle

Davante Adams Award (Biggest CF improvement) - Sean Kennedy

Dick Vermeil Award

After finishing the regular season as the 11th ranked team in 2023 and back-to-back trips to the Snyder bracket following four straight playoff appearances, Anthony had quite a bounce-back campain in 2024.

He took advantage of a historically weak division to leap all the way from the Snyder bracket back into the playoff field.

Davante Adams Award

CF (Comparison Factor) is metric I came up with to compare manager's seasons across the AFL's history. It can also be described as "Points Above Average," which is how you will find this displayed on League Legacy.

There really wasn't a close second in this competition. Sean had a CF score of -11.6 in 2023 and improved to a score of 13.2 in 2024. I didn't bother to try to parse through all of the year-to-year changes managers have had in AFL history, but I have to assume an improvement of 24.8% against league average from one year to the next is one of, if not the, biggest improvements in league history.

Runner(s)-Up: Alex Kincaid had a 6.7 point improvement in CF score from 2023 to 2024 and was in the Snyder bracket with Anthony as the #9 seed a year ago before coming just short of a postseason berth this season.

Air Coryell Award (Most points from passing stats) - Jeffery McDonald

Mike Shanahan Award (Most points from rushing stats) - Brandon Saunders

Joe Gibbs Award (Most points from receiving stats) - Stephen April

Air Coryell Award

For the first time in his AFL career, the manager with Lamar Jackson has won the Air Coryell Award. Even in Jackson's 2019 LaDainian Tomlinson MVP season, Sean Kennedy earned the Tom Moore Award but not the Coryell Award.

It was a narrow victory for Jeffery over the runner-up with less than three points separating them. Lamar's regular season rushing stats have been incredibly consistent over the past five seasons, but he had a phenomenal season throwing the football this year with 34 touchdown passes against just three interceptions through Week 15. Even with a pedestrian 5.75 point outing for Will Levis in Jackson's bye week, the advantage Lamar gave Jeffery in this competition was astonishing.

Jeffery's quarterback room finished the year with a 117.3 passer rating, more than 10 point north of any other manager. Passing accounted for an AFL-high 18.0% of Jeffery's total scoring for the season. On average, AFL managers saw 13.3% of their points come from passing.

In total, Jeffery earned a league-best 287.78 points from passing stats this year, almost 70 points more than the league average.

Runner-Up: Stephen April, 285.37 points
League-Worst: Brandon Saunders, 134.64 points

Mike Shanahan Award

After finishing in the Top 3 in every rushing metric we track, it's no surprise Brandon led the AFL in scoring from rushing stats. His team led the league with 3,578 rushing yards in 2024, averaging 11 more yards per game than any other manager and almost 64 yards per game more than the league average. Add 33 rushing touchdowns (t-2nd) and 716 rushing attempts (3rd) and it was quite a recipe for success.

Brandon had quite an interesting group of players handling rushing responsibilities on his team this year. With Jahmyr Gibbs in a timeshare, J.K. Dobbins having multiple season-ending knee injuries in his career, Chuba Hubbard having never established himself as an every-week fantasy starter, and Anthony Richardson struggling to keep hold of the starting quarterback spot in Indianapolis, you'd have been forgiven for not projecting this award to go to Brandon after the draft. But Gibbs was fantastic for Brandon until he traded him late in the year, and Chase Brown wound up averaging even more points per game than Gibbs down the stretch. Dobbins lasted 10 terrific weeks before seeing his season end, and Hubbard was one of the 10 most valuable picks of the 2024 AFL Draft.

Despite leading the AFL in rushing points, rushing only accounted for the second highest percentage of points Brandon's team scored this year. While Alex Kincaid earned 36.3% of his points from rushing, Brandon saw 35.4% of his points come from this discipline, still well north of the AFL's average of 27.5%.

In total, Brandon earned a league-best 628.18 points from rushing stats this year, almost 176 points more than the league average.

