Fantasy Football: You Are What You Draft (Pt.1)
I know this might sound strange, but something I realized during my 2025 fantasy football season is that building a successful roster is not all that different from putting together a great day of eating.
We all remember the food pyramid from elementary school – the idea was simple: you need the right balance. Some foods are staples. Some are sweet treats. And then there are those underrated additions that somehow make the whole meal that much better. A fantasy roster works the same way. You need a reliable foundation, your league-winning stars, and the occasional sweet treat that wins you the week.
So, let’s build a fantasy roster the same way we would build the perfect day of eating. Each meal represents a different piece of roster construction, and every food has its fantasy football player equivalent. Some of these comparisons might make perfect sense to you, and others will have you wondering if I just wrote this article on an empty stomach. However, as someone who loves health and fitness, I promise there is a method to the madness.
Also, keep in mind that this is just Part 1. We are starting with the foundation of the day, like the foundation of a fantasy roster; then we will come back for the rest of the courses in Part 2.
Breakfast: TEs – The Most Important Meal You Keep Skipping
So, let’s start this article the same way we would start any morning. With breakfast!
Breakfast is the meal that people love to skip. If you are running late, you typically just tell yourself that you will grab something later, and then suddenly it is an hour into the day and you are wondering why you are keeled over your desk STARVING. Well, drafting a TE is surprisingly similar.
Elite TEs create one of the biggest weekly advantages in fantasy because the position falls off a cliff after the top tier. There are only a handful of guys capable of consistently giving you a true edge. Look, I am not saying you should pass on Jahmyr Gibbs – who racked up 243 carries, 13 TDs, and more than 1,200 rushing yards in 2025 – to draft George Kittle, but waiting too long usually means settling for whatever is left.
As someone who drafted Zach Ertz in the 14th round last season, I can confidently say that he was fine. Zach Ertz finished with 101.4 fantasy points, 50 receptions, and 504 yards – making him the banana you grab on your way out the door. Reliable, useful, and always nice to have around, but probably not the food you are building your whole day around. A banana gets the job done, but nobody has ever finished one and thought, “Wow, that banana just changed my morning.”
(However, shoutout to Week 6, when Zach Ertz caught all six of his targets for 43 yards and a very exciting TD against the Bears for a respectable 16.3 fantasy points. Unfortunately, as a Commanders fan, all I remember is the 25-24 loss. I am still not over it, but I digress. That is a conversation for another article.)
Fantasy managers often treat TEs as an afterthought, but the gap between a serviceable option and an elite one can be a game changer in your matchup. I had the pleasure of facing Brock Bowers in Week 9 of the 2025 season when he put up 127 yards, three TDs, and 43.3 fantasy points. Truthfully, Zach Ertz was never going to give me that kind of week at this point in his career, and that’s exactly my point. At TE, you are drafting for positional advantage just as much as raw production.
See, an elite TE like Brock Bowers is a loaded breakfast burrito. You might not think you need one, and you can convince yourself that coffee and a banana will get you through the morning, but once you have had eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, avocado, beans, and everything else wrapped into one glorious burrito, you realize how much better your morning can be. You do not fully appreciate the TE positional advantage until you have experienced it.
Ultimately, do not forget to eat a hearty breakfast, or, in this case, consider drafting an elite TE. The managers who invest in an Elite TE are usually not the ones scrambling (breakfast pun intended) to find someone at the position by Week 4, while everyone else is still searching their ripe banana on the waiver wire.
Lunch: RBs – The Meal That Gets You Through the Day
While lunch never really gets the same attention as dinner, it is still incredibly important. However, the girlies are rarely posting pictures of their turkey sandwiches. They are posting pictures of their lobster or steak dinners. It is usually not the meal you spend all day looking forward to, or the one families sit down at the table for. But if you skip it, you are definitely going to feel the difference.
RBs are kind of like the “lunch” of fantasy football. They are critical, doing the heavy lifting to get you through the day, and every fantasy manager wants to snag a great RB. However, they are also one of the toughest positions to draft because of how quickly injuries can shake things up. It is not exactly a graceful position. One minute, you have got a workhorse getting 22 touches a game. The next, your second-round pick is splitting carries with someone you swear wasn’t even on an NFL roster a few weeks ago.
For example, take Chuba Hubbard: around 220 fantasy points, 1,195 rushing yards, and 10 TDs. That’s the Buffalo chicken wrap of fantasy football. Nothing overly fancy, but it delivered exactly what you wanted almost every single week: a dependable, satisfying lunch you could count on. The problem? Just like at any good lunch spot, there are plenty of other wraps on the menu. In 2025, that same reliable option suddenly came with a side of Rico Dowdle.
The good news is that, unlike tight ends, there are usually plenty of usable RBs to go around. The mid-tier RBs are the sandwiches and wraps of fantasy football: there are a ton of solid options on the menu, and while some may be better than others, you are usually not going to regret what you order. They can be interchangeable, and you do not necessarily need the RB1 overall to build a championship roster. You just need players you can count on to keep the offense moving.
Ouch. pic.twitter.com/fsSX4XWY4J
— NFL Memes (@NFLMemes) December 6, 2021
Then there are the splurge lunches. Oh yeah, I’m talking about the Christian McCaffrey, Bijan Robinson’s of the NFL. They are the huge filet mignon that you convince yourself is absolutely necessary and worth the price at lunchtime. Expensive, but one 70-yard TD and you are reminded exactly why you paid up.
Christian McCaffrey had 413 touches last year and 2,126 total yards
He going for a repeat 🔁 https://t.co/gPRKEb5STU
— Sleeper49ers (@SleeperSF49ers) July 17, 2026
The biggest mistake fantasy managers make is thinking that every RB has to be that steakhouse lunch. Sometimes, you just need volume and consistency. Think Chase Brown, David Montgomery, Rhamondre Stevenson. It was fifteen carries, a handful of catches, and a goal-line TD every now and then. It may not be flashy, but you will gladly take 14 fantasy points without asking too many questions. Ultimately, lunch isn’t about finding the fanciest thing on the menu; it is about leaving full and knowing you made the right choice. That is exactly how you should approach your RBs. You do not need every RB to be a league-winning superstar. You just need reliable production from the guys you can count on every Sunday. More often than not, that is the recipe for a championship.
But the day’s not over yet. In Part 2, we will finish the menu by diving into the rest of your fantasy roster, from the sweet upside of dessert to the underrated side dishes that can quietly turn a good lineup into a great one.