Readers reveal award winners

The readers have spoken.

And unlike most seasons, when there isn't much suspense as to which players are going to win the Daily Herald's fantasy football awards, this year was altogether different.

With unprecedented response, we had tight races up and down the ballots. So, without further adieu, the envelopes please ...

MVP

With 39 percent of the vote, Saints quarterback Drew Brees edged out Panthers RB DeAngelo Williams (30 percent). With Brees nearing Dan Marino's record for most passing yards in a single season, it's difficult to argue with this choice.

"Tough call," writes reader Tom Liszka of Davis, Ill., "but Brees has been the most dominant QB this season. Even his 'bad' games have been better than most."

Very true, but some of me wants to give Williams half the hardware, especially after his 4-TD performance Sunday night that probably gave many teams a fantasy championship.

Brees has 4,683 passing yards and 30 TD passes. He had 10 multiple-TD games (including the last five) and nine 300-yards games. Williams was perhaps even more amazing when you consider that all 20 of his touchdowns came after Week 4. Eleven of those scores came in the last four weeks, and he had 100-yard games seven of the last 11 games.

$CLASS=breakhead$Biggest surprise

This was a three-horse race between Arizona QB Kurt Warner, Bears RB Matt Forte and Jets RB Thomas Jones. In the end, Warner prevailed despite garnering just 27 percent of the vote. Forte and Jones tied with 20 percent each.

Warner was named the Cardinals' starter late in training camp and wasn't in the minds of many fantasy owners on draft day. (I grabbed him in the 10th round in one draft).

But the 37-year-old QB proved he could still sling the ball around, especially with all-pro WRs Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin in tow. Despite his 30-yard stinker in the snow in Week 16, Warner has 4,320 yards with 26 TD passes. He had a string of five straight 300-yard games from Weeks 8-12.

Biggest dud

Last year, he was the fantasy MVP. This season, Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson was deemed the biggest bust of the 2008 season with 29 percent of your votes. Browns WR Braylon Edwards (17 percent) and QB Derek Anderson and Patriots QB Tom Brady (11 percent each) were next.

Readers spread the wealth in this category, voting for a record 13 different players. But Tomlinson takes home the dubious hardware. That's what happens when you are the top overall pick and produce just 9 TDs and finish 12th in scoring among running backs.

Rookie of the year

This race was close for a while, but with 50 percent of the vote, Bears RB Matt Forte eventually pulled away from Atlanta QB Matt Ryan (25 percent) and Tennessee RB Chris Johnson (20 percent).

From a fantasy standpoint, what was nice about Forte was his consistency. He scored in 10 of 15 games, and in the games where he didn't score, Forte always amassed at least 85 yards from scrimmage. And, with 61 catches, Forte was a gold mine in leagues that reward a point per reception.

"(Forte is) part of the reason this horribly coached team (the Bears) has over achieved this year," wrote Jeff Olichwier of Chicago.

Comeback player

As I said two weeks ago, Thomas Jones is the slam-dunk winner of this award. After compiling 15 total TDs and back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with the Bears in 2005-06, his first campaign in New York was downright brutal (2 TDs) from a fantasy standpoint.

But this year, thanks in large part to the Jets signing guard Alan Faneca, Jones exploded for 1,289 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.

"Glad the Bears were able to persuade the Jets to swap second-round picks for him," wrote Andrew Skidmore of Volo. "They should have just given him away for nothing. Oh wait, they did!"

My teams: My championship hopes fell short in a pathetically low-scoring title game. Steve Slaton, Darren McFadden and Roddy White failed to deliver in a 47-34 setback. In my other league, I won my third-place game 103-72, thanks in part to me plugging in Marc Bulger (gasp!) in place of Kurt Warner (30 yards). All in all, not a bad finish after both teams started 1-3.

See you next year: As always, I want to end the season's column by saying thank you to all the readers who wrote in with questions and comments. It was another great season, and we hope to see you back again in 2009.

jdietz@dailyherald.com