2025 Bragging Rights Q1 Review

 Steve Workman

9/30/2025

From the Desk of the Commish

2025 Bragging Rights Q1 Review

BR Owners,

Every year when we start our new season- something feels off. One year it felt like the disappearance of the bell cow RB (thank god for that Zoom call). Now thanks to Tyreek’s Chiefs years, it feels like every defense is running 2 high safeties. A lot of WR suck and QB passing feels insignificant aside from Dak Prescott and week 2 Russell Wilson and 2024 Joe Burrow. This year just feels like the stars are off to a slow start. 

Our own LeOptimist had a great idea that I’ve already gotten the thumbs up to use- make some memes for a blog post. So that’s what I’m doing. Memes and a first quarter of the season review. The parity in this league is unmatched, and I’m looking forward to the other three quarters of this season.

Let’s start with the leader in the fraud watch clubhouse:

1. Skibidi Cost-Plus

3-1, 6th in PF (379.16), 7th in PA (355.28), 15-13 OVR

The first 4 weeks for Max have been about as tight as it can get. Last year he had a bad case of the Yaps when I believe I was 6-0 or 7-0 and he “didn’t believe in Steve’s team”. I get it to an extent- I have a history of landslides, and you didn’t want to be the one to fall for my hype- only to watch me slide. 

But let’s be clear- I was one less Sutton TD away from this man being 4-0 with the second smallest margin of victory through 3 weeks (and probably through 4 weeks I just didn’t have to do the math cause of the L to me). This team reeks of fraud. Who benches their second round pick, the 9th overall pick, against one of the worst defenses in the league? Evans out. Fleece gonna Fleece. Now Bucky is injured. The fraud has only just begun for Skibidi, and I’m not believing in this 3-1 squad.

2. Projected Champ

2-2, 1st in PF (459.26), 1st in PA (446.36) 20-8 OVR

This may be the last season I can use the above meme for Ty. The lone non-champ, after a historic season from myself last year got that monkey off my back, is on a tear. Historically, the champ isn’t usually at the top of the PA. However, in 2015 Rowdy Rhinos won his first title finishing 1st in PF as well as 1st in PA. It’s possible the PA could slow down for Ty, but his PF doesn’t seem like it’ll be slowing down anytime soon. Mahomes is showing flashes of his former self, Achane is the only good thing in Miami, Najee sacrificed both his eye and Achilles so Hampton could thrive, Egbuka is living up to the training camp hype, Bijan looks every bit like a first overall pick that isn’t cursed for a change, AND he has the 2nd best fantasy kicker that he stole from all of us in the 10th round. This could be Ty’s year. Has he finally gotten out of his own way?

3. Kev The Builder

2-2, 2nd in PF (452.72), 4th in PA (425.36) 19-9 OVR

Truly a tough start for Kev. I guess the silver lining is 2-2 is better than having those above stats and being 1-3 or 0-4, but you have to figure things will get going in the right direction for our builder. He has the most all time PA, so no guarantees. He was one of the higher rated teams once the draft concluded, and the formula in this league is running backs win championships. ETN has been a pleasant surprise for Kev, JT looks like his 2021 self, and Cook picked up right where he left off last year. He has put himself in a position where if CMC pulls a CMC and gets hurt- he still has the formula to win it all. In that same breath, if CMC stays healthy and can actually run the ball along with his receiving stats (if he were solely a WR he’d currently be WR13), Kev could get that 2nd title and REALLY boost his legacy rankings and help make the Mully namesake a thing of the past (jk we are never changing that sorry buddy)

4. Rowdy Rhinos

2-2, 3rd in PF (429.36), 6th in PA (364.82), 16-12 OVR

Fresh off an 8th place and dead last season (3rd Mully btw. 2nd most all time), Sloan impressed all of us with his sub 10 minute Dalton Dash. However this 2-2 start has been a roller coaster. With scores of 79, 143, 121, and 84, he’s shown flashes of Sloan of old and Sloan of new. When you really look at his team, you see Lamar now hurt, you see Kyren losing work to Corum. You see Walker due for an injury any day now. You see an unplayable Chase (taking a WR 3rd overall in standard. OOPS!). You see 37 year old Keenan Allen. You see Pickens who is a non-starter when Lamb comes back. You see he fell for MHJ like Max did. He does have some bright spots like ARSB, Marks, and Javonte. But I’ve got a sniff of a washing. Something tells me- Sloan is cooked. Could I be on to something? Is this another Rizzion?

