It's often said that fantasy football leagues are not won in the first few rounds of the draft, but rather in the later rounds and through the waiver-wire. With that in mind, here's to the top waiver-wire pick-ups of the year, many of whom helped owners win championships and many of whom are the reason why fantasy owners lost.

Top-10 Waiver Wire Pickups of the Year

10. Toby Gerhart, RB, Vikings (Average Draft Position: Undrafted)
Week 12-17 stats: 85 carries, 413 yards (68.83 avg), 18 rec, 129 yards (21.5 avg), 4 total TDs
After spending most of the fantasy season as an afterthought, Gerhart was thrust into the fantasy spotlight when Adrian Peterson suffered a high ankle sprain in week 11. With AP owners hoping for any kind of replacement production, Gerhart ran off a streak of 5 double digit fantasy point weeks despite Christian Ponder's efforts to turn the ball over as often as possible. Few running backs were as consistent as Gerhart, who will become a familiar name by the time next year's fantasy drafts begin as Adrian Peterson's torn ACL and MCL will keep him out at least until the middle of next season.

9. Fred Davis, TE, Redskins (ADP: Undrafted)
Week 1-13 stats: 59 rec, 796 yards (66.33 avg), 3 TDs
Despite being a top-4 option for much of the season, Davis was still available in over 13 percent of ESPN standard 10-man leagues as late as week 10. Davis scored at least 9 fantasy points 7 out of the 12 games he played and would have finished with even better stats if he had not been suspended for the last four games of the season after testing positive for marijuana... On a related note, how is it that the police can find copious amounts of marijuana in Jerome Simpson's home, accuse Simpson of "distribution" and yet Davis is the one who gets suspended for four games without pay?

8. Antonio Brown, WR, Steelers (ADP: Undrafted)
Week 7-14 stats: 37 rec, 663 yards (94.71 avg), 3 TDs
It took a little while for the 2nd year player out of Central Michigan to start producing (he was one of the highest targeted players all season long) but we forgive him because in the seven week stretch from week 7-14, Brown had at least 8 fantasy points in every single game and reached double digits in five of those games. Hines Ward may never retire (just to spite us) but Brown has earned the #2 receiving spot in Pittsburgh and will be a top pick in next year's draft as Ben Roethlisberger's favorite possession receiver.

7. Tim Tebow, QB, Broncos (ADP: Undrafted)
Week 7-16 stats: 1590 passing yards (159 avg), 11 TDs, 5 INTs, 109 carries, 606 rushing yards (60.6 avg), 5 TDs
During weeks 7-16 Tebow averaged 17.1 fantasy points per game. If that production was averaged out for a full 16 games, Tebow would have finished with 273 fantasy points, exactly the same number that Eli Manning finished with. More importantly, Tebow's success makes Merril Hoge angry, and that's reason enough to like the guy.

6. Seahawks D/ST (ADP: Undrafted)
Gotta give love to the defenses too. The Seahawks finished as the 4th best fantasy defense mostly because of their production in weeks 11-15 when they averaged 17.4 fantasy points and scored at least 17 points in 4 out of those 5 weeks. Their 29 fantasy points (standard scoring) in week 15 couldn't have come at a more convenient time.

5. DeMarco Murray, RB, Cowboys (ADP: 147.8, 15th round)
Week 7-14 stats: 139 carries, 824 yards (103 avg), 22 rec, 160 yards (20 avg) 2 total TDs
Fantasy owners lucky enough to pick up Murray rode him until he wore out, leaving them down a running back right at the beginning of the fantasy playoffs. For this, you could argue that Murray was a terrible pick-up, but that would just be mean spirited. Dude was a beast in action and played good enough to send Felix Jones to the bench. Unfortunately, the situation for 2012 will most likely end up as a timeshare between the two.

4. 49ers D/ST (ADP: Undrafted)
Fantasy football's best defense in 2011 and they weren't even drafted. In half of their games the 49ers D scored in the double digits.

3. Laurent Robinson, WR, Cowboys (ADP: Undrafted)
Week 8-17 stats: 40 rec, 625 yards (62.5 avg), 11 TDs
Not shown in the statistics above is the consistency Robinson brought. He scored at least 9 fantasy points in five straight games starting in week 8 and finished with 11 touchdowns over the last 10 games, despite Austin returning from injury in the last four.


2. Victor Cruz, WR, Giants (Average Draft Position: Undrafted)
Week 3-17 stats: 80 rec, 1519 yards (108.5 avg), 9 TDs
Fantasy owners were right to be high on the Giants #2 receiver going into 2011 because someone had to make up for all the production that Steve Smith left. Unfortunately, many of those owners pegged Mario Manningham to be that guy. So close... While Manningham is still a talented wide receiver, Cruz showed how much better a receiver he is, starting in week 3 when he burned cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha for a deep touchdown. Cruz ended up setting the Giants single-season receiving record and will no doubt be a top-15 wide receiver pick in 2012.

2011 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire MVP

1. Cam Newton, QB, Panthers (Average Draft Position: 117.0, 12th round)
Week 1-17 stats: 4051 passing yards (253.19 avg), 21 TDs, 17 INTs, 126 carries, 706 yards (44.125 avg), 14 TDs
The scariest thing about Newton is not the ridiculous amount of rushing touchdowns he produced, it's his passing statistics. Newton threw for more than 4000 yards and only had a 21:17 touchdown to interception ratio, which should be improved upon in 2012. As for the fantasy season, he tied Tom Brady with 352 fantasy points on the year and broke multiple rushing touchdown marks. Don't expect a second year slump from Newton, at least fantasy-wise.

Until next year gentlemen and gentleladies.

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