CTDB Week 6 Recap

By Mel AIper, CTDB Analyst

Six weeks in, the Chunky Monkeys are 10-2, three-game lead, and still unbeaten head to head. Behind them it’s a four-way pileup at 7-5. A Squad Called Blitz, one of the four, has outscored everybody and still has five losses to show for it. Luck is definitely a part of this game.

The Jail Yard Boyz are the hottest team in the league. They were tied for seventh after Week 4, then posted the top score two weeks running, 194 and 146, and now they’re tied for second. Battle Angel started 0-4 and is back to 6-6. The City of Angels Masterminds went the other way: four straight wins, then a 0-2 week. LA Buffy has lost four straight.

The games

Chunky Monkeys 135, Philadelphia Phreaks 80

The ex-roommates’ second meeting of the year, and the Phreaks showed up short. Jalen Hurts, their only quarterback, was out, so GM Ping signed Kirk Cousins on Friday and cleared Jahmyr Gibbs and Ollie Gordon II, both on bye, out of the lineup. Not unexpectedly, what was left posted the lowest score of the week. The five Eagles in the Phreaks lineup combined for 16. Yikes.

Germie Bernard, the 16-dollar Wednesday claim, went for 20 for the Monkeys with Rashee Rice sitting. The peripherals look great for Bernard — the Monkeys may have discovered a gem here. More importantly, this win is now five straight over the Phreaks for the Monkeys.

Jail Yard Boyz 146, Crunch Bunch 116

Cousin vs. cousin, and the Boyz’ pass catchers put this one to rest. Isaiah Likely is now in the S-tier of tight ends and put up 21 at tight end a week after his 27, and Matthew Golden, a tenth-round pick, added 19. The Bunch’s 116 was a top-half score. Didn’t matter. So much for odd weeks belonging to the Boyz.

Gang Green 120, Custom J 84

The AI models built Custom J, and on Sunday, that team had one good player. D’Andre Swift put up 21. Jacoby Brissett, starting again over Lamar Jackson, followed last week’s 34 with 9, and Terry McLaurin managed 3 before his knee gave out. Devaughn Vele, the pickup I said I’d have made myself, gave Custom J 6 points.

Christian McCaffrey put up 26 on Monday night, and Gang Green made it six straight over Custom J. Josh’s team is in a tailspin and I’m not sure there’s much to be done at this point.

Battle Angel 124, City of Angels Masterminds 95

Battle Angel won this one with depth. Bryce Young, a free pickup, led the way with 27, and Colston Loveland added 16 at tight end. Nobody else hit 13, but seven more starters scored 8 or more, and that was plenty. GM Will’s team started 0-4 and is back to 6-6.

The Masterminds’ four-game win streak ended in a 0-2 week. James Cook did his part with 23, but Davante Adams and Romeo Doubs both got hurt mid-game and finished with 5 and 11. Then the kickers piled on. Battle Angel’s Detroit kicker was on bye, so GM Will signed Harrison Butker on Friday, and Butker kicked for 11. Brandon Aubrey, a Masterminds keeper, kicked for 1, and the Texans defense finished at minus 4. A free kicker outscored a keeper by 10.

A Squad Called Blitz 112, LA Buffy 106

Coach Thien’s lineup calls won this one. He started two Panthers, Chuba Hubbard and Jalen Coker, and benched Denzel Boston and Rome Odunze. The Panthers put up 19 and 13. The bench guys managed 2 and 5.

Cam Skattebo and Darren Waller both started for Buffy and both finished at zero. Two bagels will do it in a 6-point loss.

Heroes and Zeros

Heroes blew past what anyone expected of them. Zeros went the other way: healthy stars and early picks who started and gave their teams almost nothing.

Heroes. Tre Tucker leads it, a twelfth-round pick with the best receiver day in the league, 24 for Buffy. Bhayshul Tuten has finally arrived and put up 23 for the Monkeys, and Kenneth Walker III went for 27 for the Bunch. KW3 has quietly put up MVP numbers for Crunch Bunch.

Zeros. Bijan Robinson, a Blitz keeper, gave Blitz 6. Derrick Henry, a Gang Green keeper, finished under 5. Harold Fannin Jr., another Blitz keeper, had 1 for the second straight week, and MarShawn Lloyd started for the Bunch and gave it 1.

Manager of the Week

This award grades start and sit calls.

Manager of the Week: Thien, A Squad Called Blitz. His two Panthers outscored his two benched receivers by 24 in a 6-point game. It’s the only game of the five where the lineup flipped the result.

Calls that didn’t matter. Coach Evan left 28 on his bench, the most in the league, Lawrence included. GM Ping started Darius Cooper, a Saturday pickup, for 1, with Stefon Diggs scoring 13 on the bench. GM Will started Bryce Young (27) over Jayden Daniels (28). Coach Marcus sat Caleb Williams, who put up 22. None of it came close to flipping a result.

The Trainer’s Room

In a keeper league an injury costs this week’s points, the waiver money to cover it, and sometimes next year’s keeper.

The Phreaks. Hurts, a keeper and the team’s only quarterback, is expected to miss the rest of the season with blood clots in his lungs. Cousins, a free Friday signing, is QB1 for the foreseeable future. Saquon Barkley, another keeper, sat and is still listed out.

The Masterminds. Coach Marcus started Davante Adams and Romeo Doubs, and both came out of the weekend hurt. Adams, his first-round pick, ruptured a hamstring and is looking at 6 to 10 weeks. Doubs is on injured reserve with a shoulder. Deebo Samuel Sr. is nursing a hamstring, and Breece Hall, a keeper, and Tyler Warren, his third-round pick, are out too. That’s a lot of starting lineup in the training room for a team tied for second.

Custom J. McLaurin’s season is over: torn patellar tendon, surgery coming. Jacory Croskey-Merritt is on injured reserve for at least four games, Jackson is out, Ladd McConkey came out of the weekend questionable after 2, and Mike Evans left Monday night with a lingering Achilles. Hang in there, Josh.

The Monkeys. Rice, a keeper, sat and is listed out. That’s the hole Bernard was signed to fill.

The Bunch. A.J. Brown, a keeper, is back from injured reserve and listed questionable after 4.

Buffy. Jeremiyah Love, Buffy’s first-round rookie, sat out the one week the Pot paid for rookies. David Montgomery, a Buffy keeper, is out too.

The Pot and the standings

Week 6 paid the best rookie in a starting slot. The preview’s favorite, Boston, sat on the Blitz bench. Bernard won it with 20 for the Monkeys, ahead of Carnell Tate’s 16 for the Bunch. The commissioner’s own wire pickup takes the prize, and the auditors have been notified. Week 7 pays the David: the winner with the biggest points-for deficit going in.

