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150 Interesting Fantasy Facts from 2018

Alabama was the first state in the United States to declare Christmas a legal holiday (1836). The average person spends approximately six months of their life waiting for a red light to turn green. It is impossible to snore and dream at the same time. You have a better chance of dying on your way to purchase lottery tickets than you do of actually winning the lottery. The band Alice in Chains was named as such because the band liked glam rock ("Alice") and heavier rock ("Chains"). A flea can jump up to 200 times it's own height, which is like a human being jumping over the Empire State Building. In France, you can marry a dead person. The English language does not contain a word that rhymes with month, silver, orange or purple. Finland banned Donald Duck comics because he doesn't wear pants. Las Vegas gambling casinos don't have clocks. You can't sneeze and keep your eyes open, too.

Those are a few interesting facts you might not know.

Now for something even more interesting ... here are your 150 Fantasy Football Facts from the 2018 NFL season.

Special thanks to NFL research extraordinaires Matt Frederick and Michael Florio for their help with this column.

  1. There were 1,286 offensive touchdowns scored this season, the most in a single season in NFL history. The previous high was 1,229, which was set during the 2016 campaign.
  1. The quarterback position thrived in 2018. In fact, the position scored a collective 8,805 fantasy points. That's the most in a single season since at least 2000 (as far back as we can track).
  1. The top 5 fantasy quarterbacks (Patrick Mahomes, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Deshaun Watson, Andrew Luck) all scored more than 325 fantasy points this season. That's tied for the most signal-callers with 325-plus points in a single season in NFL history. It also happened in 2011, when Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Cam Newton, Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford all reached that mark.
  1. Quarterbacks totaled a combined 129,644 passing yards in 2018, which ranks as the third most in NFL history. Only the 2015 (132,558) and 2016 (130,585) seasons saw more.
  1. Quarterbacks also connected on 834 touchdown passes this season, which is the second-most in NFL history. Field generals hit on 840 touchdown passes in 2015.
  1. As a collective position, quarterbacks made fewer mistakes through the air that resulted in interceptions. In fact, signal-callers threw just 418 picks during the course of the season. That's the second-fewest since 1983. Only the 2016 campaign (414) had fewer interceptions.
  1. Based on NFL.com's ADP (average draft position), Patrick Mahomes was one of the best values in fantasy football history. He was drafted in the 14th round on average but went on to score more fantasy points (417) than any quarterback ... ever. It is also the second-most fantasy points scored by any player in single season behind only LaDainian Tomlinson, who produced 425.1 points in 2006.
  1. Eight of the top 16 fantasy quarterbacks this season were drafted in Round 11 or later. That list includes Patrick Mahomes, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, Philip Rivers, Mitchell Trubisky and Baker Mayfield.
  1. Mahomes' 26.1 fantasy points per game average this season is the fifth-most in NFL history and the second-most by a quarterback all time. Only Aaron Rodgers (26.2) averaged more, in 2011.
  1. Mahomes' 50 touchdown passes ranked tied with Tom Brady for the second-most in a single season. Peyton Manning still holds the record with 55 scoring strikes in 2013.
  1. Mahomes joins a group of just four other quarterbacks in NFL history who have finished with 390-plus fantasy points in a single season. That list includes Peyton Manning (2013), Tom Brady (2007), Aaron Rodgers (2011) and Drew Brees (2011).
  1. Brees is the lone signal-caller from that list to hit the 350-point mark the following year.
  1. Deshaun Watson was the only quarterback drafted among the top nine players at the position based on ADP to finish in the top five in fantasy points. He finished fourth and had 26 touchdown passes.
  1. Mahomes recorded 26 touchdown passes in the first half of games this season.
  1. Mahomes also had 21 touchdown passes on first downs alone. That was the same number of touchdown passes Andy Dalton, Eli Manning, Carson Wentz and Matthew Stafford had all season.
