First, I ,I dug around online. I wa.no nted to get a sense of what everyone else was saying about these love/hate lists. There are tons of sites with their own takes, so I cross-referenced a few of them. Basically, I was trying to find some consensus, some common ground about which players are being overhyped and which ones are being slept on.
Next, I started making my own spreadsheet. Yeah, I know, super exciting. But seriously, I put all the players mentioned in the articles I read into a table. I added columns for "Love," "Hate," and "Neutral." Then, I went through each article again and marked whether the writer loved, hated, or was neutral on each player. This helped me visualize the data and see the trends.
Then I focused on the running backs. I figured that's where most of the action is, right? So, I narrowed down my spreadsheet to just the RBs and really dug into their recent performance. I looked at things like touches, yards, touchdowns, and even things like snap percentage and opportunities in the red zone. Gotta get granular, you know?
Watched some game film! Okay, not all the games, but I tried to catch highlights and key plays for the RBs I was most interested in. You can tell a lot more from watching someone play than you can from just looking at stats. Did they look fast? Were they breaking tackles? Were they getting good blocking?
I started tweaking my lineup based on my findings. I had a couple of guys who were on the "hate" list that I was still starting. I started looking for potential replacements on the waiver wire. Found a few guys who were on the "love" list and made some moves.
Talked to my league-mates. You know, a little trash talk, a little friendly competition. I asked them who they were high on and who they were avoiding. It's always good to get a different perspective, even if you don't agree with it. Plus, maybe they'll tip their hand and reveal a player they're planning to trade.
Made my final lineup decisions. This is always the toughest part. You second-guess yourself, you worry about making the wrong call. But you just gotta trust your gut and go with what you think is the best move. I ended up benching one of my "hate" guys and starting a "love" guy. We'll see how it goes.
Followed the games live. This is the fun part, right? Sweating every play, cheering for your guys, and cursing the other team. I kept an eye on my players' stats and adjusted my expectations as the games went on. It's a rollercoaster, that's for sure.
After all the games wrapped up, I reviewed my performance. Did my "love" guys perform as expected? Did my "hate" guys bust? What did I learn from this week that I can apply to next week? I gotta make sure I keep learning and improving.
- Read expert analysis.
- Compiled data into a spreadsheet.
- Focused on key positions.
- Observed game footage.
- Tweaked my fantasy lineup.
It was a lot of work, but honestly, I had a blast doing it. Whether or not I win this week, I feel like I learned something and that's what matters.