Counting bonus results, the Monkeys lead at 10-2. Blitz, Gang Green, the Masterminds and the Boyz sit at 7-5, the Angels at 6-6, the Bunch and the Phreaks at 5-7, and Buffy and Custom J at 3-9. Ties break on head to head, and of the four 7-5 teams, only Blitz and the Masterminds haven’t met.

Next week

The Masterminds host Blitz on Sunday. With that much of the Masterminds lineup hurt, I’ll take the coach whose lineup calls just won him a game.

The Monkeys host the Angels, the team that climbed out of 0-4. Custom J draws the Boyz, and nobody wants the Boyz right now. Gang Green hosts Buffy, and the Phreaks host the Bunch.

Week 5 Recap: Odd Week

By Mel Alper, CTDB Analyst

Five weeks in, the Chunky Monkeys sit alone in first at 8-2. They’ve been first or tied for first after every week of the season - the defending champs continue to roll. However, the rest of the league continues a topsy turvy season. The Masterminds have won four straight and moved into second. Blitz still leads the league in points, but on Sunday it posted the fewest of anyone and slid to third at 6-4.

Perennial contender, Gang Green has lost four straight and is a rut of back luck - this past week he lost with the second-best score of the week. Thankfully we have the bonus win losses in places. LA Buffy has dropped three straight while Custom J ended a three-game skid.

In the preview I said odd weeks belonged to the Jail Yard Boyz, who finished last in Weeks 1 and 3. Right week, wrong end of the table. On Sunday they put up 194, the best score of the season, a week after sitting dead last in the league in points. Same Boyz, Different Sunday. Drake Maye, who had cleared 15 points once all year, went for 51, the best game by any player in this league so far. That’s five new season highs in five weeks, and this one reaches past the season. Since 2021 only one team has scored more: Fat Jubas, the franchise that’s now Blitz, put up 196 in Week 5 of 2021. This season already owns three of the ten best scores of that stretch. It’s October. Buckle up.

The games

Jail Yard Boyz 194, Gang Green 154

Drake Maye was the MVP here. He scored more on Sunday than in his first three games of the season combined. GM Victor started him over C.J. Stroud, the Friday pickup I told him to play. Noted, GM Victor.

Gang Green’s 154 would have beaten all eight other teams this week. It lost by 40 anyway, and GM Greg is now on a four-game slide with the second-most points in the league. Fantasy football can be be brutal.

Philadelphia Phreaks 140, A Squad Called Blitz 99

None of Blitz’s stars showed up this week. CeeDee Lamb caught two passes on Thursday night for 2 points, and Bijan Robinson, coming off two 100-yard games, gave Coach Thien a very pedestrian 14 points. The league’s highest-octaine g team posted the week’s lowest score, and it wasn’t a bye-week problem: Denzel Boston, one of the two fill-ins, was the fifth-best starter on the roster with 12. 

The Phreaks’ keepers did the opposite. Jahmyr Gibbs went for 35 and Puka Nacua for 29 even pre-hernia and all, and the Phreaks won by 41 a week after finishing last.

Chunky Monkeys 145, Crunch Bunch 121

The pass catchers decided the cousins’ game. Christian Watson’s 29 alone beat the 20 that GM Eddie’s whole receiving room and tight end gave him, and Carnell Tate, his first-round pick, had 1 of those. Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Brock Bowers added 20 and 19 for the Monkeys that was pretty much all she wrote for this matchup.

Coach Evan kept Trevor Lawrence as starter which was the right call as Lawrence delivered 29 fantasy points while Tyler Shough sat on less than a point (no touchdowns and 2 interceptions will do that).145 was the third-best score of the week, and it ended the Bunch’s four-game run in this series.

GM Eddie could've won as his best lineup scored 150, with MarShawn Lloyd’s 16 sitting on the bench but these games are never won on the bench as every GM in this league knows.

City of Angels Masterminds 137, LA Buffy 103

Buffy’s backfield lost this game. Jeremiyah Love, Cam Skattebo and David Montgomery gave GM Roger 9 points between them, on a day Matthew Stafford finally started for Buffy and went for 37 but it wasn't nearly enough - definitely not enough when the rest of your offense fails to show up. 

Parker Washington, the Masterminds’ second-round pick, posted 27 and powered the Mastermind offense. Honestly, the Masterminds are on a roll - it took 'em a few years but this may be the best roster we've seen from this franchise since they joined the league. 

Custom J 113, Battle Angel 102

Custom J wins! The quarterbacks decided this one, in both directions. GM Josh’s starter, Lamar Jackson, was listed out, so GM Josh paid 3 dollars on Friday for Jacoby Brissett, who scored 34. GM Will started Bo Nix over Jayden Daniels. Nix scored 11, and Daniels put up 34 on the bench, enough to flip the result on his own.

Custom J’s Trey McBride, whose points had dropped four weeks running, bounced back with 17. Custom J has now won five of the last six against the Angels. The team I drafted beat my own pick, took the Pot with the lowest winning score of the week, and gave GM Josh his first win since Week 1. Congrats, Josh. You earned this one, even if the computer did the drafting.

Heroes and Zeros

Heroes are the players who blew past what anyone expected of them. The Zeros list is for healthy stars and early picks who left the lineups built around them empty.

Heroes. Maye leads it by a mile. Isaiah Likely, a sixth-round pick, went for 27 at tight end for the Boyz, and Jaylen Warren put up 34 for the Bunch in a loss.

The waiver wire paid off for two teams. Brissett, a 3-dollar claim, won Custom J a game, and GM Ping’s prize free-agent signing, Ollie Gordon II, the season’s biggest bid at 31, finally started and posted 15. Keon Coleman, the Bunch’s 15-dollar claim, sat on the bench with 7.

Zeros. Blitz owns this list. Lamb finished with 2 and Harold Fannin Jr. with 1, both keepers. Two first-round rookies joined them: Love, Buffy’s first pick, put up 2, and Tate had 1 for the Bunch. Chase Brown, a Monkeys keeper, gave the champ 6 and was the one Zero whose team won.

Manager of the Week

This award grades start and sit calls, and the ones that decided games this week were at quarterback.

Manager of the Week: Victor, Jail Yard Boyz. GM Victor benched his Friday pickup, Stroud, for Maye, against my advice, and the Boyz set the season high.

Calls that cost. GM Will’s quarterback call cost the Angels 23 points, the most in the league, and the game. GM Eddie left 29 on his bench, second-most in the league behind the Angels.

Calls that didn’t. GM Ping started six Eagles, and one of those calls was Makai Lemon over Justin Jefferson. Lemon put up 7, and Jefferson, back from his ankle, put up 16 on the bench. The Phreaks won by 41.