  1. Brees has been a top 10 fantasy quarterback in 15 straight seasons dating back to 2004. His 303.98 fantasy points in 2018 were the most in NFL history for a player at age 39 or older.
  1. Brees scored 30-plus fantasy points four times in 2018, bringing his career total to 25 games with 30-plus points. That surpassed LaDainian Tomlinson (22) for the most among all players since 1950.
  1. Brees is the only quarterback to finish in the top 10 in fantasy points at the position in each of the last four seasons. The last time he didn't finish as a top-10 fantasy quarterback was 2003 when he missed five games as a member of the San Diego Chargers.
  1. Are we seeing the end of Tom Brady's time as an elite fantasy quarterback? He threw for 29 touchdown passes this season, which is the fewest he's had in a full campaign since 2013.
  1. Brady also averaged 17.52 fantasy points per game this season, which was his fewest since 2014. He also finished with fewer than 18 points in six of his last eight games of the fantasy season, during which time he averaged a mere 15 points.
  1. On a positive note, Brady's 280.3 fantasy points this season were the most ever scored by a player in his age-41 campaign. The previous record was 218.1 points, set by Warren Moon in 1997.
  1. Brady will turn 42 on Aug. 3, 2018. Only two players in NFL history have recorded more than 150 fantasy points at the age of 42 or older, and both were kickers ... Matt Bryant and John Kasay.
  1. Matt Ryan had 353.96 fantasy points this season, which ranked second among quarterbacks behind Mahomes. It's more than he put up during his 2016 MVP season, when he finished with 347.46 points.
  1. Mahomes outscored Ryan by 63.12 fantasy points. That is the second biggest gap between the top two scoring quarterbacks since 2000.
  1. The biggest gap came in 2007, when Tom Brady finished 94.7 points ahead of Tony Romo. Believe it or not, but Romo was the lone quarterback to finish within 100 fantasy points of Brady that season.
  1. Ben Roethlisberger (5,129) and Patrick Mahomes (5,097) both threw for over 5,000 yards this season. The last time two quarterbacks reached the 5,000-yard passing mark in the same season was 2013, when Peyton Manning and Drew Brees both hit the mark.
  1. Roethlisberger led the NFL in passing yards but failed to finish as the top scoring fantasy field general. The last signal-caller to lead the position in both passing yards and fantasy points in the same season was Peyton Manning (2013).
  1. Roethlisberger also led the NFL with 16 interceptions. That was the fewest picks to lead the league in a non-strike shortened season since Glenn Dobbs led the NFL with 15 interceptions in 1946. Since the 1970 merger, no quarterback has led the NFL with fewer interceptions thrown than Roethlisberger.
  1. In six seasons in the NFL, Russell Wilson has finished no worse than 11th in fantasy points at his position. He has also finished as a top-3 fantasy quarterback in three of the last five seasons.
  1. Wilson finished ninth in fantasy points among quarterbacks in 2018. Not surprisingly, he also had a career-low in rushing attempts (67) and finished with just 376 rushing yards. That's the second-lowest total of his career. Wilson also failed to rush for a touchdown for the first time in his NFL career.
  1. Speaking of rushing yards, quarterbacks combined to produce 8,086 rushing yards this season, which is the most in NFL history. The previous high was 7,606 yards on the ground, set in 2000.
  1. Furthermore, seven of the top eight fantasy quarterbacks rushed for at least two touchdowns. The lone top-8 signal-caller who didn't rush for at least two touchdowns was ... Andrew Luck.
  1. Ironically, this was the first time in Luck's pro career that he failed to rush for at least two touchdowns in a season where he started at least 15 games.
  1. For the first time since 2010, the quarterback who led the position in rushing yards failed to finish as a top-10 fantasy quarterback. Lamar Jackson was at the top with 695 rushing yards this season, but he finished just 29th in points because he didn't become a starter until Week 11.