Runner-Up: Sean Kennedy, 620.97 points
League-Worst: Eric Meyer, 267.51 points

Joe Gibbs Award

Stephen is the first manager since Sean Kennedy in 2019 to earn this award without winning either the Curly Lambeau Award or the Mike Ditka Award, which are given to the managers who earn the most points from wide receivers and tight ends, respectively. Over the past four years, we'd seen it go three times to the winner of the Ditka Award and once to the winner of the Lambeau Award.

Stephen didn't stand out above the rest of his league-mates in any one position group, but he had a very balanced roster. Ja'Marr Chase had one of the best receiver regular seasons in AFL history, snagging 15 touchdowns on more than 1,400 receiving yards. Add 10 more touchdowns from his receiver corps, 4 from his tight end room, and 7 receiving scores from four different running backs and it amounted to an AFL-best 36 receiving touchdowns for Stephen, 8 more than any other manager and 12.2 more than the AFL's average.

Stephen finished the season just shy of 300 receiving yards per game. It is the first time in AFL history we did not have a manager average more than 300 receiving yards per game. The previous low for the league leader was 302.8 from Danny Hatcher in our inaugural 2013 season.

To add to his league-high marks in touchdowns and receiving yards, Stephen had 381 receptions on 524 targets, both third in the AFL, resulting in a catch rate of 72.7%, also third in the league.

Surprisingly, the 44.9% of points Stephen earned from recieving stats did not even rank in the top three in the AFL and was only a little higher than the AFL's average of 42.5%. At the top end, Eric Meyer saw more than 51.3% of his points come from receiving.

In total, Stephen earned a league-best 844.95 points from receiving stats this year, a little over 146 points more than the league average.

Runner-Up: Brandon Saunders, 751.25 points
League-Worst: Anthony Battle, 553.45 points

Tom Moore Award (Most points from QBs) - Anthony Battle

Hank Stram Award (Most points from RBs) - Alex Kincaid

Curly Lambeau Award (Most points from WRs) - Evan Ash

Mike Ditka Award (Most points from TEs) - Brandon Saunders

Mark Moseley Award (Most points from Ks) - Cory Puffett

Buddy Ryan Award (Most points from DEFs) - Cory Puffett

Before I talk about how each manager won his award, I have to point out a funny observation I made looking back at past award winners. Four of the six positional awards have the same home this year as they did in 2021. The only exceptions are the Mike Ditka Award (Anthony won in 2021), and the Buddy Ryan Award (Alex Kincaid won in 2021).

Tom Moore Award

If there's anybody you'd rather have at quarterback than Lamar Jackson in fantasy football, it's the winner of three of our last four Drew Brees Awards entering 2024. Josh Allen had another stellar regular season campaign, averaging north of 26 points per game for Anthony. Nearly 22 points from Sam Darnold during Allen's bye week was the difference-maker in Anthony winning the Moore award or finishing as the runner-up.

In addition to a fantastic 25-5 TD-INT ratio from Allen and a pair of touchdown passes from Darnold, Allen added nearly 500 rushing yards and, more importantly, 11 rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown on a late-season hook-and-lateral. Those rushing touchdowns really made the difference considering a considerable advantage to the runner-up's quarterback in the passing touchdown ledger.

In total, Anthony earned a league-best 390.50 points from quarterbacks this year, about 110 more than the AFL average.

Runner-Up: Jeffery McDonald, 387.03 points
League-Worst: Eric Meyer, 193.23 points

Hank Stram Award

With 663 carries for 3289 yards and 33 rushing touchdowns from the position group, Alex's running backs were dominant this year. Led by Saquon Barkley's incredible season for the Philadelphia Eagles, one shudders to think what his team would have looked like if he got a larger share of Philly's goal line carries.

Receiving wasn't a huge part of any of Alex's backs, but they did more than enough on the ground. James Cook was a mid-season trade aquisition for Alex. In his eight games he didn't even total a third of Barkley's rushing yardage total for the year, but he did score 9 rushing touchdowns, just behind Barkley's 11.

