GWBL 2025 SEASON RECAPS – 5th PLACE (KEN)
Tale of the Tape:
Coming in 5th place is Chase is on the Case, owned and managed by Ken Peabody. Ken finished with 1,968 points for (3rd most), 1,886 points against (6th most) and a record of 9-5.
Synopsis:
Kenny was in a unique position coming into this year. Going into the draft, Ken had three first round picks. He had his own, which was the 1.01. He had Tone’s, the 1.05. He also had mine, which came in at 1.08). I don’t know if we’ll ever see a team with three 1sts again….although with how well it went, maybe we will.
Chase is on the Case tore the league a new butthole the first two months, winning 8 straight matchups. He was averaging 153 a week and had high scores of 162, 188 and 179 mixed in. His low score during this time was 121 (Week 1) and he went for 147+ in 6 of those 8 games. We all wondered – could he go undefeated? Could he match commish’s exceptional accomplishment from 2023, the undefeated regular season??
Unfortunately for Ken it was not to be. He dropped his Week 9 game and lost 5 out of 6 the rest of the way. After averaging 153 in the first 8 weeks, the team dropped to an average of 124 in the final 6 games. If you take out the outlier (158 in week 13), he averaged 117 in the other 5 matchups. Gabe territory.
All in all Ken went from 8-0 and almost assured of a bye, to 9-5 and the 4 seed. This set him on a collision course with the team of destiny in Round 1 of the playoffs…..
Which was an excruciating loss for Ken. The Round 1 final score was 147.94 to 145.86. 2.08 point difference. 21 rushing or receiving yards. Two catches and one carry for no yards. A 2 point conversion plus a little. Maybe the smallest margin of victory we’ve ever seen in a playoff matchup. Simply put, a brutal loss for Ken (which he handled with dignity and grace as we’d expect).
This was the game Mahomes got hurt too. He only put up 14.46 points and could have easily hit that if he didn’t get knocked out. Quinshon was limited to 7.1 points. Jeanty only had 10, not helping. The most frustrating part though? Justin Jefferson and his 4.2 points. Despite having 8 targets in the game, Jefferson only registered 2 catches for 22 yards. One more catch for 12 yards and Ken gets the win. Pain.
Signature Win/Loss:
I could point to the playoff loss, but I’ll keep it positive for a team that had a great season. Let’s go with Week 4, a win over Tone by a score of 188-141. For starters this got Ken to 4-0 on the season, proving he was a contender. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team start 4-0 and miss playoffs. But even more than that, this win proved he was a force to be reckoned with. The 188 was a season high and the weekly high score of course. It was also the 4th highest score put up all season by any team.
Miscellaneous Draft Results & Personnel Moves:
So how did the first round picks do? Honestly….. not that great? Chase was good as always, but he’s only WR5 on the year. As the 1.01 and knowing what he’s capable of you’d expect slightly higher. (In fairness he did miss one game.) Jefferson was widely touted as one of the biggest busts of the season. He’s WR26 and was unplayable at times this year. It was bad QB play more than anything but that doesn’t help his fantasy owners. How about Jeanty? RB13 for the 8th overall pick is not a great ROI. A crummy offensive environment was to blame.
So what went well? James Cook for one. The last pick of the 2nd round is RB6 and had another outstanding year. Around 1900 total yards and 14 TDs, yes please. Crazy how little hype this guy got coming into the league, he may be the next Alvin Kamara.
Weak finish aside Mahomes was a strong contributor. He had 8 games with 24+ and I think he actually was QB1 at one point during the season. His backslide late in the year coincided with Ken’s team falling off.
Quinshon Judkins (9th round) was a great pick. Ken took a chance on the maligned rookie and was rewarded with a top 24 season. He’s still RB24 despite missing 2 games. Even in that dreadful offense he was able to produce.
Quentin Johnston was a solid free agent acquisition. $16 dollars after Week 1 of the season. He’s WR30 and I’m not sure how many times Ken started him, but it was a good move nonetheless.
How about the trade? He traded Rashee and picks for Deandre Swift and some picks. At first it didn’t look good, but by the end of the season I would have rather had Swift than Rice. In fact, had Ken started Swift over Quinshon or Jeanty in the playoffs he would have beat me. (Salt in the wound, sorry.) So overall Ken won this trade.
Keeper, I barely Know Her:
Jameson Williams (13th round) was Ken’s sleeper coming in. Believe it or not he’s WR13 on the year, so this was a great keeper.
For next year I think it’d be: Quinshon (9th), QJ (8th), James Cook (2nd) or Swift (6th),
Final Thoughts:
Classic case of peaking too early. An 8-0 start followed by a 1-5 stretch and a painful Round 1 loss. A footnote in someone else’s history book. (Sorry if that was dramatic, but it stays.) Honestly thinking of it – Ken may be the second most unlucky owner in this league behind Kev. Despite being in the league for its entire history, he only has one 2nd place finish and one 3rd place finish. No titles. Despite being a strong/attentive owner, he just hasn’t been able to get over the hump. Hopefully we’ll see that soon. (Not the humping part, just the title part.)
