5 Tips to Success in the Fantasy Football Playoffs

The Fantasy Football playoffs are a short sprint after a 13-week endurance run, and you have to think of them a little differently.

This article was submitted as a guest piece from Andy Germani. We do like to post guest articles from writers, so if you’re interested, read the bottom of this article to see what you should do.

I asked Andy to shoot me an article with some good tips for winning games in the Fantasy Football playoffs – and he did a great job! — DG

5 Tips for the Fantasy Football Playoffs

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Rely on the Flavor of the Week

A common phrase when the playoffs roll around is, “Dance with the one that brought you,” or something similar. But instead, do not be afraid to start Andre Brown over Stevan Ridley, or start Riley Cooper over Danny Amendola.

Just because players were drafted higher in August does not mean you should be starting them in December.

2. Don’t Get Cute

Slightly contradictory to No. 1, but play your best players. For example, if this past week had been a playoff game you are not going to sit Peyton Manning just because he was playing the Chiefs, so you can start Case Keenum just because he has a better matchup.  

3. Don’t Just Take It One Game at a Time

In sports, “Take it one game at a time,” is probably the most common phrase used by athletes and coaches. However, Fantasy Sports are different.

Looking forward to Week 16, when we still have to win to get there, is not going to change how our players play.

If there is someone who can possibly help your team in week 16 or 17, if your playoffs last that long, such as Randall Cobb, pick him up. Just because he can’t help you this week doesn’t mean you shouldn’t add him.

4. Start Your Best Lineup

It seems self-explanatory, but I do not know how many times I have seen people want to start a defense based only on the premise of that defense is playing the other team’s quarterback. Or they want to sit their top defense because they are facing their own quarterback. The two positions are separate from each other and have no effect on the others’ outcome.

Play the lineup that will score the most points.

5. Utilize Your Bench

I think this is the most important aspect of playoff success.

Once bye weeks are gone, people will often only worry about the top two or three players on their bench, since they are the only ones who have a chance to start. Look deeper at your bench, and if you see players that you would never start — cut them.

Having Emmanuel Sanders was nice for Weeks 6-10, but is he ever going to start over Josh Gordon, Alshon Jeffery or Demaryius Thomas, when you are only required to start two? It is time to let Sanders go, so you can grab a Kendall Hunter, if you have Frank Gore, or possibly add a second defense to help you play matchups throughout the playoffs.

You don’t want to be the guy who is eighth in waiver priority, or low on FAAB, that loses out on grabbing his handcuff because you waited a week too long. You can also use your bench to prevent your opponents from adding valuable pieces to their team.

The best tip for your Fantasy Football playoffs is just to remember to have fun and enjoy the playoff run. Trash talk with your buddies and get together to watch the games. Congratulations and good luck on your playoff run!

The preceding was a guest article by an aspiring Fantasy Football writer that recently reached out to me. I got my start as a contributing writer on a site back in 2000, called FFInformer.com, which is no longer around. So I like to offer up opportunities to other young, aspiring writers to do the same. If you’d like to write a guest article, and get some constructive criticism, click the Contact DG link and let me know what you’re thinking. Good luck! — Gonos