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Fantasy Football Tips – Have More Fun in 2025!

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It’s that time again.

Yes, your Fantasy Football League has likely scheduled its annual draft within the next seven days.  

The NFL season kicks-off a week from Thursday (September 4) as the Dallas Cowboys head to the City of Brotherly Love to tangle with their arch-enemy Philadelphia Eagles.

Then again, EVERY team in the NFC East considers Dallas to be their arch-enemy.

Supporters of the New York Giants and Washington Commanders (ugh – I still loathe that nickname) dislike Dallas every bit as much as those good-natured (sarcasm intended) Philadelphia Eagles fans.

Philadelphia is this year’s reigning Super Bowl champion.  They clobbered Travis Kelce (soon to be known as “Mr. Taylor Swift”) and the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in New Orleans in February.

Checking this year’s Crystal Ball (Las Vegas version)

Unsurprisingly, the professional prognosticators in Las Vegas still love the Philadelphia Eagles to repeat as champions this season.

Vegas oddsmakers have made the NFC’s Eagles as the betting favorite for a return trip to this year’s title game. 

Three AFC teams (Baltimore, Buffalo, and Kansas City) are expected to slug it out to represent their conference at the February 6, 2026 finale to be held in Santa Clara, California.

Here is how the “experts” are predicting each team’s win total for the 17-game regular season:

  1. 11.5 wins – Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, and KC Chiefs
  2. 10.5 wins – Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers
  3. 9.5 wins – Washington Commanders, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans, Denver Broncos, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  4. 8.5 wins – Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and Miami Dolphins
  5. 7.5 wins – Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Indianapolis Colts
  6. 6.5 wins – Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers
  7. 5.5 wins – New York Jets, New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, and New Orleans Saints
  8. 4.5 wins – Cleveland Browns

    9. Ol’ SwampSwami (by no means an expert) generally agrees.

    My review of the NFL schedule also suggested that the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints appear to have two of the easiest schedules this season.  I am picking Buffalo to go 12-5 this year and my beloved Saints to finish at 8-9 (not great but exceeding Vegas’ expectations).

    The Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New York Giants seem to have drawn rather difficult schedules in 2025.  Don’t be surprised if their records are a little worse than Las Vegas is predicting.

    Why does the difficulty of a team’s schedule matter in Fantasy Football?

    Check out the road games which the Detroit Lions will play this season.

    The Lions travel to play at Green Bay, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota, and Chicago on the road. Every one of those teams (except the Bears) posted a winning record in 2024.  Ouch!

    Conversely, the New Orleans Saints have a cream puff home schedule featuring Arizona, San Francisco, New York Giants, New England, and New York Jets in addition to NFC South members Atlanta, Carolina, and Tampa Bay.

    Only the Bucs posted a winning record in 2024. Will the Saints capitalize on this gift from the NFL scheduling computer?

    Your Fantasy Football league competitors are quite aware of the likely top teams in 2025.  However, your knowledge of which NFL teams are playing the hardest schedules might just provide a key advantage on Draft Night for your fantasy football league team.

    Unfortunately, my New Orleans Saints are also likely to give-up a lot of points defensively. Buffalo’s Kryptonite also seems to be concentrated on the defensive side of the football.

    The longer the opposition team is able to control the football, the less time your favorite offense has to score points.

    SwampSwami’s Golden Rule – ALWAYS draft the best players from the likely playoff contenders as they become available

    That sounds like common sense, and it is.

    You might be surprised how many of your fantasy football league buddies will make early round picks of players on teams which are likely going nowhere at the end of the regular season.

    My fantasy football team (SwampGas) finished with a 9-5 regular season record last season.  Four of my first five players selected in my league’s 2024 draft came from winning teams (Detroit, Baltimore, San Francisco (oops), Los Angeles Rams, and Buffalo).

    So, make it easy on yourself during the early rounds.  Stick to your game plan and draft the most talented players from the top teams – especially in the early and middle rounds.

    Once those top players are depleted, look for the proverbial “best players available” regardless of team.

    Save most of your “Wile E. Coyote – Super Genius!” selections (especially on untested rookies) for the final few rounds of your draft.

    More Fantasy Football tips from SwampSwami

    Let’s roll-out my annual Top Ten suggestions to help you enjoy the upcoming NFL fantasy football season:

    1. Team name – Make sure that you are happy with the sound of your team’s name.  You’re going to live with that name for the entire fantasy football season!
    2. Spend some time to research players and teams – You can always pay $10-15 at the local drugstore to buy one of those Fantasy Football magazines.  Sadly, their advice is usually no better than your own. Save the money and read a few sports websites, but, in the end, you must trust your gut!
    3. Determine a draft strategy – As stated earlier, my personal strategy is to (for the most part) select the best offensive players from the NFL teams which you expect to score the most points this season.  I might grab one of the best players from a mid-level team, but you should refrain taking more than one player from a relatively weak offensive football teams (such as the Panthers, Patriots, and Cardinals).  Consider yourself warned.
    4. Do – Pick at least one player from NFL teams which you personally like and root for.  In my case, I am a longtime New Orleans Saints fan.  You can count on my fantasy football team including one Saints players on the roster again this year.  Follow your heart with a few of your picks.
    5. Don’t – Select any player from any NFL team which you personally despise.  In my case, I avoid Dallas Cowboys players like the plague.  Do not force yourself to root for players on your least favorite NFL football team(s). The object is to win, but you still want to have fun this season, too!
    6. Don’t waste picks on your defense and a kicker until your last few selections.  There are precious few defenses and kickers which are reliable difference makers.  Resist the temptation to draft a defense or placekicker too early. You may be sorry later.
    7. Injuries happen.  No later than Thursday afternoon each week, make sure to check to see if any of your starting players have been injured during the previous week’s games and are not expected to play in the coming weekend.  If you’re unsure about an injured player, use a substitute from your roster in the upcoming week.  If the player’s injury turns out to be season-ending, drop that player immediately and find an undrafted player from your league’s free agent list.  Stay vigilant about injuries to your players!
    8. Keep an eye open for undrafted rookies during Week 1 and 2 – Look for any rookies who seem to be making an early impact for their team.  Grab them early in the season and dump a lukewarm bench warmer in the same position.  This can pay dividends for you down the stretch as some fantasy football teams in your league may be hesitant to draft rookies.
    9. Start slow but finish fast – Set-up your fantasy team to have a positive finish at the end of the season.  In 2024, my team in a tie for second place (in a 10-team league) heading into the playoffs.  Alas, we were steamrolled during the playoffs and finished in 5th position.  A similar outcome occurred in 2023 with my team finishing in 4th place finish.  Stay focused on putting together a solid squad by mid-season.  You can rally down the stretch and still win during the playoffs!
    10. Have more fun!  Sometimes, your team will perform well.  Other years, things may not go very well.  That’s the nature of the game, so don’t despair if your team stinks this season.  You can still have fun by becoming a spoiler down the stretch and knocking off one or more teams striving to make the playoffs!

      11. Best of luck this season with your Fantasy Football League team!

      The post Fantasy Football Tips – Have More Fun in 2025! appeared first on SwampSwamiSports.com.

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