Travis Kelce isn't only on track for a record-setting season, he's also questing to become the player most responsible for propelling his fantasy teams to a championship.
With two weeks remaining, Kelce needs 18 receptions to match Zach Ertz's tight end record of 116 in a season, set in 2018, and 59 receiving yards to match George Kittle's record of 1,377, also set in 2018. Kelce also has 290.0 PPR fantasy points through 14 games, the most by any tight end in history through that many team games in a single season. That puts him on pace for 331.4 points, which would break Rob Gronkowski's single-season record of 330.9, set in 2011.
In ESPN leagues, Kelce, who has a whopping 54.3-point lead over the No. 2 name at his position, and a 125.9-point advantage over No. 3, finds himself on a finalist's roster in the greatest percentage of leagues: 38%. This comes after he was the second-most-common player found on ESPN playoff-qualifying teams.
Speaking of that No. 2 tight end, he's a common name found on ESPN finalists' rosters, too. Darren Waller has enjoyed a productive season in his own right, the fourth-most-common player found on finalists' rosters (35% of leagues). Waller is on pace for the 11th-best fantasy season by a tight end in history, but the story of the position in 2020 is every bit as much about the disappointments in its middle tiers.
Consider this: Kelce and Waller are the only tight ends currently on pace to score 200-plus PPR fantasy points, which would be the position's fewest in any season since 2010. In fact, the next three closest tight ends to that threshold were selected outside the position's top 12 in ESPN leagues in the preseason (Robert Tonyan, T.J. Hockenson and Logan Thomas). It's Kelce's and Waller's value relative to the rest of the position that is probably placing them so high on this list.
Looking beyond the tight ends, it's a mix of first-round, proven running back talent and home run-hitting waiver claims who comprise most of the list of players most commonly found on ESPN finalists' rosters. Five of the top eight names -- James Robinson, Mike Davis, the Los Angeles Rams' defense/special teams, Brandon Aiyuk and Younghoe Koo -- were completely undrafted in standard ESPN leagues.
First-round selections Dalvin Cook (fourth overall on average), Derrick Henry (seventh) and Alvin Kamara (fifth) were among the top 13 players found on finalists' rosters, continuing to prove that the right elite running back can carry your fantasy team.
Here is the full list of 31 players who reside on rosters of finalists in at least 25% of ESPN 10-team PPR leagues. Their preseason ADPs, with those who were undrafted designated as such, and seasonal fantasy points are included.
A key takeaway here might be that things really didn't change all that much in the past two weeks; players who helped you reach the playoffs have been similarly responsible for keeping you alive. Of the top 20 names on the above list, 14 were also among the top 20 on the playoff-qualifiers list two weeks ago, and seven of the players most commonly found among the top 12 on the playoff-qualifiers list also find themselves on the top 12 in the above list. There's a reason for that: 24 players scored at least 40 PPR fantasy points in Weeks 14 and 15 combined, and of those 24, nine of them were common to both the ESPN playoff-qualifiers and finalists teams' top-20 lists: Kelce, Stefon Diggs, Waller, Cook, Justin Herbert, Kamara, Josh Allen, Tyreek Hill and Kyler Murray.
That's an unusual finding, considering experienced fantasy football managers still surely have "December heroes" memories: Kevan Barlow's 20o3, Drew Bennett's and Billy Volek's 2004, Dion Lewis' 2017 or Derrick Henry's 2018.
That's not to say that there aren't December heroes this year.
David Montgomery, who has scored four of his five best single-game PPR fantasy point totals in the past four weeks -- scoring nearly a quarter of his entire 2020 point total during that four-week span -- resides on a finalist's roster in 26% of ESPN leagues. He is your early leader for the "honor" of unsung playoff hero for 2020, but he'll have competition for it. Aiyuk, one of the most-added wide receivers of the past two weeks, is on a finalist's team in 33% of leagues after having been on a playoff team in 35%.
Robinson's ranking is a tad misleading. Yes, he's on a high rate of finalists' teams (a third-ranked 36%), but that also represents one of the largest drops between the playoff-qualifiers' list (first, with 67%) and this one: 31%, which trails only the 37% drop for Devontae Booker and 33% for the Miami Dolphins D/ST. Robinson's 26.6 PPR fantasy points in Weeks 14 and 15 were certainly handy for his teams, but they're also the fewest by any skill-position player in the top 20. Booker, by the way, was a popular Week 13 pickup due to his fill-in status for the injured Josh Jacobs and has been one of the most-dropped running backs in the two weeks since.
Quarterbacks have nearly set a single-season fantasy scoring record for the position as a whole with two weeks still to play, their 8,210.2 total points already well within range of the record 8,824.4 scored in 2018. Nevertheless, quarterbacks still aren't the driving force toward a finalist's entry. Herbert is the highest-ranked name on the list above at No. 13, and only four quarterbacks find themselves on a finalist's roster in more than 22% of ESPN leagues (also Allen, Murray and Aaron Rodgers). None was a top-five quarterback in terms of preseason ADP. It still pays to wait at quarterback, and these results reflect it.
Here is the position-by-position breakdown of the top five most common players on ESPN finalists' teams:
O Tannehill, O Tannehill! He's a top-five entrant at quarterback for the second consecutive season, and it makes sense, considering he scored the position's fourth-largest fantasy point total in Weeks 14 and 15 (53.5), with the No. 2 name on that list, Jalen Hurts (57.1), probably a bench or waiver-wire player in most leagues during that time.
Who will be the players to help their fantasy teams complete the deal? We'll revisit these lists one more time once the ESPN league champions are crowned, at the conclusion of Week 17. Can Josh Allen continue his tough schedule-bucking hot streak and move up the list? And will Montgomery extend his streak of 20-point performances?
We shall soon find out. Good luck to everyone in the finals!