The league got its newest member in 2016, Coach Gardner. A new, avid NFL fan, Coach Gardner decided to take on the task of being a fantasy coach, and became the head coach of Cash4Gould. Many of the other teams in the LOC had been there for years, and joining this experienced group and having success straight away would be a tough ask.
One way to aid in that task would be by having a good draft. And they wouldn’t have to wait long before they faced that task, as they owned the 2nd overall pick in the draft. The Brady Bunch had just selected Antonio Brown, so Coach Gardner had a lot to choose from. Rather surprisingly, Coach Gardner opted to take Ezekiel Elliott, the dynamic rookie out of Ohio Stats who now played for the Cowboys, ahead of other players such as Davis Johnson, Todd Gurley, Adrian Peterson, and Odell Beckham Jr.
On draft day, this was viewed as a slight reach. Not a big one, he was certainly expected to go no later than pick 8 in the first round, but you never quite know what you’re going to get when you take a rookie, so there was some risk with this pick. The risk dissipated quickly, though. What Elliott had on his side is that, apart from being a talented running back, he got to run behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, and there was a competent rookie QB in Dak Prescott running the show in Dallas.
In Week 1, Coach Gardner won their very first career game, facing experienced coach Phil Merritt. They won 108-93, with a solid if unspectacular 11.2 points from Elliott. In Week 2 they’d lose, but Elliott still had a solid showing with 12.7. Week 3 they’d pick up a win 116-88 over Forge Flyers, with a good 16 point performance from Elliott. But Week 4 was the coming out party. Cash4Gould squeaked our a narrow 75-72 victory over Bear Necessities, but this was lead by Elliott with a 21.7 point performance.
The next week, he scored 29. Cash4Gould would lose this game, but it was clear Coach Gardner had smashed the Elliott pick. In Week 10 Elliott would score a stunning 38.9 points, leading Cash4Gould to another narrow victory over a Bear Necessities. 127-125. At this point they were 4-6, they had a chance at playoffs in their very first season, largely due to Ezekiel Elliott.
Week 12 Elliott showed up big once more, delivering 24 points en route to a 89-74 point victory over The Tuckfards. This left Cash4Gould at 6-6, with a chance at playoffs. They’d win again in Week 13, 86-84 over Burdettinators, with 16.5 points coming from Elliott. They would win again in Week 14, in a low scoring affair, 67-62, with 10.7 points coming from Elliott.
Cash4Gould would finish as the 5th seed, narrowly missing out on playoffs due to slightly less points than its counterparts. But for a rookie coach in the LOC, this goes down as an unqualified success. A large part of that was Ezekiel Elliott, that risky 2nd overall pick that went on to post 293.4 points over the course of the season. As far as the first pick of your career goes, I’d say this is a pretty good one.
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