Buy Sell Hold. Lessons for the Fantasy Football Playoffs.

Just because we're in our fantasy football playoffs era doesn't mean that we can't still talk about buying and selling. The season isn't over just yet. Cooterdoodle is here to walk us through playoff buy-ins.

Whether you clinched a playoff spot (yay) or were eliminated (sorry), this pertains to you. It’s time to zoom out just a bit. We are no longer breaking down week-to-week buys.

This is playoff SZN, baby! Let’s get into some aspects that I can buy into as well as others that I’m totally ready to sell.

Buy

Squeaky clean slate

The fantasy playoffs are a beautiful time for mid managers. “Mid” is what the kids are calling something that’s neither good nor bad. And if you look at the teams that squeaked into your playoff bracket, I’d be willing to bet that two or three of those playoff teams are mid, at best.

But now that the fantasy playoffs have begun, the slates have been wiped clean. It doesn’t matter if Rob’s 7-7 team barely squeaked into the sixth seed. He’s in, and he has just as good a shot as anyone to climb his way to a championship trophy.

Fantasy football is unpredictable from week to week, much like the NFL, and we’ve seen how matchups can go awry even when there’s a ‘clear winner’ in sight against a pretty mid team.

Don’t count anyone out in the fantasy playoffs. Make sure that you're setting your absolute best lineup even if your matchup is against a weaker seed.

Time to tweak

Every year, as the fantasy playoffs begin, your mind should be aimed towards league activity. That is: How do I keep my league active? This can be tricky, but if your leaguemates were losing interest toward the end of the fantasy regular season, this is for you.

There’s nothing worse than a league that starts to go dormant after the first few weeks. Here's how you can tweak your league for next season and beyond.

While it’s still fresh in your mind, reflect on any bad blood or bad karma from this season that could have pushed anyone away.

A Taylor Swift fan shows off her sign during their football game Sunday, December 3, 2023, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Photo Credit: Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

Were your leaguemates disgruntled with any particular scoring situations? Did your method of waivers cause unwanted stress? Were any leaguemates inactive or “forgetful” in setting their lineups? Were there whispers of collusion?

It’s time to take inventory to determine how to improve your fantasy league for next year. Here are a few quick fixes to consider:

1. Waivers: If your league isn't already using free agent auction budget (FAAB) for waivers, look into this setting. In recent years, many fantasy leagues have found FAAB to be the fairest way to run weekly waivers and add players in free agency.

2. Trades: Deadlines (or lack thereof) can cause issues. Do you need to move the deadline forward or backward by a week? In redraft, trade deadlines are important. If your league has different rules or reasons to stay active longer, it may benefit you to push trade deadlines back a bit closer to the fantasy playoffs.

3. Playoff Schedules: Adding a seventh playoff spot can be rewarding (at least for the No. 1 seed who secures a first-round bye while the other six teams duke it out in the playoff streets).

4. Drop the Hammer: People often get skittish about this one, especially when your friends are involved. But if someone isn’t setting their lineups, it affects league morale. Who wants to pony up league fees when Brad and Chad are starting players on bye or on IR? We need everyone to remain competitive, and good bylaws can prevent inactivity. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Maybe Brad needs to get booted. Maybe Chad needs to be chastised. Don’t let a stale team rot and poison an otherwise healthy fantasy league.

5. League Punishments: If you know me, you know that I feel very strongly about league punishments. Punishments can help fuel camaraderie and also help losing teams stay active and willing participants even if they don't have a path to the playoffs. We’ve been working tirelessly at Fantasy Life to help your league in this area. Check out our FREE BWW Punishment Generator and see if you can get everyone in your league to agree to a loser punishment next year!

Sell

Loud Losers

If you learned anything at all from Week 14, you probably learned how painful it is to watch someone lose loudly. *Cough* Patrick Mahomes *Cough*

We talked about this last week. Sports (and life) aren’t always fair. And sometimes you just need to take your “L” and go home.

I think that every single fanbase can agree that the referees have made bad calls or no-calls (who dat) at some point or another. But sh*t happens. And whether or not you agree with the location of Kadarius Toney’s toes, we can all agree that the conversations following the Bills-Chiefs game felt uncomfortable.

Dec 10, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney (19) scores a touchdown during the second half against the Buffalo Bills at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. The play would be called back due to an offensive penalty. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

So as fantasy football players, let’s learn from that.

If you lose, don’t blame your league’s scoring. Don’t blame a real-life human player. Don’t blame the refs. Don’t call up your league trying to get them to see things your way. (And maybe don’t hold a press conference referencing Travis Kelce’s legacy.)

Lose quietly. Move on. And if there truly is an underlying issue present that needs to be addressed, propose a vote to change the rule for next year in the offseason.

Start fresh next year

Eh…not so fast. While you get a clean slate entering the playoffs, the same does not apply from a wider perspective.

Many fantasy players who miss the playoffs will often subscribe to an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. They convince themselves that they’ll just start fresh next season. But with this outlook, you also tend to forget your blunders. And more importantly, that leads to forgetting to acknowledge our mistakes.

While there is a fair amount of luck, variance, or whatever you want to call it involved in fantasy football, there’s also plenty of user error.

Don’t just trash your trashy team and move on without learning from this past season. Take a good, hard look back at your draft board. Did you take any unnecessary risks in August that stand out now with a little hindsight? How active were you with waiver adds? Did you forget to make moves that could’ve salvaged your season?

What about your trades? Did you panic trade? Or were you so caught up in believing that your leaguemates were out to “pull one over on you” that you didn’t engage and missed some helpful opportunities to trade for productive players?

Take inventory of the 2023 season whether or not you made the fantasy playoffs in your league. Think about what adjustments could've been made and how you might make those next year. And most importantly, learn something from it. Because next season…oh baby. THAT is going to be your year!