AFL managers averaged 34.5 running back starts over the course of the 2024 regular season. Alex had 40, second only to Stephen April's 44 and just ahead of our runner-up's 39 running back starts.

In total, Alex earned a league-best 722.29 points from running backs this year, more than 225 points ahead of the AFL average.

Runner-Up: Sean Kennedy, 697.60 points
League-Worst: Eric Meyer, 332.75 points

Curly Lambeau Award

Evan had a very strong five-some of wide receivers this year. Cooper Kupp missed some time and Jaxon Smith-Njigba spent two weeks on Evan's bench, but both finished well north of 100 points on just under 100 targets. Jauan Jennings and Khalil Shakir each contributed more than 10 points per start across their eight appearances in Evan's lineup, and Ladd McConkey started nine games averaging 9.3 points per game.

As a unit, Evan's receiving corps totalled 3202 yards and 20 touchdowns on 263 receptions. JSN even added 17 rushing yards and 35 passing yards to the tally.

AFL managers averaged 39.3 wide receiver starts over the course of the 2024 regular season. Evan had 41, tied for third behind William Battle (47) and Will Massimini (45), neither of whom finished in among the Top 3 in the race for the Lambeau Award.

In total, Evan earned a league-best 571.28 points from wide receivers this year, a 120-point advantage over the AFL average.

Runner-Up: Eric Meyer, 536.86 points
League-Worst: Anthony Battle, 346.76 points

Mike Ditka Award

The tight end position has perhaps the biggest disparity between top end starters and those on the Top 12 bubble. Having a strong tight end can often provide a significant advantage. It's no wonder that in his best seasons, Travis Kelce's teams have almost always gone to the AFL playoffs.

With rare exceptions like 2014 when Evan Ash frequently started both Rob Gronkowski and Julius Thomas, tight ends pretty rarely start in the FLEX. Through the 2023 season, we'd seen tight ends occupying a FLEX spot 71 times, or about 6.5 times per season across the AFL. That dropped to just 5 during the 2024 regular season, with Cory Puffett leading the league with two tight end FLEX starts.

Brandon Saunders, the winner of this year's Ditka Award, did it just once in Week 14 when Trey McBride and Jonnu Smith both contributed double digit performances to an important victory over the league's regular season champion to keep his playoff hopes alive.

Trey McBride had a very interesting season. He had 83 catches on 107 targets for a very respectable 885 yards during the AFL's regular season, but he failed to find the end zone through the air. He did at least reach pay dirt once with a 2-yard rushing touchdown in another important victory against Jeffery McDonald.

The big difference maker for Brandon against a couple of managers fighting for this award was Jonnu Smith, who started just twice but found the end zone three times across those two games, including once in that Week 14 contest where he had no fantasy points at the end of regulation before recording three catches and a touchdown in a Miami Dolphins overtime win.

In total, Brandon earned a league-best 191.43 points from tight ends this year, 62.3 more points than the AFL average.

Runner-Up: Jeffery McDonald, 172.75 points
League-Worst: Alex Kincaid, 73.05 points

Mark Moseley Award

Cory split his season almost perfectly down the middle between two strong kickers. He invested pretty heavily in Brandon Aubrey when he selected him with the 4th pick of the 12th round of the draft, just two spots after William Battle made Justin Tucker the first kicker taken.

The Cowboys struggled to find the end zone through the first eight weeks of the season, but with his range they got into field goal range enough for him to make 20 of them while playing for Cory. Down the stretch, Cory made the move to Lions kicker Jake Bates, who didn't get as many opportunities from distance but averaged 2.4 more extra point attempts per game than Aubrey had.

Between the two of them and a lone spot start from Chase McLaughlin, Cory's kickers hit 30 of 35 field goal attempts and all 39 of their PATs over the course of the year. He didn't lead the AFL in any kicking metric other than missed PATs, where he shared the lead with Evan Ash and Anthony Battle, but he had the most balance at the position.

In total, Cory earned a league-best 174.20 points from kickers this year, just shy of 38 points more than the AFL average.

