It may come as shock to fantasy geeks (like me) but there was NFL football played before the advent of fantasy football. In fact, there was about 75 years of professional football prior Fantasy Football’s proliferation. With those 75 years of professional football came many individual seasons. So, because I have to put my fantasy spin on just about everything, I looked back through the annals and compiled a list of the greatest fantasy seasons before fantasy football existed in its present form. For the purposes of this list, I assume that Fantasy Football really didn’t take off until the late nineties. I didn’t include Barry Sanders in 1997 because I thought that was cutting it a little close, but Sanders had 319 fantasy points that season, nice work Bar. Without further ado, here is the “All-Fantasy Team Before There Were Fantasy Teams”:
QB – Dan Marino - 1984 Miami – 362 Completions – 564 Attempts – 64.2 % Completion Percentage – 5084 Yards – 48 TDs – 17 Interceptions – 388 Fantasy Points
RB – O.J. Simpson – 1975 Buffalo – 329 Carries – 1817 Yards – 16 TDs – 28 Catches – 426 Yards – 7 TDs – 361 Fantasy Points
RB – Marcus Allen – 1985 L.A. Raiders – 380 Carries – 1759 Yards – 11 TDs – 67 Catches – 555 Yards – 3 TDs – 314 Fantasy Points
RB – Eric Dickerson - 1984 L.A. Rams - 379 Carries – 2105 Yards - 14 TDs – 21 Catches – 139 Yards – 307 Fantasy Points
WR – Jerry Rice - 1995 San Francisco – 5 Rushes – 36 Yards (3) – 1 TD (6) – 122 Catches 1848 Yards (184) - 15 TDs (90) - 283 Fantasy Points
WR – Issac Bruce - 1995 St. Louis – 119 Catches - 1781 yards - 13 TDs – 256 Fantasy Points
WR – Charlie Hennigan - 1961 Houston – 82 Catches – 1746 yards – 12 TDs – 246 Fantasy Points
TE – Kellen Winslow - 1980 San Diego - 89 Cathes – 1290 yards - 9 TDs – 183 Fantasy Points
K – Paul Hornung 1960 Green Bay – 15/28 Field Goals - 41/41 XPs - 671 Yards Rushing – 13 TDs – 257 Receiving Yards – 2 TDs – 201 Fantasy Points
DEF - 1985 – Chicago Bears – 64 Sacks (64) – 34 Interceptions – 4 for TDs – 20 Fumbles Recovered - 12.3 Points per game – 252 Fantasy Points
For your reference, here were the best fantasy performers by position for the 2006 NFL season:
QB - Peyton Manning – 309 Fantasy Points
RB - LaDanian Tomlinson – 425 Fantasy Points
WR - Marvin Harrison – 206
TE - Antonio Gates – 146
DEF - Ravens – 240 Fantasy Points
K – Robbie Gould – 165 Fantasy Points
The Angry T
Also, I used this fantasy scoring to figure out total points:
Passing Yards (25 yards per point)
Passing Touchdowns (4)
Interceptions (-1)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point)
Rushing Touchdowns (6)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point)
Reception Touchdowns (6)
Return Touchdowns (6)
2-Point Conversions (2)
Fumbles Lost (-2)
Offensive Fumble Return TD (6)
Field Goals 0-19 Yards (3)
Field Goals 20-29 Yards (3)
Field Goals 30-39 Yards (3)
Field Goals 40-49 Yards (4)
Field Goals 50+ Yards (5)
Point After Attempt Made (1)
Sack (1)
Interception (2)
Fumble Recovery (2)
Touchdown (6)
Safety (2)
Block Kick (2)
Points Allowed 0 points (10)
Points Allowed 1-6 points (7)
Points Allowed 7-13 points (4)
Points Allowed 14-20 points (1)
Points Allowed 21-27 points (0)
Points Allowed 28-34 points (-1)
Points Allowed 35+ points (-4)
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