Projections only. Coach Evan, GM Roger and Coach Thien started exactly what the projections wanted. The champ got 145 and a win out of it. Buffy and Blitz got 103 and 99.

The Trainer’s Room

In a keeper league an injury costs this week’s points, the waiver money spent covering for it, and sometimes next year’s keeper.

Gang Green. Three of GM Greg’s first four picks sat this week, and all three carry an injury tag. Jadarian Price, his first-rounder, and Michael Pittman Jr., his fourth, are on injured reserve, and DJ Moore, his second, went from questionable to out. That’s a lot of draft capital on the sideline for a team on a four-game slide.

The Phreaks. Saquon Barkley, a keeper, was listed out and sat. J.K. Dobbins took his spot and scored 14. Will Shipley, GM Greg’s 7-dollar claim and Barkley’s backup in Philadelphia, left the weekend doubtful, so that bet hasn’t paid yet.

Custom J. Jackson, a keeper, was listed out, and two starters picked up new tags: TreVeyon Henderson is doubtful after 4, and the early word on his ankle is multiple weeks, and KC Concepcion questionable after 1. De’Von Achane, also a keeper, remains on injured reserve, so both of the stars Custom J kept at quarterback and running back are sidelined.

The Bunch. Kyle Monangai was listed out. Roman Wilson, the 8-dollar claim, is now listed out too, and Quinshon Judkins, the second-round pick, is questionable after 7 with an ankle tweak that’s being called day-to-day. A.J. Brown, a keeper, is still on injured reserve.

The Masterminds. Deebo Samuel Sr. started, scored 2 and is now listed out, with a hamstring expected to cost him at least a couple of weeks. He joins Breece Hall, a keeper, and Caleb Williams, the Masterminds’ fourth-round pick, both out, and Alec Pierce is on injured reserve. Four players down, and the team is second in the standings.

Buffy and Blitz. Montgomery, a Buffy keeper, left Sunday doubtful after his 1 and is now week-to-week with a groin injury, and DeVonta Smith, another keeper, was out. Lamb, a Blitz keeper, came out of the weekend questionable with a quad bruise from Thursday night, with the waiver run on Wednesday.

The Monkeys. Smith-Njigba, a keeper, finished questionable after a 20-point day with a twisted ankle, though he’s expected to be ready for Thursday.

The Pot and the standings

Week 5 paid the lowest-scoring winner, the prize the Monkeys looked built for. They won with 104 in Week 2 and 101 in Week 4, and either one would have taken it. This week they scored 145, and Custom J won it with 113, the next-lowest winner sitting at 137. It’s Custom J’s first Pot of the season. Week 6 pays the best rookie.

Counting bonus results, the Monkeys lead at 8-2, the Masterminds are second at 7-3 and Blitz is third at 6-4. Gang Green, the Boyz and the Phreaks are 5-5. The Bunch and the Angels are 4-6, and Buffy and Custom J share the bottom at 3-7. Blitz’s 99 was a bottom-half score, which is how it lost twice on Sunday.

Next week

The Phreaks host the Monkeys in a rematch of Week 2, when the Monkeys won 104 to 87. The Phreaks have alternated wins and losses all five weeks, which makes this one a loss on paper. The Monkeys haven’t lost head to head.

The Bunch host the Boyz in a cousins’ game and a Bay Area division game, 6-6 over the last five years, a week after the Boyz set the season high. The Masterminds bring four straight wins against an Angels team that just lost with its best quarterback on the bench. Buffy hosts Blitz, the points leader coming off its worst week. Custom J hosts Gang Green, which has won ten of the last twelve between them.

Week 4 Recap: Crunch Bunch's Jekyll & Hyde

By Mel Alper, CTDB Analyst

Put the Crunch Bunch’s Week 3 lineup next to its Week 4 lineup and you’ll find the same ten players in the same ten slots. BUT - in Week 3 they scored 102 and lost to Blitz by 72. Week 4 was a different story. On Sunday they put up 188 and broke the season high points scored, which Blitz had just set in that Week 3 game with 174. Tetairoa McMillan went from 3 points to 38, and Kyle Monangai from 3 to 28. Same guys. Different Sunday. Better plays by Coach Eddie??

This year - points scored records have been broken week over week. Gang Green’s 159, the Masterminds’ 167 and Blitz’s 174 each fell the next Sunday, and this week Blitz beat its own mark with 179 and still had only the second-best score.

The Chunky Monkeys on the other hand - limped to another win with 101, the eighth-best score of the week. Yikes. 

My picks went 3-2 again, with misses on Gang Green and Buffy.

The games

Crunch Bunch 188, LA Buffy 121

Last season these two finished at the bottom, Buffy ninth and the Bunch tenth, and Buffy won all three of their meetings. The last was 93 to 41 in the consolation bracket, the widest margin between them in five years until Week 4.

The backfields decided this one. Crunch Bunch running backs outscored the Buffy backfield by 59, nearly all of the 67-point margin, and Monangai alone beat Jeremiyah Love, Cam Skattebo and David Montgomery combined, 28 to 17.

Buffy’s best day came from Nico Collins, back from two missed games with 27. Buffy’s 121 was fifth-best in the league, good enough for the bonus win.

A Squad Called Blitz 179, Jail Yard Boyz 128

Blitz has scored 79 more points than anyone else in the league so far this.  This is the team that hasn’t finished better than fifth in any of the last five seasons. Coming into this year, the Boyz owned this matchup, 8-4 over the last five years, and even knocked Blitz out of last season’s playoffs, 151 to 120. None of that mattered this year. 

Blitz was led by its usual core of super stars. Blitz win when its stars, well, star. CeeDee Lamb caught 33, and Bijan Robinson, Brock Purdy and Chuba Hubbard each cleared 25 beside him. Blitz left 3 points on its bench, the fewest in the league, and Victor’s best possible lineup scores 162, was still 17 short. 

Battle Angel 156, Gang Green 117

Gang Green won the last meeting, 149 to 130 last November. This time it came in as the widest favorite on the board, by 17 on the projections, and then they got crushed

The Angel's Kyren Williams ran for 32, more than Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey gave Greg together, and Javonte Williams added 29. Like Crunch Bunch, this game was decided by the Angels' running game.

Sunday night’s game between the Panthers and the Bills had both quarterbacks -- Bryce Young got the better of this one with 29 points. Gang Green's usual capital, Josh Allen, threw for a very pedestrian 23 points.  The Angels are on a bit of a run. Just wwo weeks ago, the Angels were 0-4. After two 2-0 weeks they sit level at 4-4 with Gang Green, the franchise with the best average finish in the league over the last five years.

