Each month, AF turns the spotlight onto one of the Association’s Registered Teams, presenting an in-depth profile of the franchise, its coach, and all of its historical accomplishments.  If you’d like to see your team profiled, the very first step is to visit the Team Registry Page.  Registering is free and only takes about 5 minutes.  Once registered, your team name and logo will be locked up, meaning no other team in an AF League or Tournament can use it, and it’ll also appear, ranked against other registered teams on the AF Team Register.

This Month’s Team:

Scarlett Starlets

 

The Scarlett Starlets are a charter member of AF’s Fantasy Circus, having kicked off their inaugural season in the League’s debut year of 2015.  They are coached by Scarlett The Red and began play that year under the name The schoolgirl U lost to.

In the 2015 Circus auction draft, the first player they took was runningback Eddie Lacy, with a winning bid of $59 million, and would appear to have overpaid – Lacy ended up ranked 28th in Circus scoring at the position that year, while Adrian Peterson, who went for $57 million just ahead of Lacy, finished ranked #2.  The Schoolgirl did get a few steals at auction though, picking up David Johnson (finished 7th in Circus scoring at his position) for $2mil, Brandon Marshall (3rd at position) for $9mil, and Khalil Mack (2nd at position) for $6mil.  They also picked up Odell Beckham (5th at position) for a market value of $48mil.  Placed into the Circus’s Group 1, The schoolgirl U lost to went through the first round of competition with a 4-3 record, finishing 4th in Group and barely beating out Sock Bandits for advancing to Round 2.

The format in AF’s Fantasy Circus eliminates half of the League’s 16 teams after the Week 7 conclusion of Round 1, and the players on those eliminated teams are then released onto waivers where the advancing teams use acquired WAB Points to bid on them.  The most significant pick-ups Scarlett the Red made between Rounds 1 and 2 were the addition of Chris Ivory at RB and Julio Jones at WR.  This gave the Schoolgirl a #7 and #8 ranked backfield tandem and a stellar trio of wide receivers (Marshall, Beckham, and Jones) who would end the season ranked #2, #3, and #5 at position.  The quarterback position also received an upgrade with Andrew Luck being swapped out for Aaron Rodgers.

In Round 2, The Schoolgirl finished with a 4-3 record once more, but the race among the 4 teams that advanced to the Championship Round was tight, with all 4 teams finishing within 30 points/round of each other, and The Schoolgirl ranked #3 in the bunch.  In the Round 2 personnel purge, Scarlett got linebacker help for The Schoolgirl in the form of D’qwell Jackson (#2 at position) and upgraded at runningback from the #8-#9 combo to Adrian Peterson and Doug Martin for a #2-#3 punch.  The other teams advancing to the Championship Round, of course also had the opportunity to upgrade, and in the end, the schoolgirl U lost to just didn’t have enough firepower, losing all 3 Round 3 matches by scores of 28-74, 22-35, and 34-61.

For the 2016 season, The Schoolgirl was back with new clothes, adopting a name change to become the Scarlett Starlets with a new logo to go with the change.  In the auction draft, the Starlets acquired David Johnson for the second consecutive season, but paid dearly for him this time around, spending $70mil on the back, but it was arguably a wise investment in the player that would finish #1 overall at the position in Circus scoring for 2016.  They weren’t so lucky with the second runningback they successfully bid on, paying $57mil on Adrian Peterson in another attempt to duplicate their 2015 backfield;  Peterson went down to injury in Week 3.

Dispite the Peterson misstep, though, the Starlets managed to improve upon their 2015 Round 1 performance, going 5-2 in 2016’s first round, with both of their losses, incredibly coming by just a one point margin each.  Advancing to Round 2, the Starlets took on Matthew Stafford in the Circus’s QB-optional roster, and also picked up Christine Michael and Dez Bryant.  Their best addition turned out to be the pick-up of Calais Campbell who finished at #3 at DL in Circus scoring.

The Scarlett Starlets finished Round 2 with a 4-3 record, same as in 2015, but in the ’16 season, it was good enough to land them in 3rd place, both in the standings and in scoring.  The 3rd place finish meant they would advance to the Championship Round again, becoming the first and only team to do so in Circus history.  In the Round 2 waiver melee, they augmented their roster by upgrading at QB once more to Aaron Rodgers, adding DeMarco Murray at RB, getting linebacker help from Luke Kuechly, and bookending Campbell with Chandler Jones for a #3-#6 DL tandem.  Again, the improvements weren’t enough, as the Starlets one just one of their 3 Round 3 matches, finishing once more in last place with a 1-2/109 record.

Over 2 years of play, the Starlets have accumulated an 18-16-0 record for a .520 lifetime average.  In 2017 they will attempt to reach the Championship Round for what would be a first-ever 3rd consecutive season, and hopefully make a better showing than their prior two outings.