Fantasy Football is truly a game of strategy, and matchups are the key element that makes it exciting and engaging all season long. When it comes to a week 18 championship, the importance of matchups is amplified. With many NFL teams resting their starters in the final week of the regular season, knowing which players are likely to see significant playing time becomes even more crucial. This requires owners to be vigilant in monitoring news and alerts leading up to the game and making informed decisions about which players to start or sit based on their potential playing time.

The challenge of navigating the unpredictability of player playing time in the final week requires much more thought and research by owners than a regular Week 17 championship. Will I get more points from my starting QB, RB, or WR who might play only half a game compared to a backup fill-in starter who will play all four quarters?

Thanks to the real-time updates that fantasy owners have access to, we can make informed decisions on which players to start and which to sit, based on their expected playing time. In my longest-standing league of 33 years, we kept this schedule setup in place up until this year, and our owners embraced the aspect of being an “outlier” league that still had this in place. I have both won and lost multiple championships during the final week of the regular season, but every time, that final week of prep and research on potential player pickups and starts has been the most fun week of the season for me as an owner. In addition, with the expanded amount of playoff teams the NFL has added, and with seeding scenarios in place, there aren’t many games that final week that have teams resting their starters. Why not extend the fantasy football season, which seems to go by too quickly, as long as possible? It is time to embrace the challenge of a week 18 championship.