  1. Jackson set the NFL record for most rushing attempts in a single season by a quarterback with 147, and he started just seven games. He is the third rookie to lead the position in rushing yards since 1970. The other two are Cam Newton (2011) and Robert Griffin III (2012).
  1. Jackson averaged 17 carries, 79.4 rushing yards, 0.6 rushing touchdowns and 18.59 fantasy points in his seven starts as a rookie. Projected over a full season, he would have finished with 272 rushing attempts, 1,270 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
  1. That would have given Jackson a combined 187 fantasy points just as a runner.
  1. A 187-point finish among running backs this season would have ranked Jackson 20th at the position in PPR leagues, ahead of Jordan Howard, Lamar Miller and Dion Lewis! His projected 297.44 fantasy points overall would have ranked him 10th among quarterbacks.
  1. Jackson wasn't the lone rookie signal-caller to make an impact with his feet. Josh Allen became just the sixth quarterback to lead his team in rushing yards (631) for a single season since the merger.
  1. Allen was also the seventh rookie to lead the quarterback position in rushing touchdowns since 1970, joining Dak Prescott (2016), Geno Smith (2013), Cam Newton (2011), Vince Young (2006), Chris Weinke (2001) and Jack Thompson (1979).
  1. Allen averaged an impressive 24.21 fantasy points over his final six games. Projected over a full season, Allen would have produced 387.4 fantasy points ... that would have been the seventh-most in NFL history from a quarterback.
  1. Dak Prescott has scored six-plus rushing touchdowns in three straight seasons, tying the longest streak by a quarterback in NFL history. Cam Newton (2011-2013) and Otto Graham (1953-1955) are the only other field generals to accomplish this feat. Prescott has also finished as a top-11 fantasy quarterback in each of his first three NFL seasons.
  1. Nick Mullens played in eight games for the 49ers this season and averaged 15.44 fantasy points. Jimmy Garoppolo has also played in eight games for the 49ers. He's averaged 14.99 fantasy points.
  1. Baker Mayfield started eight games as a rookie with Freddie Kitchens as the offensive coordinator in Cleveland. If you project the numbers he produced in those eight games over a full season, Mayfield would have finished with 4,509 passing yards, 38 touchdown passes and 304.3 fantasy points.
  1. The Browns have promoted Kitchens to head coach, making Mayfield a huge breakout candidate in 2019.
  1. Todd Gurley led all running backs with 313.10 standard fantasy points this season, becoming the first runner with the most points at the position in back-to-back seasons since LaDainian Tomlinson (2006-2007).
  1. Gurley finished as a top-10 PPR running back 11 times this season, which ranks as the most at the position. The only other running backs to finish in the top 10 in PPR scoring in double-digit weeks were Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley, who did so 10 times each.
  1. Saquon Barkley (15th), Christian McCaffrey (16th) and Todd Gurley (30th) all had historic seasons, finishing among the top 30 PPR seasons of all time among running backs. There have only been two other seasons that featured three top-30, all-time PPR runners. LaDainian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson and Larry Johnson all hit the mark in 2006, while Priest Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson and Ahman Green did it in 2003.
  1. As great as Gurley has been in the stat sheets, historical data indicates that he doesn't have much of a chance to finish first in standard fantasy points among running backs in 2019. In fact, no runner has accomplished that feat since Marshall Faulk (1999-2001).
  1. Saquon Barkley is the first rookie running back to lead the NFL in PPR fantasy points since Eric Dickerson did it for the Los Angeles Rams in 1983.
  1. A true all-purpose back, Barkley also became the first rookie in NFL history to finish a season with 100 targets and 200 carries (121 targets, 261 carries).
  1. Barkley's 385.8 PPR fantasy points were not only more than any other rookie running back in NFL history, but he also outscored every rookie quarterback as well.
  1. Barkley led all rookie players with 352 touches. Since 2000, only four other rookies have recorded 350-plus touches ... LaDainian Tomlinson, Matt Forte, Doug Martin and Ezekiel Elliott.
