When using strength of schedule for fantasy football in 2022, we never want to over-extend ourselves and look too far down the line. The NFL is a fluid game with a lot of variance, so attempting to plan for Weeks 15-17 in the fantasy playoffs is much tougher to do. A lot of teams will look much different at the close of the season than the opening of the season and many of the teams we’re projecting to be strong or poor in an area can flip.
That said, we can use that opening outlook to our advantage in planning on coming out of the blocks with our best foot forward. The two positions where I particularly look for a schedule advantage and believe actually carry a matchup influence are at the quarterback and team DST.
I am not weighing schedules and opponents heavily for the running back and pass catchers, but I am always entering a draft with the mindset to use advantageous starts out for passers.
Fantasy leagues have run extremely hot at nailing draft position for the quarterback position the past two seasons, which has made it hard to go full-on late-round quarterback. That said, we still largely do not want to be the first gamer in our drafts to race to the position, as it also provides the least amount of positional leverage despite the increased accuracy.
While staying patient, but still focusing on the QB1 portion of ADP, we can use strength of schedule to our advantage within the front-end options while also aiding our decisions in the lower-ranked tiers of the position for 2QB/SuperFLEX formats.
This approach and yearly article have led to terrific results in the past. When I did the first look at this for the site in 2020, Josh Allen’s opening schedule was a big component of why he was part of our initial plans at the quarterback position and he turned out to be the highest-scoring player at his position over the season.
Last season, we scorched the earth nearly across the board.