5. Paper Planes

2-2, 4th in PF (408.76), 5th in PA (382.12), 13-15 OVR

I think the best way to sum up Travis’ first quarter of the season is a big “who would’ve guessed it?”. One of our favorite traditions every year is Tyler immediately shitting on Travis’ team the second the draft ends (sometimes warranted. I’m looking at you 2018 Travis’ draft class). And this year was no different, albeit it came from others more than Ty. “Josh Allen in the 4th is a reach.” “JSN in the third? Holy airball (Jacques that was a quick TikTok trend, I wouldn’t expect you to get that one). “Why the fuck did he draft Judkins? He’s not even on a team.” So far all of those guys are really panning out. Garrett Wilson is quietly the WR7. The double take I did at my phone when I saw that this morning had me whipping my head like Barney checking out the chick “discreetly”. Dobbins looks excellent, Barkley is underperforming some, but I’m sure Travis expected regression. Higgins obviously is his biggest dud, but to no fault of his own. Jake Browning’s Bengals have either turned it over or punted on 19 of their last 22 drives…unfortunate after signing that bag, but Addison may fill that void. He’s a sneaky favorite to make the playoffs.

6. Glenn’s

2-2, 7th in PF (339.86), 8th in PA (312.90), 8-20 OVR

We all know how it goes with this man. Pretty positive if you play back the tape from the draft, you can hear him talking about which Dalton Dash shoes to buy right after he put Bill’s name up on the board in the 6th. The first two weeks he claimed he was a non-team. Now, after back to back 106 and 95 point outputs, Glenn’s is right back in the mix (but you won’t hear that from him). He has some reason for pessimism don’t get me wrong- Burrow out for the fantasy season, Conner out for the whole season, Bill not getting used like we were promised by Kingsbury, BTJ looking like he’s on his way to one of the biggest sophomore slumps of all time, and Concussion Chris having to go in the starting lineup. But there’s plenty of room for optimism- this is our 13th season. Anything can happen. He’s got 3 true stars in Gibbs, Puka, and London. Danny Dimes is having a Geno/Baker/Darnold “they clearly were in shit organizations” resurgence type season. Charb will have some great games when Walker inevitably goes down. And now he has the key to it all- Emari Demercado. He may not make the playoffs, but don’t let him trick you into locking him into the Dalton Dash.

7. The Rizzionary

2-2, 5th in PF (399.26), 3rd in PA (427.58), 16-12 OVR

So far I’ve had the most consistent team along with Ty- I just haven’t scored as many points. I’ve had 92, 96, 102, and 107 so far. No duds, but also no breakout weeks. A huge come from behind win kept me from being 1-3, and I feel my team is a playoff team. Monty looks healthy and still has some juice, Chuba looks solid, Adams looks like a great 3rd round pick despite some chuckles after I put his sticker up. Sutton looks more and more like a steal in the 6th, Jacobs is still a top 5 back, and we just need Lamb to stay healthy. Ladd has been arguably the biggest let down of my lifetime, but maybe he bounces back. The Only Me has started to creep back in with me being in top 3 PA (familiar territory of course), but hopefully we can raise that consistent PF and keep getting some gritty wins. We knew we wouldn’t repeat last season, but damn it I just want a chance to defend my title. I can enrizzion a back to back, and we can make it happen. One thing remains: 

I am

The Rizzionary

8. OnlyDawgs

1-3, 8th in PF (291.84), 2nd in PA (445.80), 5-23 OVR

We thought the 0-10 start to his auction team season was bad- then we get this season. What an abysmal start for Pat, with no silver lining in sight. He does have Daniels coming back, but he has been out, Derrick Henry has had single digits in the last 3 weeks, and Chase Brown has one of the worst YPC in the league. Pollard is on his roster (automatic missed playoffs, I tried to warn everyone), RJ Harvey is a good player but not better than Dobbins, AJ Brown is WR52, Travis Hunter is a nobody so far. Bowers continues to start for Dawgs despite being TE12 in a non-TE league. Rice does come back week 7, so….there’s some hope I guess? Not a lot of great things are coming out of OnlyDawgs facilities, and it feels like it’s just going to keep getting worse. Get ready to learn Dalton Dash buddy.

With all this being said- I know the first 4-5 weeks of the fantasy season can look vastly different than the last 7 weeks. It’s a long season, but I just honestly wanted to make some memes that you losers would enjoy. Let’s have a great next few weeks of fantasy!

Commish