  1. Barkley also led the NFL with 43 broken tackles this season. He also led the league with 736 rushing yards after contact, and over 56 percent of his rushing yards came after contact.
  1. Christian McCaffrey had a tremendous run from Week 9-16. He finished as a top-4 PPR back in six of those eight weeks, a top-7 back seven times, and didn't finish worse than 14th in that stretch.
  1. A skilled pass catcher, McCaffrey had more receiving yards (867) than wide receiversLarry Fitzgerald, Allen Robinson, Alshon Jeffery and Demaryius Thomas. All four of those players had an average draft position of Round 7 or higher on NFL.com.
  1. McCaffrey also rushed for 1,098 yards, making him the first Panthers running back to rush for 1,000-plus yards in a single season since 2009. That had been the longest streak in the league for a team to not have a 1,000-yard rusher.
  1. Five running backs (Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Todd Gurley, Alvin Kamara, Ezekiel Elliott) finished with 325-plus PPR fantasy points this season. This has happened just one other time since 2000, when Priest Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson, Ricky Williams, Charlie Garner and Shaun Alexander all reached that mark during the 2002 campaign.
  1. The elite running backs in 2018 fantasy drafts made good on their high projections. Six of the top seven backs drafted based on NFL.com ADP data finished in the top nine in fantasy points in PPR scoring. The lone exception was Le'Veon Bell, who held out the entire season.
  1. The running back who replaced Bell in Pittsburgh's backfield, James Conner, more than made up for his absence. The Penn State product finished sixth in PPR points among running backs.
  1. The Steelers have now had a top-six fantasy running back in each of the last five seasons. Le'Veon Bell (2014, 2016, 2017), DeAngelo Williams (2015) and James Conner (2018).
  1. While the top seven running backs drafted had a lot of success, backs eight through 12 weren't nearly as good. Despite being released during the season, Kareem Hunt finished 12th. The other four runners, Leonard Fournette (40th), Dalvin Cook (30th), LeSean McCoy (39th) and Devonta Freeman (106th), either missed time due to injuries or didn't live up to their statistical expectations.
  1. The running back position is younger and more talented than it has ever been. In fact, the average age of the top 30 runners this season was 23.9. That's the youngest since 2000, when the average age of the top 30 runners was 26.5 ... or almost three years older.
  1. Since 2000, eight running backs have finished as top-10 PPR runner in each of their first two NFL seasons. That list includes Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey. Of the previous six, four finished in the top 10 in their third season and the other two finished outside the top 30 at the position.
  1. Ezekiel Elliott (304) was the lone running back with 300-plus carries this season, which is tied for the fewest number of running backs to reach that mark since 1990. Notably, there was also only one running back with 300-plus rushing attempts in 2017 (Le'Veon Bell) and 2016 (Elliott).
  1. Elliott's 304 carries were the fewest to lead the league since the Redskins' Earnest Byner led the NFL with 297 carries in 1990.
  1. Through Elliott's first 40 career NFL games, he has averaged 18.43 fantasy points. The only other running back with a career average of over 18 fantasy points per game (minimum of 20 games) is Hall of Famer Jim Brown, who averaged 18.62.
  1. Elliott has scored 10-plus standard fantasy points more times (37) in his first 40 career NFL games than any other running back since at least 1950.
  1. Through his first three seasons, Elliott has averaged 25.1 touches per game. The only player to average more touches through their first three seasons was LaDainian Tomlinson (26.3).
  1. Despite missing a combined eight games, Elliott is still one of just 13 players in NFL history to record 1,000-plus touches in his first three seasons (1,003). The last player with 1,000-plus touches in his first three seasons was Chris Johnson (2008-2010).
  1. Elliott has now topped 1,900 scrimmage yards in two of his first three NFL seasons. He joins Eric Dickerson, Edgerrin James and Tomlinson as the only four players to ever accomplish that feat.