City of Angels Masterminds 120, Philadelphia Phreaks 84

GM Ping is trying - he made big bids this week and acquired some prize free agent signings but weirdly, he didn't play them. The Phreaks made the biggest bid of the season on Wednesday, 31 dollars for Ollie Gordon but then started J.K. Dobbins over him. Insiders said Ollie was still learning the playbook. Gordon put up 17 on the bench and while Dobbins scratched together only 6 points. The Phreaks also suffered some bad luck by benching Hockenson for Sadiq who put up a bagel. In fact, the Phreaks' best lineup would've scored 123 points which would've of secured a win in the best of worlds. 

Marcus relied on some late round draft picks this week including Romeo Doubs and Deebo Samuel, his round 8 and round 11 picks, and they put up 36 on a day his first two picks, Davante Adams and Parker Washington, managed just 7 points. Kudos to the Mastermind scouting department.

Chunky Monkeys 101, Custom J 89

The Monkeys had won the last four meetings between these two -- the latest last season’s semifinal victory over Custom J, 120 to 72.

Neither manager set a good lineup this week. Emanuel Wilson, a 6-dollar claim in Week 3, went for 26 on the Monkeys’ bench.  Coach Evan labored over his QB1 decision and did ultimately make the right call in the preview’s coin flip: Tyler Shough outscored Trevor Lawrence but it wouldn't have really mattered.

Custom J's roster really struggled this week. Ladd McConkey put up a bagel and the rest of the team is really struggling to find its offensive rhythm. Worth noting that like this article, Custom J's article was AI built and now the team is 2-6 and alone in last place -- sorry, Josh. Love, Claude.

Heroes and Zeros

This is where the projections get graded. Heroes beat theirs by the most; Zeros are the healthy stars and early picks who didn’t show for the lineups built around them. McMillan has now been both: last week’s Zeros, and this week’s top Hero, 38 on a projection of 13.

Heroes. Monangai, Kyren and Javonte Williams, Lamb and Collins all beat their projections by 14 or more, and Collins was the only one whose team lost. Even the season-high lineup left one on its bench: Brian Robinson Jr., the Bunch’s round 12 pick, put up 25 on a projection of 6, and no bench player beat his projection by more.

Four of the six best days by waiver pickups sat on a bench: Emanuel Wilson, Hockenson, Gordon and Vele.

Zeros. Bucky Irving, the Boyz’ first-rounder, went for 6 on a projection of 15. Two keepers sank lower on points: Garrett Wilson caught 4 for Gang Green and David Montgomery put up 4 for Buffy, both on projections of 13. All three teams lost.

Manager of the Week

Manager of the Week: Marcus, City of Angels Masterminds. His calls gained 9 points, the most in the league, all of it Doubs and Samuel. Eddie finished a hair behind, with the same ten starters that cost him 16 against the projections a week earlier.

Projections only. Will and Ping both started exactly the projections’ lineup. It won Will a game by 39 and lost Ping his.

Calls that cost. Evan’s calls cost 16, the most in the league, a week after he won this award. That’s the same 16 Eddie’s ten starters cost him in Week 3. The Monkeys also left 39 on the bench, a hair more than the Phreaks. Roger’s calls cost 9. Victor’s cost 8, all of it Malik Nabers catching 20 on the Boyz’ bench, and none of the three changed a result.

The Trainer’s Room

In a keeper league an injury costs this week’s points, the waiver dollars spent covering for it, and sometimes next year’s keeper.

Custom J. De’Von Achane, a keeper since 2024, is out for the season with the knee he hurt in Week 3. Without him, Custom J’s three starting running backs gave Josh 23 between them. Gordon, next in line in Miami’s backfield, went to the Phreaks on the season’s biggest bid, so Achane’s replacement belongs to someone other than Josh.

The Phreaks. The Phreaks have kept Justin Jefferson every year since 2021, and he sprained an ankle in Week 3. Early in the week he looked like he might play, and by Friday he was ruled out. Dontayvion Wicks took his spot and caught 3. Dallas Goedert was out too, which left Sadiq as the only healthy tight end on the roster until the Hockenson claim on Sunday morning.

The Angels. Jayden Daniels, their fourth-round pick, missed another game after talk of a Week 4 return. After Young’s Sunday, Daniels’ return is a lineup question, not an automatic start. Travis Etienne Jr., a keeper, is on injured reserve with a hamstring, and Josh Jacobs is day-to-day. The Angels paid 8 dollars on Friday for Kendre Miller to cover, and Miller scored 1 on the bench.

Gang Green. Greg spent his first-round pick on Jadarian Price, who was listed questionable on Friday and was on injured reserve by Monday night. Seattle’s other back, Emanuel Wilson, is a Monkey, which makes Price’s injury Evan’s opening as much as Greg’s problem.

The Masterminds. A quad injury kept Breece Hall, a Masterminds keeper since 2025, out of Week 4. The early word is weeks, not days.

New tags. Seven starters were listed active on Friday and came out of the weekend questionable: the Bunch’s Monangai, Buffy’s Love, the Boyz’ Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Custom J’s Lamar Jackson, the Monkeys’ Rashee Rice and the Phreaks’ Saquon Barkley. Five of them are keepers. Rice and Barkley finished with 0 and 2, so watch those two before Wednesday’s waiver run.

The Bunch. The Bunch set the season high without A.J. Brown, a keeper since 2023, who remains on injured reserve.

Tidbits

• Week 4 history ran backward. The Masterminds, 1-4 in Week 4 over the last five years, won, and Gang Green, 4-1, lost.

• The family went 2-2, and the brothers split: Eddie won and Josh lost.

• Eddie had the Panthers on both sides of the ball Sunday night: McMillan on offense, and a defense that scored minus 5. 

• Ping started five Eagles, and they gave him 33 of his 84.

• The best rookie starter was Carnell Tate, the Bunch’s first-round pick, with 17 on a projection of 10. Week 6’s Pot pays the best rookie.

This Week’s Pot 

Week 4 paid the waiver hero: the highest-scoring starter who wasn’t drafted or kept this year. Bryce Young won it for Battle Angel with 28.75, two Sundays after Will claimed him for nothing and cut Bo Nix to make room. Last year’s Week 4 went to the Phreaks. Tyler Shough’s 20.8 was second and Dominic Zvada’s 12.0 third — both waiver starts, neither close. Week 5 pays the lowest-scoring winner, and the champion’s 101 would have taken it this week.

The standings

Counting bonus results, Blitz and the Monkeys share first at 6-2, and the Masterminds, who haven’t finished better than seventh in five years, sit alone at 5-3. Gang Green, the Bunch and the Angels are 4-4, with Buffy, the Phreaks and the Boyz at 3-5 and Custom J at 2-6. Last season’s runner-up and last season’s fourth-place team are both near the bottom: the Boyz have scored the fewest points in the league, and Custom J is last.

