Fantasy Football. The joy of the NFL for some, a way to make money for others, a casual pastime for still more. Your office’s annual Fantasy Football league gives you a reason to bicker over names like Daniel Jones and Jared Goff. It gives you a chance to reminisce about that year you won your office fantasy football league because that finally WAS Tim Tebow’s year. It gives friendly co-workers an additional conversation topic on Monday mornings to help pass the time by the (virtual) water cooler.
It’s the coup de gras that will finally cement you as a superior employee to Jenkins in Accounting. Or maybe it’s just a hobby.
Either way, fantasy football is a low-stakes way to compete with friends, family, and co-workers. Here are six steps to win your office league in 2020.
1. Draft an elite Tight End.
Tight End is one of the shallowest positions in fantasy football for 2020. There are 5 guys that are projected to score numbers that could rival any top 24 WR: Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Mark Andrews, Darren Waller, and Zach Ertz. Beyond that, there are a lot of tight ends that project to score closer to the WR40 range and below. Guys like Hayden Hurst, Austin Hooper, Jared Cook, etc, but there’s a huge gap between the top 5 and the rest of the field.
Related | Tight Ends We Love To Draft In 2020
The team that wins your 2020 Office fantasy football league will own a top-5 tight end. Make sure it’s you. You can draft Travis Kelce or George Kittle as high as the second round in a PPR or standard league.
2. Don’t miss out on Running Back talent.
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We all want to have Christian McCaffrey or Saquon Barkley, and for good reason. But unless you end up with a top-2 pick, you’re not going to get one of them. However, it is still vitally important to have a top-12 running back for 2020. The difference between owning Ezekiel Elliot and owning Julio Jones is not that Zeke is going to score more than Jones, it’s that there are more second-tier WRs than there are second-tier RBs. If you miss out on a top-12 Running back, you may end up with Chris Carson, Mark Ingram, and David Montgomery as your top 3 RBs, and you won’t win a 2020 league if that’s the case.
Related | Six Running Backs We Love To Draft In 2020
The winner of your office league will have at least one top-12 Running Back. Don’t get stuck trying to play the Zero RB strategy, even by accident. Draft a running back in the first round.
3. Wait to draft QB.
The team that wins your office championship (and immeasurable bragging rights) won’t own Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. Instead, they will own a high-upside later-round QB like Jared Goff, Josh Allen, or even Tom Brady.
Why?
Related | Target These Quarterbacks In 2020 Fantasy Drafts
Because using a high draft pick on a QB misses out on the elite talent that can be available in the early rounds, and the dropoff between the top tier QBs and other positions is a lot less drastic than it is at WR or RB or especially TE. It’s exciting to have Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes, but unless you’re playing in a superflex league or another 2QB format, the value just isn’t worth it. Unless Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson is available in the 4th round, just wait until the 8th or later to draft a QB.
4. Pick high-upside WRs that could break out or bounce back in 2020.
Although I won’t go into tons of detail in this article, there are plenty of mid-round WRs that have the upside to be a top-12 guy. Allen Robinson, Adam Thielen, Calvin Ridley, DJ Moore, AJ Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, Robert Woods, Tyler Lockett, and T.Y. Hilton are all really good bets to be making at WR during the mid-rounds, for a number of reasons for each one. You don’t need to take a WR in the first two rounds to get a top-12 producer.
Related | Six Must-Draft Wide Receivers In 2020
The winner of your 2020 Office Championship game will not have Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, Davante Adams, or DeAndre Hopkins on their roster. These players aren’t a trap, and they aren’t bad. But their price is too high for the deep supply of talent at their position. Don’t draft them before the 3rd round.
5. Prepare for players to miss time.
During 2020, more players will miss time than ever before, whether that’s with COVID-19 or with shortened camps, so players just aren’t in the same game-ready shape that they normally would be. This can be especially devastating if it’s your top running back.
That’s why it’s important to draft good backup running backs, ‘handcuffs’ towards the end of your draft. A player like Tony Pollard or Chase Edmonds isn’t going to help you win your league, until Ezekiel Elliot or Kenyan Drake miss time. And then they become top-15 options at the position. For your RB depth, target Tony Pollard, Chase Edmonds, Latavius Murray, and Alexander Mattison.
6. Stay involved during the season.
The 2020 season will look unpredictable with COVID-19, no preseason, more players missing time, etc. The entire season long, there will be key guys missing time and new players stepping into their roles. Keep an eye on the waiver wire, and when players go down with the virus, take advantage of a bad situation, and get their replacement on the waiver wire.
The team that wins the 2020 Office Championship will have a player in their starting lineup that wasn’t drafted before the season. Make sure it’s you by staying engaged season-long to talk trash and win those big games.
If you follow those six steps, you’re putting yourself in the best position to win your fantasy football league. But more than anything? Talk some trash, have fun, and do your best to beat Jenkins in Accounting.