  1. The Cowboys top-scoring PPR running back has finished no worse than 13th at the position in each of the last six seasons. DeMarco Murray ranked sixth (2013) and second (2014), Darren McFadden ranked 13th (2015) and Elliott has finished second (2016), 12th (2017) and fifth (2018).
  1. Elliott finished 12th in fantasy points in 2017 despite missing six games due to a league-imposed suspension.
  1. The running back position has become more versatile, and that was evident this past season. A total of 16 different backs had 50-plus receptions, which is tied for the most in a single season since at least 1970. The same number of backs also caught 50-plus passes in 1995 and 1980.
  1. From 1920-2016 (97 NFL seasons), only one running back had recorded 80-plus receptions during his rookie season. That player was Reggie Bush (2006).
  1. Over the last two seasons, three running backs have posted 80-plus catches. Alvin Kamara (2017), Christian McCaffrey (2017) and Saquon Barkley (2018).
  1. LeSean McCoy was the 11th running back picked in fantasy drafts based on NFL.com ADP data. He was unable to finish a single week as a top-12 PPR running back, however, and he rushed for fewer yards than his rookie quarterback, Josh Allen.
  1. Derrick Henry led the NFL with a combined total of 94.24 PPR fantasy points in Weeks 14-16, which are the traditional fantasy playoffs. This was the third season in a row where the leading scorer in those three weeks was a running back (Le'Veon Bell - 2016, Todd Gurley - 2017)
  1. Adrian Peterson finished the 2018 season with 169.00 fantasy points. That's the sixth-most points scored by a running back age 33 or older in NFL history.
  1. Peterson's 1,042 rushing yards were the fifth-most by a running back age 33 or older in a single NFL season. Only John Henry Johnson (1962, 1964) and John Riggins (1983, 1984) had more.
  1. Washington must have the fountain of youth for running backs because both Riggins and Peterson achieved their rushing totals at an extended age while playing for the Redskins.
  1. Wide receivers totaled 532 touchdown catches in 2018, the most in NFL history.
  1. Wide receivers combined to score 18,040.76 PPR fantasy points this season, the second-most since at least 2000. The 2016 campaign was the only one with more (18,141.04). However, wideouts did set a new record for combined standard fantasy points scored (11,680.76) his season.
  1. Wide receivers scored 20-plus PPR points in a single game a combined 206 times this season. That's 53 more than the 2017 campaign, which saw wideouts top 20 PPR points just 153 times.
  1. A total of six wide receivers finished the season with 110-plus catches, a list that includes Michael Thomas, DeAndre Hopkins, Adam Thielen, Julio Jones, Davante Adams and JuJu Smith-Schuster. That's the most in a single season in NFL history.
  1. The last two seasons combined saw just one wide receiver, Jarvis Landry, finish with 110-plus catches.
  1. Seven wide receivers had 10-plus receiving touchdowns this season, including Antonio Brown (15), Davante Adams (13), Tyreek Hill (12), DeAndre Hopkins (11), Tyler Lockett (10), Mike Williams (10) and Calvin Ridley (10). That's the most wideouts with 10-plus touchdown catches since 2015.
  1. A total of eleven players topped 100 catches in 2018 including two tight ends and one running back. That's the most players to hit that mark in the same season in NFL history. The next closest came in 1995 when nine players finished with 100-plus catches.
  1. The 2018 season saw seven wide receivers finish with 300-plus PPR points, including DeAndre Hopkins, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Michael Thomas and Adam Thielen. That's tied for the second most in a single season in NFL history. The lone season that saw more wideouts hit that mark was 1995, when Jerry Rice, Isaac Bruce, Herman Moore, Cris Carter, Robert Brooks, Michael Irvin, Carl Pickens and Brett Perriman all reached the mark.
