EducAItorBall — Your Season Guide

Put these in your calendar

Week 1 is spread across four days

The NFL is opening on a Wednesday this year, not the usual Thursday — the defending champion Seahawks host the Patriots. That means your lineup deadline is earlier than almost anyone expects.

WED

9 September

8:20 PM ET
Patriots @ Seahawks — season opener. If you own a Seahawk or a Patriot, they lock here.

THU

10 September

8:35 PM ET
49ers @ Rams. Own a Niner or a Ram? They lock here.

SUN

13 September

1:00 & 4:25 PM ET
Most games. Sunday night game: Cowboys @ Giants, 8:20 PM ET.

MON

14 September

8:00 PM ET
Broncos @ Chiefs. The last players to lock.

✅ The simple version

Set your lineup any time before Tuesday 8 September and none of the above can catch you out. If you'd rather leave it late, just check which day each of your players is playing — the day and time sit right under their name on the TEAM screen.

Step one, every week

Your starting lineup has 10 spots

Open the league, tap MATCHUP, and check it says Wk. 1. These are the ten spots you fill. Everyone else sits on your bench and scores nothing.

1 quarterback

Throws the ball. Usually your highest scorer.

2 running backs

Carry the ball. Catches count too — see scoring.

2 wide receivers

Catch passes. Every catch is a point in our league.

1 tight end

A bigger receiver who also blocks.

FLEX

2 flex spots

Shown as W R T. Your free choice — see below.

1 kicker

Kicks field goals and extra points.

DEF

1 defence

A whole team's defence, not one player.

5 bench spots

Yours to hold, but they score nothing.

🔀 What on earth is a FLEX?

It's a free choice. A flex spot accepts a Wide receiver, a Running back, or a Tight end — whoever you think will score most. You have two of them, and they're the only spots where you get to be creative.

Why this matters: it means you don't need three of any one position. Six of your ten starting spots can be filled by running backs or receivers, which is where most of your points come from.

Swapping someone in

Tap TEAM → tap the player you want to replace → choose someone from your bench → confirm. Sleeper only shows players who are legal for that spot, so you can't accidentally put a quarterback in a running back slot.

The beginner rule

Start the healthy player with the higher projected score. The number beside each name is Sleeper's estimate for that week. It's a guess, not a promise — but on a week you're unsure, it's a perfectly good tiebreaker.

⚠️ Players lock at kickoff

Once a player's real NFL game begins, they're frozen — in or out of your lineup. Week 1 is spread across Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday. Set your lineup by Tuesday 8 September and you can never be caught out.

The bit that confuses everyone

Free agents vs waivers

Any player nobody drafted is still up for grabs. But how you get them changes once the season starts, and that catches people out. Here's the whole thing.

🟢 Right now: free agents

Every undrafted player is a free agent (checked 25 August). Tap PLAYERS → tick Free agents → tap the green +.

It's instant and first come, first served. If your roster is full, Sleeper asks which player you want to drop. Read both names carefully before you confirm — the player you drop is gone, and anyone can take them.

🟡 Once games start: waivers

A player who gets dropped goes onto waivers for 2 days. During that window you can't grab them instantly. You put in a claim and wait.

All claims process together, Wednesday at 3 AM Eastern. After that, if nobody claimed them, they become a free agent again — instant.

🎯 What "rolling waivers" means

If two of us claim the same player, the one with better waiver priority gets them. The winner then drops to the bottom of the list, and everyone below moves up one.

So your priority is a resource you spend, not a rank you keep. Using it on a player you don't really need means you won't have it when someone genuinely great comes free in October.

Our waiver order right now

It started as the reverse of the draft order — so whoever picked last is first in line. It changes every time someone wins a claim, so treat this as a snapshot rather than a fixed list. Checked 25 August.

1 · SheiShei 2 · Guardians of the Anomaly 3 · jahardman 4 · ShannonAIgans 5 · Thomasistall 6 · Immaculate Concepcion 7 · LJlovesfootball26 8 · staces66 9 · Triciasaurus Rexes 10 · LeeAnneLavender 11 · carLOSpollosHermanos13 12 · NotIntoSportsTV 13 · PfantasyPfootball 14 · thammerlund

Wednesday 3 AM Eastern, wherever you are

We're spread across a lot of time zones. This is when claims process for everyone.

