2013 Pre-Championship Awards fantasysharks.com Fri 12/20/13 9:06 AM

Best first-round pick -- LeSean McCoy -- Coach Chip Kelly's offense was everything that it was rumored to be. Not only did the new coach manage to breathe life into the passing game, but, in doing so, also opened up running room for McCoy. He's the unquestioned big gun in the offense both as a receiver and runner and things don't look to be changing at all entering next year. In fact, with the threat of Michael Vick stealing rushing touchdowns completely out of the picture next year, McCoy will offer more value than he did entering 2013. Biggest first-round bust -- C.J. Spiller -- Still having a hard time figuring out exactly what in the hell happened in Buffalo. It's not like he suffered an injury or was completely replaced by older counterpart Fred Jackson. It's as though he just forgot how to find his explosive sixth gear that he showed off for the second half of the 2012 season. Regardless of rhyme or reason, Spiller will go from census top-10 pick to an end-of-the-draft lottery ticket pick if drafted at all. Huge letdown. Biggest second-round bust -- Stevan Ridley -- There are very few players you can really rely on for fantasy consistency from New England over the past decade. You do have the usual big names in Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Corey Dillon and Rob Gronkowski, who have been flat out elite. While that's all well and good, the Patriots also have several Danny Amendolas, Laurence Maroneys and Chad Johnsons. We can now add Ridley to the list of Patriots' bums who just couldn't live up to the hype. Ridley will likely be shown the exit this offseason as Shane Vereen will be given the chance to either join the list of greats or fall in line with the letdowns. If Ridley doesn't get a handle on his fumbling issues he'll likely find himself on the bench for the remainder of his career. Biggest overall draft day surprise -- Alshon Jeffery -- Flat out nasty! Some of the catches that Jeffery has pulled down this season were so amazing that Calvin Johnson himself couldn't replicate them. Jeffery has surprised everyone after being drafted as a WR3 and coming through as a sure fire WR1 each and every week. In fact, Jeffery could be targeted earlier in drafts next season than his Bears' counterpart Brandon Marshall. Huge value boost for the big man as he's already shot his value through the roof. Biggest overall draft day bust -- David Wilson -- Week 1 is where it began and ended. Wilson came out of the gate with a case of the fumbles and found himself so far in coach Tom Coughlin's doghouse that he needed a flashlight and a GPS to find his way out. And when Wilson finally did manage to get out of the doghouse and off the bench, he continued to put the ball on the turf. And adding injury to insult, Wilson ended up suffering a serious neck injury which ended his season early. Since then, Andre Brown has put a stranglehold on the lead runner's spot, putting even more strain on Wilson's long term value. Bad news all the way around here. Best waiver wire QB pickup -- Philip Rivers -- Not going to lie, Rivers single-handedly saved my fantasy season. After suffering a rash of injuries and underperformance from several options, Rivers was picked up after his four touchdown-game against Houston. Chances are that I wasn't the only one that was saved by the play of Rivers as he's already surpassed 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns with only nine interceptions with two games left to play. Rivers could really pad the stat sheet this week against the Oakland Raiders and cement himself as a top-10 option for next season. If Peyton Manning wasn't having the monster season he's having in Denver, a strong case could be made for Rivers as NFL Most Valuable Player. Best waiver wire RB pickup -- Andre Brown -- Even though David Wilson was the sexier pick in drafts, Brown still figured to provide ample value given his nose for the end zone. Unfortunately, the only thing that could derail Brown was an injury and that's exactly what happened. Brown broke the same leg he broke last year and was forced to short-term Injured Reserve. Whether it's luck or foresight, the owners that were able to roster Brown have had the production of a high-end RB2 since. As long as Brown can avoid preseason injuries next year, he'll find himself going five rounds earlier next season. Best waiver wire WR pickup -- Keenan Allen -- With the dozens of injuries the San Diego Chargers suffered this season, the window was opened for someone to step up in a big way. Allen answered the call and hasn't looked back. Philip Rivers hasn't been this dialed in to a wide receiver since Vincent Jackson was still in San Diego. Allen has gone from a no name on the waiver wire to a weekly WR2. There will be a lot of hype surrounding Allen next season as he'll have a year's experience under his belt and a full preseason of working with the first team offense. Bigger things are to come for the young receiver. All-Injury Team -- Aaron Rodgers-Julio Jones-Arian Foster-Rob Gronkowski -- Tough breaks all the way around, pun intended. These guys will still hold onto the majority of their value given their past levels of production. Rodgers and Jones will still be some of the first options off the board while Foster and Gronkowski will be two of the most debated options entering the year. Foster could bounce back nicely from his injury or become a shell of himself in the same manner as Maurice Jones--Drew. Worst fantasy QB in the history of time -- Eli Manning -- He has 25 interceptions for the second time in his career. That is an incredible total as you almost have to be trying to toss interceptions to reach such a mark. And the impressive thing is that there are still two games left to be played. There's an outside chance that Manning finishes with 30 interceptions, which would echo louder than his two Super Bowl championships on draft day. Manning has earned the billing of a loser and will fall from his usual high end spot to a very low-end QB2. There's nowhere for Manning to go but up so optimism will remain but the days of being viewed as an "eli"te option are buried. Biggest value jump from 2012-14 -- Josh Gordon -- The kid is a freak of nature. Noone is as fast as him with such good hands. Gordon has already proven to be quarterback-proof as he's produced with the likes of Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden. If the Cleveland Browns were to have a top notch rookie quarterback fall into their laps in the 2014 draft, the ceiling for Gordon would be raised even higher. There's a lot to love about this kid but he still has to prove his immaturity is behind him. We don't want to run into the same kind of situation as Justin Blackmon where stupidity cancels out production. We'll have to monitor his offseason closely, but, as long as he stays off the radar, he'll be a WR1 next year. 2013 Fantasy MVP -- Peyton Manning -- Duh! Who else would it be? Manning is set to break Tom Brady's touchdown record of 50 over the next two games. Don't be surprised if he gets it all out of the way this week either as we've seen Manning drop seven touchdowns in one game while making it look easy. Manning has had the kind of season where you could have missed at all other positions but still be in the championship thanks to him. Not only that, but Manning has found a way to make all the Denver offensive weapons big time producers for us. If you owned a piece of the pie, you were able to enjoy great production all season from the likes of Wes Welker, Julius Thomas, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Knowshon Moreno, and it's all thanks to Manning. That's what makes him this year's hands down fantasy Most Valuable Player.