Sloppy Potatoes

The holy fantasy trinity: K-DEF-TE

Yeah, I’m not kidding. Okay, probably lost a few fantasy football readers with that title, but it’s truth. I would never advocate picking kickers, defenses or tight ends early in the draft, quite the contrary actually. (All bets are off if Dallas’ Jason Witten, San Diego’s Antonio Gates, or Cleveland’s Kellen Winslow are available in a good spot.)

A kicker? Ugh, we’re talking about kickers?

In your average fantasy football league, scores are going to be relatively close, record-breaking performances by guys like Adrian Peterson aside. Many 10- and 15-point swings will decide weekly matchups and that’s where the KDTE trio comes in.

Again, early picks should not be wasted here, but everyone should be mindful of the affect these “minor” positions have on final outcomes. For instance, if your tight end catches two more passes for 10 yards, kicker makes one more field goal and team defense pulls off a couple more sacks or interceptions than your opponent every week, on average, it can give you a 10-point swing.

How to create the advantage

The keys here are pretty simple and work the same as other positions, but most people don’t pay as much attention to kickers or defenses. This is where you’ll have a chance to shine and, hopefully, have your opponents asking “how did that team beat my stacked lineup?”

1. It starts at the draft. You probably won’t get Witten, Gates or Winslow. If you do, you’ll have to pay for them. Never overpay. Chris Cooley, Dallas Clark, Vernon Davis, Greg Olson, Heath Miller and Kevin Boss are all going to be available later. Don’t pick a kicker until the very end of the draft. Don’t jump on a team defense either. The key here is opportunity. What team defense made some big moves that could make it a sleeper? Who’s returning kicks where? Which tight end has a new offensive coordinator that likes to utilize the TE? These are the kinds of questions you should ask yourself before the late picks.
2. In-season, be a waiver wire vulture. This might be the most important part of this process because there is plenty of gold to mine early. While everyone wants to pick up the next Marques Colston, nobody cares about picking up the next Nick Folk. This is where you come in. By all means go after the Colston, but don’t forget about the Folk. This is especially crucial with kickers. Every year a  breakout kicker goes undrafted. Try to pick him up. Also, team defenses will shape up early and there will be one or two surprises. Snap one up.
3. How about if we swap kickers, just to make things interesting? Never underestimate your opponents underestimation of these positions. Ask to swap defenses or kickers as part of a larger deal. You could gain even more than you expected

Remember winning at fantasy football is as simple as having a one-point advantage over your opponent at every position. You don’t (can’t) stack a team that has Brady, Owens, Moss, Tomlinson, Peterson and Witten. But after you get your studs and sleepers, don’t forget one field goal or sack per week could be the difference between being part of the playoff rush and just watching football the last couple weeks of the fantasy season.