Runner-Up: Will Massimini, 169.20 points
League-Worst: Brandon Saunders, 103.40 points

Buddy Ryan Award

This is just the third time in AFL history a manager has won both specialist awards. Eric Meyer won both in 2013 and four years later Evan Ash won the Ryan Award while claiming a share of the Moseley Award.

Cory had a very interesting path to this year's Buddy Ryan Award, which he only won by a margin of less than 3 points. With back-to-back picks in the second half of the 11th round, Cory selected the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys. They were the 6th and 2nd ranked defenses during the 2023 fantasy regular season, respectively, and Cory's hope was that playing the matchups would give him a sizeable advantage over his leaguemates.

After an outstanding 30-point game from Dallas in Week 1, he was confident that at least one of the two had hit. The Jets finished that week in the red against a McCaffrey-less 49ers team.

Pretty quickly, though, Cory realized that neither of these defenses were going to be as valuable as the draft capital he invested in them. To his credit, he didn't try to force it. He gave the Jets a few opportunities to show their mettle. After five starts in which they averaged less than 8 points, including a disastrous Week 7 performance where they cost Cory 3.4 points, he started playing the waiver wire.

In the end, Cory used eight different defensive units over the course of the season. Perhaps most impressive is that of them, only the Saints and Cowboys would have been Top 16 units if started throughout the season based on AFL scoring settings. In fact, the Bengals, Dolphins, and Jets were 25th, 26th, and 27th respectively and averaged more than 9 points per start in Cory's lineup this season, just a little shy of the league's overall 10.01-point average per defensive start.

In total, Cory earned a league-best 175.63 points from defensive units this year, 26 points ahead of the AFL average.

Runner-Up: Sean Kennedy, 172.75 points
League-Worst: Jeffery McDonald, 118.60 points

Drew Brees Award - Josh Allen (Anthony Battle) - 381.47 points in 15 games (25.4ppg)

Jim Brown Award - Saquon Barkley (Alex Kincaid) - 315.75 points in 14 games (22.6ppg)

Jerry Rice Award - Ja'Marr Chase (Stephen April) - 321.54 points in 16 games (20.1ppg)

Rob Gronkowski Award - Brock Bowers (William Battle) - 166.27 points in 14 games (11.9ppg)

Justin Tucker Award - Brandon Aubrey (Cory Puffett*) - 182.00 points in 15 games (12.1ppg)

'85 Bears Award - Pittsburgh Steelers (Sean Kennedy) - 163.79 points in 16 games (10.2ppg)

Gale Sayers Rookie of the Year - Brock Bowers (William Battle) - 166.27 points in 14 games (11.9ppg)

The Drew Brees Award came down to Anthony's playoff appearance. Lamar Jackson finished the season just 0.19 points behind Allen in AFL games, but that came down to the 12.83 points Allen scored in Anthony's Wild Card Playoff loss to Sean Kennedy. Lamar Jackson's 27.2 points per game he averaged in 2024 rank fifth among the Top 100 quarterback seasons in AFL history. Allen and Jackson rank 7th and 8th among all quarterback seasons in AFL history.

Saquon Barkley came very close to suffering Jackson's fate. Thanks to two additional playoff games with Stephen April, Jahmyr Gibbs finished less than two points behind Barkley despite averaging three fewer points per game over the course of the season. Barkley's 22.6 points per game, though, gave him just enough cushion to hold on to the 2024 Jim Brown Award despite Alex missing the postseason. Barkley's 2024 campaign ranks 13th among all AFL running back seasons, and 7th among those who started less than 15 games in their respective seasons.

Ja'Marr Chase, meanwhile, had an iron grip on the Jerry Rice Award. Of the receivers who finished Top 20 in scoring for the season, he was the only one to average 20 points per game. Throw in his two playoff games in Stephen April's title run and he finished 61.71 points ahead of the next best receiver in the AFL. Chase is the second receiver in AFL history to record 300 points in a season, trailing only Cooper Kupp's 2021 campaign when he scored 330.66 points in 16 games for Evan Ash's Sabol Bowl IX-winning team.