New York

Wed 3:00 AM
EDT — our anchor

Los Angeles

Wed 12:00 AM
PDT — midnight

Guyana

Wed 3:00 AM
GYT

Belgium

Wed 9:00 AM
CEST

Hong Kong

Wed 3:00 PM
HKT

Osaka

Wed 4:00 PM
JST

Check before you set

Injuries, and our one harsh rule

On the TEAM screen you'll see coloured letters beside some names. Tap a player to read the latest news on them.

Questionable

Might play. Usually decided close to kickoff.

Doubtful

Probably won't play. Treat as out.

Out

Definitely not playing. Swap them out.

Injured reserve

Out for several weeks at least.

🚑 We have zero IR slots — this one bites

Some leagues give you extra spots to park injured players. We don't. An injured player sits in one of your five bench spots and gives you nothing until they play again.

So holding someone who's out for a month costs you a fifth of your bench. Sometimes that's worth it for a star. Often it isn't — and that's a real decision you get to make.

You'll never do this maths yourself

How points work — full PPR

Sleeper counts everything automatically. You only need the rough idea, because it tells you who's worth starting.

🏈 PPR = "point per reception"

Every single catch is worth 1 point, before the player gains a yard. That's the defining rule of our league. It means receivers and pass-catching running backs are more valuable here than in leagues without it — and it's why a player who catches 8 short passes can outscore one who runs for 80 yards.

What happens	Points
A catch	1
10 rushing or receiving yards	1
25 passing yards	1
Rushing or receiving touchdown	6
Passing touchdown	4
Two-point conversion	2
Interception thrown	−1
Fumble lost	−2

Kickers score 3–6 for a field goal depending on distance, 1 for an extra point, and lose a point for a miss. Defences score for sacks, interceptions, fumbles and touchdowns, plus a bonus for keeping the other team's score low.

The shape of the year

How the season runs

Ten weeks of matchups, then playoffs. Half the league makes it, so stay interested.

Weeks 1–10 — the regular season

Each week you face one other manager. Whoever's ten starters score more points wins. That's it. Your record is what decides your playoff seed.

Week 11 — playoffs begin

7 of our 14 teams make the playoffs. The team with the best record gets a first-round bye — a free pass to round two. Week 11 is also the trade deadline, so no trading after that.

Weeks 12–13 — semi-finals and final

Straight knockout — lose and you're done. The top seed needs two wins to take the title; everyone else needs three. Whoever manages it is the first EducAItorBall champion.

Nobody explains this bit properly

Trades, from scratch

A trade is simply two managers swapping players. No money changes hands. You give some of your players, you get some of theirs, and from that moment they're yours for the rest of the season. That's the entire concept.

Why anyone trades

Usually because your roster is lopsided. You might have four good running backs but only one decent receiver, while someone else has the opposite problem. Trading turns players you can't fit into your lineup into ones you can.

The one rule that matters

You can only start ten players. A trade is good if it improves your starting lineup. Two decent players for one excellent one is often a win — as long as your bench can cover the gap you just made.

Nobody is trying to be fair

Every manager offers trades that help themselves. That's not cheating, it's the game. Your job isn't to work out whether it's fair — only whether you end up better off.

How to actually do it

Tap TRADES, then TRADE

You'll see everyone in the league. Pick the manager you want to deal with.

Choose what you'd give and what you'd get

Tap players on your side and on theirs. You can offer one-for-one, two-for-one, or bigger. Sleeper shows both rosters side by side while you build it.

Check your roster still works

You must end up with a legal roster. If you receive more players than you send, you'll need a free bench spot or you'll have to drop someone.

Send it, then wait

They can accept, decline, or counter with a different version. Nothing happens until they act. If they accept, the players swap and it's done.

👍 Perfectly normal things to do

Decline without explaining. No offence is taken and none should be given.

Ignore an offer entirely. It expires. Nothing bad happens.

Ask the league chat. Paste the offer in and say "is this daft?" Several of us will happily tell you. That is genuinely encouraged here.

Never trade all season. Plenty of people win without making one.

