Fantasy Football Tips and Who/What Will Help You Succeed

Staff Writer: Connor Conkell 

Fantasy Football season is coming up soon, right after the preseason is over. If you haven’t already formed a league with friends, or even drafted your team already, it is not too late to trade or draft your team. Here are some sleepers that you might want, or some of the top picks you could possibly still grab. I am here to help you draft a solid and winning team. 

Your 1^st pick will usually be a high caliber running back due to all the yards they can get in a game, either from rushing or receiving. You could also take a risk and get a high caliber wide receiver, like Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, or Calvin Ridley. If you have a high first round pick, use it wisely, so a high caliber running back like Christian McCaffrey or Derrick Henry, or even Dalvin Cook would be great pickups.  

One of my league members, RJ Recknagel, is in his first year of playing Fantasy Football. He stated, “Don’t forget about how important the bye weeks are. You don’t want your bench players to have the same bye week as your starters.” This is a solid point he mentioned that even I hadn’t thought about and most players would not look out for.  

Your bench players play a really important role in your team. If your starting quarterback has a bye week at Week 9, you will want to have a solid backup. You would use your later picks for your bench players. If you have star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, you will want a solid backup quarterback, like Ryan Tannehill or Matt Ryan.  

With your later picks, you would want to obviously fill in the rest of your roster. This includes defense, tight end, and kicker. Especially tight end. There are many high caliber tight ends out there including Travis Kelce, who was top 5 in receiving yards last year, or Darren Waller, who had an outstanding 2020 season with the Raiders.  

However, kickers and defense are important too. The Buccaneers’ defense was phenomenal last year. The defense was one of the main reasons they won the Super Bowl. The 49ers’ defense was riddled with injuries last year, but with star players like Nick Bosa and Jimmie Ward, this defense will come back stronger than ever. You don’t want to pick a weak defense though, like Atlanta’s or Seattle’s defense. With kickers, you want someone who will make every kick almost guaranteed, like Younghoe Koo or Justin Tucker. You will use your later picks on these positions however, because you will look silly drafting a kicker, or even worse, a defense, in the first round. 

Lastly, injuries, the worst thing to happen to anyone in Fantasy Football players. Last year, Christian McCaffery only played three games in the 2020 season. Other stars, including Saquon Barkley, Julio Jones, Dak Prescott, and Geroge Kittle, had their seasons cut short due to injury. Now that all these stars are back, they are ready to come back stronger, so watch out for them if you are going against them. You will also want to watch out for the injuries that happen in the games to make sure that you can replace that player, or sign someone from free agency.  

You can even trade with your members of your league. This is when your bench comes in handy, unless it was your bench player that got injured. You can replace your injured starter with a solid bench player that you got with your late draft picks.  

“This is not a game. This is serious business right here.” One of my members, Eamon Hernandez, is all about competition. He wants to win. We all want to win, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes it’s up to luck to decide your fate on if you win or lose. I lost many games myself due to missed kicks, or defense giving up yards left and right. Or even receivers dropping passes or quarterbacks not being able to throw correctly. 

By the same token, this game is also about thinking right, making the right decisions, and making the right pick when you’re up to pick a player. You will also have to follow the Fantasy Football news to stay updated on new injuries every week, players not performing to their potential, or trades going around your league.