  1. Antonio Brown has scored 200-plus standard fantasy points in six straight NFL seasons. That's the longest streak by a wide receiver ... ever. Brown has also produced 300 PPR points in those six seasons. No other wide receiver has an active such streak of more than two seasons (DeAndre Hopkins).
  1. Since 2013, no wide receiver in the league has seen more targets than Brown (1,025). The next highest total is 898 (also Hopkins). Brown also leads the NFL in receptions (686), receiving yards (9,145), receiving touchdowns (67) and all non-quarterbacks in fantasy points (1,327.3) in that time.
  1. Brown has scored 2,013.3 PPR points in the least six seasons, which is the highest total for any wideout during a six-season stretch since Marvin Harrison had 1,892.6 PPR points from 2000-2005.
  1. Julio Jones led the NFL with 1,677 receiving yards, the second most of his career. He has now topped 1,400 receiving yards in five straight seasons, surpassing Marvin Harrison (4) for the most in NFL history.
  1. Jones has now finished among the top two wideouts in receiving yards per game in five of the last six years. The only season he didn't accomplish this feat was in 2017, when he finished third.
  1. Not surprisingly, Jones also led all NFL wide receivers with 170 targets this season. That was the fewest by the league leader since 2007, when Brandon Marshall had 170 targets for the Broncos.
  1. Jones finished the season with 10 games of 100-plus receiving yards. That's tied for the third-most 100-yard games by a receiver in a single season.
  1. After not scoring a touchdown in the first seven games of the 2018 season, Jones found the end zone eight times in his final nine contests. That was the most in the NFL over that span.
  1. Jones has only scored more than eight touchdowns in one of his first eight seasons in the NFL. He found the end zone 10 times in 2012.
  1. Michael Thomas has recorded 3,787 receiving yards in his first three pro seasons, the fourth most in NFL history. Only Randy Moss, Odell Beckham, and A.J. Green have had more in their first three seasons. Thomas has also scored 250-plus PPR points in each of his first three seasons in the NFL. During the Super Bowl era, only two other wideouts have accomplished this feat ... OBJ and Moss.
  1. Despite coming off another huge season, Thomas faltered down the stretch for fantasy owners. After averaging 104.2 yards and scoring eight touchdowns in his first 10 games, Thomas averaged just 60.5 yards and scored once in his final six contests.
  1. Tyreek Hill led all receivers with 858 yards and nine touchdowns from the slot this season.
  1. Hill has seen his targets, catches, yards, touchdowns, standard fantasy points and PPR fantasy points increase in each of his first three seasons. (PPR finishes: 25th, 9th, 3rd)
  1. Hill scored 35-plus PPR points three times this season, which was more than any other player at any position ... including his quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.
  1. Talk about being consistent ... Davante Adams scored 16-plus PPR points in all 15 games he played this season. No other wide receivers in the league had more than 11 games with 16-plus PPR points.
  1. Adam Thielen started the season with 100-plus yards in each of his first eight games. During that time, he also ranked as a top-10 PPR wide receiver seven times.
  1. In his final eight games, however, Thielen topped 100-yards just once and had fewer than 50 yards four times. He also finished as a top-20 PPR wideout once.
  1. Mike Evans produced 1,524 yards this season, which was a career high. He has now put up 1,000-plus yards in each of his first five NFL season. The only other wideouts to do that in NFL history are Randy Moss and A.J. Green.
  1. Evans has produced a combined 6,103 receiving yards in his first six pro seasons. That's the sixth most in NFL history.
  1. Amari Cooper played six games with the Raiders before being traded to Dallas this past season. His projected full-season totals had he remained in Oakland: 83 targets, 59 receptions, 747 yards, and three touchdowns.
  1. Cooper averaged an impressive 17.62 PPR points per game after being traded to the Cowboys. If you project his totals with Dallas over a 16-game slate, he would finish with 134 targets, 94 catches, 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns. Those would all be the best totals of his career.