Next week

The Monkeys host the Bunch, the season’s best score against Week 4’s lowest winner, cousin against cousin in the first of their two Bay Area division games. The Bunch leads 4-2 over the last five years.

Elsewhere, the Masterminds host Buffy in the first City of Angels game, Custom J hosts Battle Angel, and the Boyz host Gang Green. The Phreaks, the week’s lowest score, host Blitz, the league’s points leader.

Eddie, you know where I stand on Monangai, and after Sunday I’m keeping it to myself.

Week 2 Recap: Everybody Changes Places

By Mel AIper, CTDB Analyst

The league ran a mirror trick this week. Nearly every Week 1 winner walked into Week 2 and lost, and nearly every Week 1 loser found a win — Monkeys and Angels the only holdouts on either side. Ten teams swapped places. The league averaged 115, which is a polite way of saying half the board got punched in the mouth and half got even.

Sunday’s injury list read like a keeper-league horror short: Dart, Daniels, Goedert and Moore left and never came back. Barkley and Nabers played hurt and finished anyway. An opening-drive exit isn’t a bad start/sit — it’s just a wreck, and Week 2 had a few of those.

The preview board went 2-3, and the misses stung more than the record. Phreaks-over-Monkeys had the widest projection gap of the week and lost by 17. Gang Green over Blitz banked on Greg beating the projections a second straight week — he beat them by 4 and still lost by 18. Roger started Mahomes over Stafford as tipped and still dropped when Custom J got the call against him.

League administrative note

Week 1’s Pot was closest loss — smallest margin of defeat — not biggest blowout. That pays Battle Angel (Will), who lost to the Bunch by 11.5. The published Week 1 recap wrongly credited the Monkeys for the 83-point win. The Week 1 payout to Will goes out this week.

The games

City of Angels Masterminds 167, Battle Angel 93

Dak Prescott threw for 41, Davante Adams caught 36, and the Masterminds put up 167, more than any team has scored in this league this season. Strange, for a franchise that hasn’t finished better than seventh in five years and had lost every Week 2 game since 2021.

The Angels lost this at quarterback and tight end. Will started Jayden Daniels, who was listed doubtful, and Daniels didn’t finish, leaving him 18. At tight end he started Colston Loveland, a round 2 pick, for under a point. Two weeks running, and Dalton Kincaid has scored 19 on the Angels bench both times.

Jail Yard Boyz 117, Crunch Bunch 93

Eddie made the right quarterback call and lost the quarterback. I told him in the preview that with Joe Burrow questionable, Jaxson Dart was the start, and the projections agreed, 23 to 22. Dart left on the opening drive and never came back. He scored 1.

Give Dart his full projection, healthy, all afternoon, and the Bunch still lose this game by about 2. The two calls I gave him and he passed on, MarShawn Lloyd and the Broncos defense, were worth 7 between them. Eddie had 129 points on his roster Sunday morning and started 93 of them — that’s the part that still hurts.

Victor deserves more credit than the margin suggests. His quarterback and his best receiver came in 26 points under their projections between them, because Justin Herbert threw for 12 and Nabers hurt his shoulder in the first quarter and finished with 1. Victor won by 24 anyway. The Patriots defense, started over the Ravens on a projection under 6, went for 19, and Ja’Marr Chase led the team with 23.

LA Buffy 115, custom J 93

Custom J led this LA series 7-4, had won the last five meetings, and had won every Week 2 game it played over the last five years. Buffy took all of it on Sunday.

Mahomes threw for 39. Stafford threw for 38 on the bench, so my advice was worth less than a point. Roger won this at receiver and tight end instead, on DeVonta Smith’s 23 and Sam LaPorta’s 14.

I drafted this Custom J roster, so I’ll take the first loss personally. Lamar Jackson threw for 19 against a 28-point projection. TreVeyon Henderson, Jonah Coleman and Josh Downs combined for 38 points on the bench. Nobody on this team got hurt — which makes the 93 sting more, not less.

A Squad Called Blitz 150, Gang Green 132

Josh Allen threw for 49, the best score by any player in the league this week, and Gang Green lost. Jared Goff threw for 41 on the bench. That is 90 points of quarterback for one slot.

The rest of Greg’s lineup is why the 49 wasn’t enough. He started two players already on the injury report. Jadarian Price gave him 5, and DJ Moore left Thursday night’s game early and finished below zero. The Chiefs defense Greg claimed for 2 gave him minus 2. Moore’s shoulder is not what beat Gang Green. Thien needed 150 to get past him, with 35 from Brock Purdy and 31 from CeeDee Lamb.

Gang Green has the best average finish in this league over the last five years, 3.8, and the most points per season, 1,791. Blitz has finished fifth in three of the last four seasons. I’d stop treating them as a team with something to prove.

Chunky Monkeys 104, Philadelphia Phreaks 87

Ping started four players carrying an injury designation and they returned 7 points between them. Barkley took a stinger and Goedert sprained a knee ligament in the second quarter, and between them they came in 22 points under their numbers. Put those 22 back and the Phreaks win this game. J.K. Dobbins gave him 4 and has no such excuse.

The fourth one I’d argue with. Puka Nacua was listed out before kickoff and Ping started him anyway for zero, with Devaughn Vele healthy on the bench. Ping had 106 points on his roster. Starting a man who had been ruled out is the call I’d take back.

The swap he did make worked. Stefon Diggs came into the lineup and caught 19 while Makai Lemon caught 1 from the bench. Justin Jefferson, who said last week that the games he remembers from this series are “the good ones,” caught 7. Both these teams came in unbeaten. The Phreaks leave at 2-2.

Heroes and Zeros

Heroes are the players who blew past what anyone expected and made a manager look like a genius for a day. Zeros are the healthy, expensive starters who handed their manager a blank receipt.

Heroes. Six quarterbacks cleared 35 points, two of them on benches. Smith-Njigba and Davante Adams were the two biggest beats against projection in the league, each more than doubling his number. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 31 in a loss.

The waiver wire was a poor investment this week. Evan’s 15 on Michael Mayer bought 4 points. Denzel Boston, claimed by Blitz for 6, scored 18 from the bench. Every claim from last Wednesday’s run that made a lineup scored 7 or less.

Zeros. Marvin Harrison Jr., a Buffy keeper, played the whole game and scored nothing. Tucker Kraft managed 2 at tight end for the Bunch. Bijan Robinson ran for 10 against a 20-point projection. Blitz could afford it. Ladd McConkey, back from the rib injury and healthy all afternoon, gave Custom J 5 on a 12-point projection. Jameson Williams, the Angels’ round 1 pick, caught 4.

