Fantasy Football Hot Takes: A few untraditional opinions by that you might want to try in your league.

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet dropping a fat zero in Fantasy Football week one or Miami third-string running back De’Von Achane scoring 51.7 fantasy points week three — this NFL season is unpredictable… or is it?

For the non-football fans, Fantasy Football is a game where you make a team of NFL players whose performance in real life during games determines the outcome of your team.

My friends consider my strategies uncanny and sometimes outright stupid, but with the #1 team in our league, here are some of my hot takes.

KMET. I know that the general strategy for point per reception — a league rule where each reception counts as a point for that player — is to roster a wide receiver in the flex position but for weeks four and five I flexed a TE — Cole Kmet. 

It was a hard decision to make, given his upsetting week one performance but my Hail Mary was caught. During week four, Kmet scored 27.6 points and then followed it up with 15.2 points the next week. Those were crucial points in my victory in both weeks, so I want to do the same for week six.

THIELEN. My friends claimed I was crazy and I got flamed for trading Panther’s WR Adam Thielen for WR Mike Evans, but I told them to let him cook. He did. Despite a poor week one performance, Thielen has been consistently scoring an average of 19.6 points a game — an average comparable to top wide receivers — and it doesn’t look like he’s stopping.

 If I were to recommend a WR pickup to anyone, my obvious answer would be Thielen.

KAMARA. My biggest gamble yet. I traded away Isiah Pacheco, Michael Pittman and David Njoku for Alvin Kamara and George Pickens during week two. Four weeks later, I’m loving it. At the time, it was a horrible trade because Kamara was still suspended for two more weeks but then week four came around and I celebrated. Kamara defied all odds and dropped 21.4 fantasy points during his first game back. Finally, I’m justified for giving away Pacheco and Pittman for two weeks.

Right now he is my RB two, behind Christian McCaffrey, but the Kamara train doesn’t seem to be slowing down against the Texans during week six. So if you need a new RB, don’t be afraid to go for Kamara.

DEFENSE. For most, defense is an afterthought. They either pick up the top projected defense on waivers or just stick with the same defense all year. But I’m not most. I spend too much time comparing defensive matchups and trying to find THE defense because if you pick the right one, you could be looking at 20-30 easy points. 

When I’m scouring waivers for the best defense, I take into consideration multiple things, most importantly —  scheduling. Logically if you want your defense to be good you want them to face a bad offense. I might upset some fans by saying this but I normally look for who matches up against the Giants, Patriots or the Commanders for they have the worst performing offenses in the league. From there I look into matchups, injuries and what I feel in my gut. My most notable picks have been the Bills in week three as they scored 31, and then the Seahawks in week four scoring 29 points.

A good defense can make or break a game, and I am excited for week six because I have the Bills going up against the Giants at home. Call me crazy, or call me lucky — either way I still have a stupendous #1 sitting next to my name in my league.