I’m now up to five drafts of the chop variety, including a couple that took place over the long weekend.
After spending all summer drafting best ball teams where I’m optimizing for the weeks where all the money is won (15-17), my strategic focus does a complete 180 in the Guillotine Leagues™ format where all I care about is surviving the first few weeks of the season and figuring it out from there (each week the worst team’s players are all tossed into the waiver wire).
It results in some pretty funny exposure flips …
Texans rookie WR Jaylin Noel is one of my favorite late-round selections in best ball because of his late-season spike week potential, but I selected Christian Kirk in both of my recent Guillotine™ drafts because he’s going to provide a high floor early in the season as the WR2 alongside Nico Collins.
In best ball, I’m prioritizing WRs early because I can find RBs later in the draft who can see their outlook greatly improve as the chaos of the season kicks in—think Zach Charbonnet in the event of a Kenneth Walker injury. But in my Guillotine Leagues™, I’ve been hammering RB early because that is where I can guarantee projectable volume at the start of the year.
Here were my first three rounds in both of those recent drafts:
1) Jahmyr Gibbs, Breece Hall, TreVeon Henderson
2) Jonathan Taylor, Bucky Irving, Tony Pollard
It is definitely a fantasy cliche at this point, but knowing your league settings is extremely important.
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We’ve made it. Week 1 is here, and we have regular season football in a mere three days. While we know everyone is excited to dive into rankings, predictions, and everything Week 1, we also know people are still drafting! If that’s you, make sure you head into your draft prepared with everything you need below:
In case you missed it, Dwain McFarland updated his fantasy football draft strategy to account for 53-man roster cutdowns, ADP movements, and more. There’s no better way to ensure a perfect draft.
The cherry on top of any perfect draft? An elite fantasy football team name. Whether you want to tout your Round 1 pick or embarrass a leaguemate, you can’t go wrong with these choices.
An Early Look At Ian Hartitz’s Week 1 Rankings
What follows are Ian’s abbreviated early Week 1 fantasy football rankings (PPR) along with some key questions and answers ahead of the season's first slate of action.
And speaking of key questions, Ian tackled the Week 1 outlook on a Falcons budding star … Is Drake London poised for even bigger things in 2025?
“Well, if you take London's average numbers in his three games with Michael Penix and multiply them by 17 … you get 221 targets, 125 receptions, 1,995 receiving yards, and 11 TDs. It's science!
But all Drake and Josh'ing around aside: London's "my ball" mentality and ability to win in tight spaces should lead to bigger and better things in year four alongside a QB who appeared more than willing to take chances during his brief time under center last season. We can't ignore the reality that Darnell Mooney actually out-gained London in total receiving yards during the first 14 weeks of last season, but hey, both were still productive enough to be inside the league's top nine during that stretch anyway.
Top-eight status (my WR8 this week) feels more than fair for London at the moment based on what he accomplished in 2024; just realize there's a chance we're looking at a legit top-five fantasy WR sooner rather than later should Penix again prove willing to force feed his No. 1 WR well ahead of everyone else.”
For an early look at Ian’s Week 1 rankings and who he’s upgrading and downgrading, read on.🚨⤵️
Speaking of Week 1 rankings, it’s time to flip our perspective from looking at a player’s long-term outlook to their outlook for this week.
When doing so, you’re likely to experience some shell shock. What do you mean Trevor Lawrence is ranked as the QB11 after he was ranked QB19 all season and was getting drafted as the consensus QB22??
See? It requires a slight mental adjustment. So, to help with that transition, we’ve highlighted four players below who are ranked significantly higher for Week 1 than they are for the season as a whole ...
I guess that’s just one long way of burying the lede …
Our Week 1 rankings are live and ready for you to dive into. What’re you waiting for? ⤵️
Freedman’s Favorite RBs: Saquon Barkley Will Ride The Cowboys
It’s Week 1, and Matthew Freedman didn’t waste any time with his Freedman’s Favorites, tabbing Saquon Barkley in Thursday’s season kickoff, as the Eagles take on the Cowboys to begin defense of their crown. Why is Saquon such a good choice this week?
Freedman lays out all the reasons why last year’s Mr. 2K will shine against the Cowboys, and adds several other RB options who are great starting options in the season’s opening week.
