GWBL 2025 SEASON RECAPS – 4th PLACE (LAMONE)

Tale of the Tape:

Coming in 4th place is LiGHT SKiNS, owned and managed by Matt Lamonakis. Lamone finished with 1,934 points for (4th most), 1,791 points against (8th most) and a record of 10-4.

Synopsis:

The LiGHT SKiNS were a jekyl and hyde team this year. For some stretches this squad was elite, a league winning team. For other stretches it was mediocre and looked like a .500 team, if not worse. During the first three weeks of the season Lamone averaged 113 points. Gabriel-like. Then Rico Dowdle showed up and the SKiNS averaged 176 points per game from Weeks 4-6. If you extend that through week 9 (Weeks 4-9), Lamone averaged about 163 points a game for those 6 games. He topped 180 points three separate times. Amazing. I don’t think any other team topped 180 that many times (Keetz only did twice).

He finished the season on a cold streak, averaging about 123 over the last 5 games. If he averaged that all season he would have finished 8th in points for. Not quite Gabe-like, but not a playoff team.

So naturally a hot streak followed that? Sadly for Lamone, no. Once the playoffs came the real cold front hit. A cold front similar to the annual January polar vortex that the Northeast is currently enduring. Lamone’s team went ice cold at the worst possible time. “What’s cooler than being cool? ICE COLD!” I don’t know why but I think of Andre 3000 and OutKast when I think of Lamone’s team. Maybe it’s the alternating lower case and upper case letters. Maybe it’s the original team name he had – Gotta Light Skinned Friend Look Like Michael Jackson. Even though that’s Twista/Kanye, I always think of OutKast.

ANYWAY. After earning the bye Lamone put up a season low 80 in the 2nd round of the playoffs. He then put up 104 in the 3rd place game. After topping 180 points three separate times during the regular season, Lamone combined for 184 in his two playoff matchups. ICE COLD. This two week brain fart unraveled his season.

Lamone was kind of the reverse Frader when you look at it. Every time his opponent went off, his team went nuts. For instance: Week 4 when he beat Kev 182-166, or Week 6 when he beat my team 190-151. On the flipside - every time his opponent pissed down their leg, his team did just enough to win. For instance: Week 2 when he beat Frader 111-89, or Week 13 when he beat Kev 103-96.

Signature Win/Loss:

I guess I’ll go with Week 6 vs Tom’s Retirement Tour (my squad). Lamone won 189.96 to 151.34, it was a blood bath. The Battle of Antietam. This established Lamone as a contender and a team that could outscore anyone. In terms of his players: Josh Jacobs went for 36 and Dowdle went for 40 (absurd). Drake London put up 32 and Dallas Friggin Goedert went for 26. A complete beat down.

Miscellaneous Draft Results & Personnel Moves:

Lamone didn’t have a first rounder this year, but other than that his draft picks were his own. Just like his regular season, there were some pronounced highs and lows.

Josh Jacobs (2nd round) was great at times. For the first 9 weeks he put up 15 or more every week. On the season he has 12 games with 13 or more and 7 games with 20 or more points. That said, he’s only RB12 because of a late season injury.  

Drake London (3rd round) has been up and down as well. When he’s been right, he’s been great. Unfortunately he’s been injured or inconsistent half the year. Despite missing 5 games he’s still currently WR24 on the season. Not a talent issue, just an availability and QB issue.

Lamar (4th) was essentially a bust as – QB20 right now. He’s sprinkled some monster weeks in, but the injuries derailed him.

Early on his draft doesn’t look great, but he made up for it with his later picks. Tet McMillan in the 6th was a good pick (WR15). Stefon Diggs in the 9th was a nice pick (WR14). He got some notable margin on the Goedert pick in the 12th (TE6). Arguably his best pick was Michael Pittman in the 14th though. He fell off after the Daniel Jones injury, but he’s still a top 20 WR and was very good for most of the year. (Unfortunately can’t be kept because he was dropped during the playoffs.)

He also had some nice moves in free agency. Rico Dowdle was a massive win: he’s RB16 despite scoring 9 total points the first two weeks and finding himself in a timeshare down the stretch. He had 3-4 week winning performances. (highs of 37-39-33). Wandale Robinson was another win, he’s currently WR11. Lamone picked him up in mid-September and got some good mileage out of that one. Rhamondre was another solid FA pick up.

The Ceedee trade helped, but I think the performance was underwhelming for what Lamone paid.

Keeper, I barely Know Her:

Lamar was his keeper coming in and we saw how that went. Derailed by injuries, not much you can do there.

For next year I’d throw out: Tet McMillan (6th round), Wandale (8th round), Dowdle (8th round), Rhamondre (8th round), Goedert (12th round),

Final Thoughts:

Live by the three, die by the three. Either Lamone was going to on a tear and take the title, or go on a leisurely stroll and walk himself out of the playoffs. We saw the latter and a 1st round bye turned into a 4th place finish. I’m sure we’ll see Luma right back in the hunt next year. Kareem Hunt.