His Name is Devonta Freeman

Standing 5'8" and weighing just over 205 lbs, Devonta Freeman isn't an intimidating man, he's below average for a starting RB in the NFL. He played both his High School and College playing days in Florida. He was a four star High School recruit. It wasn't probably until his Senior year at FSU that you heard of him;, In 2013, he helped the Seminoles win the national championship. But never was he nationally known; he wasn't a Heisman candidate, he wasn't leading the nation in running, he wasn't Tim Tebow, he was just Devonta Freeman. Who, statistically, was the 51st best running in the country, but was Fist-Team All-ACC. I mean, he was good. He was solid, but he wasn't a once in a generation type of guy. His combine was solid and was given a grade of 5.57, which meant he could be an NFL starter. In combine profile it had the ambiguous promise that he, "[He] [c]ould prove to be a better pro than college player." How many guys get that in their writeup?

Ultimately, he was drafted as the 103rd pick in the fourth round by the Falcons. It seemed to be a solid pick up, but nothing revelatory.

Coming into his second year in the NFL he was supposed to be just a part of the running back rotation. I mean, he hadn't scored his first touchdown in his Rookie year until Week 15 against the Saints. It was going to be a running by committee type of offense for the Falcons this year- as has been the trend in NFL recently. He was not going to be the feature back. There was no hype on the guy.

It wasn't until Week 3 of this season that he caught the attention of people, where he had 141 yards rushing and 3 TDs.

The activity surrounding Freeman in our own league is very interesting. He was picked up in the NINTH round by Persian Lives Matter. Which makes total sense as Freeman hadn't really done anything spectacular in his pro career. No one knew he would be the Forsett of this year. How could we? How could Persia?!

Plus, Persia looked like he had a drafted a solid RB crew as he had C.J Anderson, Frank Gore, Ameer Abdulah (I guess?).  Why would you need another dude in backfield taking up a valuable roster spot? So, he dropped him before the first game.

The interesting part here is who Persia dropped him for...Antonio Gates. Perhaps Persia realized (no, he still hasn't) that Jimmy Graham wouldn't have the season he had in Nola? Who knows. Persia will take that reason to his grave.

But Freeman's journey was just getting started. On September 11, Wataaaaah! dropped Roy Helu Jr. for Devonta Freeman. Wataaaaah! sat him, rightfully so (his starters out preformed him) as he scored just five points. Wataaaaah! would beat Mustache Salad in Week 1 as well.

Reports were that Freeman was causing trouble on the roster and Wataaaaah! had zero tolerance for his behavior. He let him go for Terrance Williams, a WR, on Sept 16, just before the Week 2 game. This would look like a smart move as Williams was extremely motivated to be on a team and to be paid. He would score 17.8 pts, helping Wataaaaah! defeat Bayo'wolf by just a tenth of a point. Freeman scored just 12.3 points. Wataaaaah! made a smart move for that week...

I can't really put either Jamie or Cameron in the dog house for their moves. It made sense for what they did. It was rational good managerial decision making. Brent was acting in the same manner when he took Freeman.

In Week 1 Brent had poor results from his DEF and dropped Cleveland for Tavon Austin, as he was probably looking to improve his WRs, and already had a solid DEF on the bench in Denver.

 In Week 2 Tavon didn't do big things, but Mustache hit the panic button as his RBs put up a combined whopping 12 points! This happened with a highly sought after Eddie Lacy and solid RB in Mark Ingram. Side note, he also had Todd Gurley on the bench, who has turned into a monster as well. Feeling the pressue, Brent picked up Freeman who had a solid, but not crazy Week 2 with 12+ points.

In Week 3 Brent showed he was willing to gamble. Facing a tough team in In Russ we Trust, Mustache Salad decided to SIT Mark Ingram and PLAY Devonta Freeman. Ingram would score 16.40 points that week. But Freeman would explode for 38.80 points. Mustache Salad would win by a mere 4.58 points. This pickup would win him the next two games. Without Freeman it is conceivable that Mustache Salad would be 1-4 right now. See below:

Week 3 vs In Russ we Trust - wins by 4.58 points. Freeman scores 38.80 points.
Week 4 vs Bayo'wolf - wins by 9.68 points. Freeman scores 34.40 points.
Week 5 vs Quiddity of Luck - wins by 29.40 points. Freeman scores exactly 29.40.
Week 6 vs Kaeptivating - projected to win. Freeman scores 29.40.

Now, this has been quite a run for Freeman and Mustache. I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again, I can't see Freeman keeping this up. I did however think we wouldn't see it four weeks in a row. The scary thing is the depth that Mustache Salad has at the RB position. Gurley looks very promising, despite the small sample set. Ingram has been Mr. Consistent, putting up 10+ in all of his games but one (he still did 7 points). And Eddie Lacy has yet to really get it going, but we know what he is capable of.