Brock Bowers became the first rookie to win a positional award in AFL history, and in doing so earned recognition as this year's Gale Sayers Rookie of the Year. Sam LaPorta could have accomplished this in 2023, but William was less concerned with trying to make Bowers a late-round TAXI keeper than Eric Meyer was with LaPorta until he acquired C.J. Stroud mid-season last year. Bowers now has a Top-15 tight end season in AFL history to his name just one year into his career.

Brandon Aubrey moved from Cory's lineup to Stephen April's mid-year when Cory moved to Jake Bates as his kicker, costing Aubrey one game and 7.60 points from what still became a record-breaking year. He and Ka'imi Fairbairn, who finished a little less than 10 points back of the Justin Tucker Award, own the best two kicking seasons in AFL history. Each played 15 games, one fewer than Justin Tucker did when he broke the AFL's single season kicking record last year.

The Steelers were a mainstay in Sean's lineup and the only unit to start 16 games this season. In fact, only four others even started double digit games. While the Steelers averaged the most points per game of those five, the other half of the AFL's Top 10 all averaged more points per start than Pittsburgh did, including the Vikings, Broncos, and Texans, who made up the true Top 3 defenses in AFL scoring but were not used enough to steal the '85 Bears Award away from Sean.

*Indicates a player who appeared on more than one manager’s roster during the season but scored a plurality of his points for the indicated manager.

Johnny Unitas Award - Josh Allen (Anthony Battle) - 55.02 points in Week 14 (won 146.75-116.58 vs William Battle)

Cookie Gilchrist Award - Saquon Barkley (Alex Kincaid) - 46.98 points in Week 12 (won 125.17-92.81 vs Eric Meyer)

Don Hutson Award - Ja'Marr Chase (Stephen April) - 52.65 points in Week 10 (won 165.65-82.00 vs Jeffery McDonald)

Tony Gonzalez Award - Jonnu Smith (Brandon Saunders) - 26.60 points in Week 11 (won 154.75-119.23 vs Evan Ash)

Lou Groza Award - Jake Moody (Alex Mayo) - 27.30 points in Week 1 (won 139.82-88.47 vs Brandon Saunders)

'98 Seahawks Award - Chicago Bears (Jeffery McDonald) - 33.37 points in Week 1 (won 151.03-118.76 vs Alex Kincaid)

Josh Allen, Ja'Marr Chase, and Jake Moody made AFL history this season as all three set new all-time records for single game scoring at their positions.

Allen's explosion in Week 14 smashed Lamar Jackson's record from Week 5 of the 2021 season when he scored 49.00 points for Sean Kennedy. Chase became the second wide receiver to score 50 points when he outperformed Tyreek Hill's Week 12 performance from 2020 when he scored 51.40 points for Anthony Battle. And Moody's season opener outclassed Tyler Bass's Week 11 outing in 2022 when he scored 26.20 points, also for Alex Mayo.

Saquon Barkley joined Allen and Chase by winning both his position's season award and single-game award for 2024. That Week 12 outing ranks 11th all-time among AFL running backs. The Bears, likewise, rank 11th all-time among AFL defenses thanks to their season opener.

The other single-game award winner was not nearly as impressive, as Jonnu Smith's Week 11 performance ranks 40th among tight end performances in AFL history. Only Jack Doyle and Zach Ertz from 2017 and 2019, respectively, rank lower on the all-time performance list among Tony Gonzalez Award-winning performances.

