It is with mixed emotions that I’m announcing that I’m stepping away from Devy Watch. This project has been a big part of my life for the past several years. To be honest, I never intended to go as far on this journey as a formal content creator as I did. It was a happy accident that I ever got involved in the fantasy space at all in many ways. I happened to stumble upon a football Twitter conversation with my former colleague, LJ Chaney, back in early 2017. Per usual, I had no idea what I was talking about, as I was touting receivers like Jester Weah and Allenzae Staggers as legitimate NFL prospects – whoops! I’d never heard of dynasty or devy leagues, but I’d watched college football for a long time and thought that I had a decent eye for talent. I spoke to LJ and several of the decision-makers at our former company, DFF, and they invited me to come on board and join the team. Despite not knowing anything about the formats that I would be covering, I was up for a new challenge.
At that time, I was a brand new father and my primary business wasn’t nearly as demanding of my time. After a few years, several of us took a leap and decided to launch our own site. Fast forward five years and my family and primary business have both grown. That’s a blessing. I have to make some difficult decisions regarding how I want to invest my time in both the short and long term. I’d like to say that my family has always come first, but that hasn’t been the way that I’ve consistently prioritized my time. Creating the type of long-form content that I’m proud to publish and share with our subscribers comes with a cost. Throughout the past couple of years, I’ve often ignored that inner voice that was asking questions about my priorities. As is the case nearly every time I’ve done that in my life, I felt a sense of regret for not listening sooner. In many ways, I feel like I was violating my conscience by not deciding to re-prioritize sooner than I did. Well, I’m listening now, and I’ve decided to make a hard choice and step away from creating fantasy content.
I want to publicly express my heartfelt thanks to the guys that I’ve been laboring with at Devy Watch. Brad, Clay, Cody, Greg, Jason, and the artist formerly known as LJ: I love you guys, and it’s truly been a pleasure to get to know all of you and collaborate on all things Devy Watch. We’ve shared a lot of life together over these last several years, and above all else, I appreciate that this dream of ours allowed us to share in those personal moments together. You guys have helped to pioneer in this space, and I’m proud of all of you and grateful to call you all my friends and brothers.
To all of the subscribers of Devy Watch, new and old, thank you. I’ve always wanted to help others in any area of life, and I hope that I did that for you in some capacity. I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with and get to know many of you, and I don’t have plans to say goodbye to any of you or these relationships. I am grateful for your support, and while I won’t get into all of the specifics of it here, some of the supplemental income I made at Devy Watch helped to resource an under-resourced community, and your loyalty and support is a big reason for that. Full disclosure, it also landed me a closet full of LYNN BOWDEN apparel and a TWERKINS rookie card. Which venture is more noble or rewarding? Who can say for certain?
I plan to finish out the rest of 2021 and provide some PrizePicks, Bowl Game write-ups, and possibly (very maybe, probably not) one last Devy piece to put a bow on this chapter of life. I’ll still be on Twitter and sharing thoughts on football and whatever else is of interest to me at the time. I’ll just be doing it in an informal capacity and feel greater freedom to invest in other passions without any deadlines or obligations. Once again, thank you for reading all of my ramblings, and I sincerely wish all of you and yours the best!
I’ll leave you with this final thought: DON’T DRAFT INCOMING FRESHMEN OR SUB-200 POUND RUNNING BACKS IN DEVY DRAFTS! (NARD DOG/HARBAUGH 2024)
– Kyle
