If you're looking for a fantasy football MVP for the 2020 season, you might not need to look much further than the two most prominent members of the Buffalo Bills' passing game: quarterback Josh Allen and his No. 1 wide receiver, Stefon Diggs.
Allen led the league in fantasy points for the season (396.06) and scored the fourth most during the four-week ESPN traditional playoffs in Weeks 14-17 (107.54). He scored at least 18.32 points in each of the season's final five weeks. Needless to say, Allen found himself on the championship team's roster in 17% of ESPN leagues, second most among quarterbacks and 12th most overall.
Diggs set a personal best with his 328.6 PPR (point per reception) fantasy points, third most among wide receivers and 16th most among all players, and his Weeks 14-17 total of 110.9 points led the league. He scored at least 14.6 points in 14 of his 16 games played for the season, as well as in each of his final five games. Diggs was the second-most common player, and most common wide receiver, found on ESPN league champions' rosters (24%).
Not bad for players who were selected 11th among quarterbacks and 98th overall (Allen) and 27th among wide receivers and 63rd overall (Diggs) in the preseason.
The Bills' duo reflected a theme common to 2020: They were players who maintained their high level of production -- not only during the 13 regular-season fantasy weeks but also through the four-week fantasy playoffs. The top-scoring quarterback (Allen), running back (Alvin Kamara), wide receiver (Davante Adams) and tight end (Travis Kelce) for the season all found themselves on championship rosters in at least 17% of ESPN leagues, as well as within the top 12 in terms of said percentage.
That's not to say that "playoff heroes," or waiver-wire pickups, didn't contribute to a good share of league championships. The No. 1 player found on championship teams, Jeff Wilson Jr. (24%), totaled 51.2 PPR fantasy points, fourth most among running backs and 12th most in the league, during Weeks 16-17 alone after taking over as the San Francisco 49ers' starter following Raheem Mostert's injury. Myles Gaskin completely missed Weeks 14-15, only to rebound with 51.6 PPR fantasy points in the two championship weeks, earning a spot on 20% of winners' teams.
Here is the full list of 71 players who resided on championship rosters in at least 10% of ESPN 10-team standard leagues, along with their preseason ADPs (average draft positions) and fantasy points:
First off, let's address the inclusion of Week 17 in the ESPN fantasy playoffs. Remember, in our game, the championship matchup spans two weeks (Weeks 16 and 17), which neutralizes some of the fluky NFL happenings during their regular season's final week. That said, it does influence the numbers above somewhat, such as Week 17 player absences -- the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers sat many of their stars entirely -- and add/drops tied to Week 17 developments.
Wilson, the top name on the list, is a good example of this, as the second-most-added player of the past week (behind only Alexander Mattison). He was on an ESPN roster in only 54% of leagues exiting Week 16, and it's likely that a good number of finalists were among those who added him during that time span.
Conversely, James Robinson, whose 250.4 PPR fantasy points through Week 15 were fourth most among running backs, was one of the past week's most dropped after he was ruled out for each of Weeks 16 and 17 because of an ankle injury. Despite this, he was still found on 12% of ESPN championship rosters in 2020, 15th most at the position, reflecting how important it is to have players who get you there. He might've had a greater percentage if not for his having been dropped in 15% of leagues between Weeks 16 and 17.
Four of the eight most common players found on championship teams went almost entirely undrafted in ESPN leagues entering 2020: top-ranked Wilson (drafted in only 0.1% of leagues in the final week before the opener), No. 4 Logan Thomas (drafted in 0.4%), No. 7 Gaskin (drafted in 0.1%) and No. 8 Justin Herbert (drafted in 2.2%). Herbert enjoyed one of the best rookie seasons in fantasy history, his 332.84 fantasy points second only to Cam Newton's 370.34 in 2011.
A quartet of first- or second-round picks, meanwhile, also were among the top 11 most responsible for propelling their fantasy teams to league titles: Kamara (fifth-ranked ADP), Adams (14th), Kelce (20th) and Derrick Henry (seventh). Again, Kamara, Adams and Kelce paced their respective positions in PPR fantasy points for the season, reflecting that picking the right top-tier talent is a critical part of the process. Henry, meanwhile, continued his fantasy-playoff prowess with 30-plus-point performances in Weeks 14 (36.2) and 17 (35.0), giving him an NFL-leading five such scores in the past three seasons alone. In fact, Henry's 283.6 PPR fantasy points in Weeks 14-17 of 2018-20 are the most in the league.
Speaking of individual positions, here are the five most popular players at all six standard positions on the rosters of ESPN championship teams:
Take those quarterbacks' numbers to heart: Not one of the top six quarterbacks most commonly found on an ESPN champion's roster -- Ryan Tannehill (13%) was sixth -- was drafted within the top 10 of the position in the preseason. The 2020 season set a record for the most quarterbacks with 330-plus fantasy points (10), obliterating the previous record of five (2011), and that heightened bar for scoring meant that two of them landed on a championship roster in fewer than 10% of leagues: Patrick Mahomes (374.4 points, fourth most among quarterbacks, 8%) and Lamar Jackson (332.8, 10th, 9%), coincidentally the first two quarterbacks off the board on average in the preseason.
That's not to decree that a permanent trend, but it's further evidence to support a wait-on-quarterbacks -- and/or a matchups-driven -- approach at the position. Allen might be my MVP, but that's in large part because of his low ADP (QB11), bringing a huge amount of bang for the buck.
Congratulations to all of our league champions, and to everyone else -- here's to finding the 2021 version of Allen or Diggs in next year's draft!