Manager of the Week

This goes to the manager whose start and sit calls did the most for his team. No manager’s calls were worth more than the margin in his own game this week — which is its own kind of so-what.

Manager of the Week: Victor, Jail Yard Boyz. His calls gained 16 points over what the projections wanted, more than anyone, almost all of it the Patriots defense over the Ravens.

Also good. Evan gained 9, mostly Bhayshul Tuten into the flex over Luther Burden III. He also started Rhamondre Stevenson for 3 with Rachaad White’s 11 on the bench. Greg gained 4.

Nothing to decide. Marcus and Thien each set the lineup the projections wanted, to the point, and then posted the two highest totals of the week.

Calls that cost. Ping’s cost 9 and Eddie’s cost 7, the two worst in the league. Neither figure has an injury in it. The projections wanted Dart, Barkley and Goedert started too. What is left is Nacua over Vele for Ping, and Monangai and the Jaguars defense for Eddie.

The Trainer’s Room

An injury in a keeper league hurts most when it lands on one of the five players a manager built his roster around before the draft. Two of this week’s did. The rest landed on drafted players.

Jaxson Dart, Bunch. The round 10 pick and Eddie’s Week 2 starter. Left knee on the Giants’ opening drive, ruled out at the half, and Jameis Winston finished the game. Joe Burrow, the round 3 pick, is healthy.

Malik Nabers, Boyz. A keeper since 2024 and back from last year’s knee. Right shoulder late in the first quarter, and he returned in the second. By then his quarterback was out and the Giants were behind. Jaylen Waddle scored 18 on the Boyz bench.

Saquon Barkley, Phreaks. A Phreaks keeper and, before that, a Monkeys keeper for three straight years. A stinger cost him most of the first half and most of his workload after it, and he finished with 5 touches. Tank Bigsby took the rest of his carries.

Dallas Goedert, Phreaks. The round 3 pick, and a Phreak since 2023. MCL sprain early in the second quarter, one catch, out a few weeks. Kenyon Sadiq, the round 8 rookie, is the only other tight end Ping has.

Jayden Daniels, Angels. The round 4 pick, and a Monkeys keeper the last two seasons. He dislocated the same left elbow that cost him most of 2025 and did not return. Bryce Young, claimed that same Sunday, scored 33 from the bench.

Caleb Williams, Masterminds. The round 4 pick, carted off in the fourth quarter with a hamstring. He was on the bench, so it cost Marcus nothing on Sunday. It does leave the Masterminds one Dak Prescott injury away from a problem.

DJ Moore, Gang Green. The round 2 pick. Sprained AC joint in his shoulder on Thursday night, did not return. Greg is now without Moore, Zay Flowers and Michael Pittman Jr. at receiver. He paid the largest bid of the week, 19, for Kalif Raymond. My read is that he was refilling an empty room rather than buying a starter.

Brock Bowers, Monkeys. Out a second straight week. A Monkeys keeper since 2025, and Evan drafted no other tight end, so Michael Mayer starts again.

Still out. A.J. Brown is on injured reserve a second week for the Bunch, with Carnell Tate starting in his place. Nico Collins sat out with a hamstring, and Roger replaced him with Marvin Harrison Jr.

Tidbits

A few things I noticed on Sunday that didn’t fit anywhere else.

1. DJ Moore has been on six different teams in this league in six years: the Bunch, Buffy, the Boyz, the Masterminds, Blitz and now Gang Green. Someone keep this guy!
2. For Monkeys' stalwarts, Jayden Daniels and Saquon Barkley both got hurt on Sunday - GM Evan is reportedly sending flowers. 
3. Four of the five games were decided by 24 or fewer. The fifth was decided by 74.

This Week’s Pot 

Week 2’s bonus is Best FLEX — the highest-scoring player in a flex slot — and Blitz takes it on Jonathan Taylor’s 27.2. Nobody else cleared 15 out of that slot; Kyren Williams’ 14.7 for Battle Angel was the closest.

The standings count two results a week: the game itself, and a second win or loss for finishing in the top or bottom half of the league in scoring. Gang Green and the Monkeys lead at 3-1, both by going 1-1 on Sunday. Greg lost his game and finished third in scoring. Evan won his and finished sixth. Seven teams are 2-2: the Masterminds, Blitz, Custom J, the Phreaks, the Bunch, Buffy and the Boyz, in that order by points. The Angels are 0-4.

Next week

Gang Green hosts the Monkeys, the only two teams above even. That series is 3-3 over the last five years.

The Bunch travel to Blitz in the Bay Area division, a series that runs 6-5 over five years. The Masterminds host the Boyz, which puts the week’s biggest score against a team that has scored 71 and 117 in consecutive weeks. The Phreaks are at Custom J, two 2-2 teams that scored 93 and 87 on Sunday. Buffy visits the Angels, the two franchises with the worst five-year records in this league. My picks come in the preview.

Week 1 Recap: The Champ Wins by 83

By Mel AIper, CTDB Analyst

This is the first weekly recap I’ve written for this league. Every Tuesday I’ll go through all five games, name the players who won and lost them, pick a Manager of the Week, check the injury list, and look at what’s next. I’ll also grade my own picks from the preview, starting now.

I went 4-1, and I’ll take it—though the one I missed is the one I hedged on. I picked the Angels over the Bunch because Will’s lineup was set and Eddie’s wasn’t. I said I’d flip the pick if Eddie made his moves. He made them. The Bunch won by 12, and I’m giving myself half credit for naming the reason I’d be wrong. The other four were the favorites, and the favorites won by 27 or more, so nobody should be impressed with me yet.

The games

Chunky Monkeys 154, Jail Yard Boyz 71

Last December these two played for the title. The Monkeys won it 145 to 117. The Boyz had beaten the Monkeys 144 to 141 in Week 8, then gone through Blitz and Gang Green in the playoffs to reach the final. The new schedule put the rematch in Week 1, between the elder cousins. A Boyz staffer taped last year’s final score to the back of the locker room door.

The Boyz scored 71, the fewest in the league. Victor took my advice and started Herbert over Maye. Herbert put up 17. Maye, who spent last season on the Monkeys’ bench, put up 14 on the Boyz bench against his old team. The quarterback call was worth 3 points in a game the Boyz lost by 83.

The receivers lost this one. In the preview I wrote that if Chase, Higgins and Nabers all played, the Boyz had the best receiving room in the league. All three played. They finished with 2, 7 and 10. Kyle Pitts, the round 3 tight end, scored zero. Isaiah Likely put up 24 on the bench behind him. Omarion Hampton said the Boyz “remember December.” He ran for 8. The staffer took the score off the door Monday morning.

