Last Place Wisdom: Week 3 Power Powell Rankings?

At the start of the blog, during its hey-day with multiple authors writing multiple pieces per week, those of us who decided to write were figuring out our particular niches. I ended up with Last Place Wisdom, a general advice/state of the league, variety post. John was doing rankings at the time, while we also had guest authors weigh in with trade review, or other miscellaneous thoughts. Since we are living in a fantasy football multiverse this season where small changes may have caused things to play out different, in this timeline we get a look at what things might have been like if weekly rankings fell to yours truly instead of our illustrious Commissioner.

So, for one week only, Last Place Wisdom is replaced by the (what seems easier to write and produce) Power Powell Rankings. 3 weeks in, I think we have a decent sense of how things stand in the league right now.

1.   Clarke – Clarke was the early season favourite, and he’s done nothing to lose that ranking. A week one loss at the hands of Mike came as part of a surprise, but Clarke’s high end talent has placed him in a strong position. I’ve mentioned it to a few people in the league, but Todd Gurley is the type of player that, unless he gets injured or until he gets old, I think will keep Clarke’s roster super competitive. Despite his strong position, he is not unbeatable, and has only finished with a top 3 roster once in 3 weeks.
2. Shayne – Shanye would be 3-0 if he hadn’t had a kid the week when he played me. He’s currently starting 4 RBs, which given the scarcity at the position puts him in a position of strength. There are not a lot of players on Shayne’s bench that I can see him wanting to start once bye weeks begin, so he might need to do some work to maintain this ranking.
3.  Mike – Perhaps the surprise of the season, Mike is 3-0 on the backs of his strong WRs and getting starting RB production out of Adrian Petersen and Tevin Coleman. Without the season turning around for LeSean McCoy it might be hard to keep this up, but Mike has put himself in a great position to start the season.
4. John – Another team at 3-0, there’s perhaps some question about being this low on the list. In my opinion, John has faced the easiest schedule, which doesn’t take anything away from him but is a slight tiebreaker for Power Powell Ranking purposes. Like Shayne, I don’t particularly love John’s depth, but his top end potential is perhaps the strongest in the league. It’s quite likely that the winner or this week’s John-Shayne matchup is the new #1 going forward.
5. Travis – In my original rankings, I had Travis quite a bit higher up the list, but after 2^nd review was forced to drop him a few spots. Travis has built a strong roster and should remain competitive all year, however it is truly top heavy in Gordon and Kamara. He has without question the best 1-2 RB combo in the league, but it might take more than that to truly compete.
6.  Brett – Brett has a team built around incredible depth, with guys like Demariyus Thomas and Chris Hogan making up the end of his bench right now. He’s had some bad luck to start the year, facing strong opponents to go 1-2, but has put up a lot of points without David Johnson performing for him. If Johnson gets going, Brett could be poised to rocket up the rankings.
7. Aaron – It goes to show the strength of the league this year that a team coming out of the draft as strong as Aaron is this far down the list, but here it is. Aaron has been good despite Gronk not being that good to start the year, and his only real star so far has been the emergence of JuJu. It will be interesting to see if Aaron’s team of good but not great players can propel him into competitiveness all year long.
8.  Steve – Steve has faced some bad injury luck to start the year, with both Fournette and Mixon missing games. With those guys out, and Williams underperforming to start the year, if his WRs stumble at all it will be tough to win each week, and it has reflected in Steve’s record. If his RBs get healthy and Breida can continue his strong play, Steve is a team poised to make a jump up the rankings.
9.  Keith – 8-9 seems to be the spot determined by RB injuries, as my early season struggles have a lot to do with injuries to my top 2 RBs. I’ve certainly benefited from some luck, as my 2-1 record is certainly better than I deserve at this point in the season. For my season long outlook, I remain cautiously optimistic; my team will get healthier, my rookies are improving, and I have amassed decent depth, but I will certainly require some improvement in order to remain competitive. This Power Powell Ranking is a better reflection of my true performance so far.
10. Stan – Stan is certainly feeling the sting of missing out on LeVeon Bell this season, considering what he gave up to get him. With no one stepping up in his absence, Stan has understandably struggled, although in my opinion he has a roster capable of winning a fair number of games this season. He has also been active on the waiver wire, and despite spending more than I would have, both Lindsay and Boyd seem to be worthy pickups. If Stan can fall into a couple of wins the next 2 weeks, he could improve his position.
11. Andrew – Andrew has perhaps run into the worst luck to start the year, with the most point against by a fair margin. He has 2 backfields that he hasn’t been able to predict, and 2 top WRs who haven’t been healthy. Things have been looking rough, despite the emergence of Patrick Mahomes, but it’s hard to imagine things going much worse at this point.
12. Dawson – There have been a few good things for Dawson this year; Chris Godwin, Mike Williams, and Sammy Watkins are among the top of them. Dawson’s big offseason move of Mark Ingram should also be returning soon, so there’s some reason for optimism. However, it was clear in my mind that this was a rebuilding year for Dawson, and at this point in the season I believe that is the case. Playing for next year already can be depressing, but also freeing.

I think it’s clear that the off-season worry about needing to find a way to create greater balance and parity is at least somewhat overblown. Mike, Travis, Aaron and Brett all seem to be on the ascension, while myself, Steve and Andrew are on the decline. I don’t see a consistent upper class forming that is unable to be assailed, and there is plenty of movement without the requirement of Jubilee. I think minor changes could be beneficial, but at this point I’m excited about the league this year and going into the future.