  1. JuJu Smith-Schuster has recorded a pair of 97-plus yard receiving touchdowns, one this past season and one during his rookie campaign. JuJu has only played in two NFL seasons.
  1. The only other player in NFL history with two career receiving touchdowns of 97-plus yards is Gaynell Tinsley of the Chicago Cardinals, who had a 97-yarder in 1937 and a 98-yarder in 1938.
  1. Robert Woods was Mr. Consistent for fantasy owners. He produced 70 or more yards 12 times and scored 12 or more PPR points in each of his final 15 games of the fantasy season.
  1. Woods was the 30th wide receiver to come off the board in fantasy drafts based on NFL.com ADP data, behind the likes of Michael Crabtree, Pierre Garcon and Chris Hogan. Woods went on to finish 11th in PPR points at the position and more than doubled the PPR point totals of those other three wideouts.
  1. Tyler Lockett was one the best bargains in fantasy football. Taken in the 15th round according to NFL.com ADP, he finished as the WR16 ahead of Larry Fitzgerald, Demaryius Thomas, Allen Robinson and teammate Doug Baldwin, all of whom had an ADP in the first five rounds.
  1. Russell Wilson had a perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeting Lockett this season.
  1. Despite what was a down year for the position, tight ends combined for 2,333 receptions and 26,557 receiving yards in 2018. Both were good for the fifth-most in NFL history.
  1. The fantasy tight end position was still brutal overall. Only seven players at the position scored more than 150 PPR points, a list that includes Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Zach Ertz, Eric Ebron, Jared Cook, Austin Hooper and Kyle Rudolph. That is the fewest tight ends to hit that mark since 2008, when only six reached 150 PPR points.
  1. On a positive note, three tight ends (Kelce, Ertz, Kittle) topped 250 PPR points this season. That's the most players at the position to hit that mark in a single season in NFL history.
  1. Not a single tight end had topped 250 PPR points since Rob Gronkowski did it in 2015. The last tight end not named Gronkowski or Jimmy Graham to hit the mark were Vernon Davis and Dallas Clark (2009).
  1. Gronkowski has averaged 15.52 PPR fantasy points during his NFL career, which is the most ever by a tight end. However, his numbers are trending in the wrong direction. From 2010-2015, Gronkowski averaged 16.6 PPR points. Since 2016, he's averaged 13.02 points and his 10.09 average in 2018 was the lowest since his rookie season.
  1. Travis Kelce finished with the most PPR fantasy points among tight ends for the third straight year. The last tight end to accomplish this feat was a former member of the Kansas City Chiefs, Tony Gonzalez (1999-2001).
  1. Kelce had 1,366 receiving yards in 2018, which would have been enough to break Rob Gronkowski's single-season record of 1,327 set in 2011. Unfortunately for Kelce, George Kittle had 1,377 yards this season to beat his number and also surpass Gronkowski for the most tight end receiving yards.
  1. Kelce finished as a top-10 PPR tight end 13 times this past season, the most among all tight ends. Zach Ertz did it 12 times, George Kittle 11 times and Eric Ebron 10 times.
  1. No other tight end in the league had 10-plus PPR points in more than seven games.
  1. Kelce leads all tight ends with 4,374 receiving yards and 27 receiving touchdowns since 2015.
  1. George Kittle was the 14th tight end off the board in fantasy drafts, according to NFL.com ADP. He went on to finish third in PPR points at the position, in addition to breaking the single-season record for receiving yards for a tight end.
  1. Kittle had 873 yards after the catch this season, the most by any player at any position since 2006 per Pro Football Focus data.
  1. Kittle produced 210 receiving yards in the first half of a game against the Broncos in Week 14. That left him five yards short of breaking the all-time single-game record for receiving yards, set by Shannon Sharpe (214 yards in 2002).
  1. Unfortunately, Kittle was targeted just once in the second half and didn't catch a single pass.
  1. Kittle put teams on his back when it mattered most, averaging 13.17 fantasy points per game in the fantasy postseason. No other tight end reached double-digits during that time.
