Week 17 Reactions: Old Guys Getting It Done

Throwing into the Record Book

Drew Brees threw for 350 yards Sunday against the Falcons, finishing the season with 5,208, his fifth season with at least 5,000. While Brees has always been known for high yardage totals, it's worth acknowledging that not only does Brees have the record for most seasons with 5,000 yards, he has as many as the rest of the NFL combined. Only four other players in league history have reached that mark, and not one has done it multiple times:

• Peyton Manning: 5,477 in 2013
• Tom Brady: 5,235 in 2011
• Dan Marino: 5,084 in 1984
• Matthew Stafford: 5,038 in 2011

Passing yards aren't everything, of course, but Brees' 2016 season was somewhat frustrating from a fantasy perspective, as he used so many of his receivers that it was tough to stack one with him. Brandin Cooks and Michael Thomas each finished with more than 1,000 yards, while Willie Snead closed the season out with 895. You may have hit the nail on the head a few times with Brees and Cooks, or Brees and Thomas, but it was fairly unreliable for the most part.

Sticking with quarterbacks, Tom Brady racked up 276 yards and three touchdowns Sunday against the Dolphins, clinching the top spot in the AFC with a 14-2 record. Brady, who was suspended for the first four games of the season for not playing nice in the Deflategate ridiculousness, threw for 28 touchdowns while getting picked off only twice all season, which gave him the best touchdown to interception ratio in league history. Brady threw an interception in Week 10 against the Seahawks and one against the Ravens in Week 14, but otherwise his turnover list was empty (his four fumbles were all recovered by the Pats). Throwing 432 passes with only two interceptions is impressive, but the record is more volume-related than anything else. For reference, Nick Foles had the previous record of 27:2, but he threw only 317 passes in 2013 when he set the record. Brady has had an excellent year overall, finishing with the second-highest YPA (8.22) in the league for anyone who played at least 10 games (Matt Ryan led the league at 9.26), but his volume certainly attributed to it. Ryan finished with a 38:7 ratio but had more than 200 additional attempts.

Old Guys Win

Congratulations to Antonio Gates, who caught his 111th career touchdown Sunday against the Chiefs, tying Tony Gonzalez for the most touchdowns by a tight end in NFL history. While he's failed to play 16 games in five of the last seven years, and he'll be 37 next season, Gates is apparently leaning toward giving it another go next year, which should ensure he moves ahead of Gonzalez, who is a sure-fire hall of famer. Gates finished this year with seven receiving touchdowns, which was only one off the league-high, a mark held by teammate Hunter Henry and the Buccaneers' Cameron Brate. The lost season for Rob Gronkowski clearly played a role, but upper-tier tight end scoring was down this season, as Hunter and Brate's eight scores were the fewest to lead the league since Gates had the same number in 2008. The trend fits, of course, with quarterback scoring down as a result of running backs playing a much bigger role in fantasy championships this year than in recent memory.

Speaking of old guys, Frank Gore became the fourth running back to rush for at least 1,000 yards in his age-33 or older season, joining John Riggins, John Henry Johnson and Franco Harris, each of whom is in the Hall of Fame. The knock on Gore before the season was that he was old and older running backs aren't likely to produce big seasons, and if you jumped on the Gore train at draft time, you were basically relying on history to be made. Well, it was made, and Gore now has a great chance to move into the top five in career rushing yards if he comes back for another season.

And while Gore's production this season was impressive for someone his age, Larry Fitzgerald's was impressive for any age, as his five receptions Sunday gave him 107 for the season, which allowed him to become the oldest player to lead the league in receptions since Jerry Rice did it at age 34 back in 1996. Fitzgerald has caught 211 passes in the past two years, but at his age there will always be retirement rumors, so fantasy managers in deep keeper leagues could be losing a big piece if he decides to hang up his cleats.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Steve Smith as well, though his likely final season wasn't nearly as impressive as Fitzgerald's. Nevertheless, Smith will garner some Hall of Fame talk, as he ranks seventh all-time in receiving yards, though he's 25th in receiving touchdowns (Fitzgerald is ninth and eighth, respectively). Getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is very difficult, and while Fitzgerald is likely a sure thing, Smith's chances will be up for plenty of debate.

Onto Next Season

As the fantasy football season comes to a close, unless you play in a playoff fantasy league (never a bad idea), we start to consider where certain players will rank next year. Sure, Le'Veon Bell and David Johnson will be at the top (with Ezekiel Elliott knocking at the door), as long as the knee injury Johnson suffered Sunday isn't too serious, but going deeper will unearth a number of players who will create vastly different opinions. One player who may be one of the more polarizing ones is the Chiefs' Tyreek Hill, who scored on a punt return Sunday to become the first player in league history with at least three receiving, three rushing and three kick/punt return touchdowns in a single season. We've seen plenty of gimmicky players get plenty of attention -- Devin Hester comes to mind immediately -- but what makes Hill different is the Chiefs' willingness to actually feed him and get him with the ball in space. His 95-yard return Sunday gave him four straight games with a touchdown of at least 65 yards, and while he's unlikely to be a consistent 10-target wideout, giving him 10-15 touches per game should be enough to make a big impact. We're not talking about a first-round fantasy pick, but if the Chiefs keep using Hill like they did this season, he could be a difference-maker.