It is finally football season. Seven months of boring weekends wasted doing things like spending time with your families, going outside, reading and practicing self-care. Week one couldn’t come fast enough. And with the beginning of a new NFL season comes fantasy football, my favorite obsession from September to December.

Drafting fantasy football can be tough, especially when you consider the chances of injury to your players. There are cases where players projected to have great seasons get hurt and ruin anything you thought you had going. I speak from experience.

The first time I drafted a fantasy football team was in 2016 and with my first pick, I selected the Buffalo Bills then star receiver, Sammy Watkins. Watkins was coming off a 60 reception, 1000+ receiving yard, nine touchdown season and things were looking good for him to continue his strong play into the new year. What followed was a significant foot injury, requiring him to spend eight weeks on injured reserve after Week 2. So, from someone who’s been there, here are three players to avoid and three late-round sleeper picks for the upcoming fantasy football season.

For players to avoid, look no further than Travis Kelce, Tua Tagovailoa and Christian McCaffrey.

First of all, Kelce is a great player and no matter what goes on in his personal life, he will go down as one of the best tight ends of all time, but his heyday has passed. Kelce is coming off of career lows in receiving yards and touchdowns in 2024 and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has better receivers than in previous seasons. Look for solid production but nothing TE1 worthy.

For Tagovailoa, the reasoning is simple: The man is one more concussion away from retirement. It would be a miracle if he managed to play through the season.

Finally, a healthy McCaffrey is one of the best running backs in the league, but he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. While he is likely to suit up for week one, it should be noted that he is currently dealing with a calf injury.

For some late-round sleepers, give chances to Wan’Dale Robinson, Keenan Allen and Adam Thielen.

Last season, Robinson gave the New York Giants some consistency, and over their last three games, he racked up 22 receptions on 29 targets. When your flex has a bye-week, Robinson may be just what you need to get some points on the board.

Secondly, Keenan Allen brings experience and success to any roster. While playing with the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers he totaled six 1000+ yard receiving seasons and during his one season with the Chicago Bears he grabbed seven touchdowns. With him back in LA, look for a strong season from Allen.

Lastly, Adam Thielen finds a way to contribute. If he is still on the board in the last few rounds, he is one of my go-tos. After many successful seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Thielen spent two years in Carolina with the Panthers. And while the Panthers struggled mightily, he still put together two solid statistical seasons. Thielen will return to Minnesota this year so look out for him to recapture some of that Minneapolis magic.

When playing fantasy football, the goal is clear: Vanquish your friends, family or complete strangers while showing no mercy. Putting together the best team by being the most informed drafter to win some money or just to have the ability to say “I won, I’m better.” There are many stats to consider when drafting a fantasy football roster like targets, carries, yards and red-zone usage for football. Drafting players who routinely score touchdowns can be the difference between a middle-of-the-pack finish to a championship run. But what happens when your best available option is from a rival team. Is it ethical to pick them?

It’s difficult to decide whether or not you want to throw away every prejudice you possess in order to compile the best team you can make. Especially when you consider bigtime rivalries like New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox or New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys. As a Giants fan, I never would have even considered drafting a Cowboys player until two years ago when I picked Cowboys wide receiver Ceedee Lamb. Lamb was fantastic for me, but my general loathing of everything Cowboys remained. And while Lamb brought me success all season, I still had to deal with the guilt that came from his 15 receptions and 228 receiving yards in two blowout wins against the Giants.

In the end, any guilt is completely hypocritical. If you want to win, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. You may get some hate from friends and family for being a traitor, but what they seem to forget is that winning is really, really fun.