Key Fantasy Football Strategies to Gain an Edge for the Rest of Season

October 2, 2024

Brett looks at winning fantasy football strategies to help you win your leagues. Read his fantasy football advice and tips to win your leagues in 2024.

Welcome! Whether you're 4-0, 0-4, or something in between, we all need some sound strategies to settle us down in the early going of the fantasy football season.

If you’re looking for your 36th start/sit article since last night, you’ve come to the wrong place.

But, if you want to level up, turn off autopilot, and take control of the wheel, this may just be what the doctor ordered. Join me as we discuss some sneaky tactics to gain an advantage in your league.

1. Betting Odds

This may be my favorite of the bunch. The idea is to use NFL betting odds in addition to rankings and start/sit data for fantasy decisions. Specifically, check the point spreads and totals from at least two different sources to gain valuable insight on game expectations and in turn information on the players involved.

The simplest application of this data is to identify the games with the highest expected point totals. Start offensive players from those games and defenses from the lowest-scoring matchups.

Betting Odds 2.0

We can dig even further into this data by looking at point spreads to assume game script. Teams expected to win by the most points should have a run-heavy game plan, while teams expected to lose by the widest margins are likely to pass more frequently. Start your quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers accordingly. Remember, oddsmakers know what they’re doing, and their insights can be a great resource for cross-referencing.

2. All Bench RB

For years, I’ve advocated stacking your bench with running backs. Regardless of how unappealing these players can look as compared to potential Flex players, they are lottery tickets.

Let me explain: running backs are more prone to injury than Wide Receivers. This means that any Running Back that has a clear pathway to primary usage, should there be an injury, is a lottery ticket. We already cuff our star RBs, why not look into cuffing other teams’? Should the starter get hurt, you have yourself starter, flex or trade bait. And guess what? You got ahead of the Waiver Wire, saving valuable FAAB dollars.

Some examples of the types of players I’m referring to are Kenneth Gainwell, Emmanuel Wilson, Tank Bigsby, Antonio Gibson, Kendre Miller, Ray Davis, Isaac Guerendo and so on. And some of the players you could have had on your bench in earlier weeks were Jordan Mason, Zach Charbonett and Trey Sermon.

All Bench RB 2.0

This strategy is especially powerful in leagues that allow you to drop bench players mid- or post-game. You may not even know if this is the setting, so please check to gain a huge advantage in your league. To implement the All Bench RB strategy on steroids, you begin adding and dropping players starting on Thursday night to optimize your chances of hitting the jackpot throughout the weekend.

For example, you pick up Tyler Allgeier for Thursday’s game. If Bijan Robinson gets most of the work and stays healthy, you drop Allgeier towards the end of the game or after the game and pick up another lottery ticket Running Back that is playing at 1pm on Sunday. You then repeat this for the 4pm game and so on.

3. Go With the Hot Hand

When playing Fantasy Football, we should try and temper our emotional attachment to players that we drafted or spent a lot of FAAB on. Instead, we should behave as many real NFL coaches do and go with the hot hand.

What I mean by this, is to start a player who is surging or who is in a very advantageous situation over someone who isn’t performing. Some great examples of players that you should have started over underperforming players were Jauan Jennings in week 3 and and Diontae Johnson in week 4. Fantasy managers who started these players were handsomely rewarded.

We find ourselves with many players that we love and are heavily invested in that are underperforming, presenting us with this very strategy to implement. Some examples are Garrett Wilson, DJ Moore, Brandon Aiyuk, Jaylen Waddle, Zay Flowers, Tee Higgins, Kyler Murray, Tank Dell, Zamir White and many more. Are there players in smash positions that you should start over them such as Diontae Johnson or Justin Fields? The answer to these examples many times is...... YES.

There is no exact science to this strategy, but the general idea is that draft capital and FAAB investment should not cloud our decision making as to who is the best player to start. Sit your stud for a week or two until they course correct and win in the process.

4. Trade Based on Your Record

If you have a dominant winning record, which starts around 4-0 or 5-0, try and trade with losing teams. Go after star players who are underperforming or injured players. Your trade bait should be lower tier players of your own that are performing well. Let’s say you find yourself 5-0, it is worthwhile to try and see who you can trade to get Isiah Pacheco, Cooper Kupp, Nick Chubb, Bijan Robinson or Travis Etienne.

The alternative strategy goes for losing teams. If your team is 0-5, you need to play as if it is the playoffs; to win now. That means it is time to trade stars with name recognition who aren’t performing at the moment or are injured. Guys like Kupp and CMC have no business being on teams that must win immediately for any chance at the playoffs.

Thanks so much for reading about some of my favorite strategies. Please be sure to hit me up on X @BrettMitchellFB for any help or to let me know that these worked for you!

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