  1. Kittle also had 335 receiving yards during that three-game span, which ranked second in the league behind T.Y. Hilton.
  1. The NFL leader in red-zone targets this season was Zach Ertz, who saw 27 and converted seven of them into touchdowns. That was the fifth-most in the league. Also, those 27 red-zone targets by Ertz were the most by a tight end since at least 1991.
  1. Ertz finished with 116 receptions in 2018, the most in NFL history by a tight end and the second-most by any player this season (Michael Thomas - 125).
  1. Ertz scored an impressive 280.3 PPR fantasy points this season, which is the sixth-most by a tight end in NFL history and the most by any Eagles tight end.
  1. Eric Ebron was the 17th tight end off the board in fantasy drafts, going in the 15th round, according to NFL.com ADP. He went on to finish with a career-high 13 touchdowns and 222.2 PPR points. That was good for the fourth-most in the league by a tight end, behind Kelce, Ertz and Kittle.
  1. Eric Ebron had 13 receiving touchdowns in his first season with the Colts. He had 11 in his first four seasons in the NFL (with the Lions).
  1. Ebron's 13 receiving touchdowns are the most by a tight end since Tyler Eifert scored 13 times in 2015. His 14 scrimmage touchdowns are the most by a tight end since Jimmy Graham found the end zone 16 times in 2013.
  1. Jimmy Graham was the fifth tight end picked in fantasy drafts (Round 6) based on NFL.com ADP data. He would go on to score just two touchdowns, which was tied for 31st at the position, while finishing 12th in PPR points. He also finished as a top-10 fantasy tight end just five times.
  1. The Jets haven't had a single tight end finish in the top five in fantasy points at the position since Johnny Mitchell ranked in fifth ... in 1994.
  1. Kickers combined to score 3,768.40 fantasy points in 2018, the fewest in any season since 2011. The position also attempted just 946 field goals, the fewest in any season since 2010.
  1. There were 71 missed extra points in 2018, which tied for the fourth-most in NFL history.
  1. There were five kickers who missed seven field goals this season, which tied for the league lead. However, that is the fewest missed field goals to lead the NFL in any season since 1946.
  1. Ka'imi Fairbairn led all kickers with 158.00 fantasy points this season. That was more standard fantasy points than Kenyan Drake, Aaron Jones, Sony Michel, Mark Ingram, LeSean McCoy, Odell Beckham Jr., Amari Cooper, Jarvis Landry, Julian Edelman, Golden Tate, A.J. Green, and every tight end not named Travis Kelce, Zach Ertz or George Kittle.
  1. Greg Zuerlein led all kickers in fantasy points scored per game (11.27) for the second straight year. He averaged 12.14 fantasy points per game last season.
  1. Defenses combined to score 3,411 fantasy points in 2018, the second-fewest since 2000. Defenses also combined for 696 takeaways, which is the fewest in a non-strike shortened season in NFL history.
  1. Defenses combined for 1,281 sacks in 2018, the fourth-most in NFL history. The Steelers (52), Chiefs (52), Vikings (50), Bears (50), Saints (49) and Cardinals (49) were the NFL leaders.
  1. Wait on a defense! The Jaguars defense scored 203.00 fantasy points in 2017, which was the most in the NFL. They barely scored half that total in 2018, finishing with a mere 115.00 fantasy points.
  1. The Bears defense scored 187 fantasy points in 2018. That's the second-most by a defense since 2014. Only the 2017 Jaguars (203) scored more in that span.
  1. A total off 11 defenses were drafted ahead of the Bears based on NFL.com's ADP data.

Michael Fabiano is an award-winning fantasy football analyst on NFL.com and NFL Network and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) Hall of Fame. You can follow Michael on **Twitter**, **Facebook**, **YouTube** and **Instagram** for all of the latest fantasy football news, notes and in-depth analysis!

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