Fantasy Football: A Champion's Weekly Winning Routine

*record scratch* FORGET EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT FANTASY FOOTBALL.

If you want to win (you do), your preparation needs to start WAY before Sunday. And it quite literally never stops.

Your family can see you in February…

📅 Tuesday

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” —Semisonic … and fantasy football champions everywhere.

Tuesday means the previous week has officially ended and we’re ready to start prepping for a fresh week of matchups.

Podcasts are dropping their recaps. Waiver Wire articles are going live. And more than anything, we’re looking ahead.

It’s time to set your waivers, but you should also be investigating your leaguemates’ lineups for intel. Did their team get injured? That might make them more aggressive in waivers, which may necessitate FAAB adjustments on your end.

Tuesday‘s To-Do List:

Consume podcasts & articles on game recaps
Check waiver wire rankings
Assess your team for any injuries
Assess your leaguemates’ teams for injuries
Set your waiver acquisitions (and backups, just in case you miss out)

📅 Wednesday

Most waivers run when the clock strikes midnight. It’s time to see if you lucked out!

It’s also important to clean up the scraps that have fallen to the waiver wire floor. So many players were dropped overnight. So many. Remember: One man’s trash is another man’s Wednesday Waiver Priority bid.

This is also a great time to take a peek at your leaguemates’ waiver misses. This might give you insight into which positions they feel they’re weakest at—which you can use for trading leverage later on…

Wednesday’s To-Do List:

Check your waiver pickups & misses
See which players your leaguemates dropped
Check your leaguemates’ waiver misses
Start to assess your leaguemates’ lineup weaknesses

📅 Thursday

It’s game day! But it’s so much more than that.

It’s important to start thinking about trades NOW. Your league is finally starting to check back in after their brief fantasy hiatus, and they’ll be noticing their weaknesses as they set their lineups.

You should also read up, buttercup. Determine which players you’re going to target to buy or sell in trades before the majority of the games are underway.

Thursday’s To-Do List:

Set your lineups
Move TNF players out of your FLEX
Prep with Buy, Sell, Hold articles
Determine your team’s strengths and weaknesses for potential trades
Watch the game

📅 Friday

Fridays are an absolute free-for-all.

If you’re considering any trade moves, today is the day to start putting feelers out there. Maybe you want to put a player on the block or start asking around for some RB depth in the group chat.

TGIF? More like TFTT: Time For Talking Trash. Fridays are for sh*t talking and mind games. It’s the end of the work week and people are readily available to mentally check out of work and into the game. Plus, you might’ve put up points on Thursday, and that’s great ammo for conversation.

Friday’s To-Do List:

Talk trash with your opponent privately
Initiate trade talks
Send initial trade offers
Begin trade negotiations
Talk trash with your opponent publically

📅 Saturday

It’s officially crunch time. Wrap up those trade negotiations!

Injury reports are rolling in and we should have a clearer idea of which players will be/won’t be suiting up on Sunday. You need to calculate what your worst-case lineup scenarios might be if someone’s rocking the dreaded “Doubtful” and/or “Questionable” tags.

READ. WATCH. LISTEN. Consume start/sit articles. Check out Matthew Berry’s Love/Hate column. Research your players’ defensive matchups.

It’s also time to set waivers for kickers and defenses if you stream them week-to-week.

Saturday’s To-Do List:

Determine any holes in your starting lineup
Consume start/sits columns
Check Matthew Berry’s weekly Love/Hate column
Check injury reports
Finalize trade negotiations before Sunday
Kicker/Defense streamers

📅 Sunday

LET’S F*CKING GO! It’s game day, baby!

First off, don’t panic. But if your players are a “Game-time decision,” you need to make sure that you’ve got a backup plan ready to go. Check which time your players are set to kick off to see who, if any, will be available to take a “Doubtful” player’s spot.

You should have already locked in any lingering trade offers. Pro tip: Be sure to cancel any pending offers that you’ve sent out before kickoff.

This is also your last chance for start/sit decisions. But nothing’s officially locked in place until kickoff. So this is your permission to tinker your little heart out! <3

Oh, and remember to have fun. This is a game, after all. If you need a “get out of anything to watch football” excuse, we’ve got you covered.

Sunday’s To-Do List:

Tinker, tinker, tinker
Final start/sits
Check final Injury reports
Watch football, uninterrupted
Prep for backup plans
Enjoy the fruits of your labors

📅 Monday

Wow, we’re almost done with a full week of action. But the curtain isn’t closed just yet.

On Mondays, some of us must come to accept our fate. Others, with games left to play, are calculating what we need to get the W. It’s the final leg of the race and soon … everything will be out of your hands (well, until Tuesday).

You’ll also need to find out how players fared on Sunday. Instead of slugging your way through the data, we’ve done it all for you with The Utilization Score that comes out every Monday. Check out the strength of a player’s role and performance relative to their peers.

Once MNF wraps, be sure to get some rest. We’ve got a big day ahead tomorrow. Tuesday is when the next week begins.

Monday’s To-Do List:

Watch Monday Night Football
Hope for the best
Consume The Utilization Score
Accept your fate
Post-MNF beauty sleep

🔁 REPEAT