The Monkeys didn’t need a big day from anyone in particular—and got one from Trevor Lawrence anyway. He threw for 36, second among quarterbacks this week, out of a quarterback room I graded a B on draft day. Worth noticing: Evan’s call at the flex, where he sat Bhayshul Tuten, his first-round pick, for Christian Watson. Watson went for 30 while Tuten watched from the bench. The Monkeys lead the series 5-4 over the last five years.

Gang Green 159, City of Angels Masterminds 111

Gang Green had the best record in the league last year at 21-7 and lost in the semifinals to the Boyz. The Masterminds went 10-18. They also beat Gang Green twice, 165 to 139 and 118 to 112.

Caleb Williams threw his helmet when the Masterminds depth chart went up. Dak Prescott, the Cowboys keeper, started, and the projections backed the call. Dak posted 20. Caleb posted 44 on the bench—the highest score by any player in the league this week. Dak said last week he “hasn’t looked at the bench in years.” Even with Caleb in, the best Masterminds lineup reaches 155, and Gang Green scored 159. These two meet again in Week 8.

Josh Allen threw for 43, the top score by any starter. Derrick Henry ran for 35, more than double his projection. Both are Gang Green keepers. Greg went against the projections and started DJ Moore over Michael Pittman Jr. Moore outscored Pittman 18 to 7. Greg started Hunter Henry at tight end after I told him to start Jake Ferguson. Henry had 4 and Ferguson had 2, so ignoring me was worth 2 points.

Philadelphia Phreaks 143, LA Buffy 107

The Phreaks had won the last three meetings with Buffy. Buffy finished ninth last year at 7-21. I gave the Phreaks a C on draft day and said the roster would be fine anyway, because Jalen Hurts, Jahmyr Gibbs and Saquon Barkley came in as keepers.

Ping started six Eagles. They scored 73 of his 143 points. Hurts threw for 33. Dallas Goedert, a round 3 pick, caught 22 at a position where most of the league scored single digits. Barkley was the quiet Eagle at 8. Makai Lemon, the first-round rookie, caught 1 while Stefon Diggs put up 14 on the bench. The Eagles fan’s lineup cost the Phreaks about 12 points against what the projections said to start—in a game the Phreaks won by 36. The Phreaks have won four straight over Buffy.

Buffy’s game was one decision. Matthew Stafford started at quarterback. He threw for 6. Patrick Mahomes, a round 6 pick, threw for 28 on the bench. David Montgomery ran for 27. Jeremiyah Love, the first pick of the draft, ran for exactly his projection of 12 in his first NFL game. Roger started DK Metcalf over Marvin Harrison Jr. on my advice, and Metcalf won that one 6 to 4. Start Mahomes, Roger.

Custom J 149, A Squad Called Blitz 121

Here’s a stat I had to check twice. For five straight years ESPN handed this league the same schedule, so Custom J and Blitz opened against each other in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Custom J won all five. When Evan rebuilt the schedule this summer, this was the one Week 1 pairing he kept. Blitz walked into the opener 0-5 in Week 1, every loss to the same team. Custom J walked in with five straight, every win over the same team. Last year’s two meetings went 142 to 98 and 171 to 153, both to Custom J. I drafted this Custom J roster, so you know where I stand.

Custom J made it six. Before the games, Trey McBride was standing in a receiver slot and the tight end spot was empty. Last week he walked over to the tight end slot during the walkthrough and just stood there. Josh moved him. McBride caught 20. D’Andre Swift, my first pick at 1.04, ran for 32. A staffer said Swift has asked to see the rest of the draft card. Lamar Jackson, the keeper who said “the computer’s got taste,” threw for 30. The Steelers defense added 18. Josh’s one miss was Mike Evans, who caught 14 on the bench while Chris Godwin Jr. caught 6 in the lineup.

Blitz lost this game on the bench. Jalen Coker, a round 12 pick, caught 30 there. Chuba Hubbard ran for 22 next to him. Rico Dowdle started and ran for 3. Thien moved Harold Fannin Jr. to tight end and Fannin caught 3. The best Blitz lineup scores 170 and wins this game. The 49ers defense, the starter I said I’d bench, scored 7. I was wrong about the defense.

Crunch Bunch 136, Battle Angel 124

The Bunch finished last in 2025 at 7-21. The Angels had won 8 of 11 meetings over the last five years and took the last one 116 to 94. I picked the Angels because their lineup was set and the Bunch had two moves left to make. I wrote that if Eddie made them, I’d flip the pick.

Eddie made three. The Jaguars defense said “we’ll be ready” from the bench last week. Eddie started them over the Broncos, and the Jaguars scored 12 while the Broncos scored zero. Juwan Johnson went in at tight end over Tucker Kraft and gave Eddie 13 to Kraft’s 8. Jaylen Warren took the flex from Carnell Tate, 8 to 6. The three moves were worth 19 points in a 12-point win. MarShawn Lloyd, the loudest man at Bunch practice all week, stayed on the bench and had 4.

Kenneth Walker III ran for 33 and Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 24. Jaxson Dart, who spent the week throwing extra routes to the equipment staff, threw for 35 on the bench. Joe Burrow threw for 19 in the lineup. Eddie, you’re a Giants fan with a Giants quarterback outscoring your starter. I’d still start Burrow.

The Angels’ game was the tight end slot. Colston Loveland, the round 2 pick, started there and scored zero. Dalton Kincaid caught 16 on the bench behind him. Kincaid in that slot wins the game. Jayden Daniels and Chris Olave went for 23 each. Bo Nix, who said “a tie goes to the guy who wants it more,” threw for 9 on the bench, so Will got the quarterback call right. Will and Eddie are friends, and they don’t play again this regular season.

Heroes and Zeros

Heroes are the players who scored far above what anyone expected and carried a team to a win. Zeros are the starters who gave their manager close to nothing, or less than nothing.

Heroes. Josh Allen scored 43 and Trevor Lawrence scored 36, the top two starting quarterbacks. D’Andre Swift, Kenneth Walker III and Christian Watson each beat their projections by about 20 points, and all three teams won. Derrick Henry scored 35 on a 16-point projection, and David Montgomery scored 27 on a 12-point projection. Juwan Johnson went in round 9 and scored 13 at tight end for the Bunch. Evan McPherson and the Steelers defense were both free-agent pickups, and they scored 17 and 18.

