Voting for the first annual GM of the Year came down to the wire, with 4 out of the 5 finalists receiving votes. Remember, the prize is 25% of the buy-in, so the stakes for this award will be raised year after year. Below are the results in reverse order.
0 Votes: Team Hack (Dan Hack)
Hack showed great improvement from last season, but a string of bad luck prevented him from a higher win total, which may have hurt him in the voting. While it didn’t translate into wins, Hack still went from last in the league, to the league’s leader in Points For with 1737.1, and improved three places in the standings. He ended up right in the middle in trade success, and had a strong draft, snagging Josh Jacobs and Marquise Brown in the first two rounds.
0 Votes: JMU How You Doin’s (Max McQ)
Max McQ had the best improvement from 2018 of any team in the league, jumping from 7th place to securing a first round bye as the #2 seed in 2019, and reaching the championship. He wasn’t very active in terms of trades and waivers, but when your team performs the way his did, why change it up? He scored with a few good draft picks as well, taking DK Metcalf and Noah Fant in rounds 1 & 2, plus getting good stash value in Darwin Thompson & Bryce Love in rounds 3 & 4, both of which could bring some fantasy relevance next season.
1 Vote: Die Lit (Griff)
Griff made a lot of moves this year to secure future assets, as he now controls a quarter of the first round and half of the second round in this year’s draft. He ended up with the third-best trade differential, which is impressive considering the high volume of trades he was involved in. His waiver acquisition of Raheem Mostert for $19 looked good at the end of the season, as he finished with 8 total TD’s in his last 6 games, but it looks even better after Mostert’s playoff run. Griff’s combo of players and draft capital puts him in position to acquire just about any player to bring him into contention in 2020.
5 Votes: Mount Hebron’s Old Bay (Dan McQ)
Dan had the second-best improvement in the standings, going from 10th place last year, to the #6 Seed and making the semi-finals this season. He had (in my opinion) far and away the best draft, taking both immediate and long-term impact into account. N’Keal Harry & Mecole Hardman in round 1, Deebo Samuel in round 2, Benny Snell & Diontae Johnson in round 3 being the highlights of his draft class. Dan also had the third-best trade differential, with a large sample size, including trading away David Johnson for Miles Sanders and Derrick Henry in the preseason, acquiring Aaron Rodgers & John Brown for Josh Rosen, Anthony Miller and a 3rd Round Pick in the preseason, and making a splash at the trade deadline for Melvin Gordon. Dan built up a deep team throughout the course of 2019, and established himself as one of the top dogs in the league.
6 Votes: Dirty Dawgs (Teddy)
That leads us to our winner of the first annual GM of the Year award, Teddy. Leading his team to being this year’s League Champion certainly built his case. Although he actually had the same number of wins as last season, The Dawgs got it done in the playoffs. Teddy finished 4th in trade differential, most notably acquiring Austin Hooper, Courtland Sutton (later traded) and a 3rd round pick for Jarvis Landry in the preseason. He also drafted the highest scoring WR in the 2019 class, AJ Brown with the 9th pick in the first round. Brown switched it into high gear during the fantasy playoffs, propelling Teddy to a championship. With Brown’s success, and already having Michael Thomas & Stefon Diggs, he was able to later flip Courtland Sutton & two 2nd Round picks for Marlon Mack, a 1st & a 2nd, balancing out his starting lineup.
Die Nasty: SZN 3 