Story by Jake Bolek, Reporter

Photo Courtesy of Kaitlin Goodenough 

In an ideal world, Matthew Stafford would have a running back like Le’Veon Bell and Tom Brady would be throwing passes to Antonio Brown. Fantasy Football allows these player pairings to come to life, at least in the fantasy world.

In Fantasy Football individuals can form teams by selecting players from any team in the National Football League (NFL). Players earn points based on the statistics of their individual performances for the week. Then the points of the starting lineup are added up in hopes to crush your friends and earn those wonderful bragging rights. 

A great Fantasy Football team starts with a strategic draft including nine spots in the starting lineup and seven on the bench. The usual starting lineup consists of one quarterback (QB), two running backs (RB), two wide receivers (WR), one tight end (TE), one flex player that is either a RB, WR, or TE, one team’s defense (DEF), and one kicker (K). My bench usually consists of two RBs, two WRs, one TE, one QB, and another DEF. 

For the first pick, I suggest a good RB. They are deemed valuable because they are used more often in the offense. Over the next couple of rounds, I suggest choosing RBs and WRs. I typically wait until about round six to select a QB. I use this strategy because most of the QBs will put up around the same amount of points and it’s harder to find good RBs early on. 

Once the draft is complete the lineup is managed from week to week, taking into consideration players that have been hurt and teams that have a bye week, or a week of not playing. Every year there’s that one Fantasy owner who’s team gets messed up because his or her top player goes down with a devastating injury.

So far this year Tyreek Hill, Saquan Barkley, Ben Roethlisberger, and others have been injured. Holdouts, when players don’t show up to practice or games in hopes of receiving a contract extension, are another aspect to consider. They have become a popular trend. Last season one of the top RBs in the league, Le’Veon Bell, held out for the entire year. This year Melvin Gordon held out until week four and Ezekiel Elliott until the end of the preseason. 

Who’s Up, Who’s Down

After a great week one putting up 46 points, Kansas City Chiefs WR, Sammy Watkins has fallen back down to Earth and is now averaging ten points in the last three games. Tom Brady started out averaging 23 points the past three weeks but has since dropped to only four points last week. 

Looking up, the New York Giants QB Daniel Jones had his first career start last week and managed to pull off a win against a strong Tampa Bay defense. The Washington Redskins WR Terry McLaurin is another guy who has been on the rise. McLaurin has averaged around 19 points a game and is looking to be a bigger part of the offense in the coming weeks. 

There are a couple big games coming up, the first being Philadelphia at Minnesota on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how a banged-up Eagles offense performs against a stout Vikings defense. Eagles QB Carson Wentz will be a player to watch in this game.

Another big matchup of the week will be Detroit at Green Bay on Monday Night Football. Detroit is coming off a bye week and needs to limit turnovers, while Green Bay is trying to figure out its offense. Detroit’s WR Kenny Golladay is another player to watch. It’s been an interesting fantasy season so far, and there’s still a lot of football left to play.