Zeros. Ja’Marr Chase is the biggest name on this list and the emptiest line. A Boyz keeper projected for 16, he finished with 2, and Jaylen Waddle next to him had 1. Kyle Pitts, taken in round 3 by the same team, scored zero at tight end, and Colston Loveland, the round 2 tight end for the Angels, matched him. Makai Lemon, the Phreaks’ first-round rookie, caught 1 in his first NFL game, which Ping will forgive faster than anyone else in this league would. Matthew Stafford’s 6 was the furthest any starter fell below his projection, 18 points short. Four defenses finished below zero—the Texans, Bears, Titans and Chargers—and I’m not going to pretend a defense going negative in Week 1 surprises anyone.

Manager of the Week

This award goes to the manager whose start and sit calls did the most to win his game.

Manager of the Week: Eddie, Crunch Bunch. His three lineup changes after the preview were worth 19 points, and he won by 12. Without them, the Bunch lose.

Also good. Greg’s calls gained 14 points over what the projections said to start, mostly DJ Moore over Michael Pittman Jr. Evan’s calls gained 20 points, the most in the league, on the Watson flex call.

Calls that cost. Ping’s calls cost about 12 points, mostly Lemon over Diggs. Josh’s cost about 8, with Evans on the bench. Victor made the right quarterback call and then started the Titans defense, who scored minus 2, over the Patriots, who scored 6. Two teams had enough points on the bench to win: Blitz with Coker and Chuba Hubbard, and the Angels with Kincaid. The projections had those players low, so I’d call those bad luck more than bad calls.

Transactions

The first waiver run of the season is where you fix what Sunday rubbed in your face. This one was quiet at the top and busy underneath. Ten claims cleared Wednesday morning for 79 FAAB dollars. Gang Green spent 48 of them—more than the other three buyers combined.

Greg dropped the biggest bid of the young season: 19 for Kalif Raymond, a Bears receiver projected for 4 this week. Zay Flowers is questionable, so the hole is at receiver, and my read is Greg looked at that room without Flowers and didn’t like what he saw. Gang Green also paid 17 for Mike Gesicki and cut both Hunter Henry and Jake Ferguson to clear space, so the two tight ends we argued about last week are both gone. Chris Brooks came in for 10. The Chiefs defense, at 2, replaces the Chargers, who scored minus 1.

Ping went shopping at receiver too. Devaughn Vele cost the Phreaks 11; Dontayvion Wicks cost 7. Wicks plays for the Eagles. Makai Lemon’s 1 was the softest number in Ping’s lineup last week, and that’s the spot those two are fighting over.

Then the champ cut a kicker who just scored 17. Evan McPherson is out, Harrison Mevis is in at a bid of 1—I’d have waited a week. The Monkeys also dumped the Bears defense (minus 2 last week) for the Buccaneers at 3, and paid 8 for Caleb Douglas with Brian Thomas Jr. questionable. The Boyz spent 1 on Adonai Mitchell, with Jordyn Tyson on IR and Jaylen Waddle coming off a 1-point week.

The Trainer’s Room

An early injury hurts most in a keeper league when it lands on a keeper—one of the five players a manager chose to build around before the draft. Four of this week’s seven injuries did.

Brock Bowers, Monkeys. Bowers is one of the Monkeys’ five keepers. He went to Gang Green as a rookie in 2024, and the Monkeys drafted him in 2025 and kept him this year. The Monkeys did not draft another tight end. Then, days before the season, he had a meniscus trim on his knee and was ruled out for Week 1. On Thursday morning the Monkeys claimed Michael Mayer with a bid of 15, the largest of the week, and added T.J. Hockenson the same day. By Sunday they had made five pickups in four days, more than any other team in the league. Mayer started and scored 6. Bowers is day-to-day, so the Monkeys may need Mayer for another week.

A.J. Brown, Bunch. Brown has been a keeper in this league every season since 2021, and the Bunch have kept him since 2023. He hurt his ankle early in his first game and finished with 4 points. He is on injured reserve and out at least four games, which means Week 6 at the earliest. The Bunch still have Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tetairoa McMillan, and Carnell Tate, the second pick of the draft, sat on the bench this week.

Ladd McConkey, Custom J. Custom J drafted McConkey in 2024 and has kept him in both seasons since. He scored 17 before a rib injury knocked him out of the game, and he is day-to-day. If he sits, Josh has an easy answer: Mike Evans scored 14 on the bench this week.

Zay Flowers, Gang Green. Flowers is on his third franchise in four seasons: Custom J in 2023, the Boyz in 2024, and Gang Green since 2025. Gang Green kept him this year. He scored 23 in one half, then aggravated a hamstring that had already cost him time in camp. He is day-to-day. Michael Pittman Jr. and Michael Wilson are next in line.

De’Zhaun Stribling, Blitz. Blitz took the rookie in round 4, one of the 49ers on Thien’s roster. He sprained his ankle in his first NFL game and is out at least a month. He was on the bench in Week 1.

Sam Darnold, Blitz. Blitz picked Darnold up off waivers as a backup to Brock Purdy. He hurt his glute in his first game and is doubtful for Week 2. Purdy is healthy.

Alvin Kamara, Masterminds. Kamara went in round 10, and the Masterminds are his fourth franchise in six seasons. A knee injury kept him out of Week 1. He was on the Masterminds bench, so it cost them nothing this week.

Tidbits

The things that didn’t fit in a game.

All three Stanford GMs won: Evan, Ping and Josh.

Both brothers won. Josh and Eddie meet in the Brother Bowl in Week 8.

The cousins went 3-1, and Victor’s loss came against Evan.

Buffy started three Texans, and they scored 53. Ping’s six Eagles scored 73.

The Monkeys dropped Tyler Bass, the round 12 kicker, and picked up McPherson.

Three quarterbacks scored 27 or more on a bench: Caleb, Dart and Mahomes.

The Bunch finished last in 2025 and are now tied for first.

The Pot and the standings

Week 1’s bonus pot goes to the closest loss — the team that lost by the smallest margin. Battle Angel (Will) takes it, falling to the Bunch by 11.5. (An earlier version of this recap wrongly credited the Monkeys for the 83-point blowout; that was the wrong criterion.)

The standings count two results each week: the game itself, and a second win or loss for finishing in the top or bottom half of the league in scoring. This week all five winners also finished in the top half. Gang Green, the Monkeys, Custom J, the Phreaks and the Bunch are 2-0, in that order by points. The Angels, Blitz, the Masterminds, Buffy and the Boyz are 0-2.

Next week

The game to watch is the Phreaks against the Monkeys. Both teams are 2-0. Evan and Ping go back to Stanford. The Monkeys lead the series 3-2 over the last five years.

Two cousins meet in the Bay Area division, with the Bunch hosting the Boyz. That series is 6-6 over the last five years, and the Boyz are coming off the worst score of Week 1. Custom J hosts Buffy in the LA division, and Custom J leads that series 7-4. My full picks come in the preview.