In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Hims:

One of the most frustrating parts of fantasy football is that we’re chasing after weekly perfection in a game that laughs in the face of that idea. But that’s also part of the beauty.

True perfection doesn’t exist anywhere, let alone in a game that uses a lemon-shaped ball and relies on a roster of human beings working in harmony with even more human beings. Players, coaches, refs, even the fans in the stadium—These are all just humans who get sick, muddle through injuries, or just generally have bad days at the office.

But hypothetically, for today and today only, let’s pretend perfection is on the table. What would that look like in fantasy football, if even for one week?

Well, let’s look back. To get off to a perfect start last season, this is what your Week 1 roster would’ve looked like (assuming 0.5-PPR and four-point passing touchdowns):

• QB—Josh Allen
• RB—Saquon Barkley
• RB—Joe Mixon
• WR—Jayden Reed
• WR—Cooper Kupp
• Flex—Allen Lazard
• TE—Isaiah Likely

That mostly tracks as a reasonable lineup based on last year’s ADP. But if you started Lazard or Likely in Week 1, then you’re either a witch or you had a horribly imperfect end to your draft day (too many mango habanero wings? Been there, friend).

But hey, in the pursuit of perfection, let’s say you made some key waiver pickups and rolled with that same crew in Week 2. Surely you would’ve been thrilled with the results and started clearing space on the mantle for the league trophy.

… Except that Joe Mixon barely scraped his way into the top 36 RBs that week. And not one of those receivers finished inside the top 40.

And Isaiah Likely completely disappeared, racking up the same amount of fantasy points as someone named Eric Saubert (who has 47 career catches through eight seasons, by the way).

And worst of all—this one even hurts to type—Josh Allen finished as freaking QB28 in Week 2!

Some of those guys obviously bounced back or even DOMINATED the rest of the season. But some never again reached their season debut prowess.

And hey, I’m not trying to dishearten anyone here. Quite the opposite! Because my point is that EVERYONE has bad weeks, and NO ONE is perfect. And all that matters is how you handle the rough weeks and imperfections. That’s as true in fantasy football as it is in life.

So yes, please, by all means, study the rankings. Do some mock drafts (yours truly has already used and abused our poor mock draft simulator, presented by Gopuff). Get yourself as ready for draft day and Week 1 as you possibly can.

But if you don’t leave your draft with all the players you hoped you would, or you don’t get off to that habanero hot start you wanted … take a deep breath and think about Allen Lazard. And smile at the absurdity of it all.

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