Quarterbacks

Lamar Jackson (Jeffery McDonald) - 381.28 points in 14 RS games

Jared Goff (Cory Puffett*) - 211.53 points in 10 RS games

Running Backs

Derrick Henry (Evan Ash) - 271.45 points in 13 RS games

Jahmyr Gibbs† (Brandon Saunders*) - 261.73 points in 14 RS games

Josh Jacobs (Sean Kennedy) - 256.70 points in 14 RS games

Bijan Robinson (William Battle) - 252.06 points in 14 RS games

Aaron Jones (Cory Puffett) - 198.15 points in 14 RS games

Wide Receivers

Ja'Marr Chase (Stephen April) - 286.41 points in 14 RS games

Amon-Ra St. Brown (Cory Puffett) - 218.51 points in 14 RS games

Justin Jefferson (Sean Kennedy) - 217.73 points in 14 RS games

Mike Evans (Jeffery McDonald) - 161.25 points in 11 RS games

Terry McLaurin (Stephen April*) - 158.46 points in 12 RS games

Tight Ends

Brock Bowers (William Battle) - 166.27 points in 14 RS games

Trey McBride (Brandon Saunders) - 140.48 points in 12 RS games

Kickers

Brandon Aubrey (Cory Puffett*) - 157.20 points in 13 RS games

Chris Boswell (Will Massimini*) - 155.00 points in 13 RS games

Defenses

Pittsburgh Steelers (Sean Kennedy) - 162.67 points in 14 RS games

Kansas City Chiefs (Alex Mayo) - 97.90 points in 11 RS games

One result of contesting our Pro Bowl during the final week of the NFL's regular season is that, inevitably, some top players will be resting for various reasons.

Josh Allen (Anthony Battle) and Jalen Hurts (Alex Mayo) along with Saquon Barkley (Alex Kincaid) joined Lamar Jackson as the only 300-point scorers in the AFL's 2024 regular season and all were inactive for their team's Week 18 games.

Some other noteworthy players who were active but did not start in this year's Pro Bowl included Joe Burrow (Stephen April), Joe Mixon (Sean Kennedy), Garrett Wilson (Will Massimini), George Kittle (Jeffery McDonald), Ka'imi Fairbairn (Anthony Battle*), and the Detroit Lions (Alex Kincaid).

†Indicates the Otto Graham Pro Bowl MVP. Unlike the Joe Montana Sabol Bowl MVP Award, which will almost always go to a player on the winning team unless there's a particularly bizarre circumstance like in Super Bowl V, the Pro Bowl MVP simply goes to the highest scoring player regardless of team.

*Indicates the player appeared on more than one manager’s roster during the season but scored a plurality of his points for the indicated manager and thus represented that manager in the 2024 Pro Bowl.

Ja'Marr Chase
Stephen April

A year ago, Stephen became the third manager in AFL history to boast the LaDainian Tomlinson MVP Award winner, joining Danny Hatcher and William Battle. Now Stephen stands alone with three LT MVPs to his name.

Ja'Marr Chase was a pretty easy choice for this award in 2024. Only four players in the AFL had more points than he did and all of them were quarterbacks. The average starting quarterback outperformed the average starting wide receiver by nearly 7.50 points per game in the AFL's 2024 campaign and Lamar Jackson barely outscored Chase by 7 points per game this season.

Considering Chase's value as a 5th round keeper, which meant he was 29th wide receiver off the board and the 55th player overall in the 2024 AFL Draft, Chase's value compared to Jackson, Josh Allen, or the other two quarterbacks who outscored him was substantially higher.

On a per-game basis, the difference between Chase as the AFL's WR1 and Justin Jefferson, the AFL's second wide receiver in scoring, was 3.9 point. You have to look all the way down to the AFL's WR10, Drake London, to find a receiver who averaged 3.9 fewer points per game than Jefferson. Even Saquon Barkley can't claim that level of domination over his positional peers this year.

Previous LaDainian Tomlinson MVPs:

2013 - Jamaal Charles (Danny Hatcher)
2014 - DeMarco Murray (Danny Hatcher)
2015 - Cam Newton (William Battle)
2016 - David Johnson (Eric Meyer)
2017 - Le'Veon Bell (Andrew Perez)
2018 - Todd Gurley (William Battle)
2019 - Lamar Jackson (Sean Kennedy)
2020 - Dalvin Cook (Stephen April)
2021 - Cooper Kupp (Evan Ash)
2022 - Travis Kelce (Brandon Saunders)
2023 - Christian McCaffrey (Stephen April)