🚩 Offers to look twice at

Three bench players for your best player. Quantity isn't value — you still only start ten.

"This helps us both!" Maybe. Check whether it improves your starting ten, not whether it sounds generous.

A player who's just been injured. Look at their status before you accept, not after.

Anything you don't understand. Confusion is a reason to decline, not a reason to trust.

📆 Draft picks can be traded too — be careful with these

Our league allows draft picks in trades, so someone may offer you a future pick instead of a player. A pick is a promise about next year's draft.

For a first season, treat these with real caution. A pick only has value if you're still in the league next year and we draft the same way — and a player who helps you win games this month is worth more than a lottery ticket for a season that hasn't been planned yet. If someone offers you a pick, it's completely fair to ask "what is this actually worth to me?" and to say no.

⏰ The deadline is Week 11

After Week 11 no trades are allowed — that's also when the playoffs start. So the whole trading window is the regular season. There's no rush: you have ten weeks, and the best trades usually happen once everyone can see which of their players are actually good.

🔖 What "on the trade block" means

Putting a player on the block is just a signal that you'd listen to offers for them. It doesn't commit you to anything, nothing happens automatically, and you can take them off whenever you like. If you see someone's player on the block, it's an invitation to start a conversation — not a price tag.

The whole point of this league

Pick your level of AI help. Then say so out loud.

There's no wrong level — the only rule is that you're open about which one you're using. Say it in the chat when you make a move you're proud of, or when a bot talked you into something daft.

🧠

Level 0

Solo

No AI. All gut and vibes.

🤝

Level 1

Second opinion

You decide, then ask AI "am I missing anything?"

🎧

Level 2

Co-pilot

You and AI talk it through. You make the call.

🤖

Level 3

Autopilot

AI decides, you press the button.

💬 What "disclosing" actually looks like

Nothing formal. Just a line in the chat — "Level 2 on this one, ChatGPT talked me out of benching them" — or a note when you post about a move. The interesting part of this league isn't who wins. It's watching what happens when fourteen people use different amounts of help on the same problem.

Your actual commitment

About five minutes a week

This is the entire job, repeated. If you do only the first item, you're playing the game properly.

Before the first game of the week

Open MATCHUP. Check all ten spots have a player and nobody's marked O. That's the non-negotiable one.

Some time midweek, if you fancy it

Have a look at free agents. Someone's always emerging. Nobody will judge you for skipping this.

From about Week 5 — watch for byes

Every NFL team gets one week off. A player on a bye scores zero. Sleeper shows the bye week beside each player's name — that's the number in brackets, like (10). Check it before you set your lineup.

Sunday

Watch the scores come in and talk trash in the chat. This is the fun bit and it requires no admin whatsoever.

Between now and 9 September

What's actually worth paying attention to

You don't need to do any of this to play. But if you're curious and want to arrive at Week 1 feeling like you know something, here's what's genuinely useful — and what's noise.

✅ Worth your time

Final roster cuts (late August). Every NFL team trims to 53 players. Good players get released, backups get promoted, and our free agent pool changes overnight. This is the single biggest shake-up before Week 1.

Who's actually starting. In the last two weeks of preseason, teams settle who starts and who sits — that official running order is called a depth chart. If a player you drafted lost their job, you want to know before Week 1, not after.

Practice reports. From the first game week, teams must report who practised. "Did not participate" three days running usually means they won't play.

Your own players' news. Tap any player in Sleeper to see recent headlines about them. Two minutes, and it's the most relevant information you'll find anywhere.

🚫 Safe to ignore

Preseason statistics. Starters barely play in preseason games. A backup running 80 yards against other backups tells you almost nothing.

Rankings arguments. Your draft is done. Whether someone ranks your running back 14th or 22nd changes nothing you can act on.

Anything about drafting. Most fantasy content in August is draft advice. That ship has sailed for us — skip straight to the in-season stuff.

Panic takes. Every August someone declares a player finished. They're usually wrong, and it's usually just noise written to get clicks.

Where to go if you want to learn more

All free, all friendly to beginners. Pick one, not all of them.

📱 Sleeper itself

The most useful and least used. Tap any player for news, projections and their upcoming schedule. The TREND tab shows who the rest of the fantasy world is adding and dropping this week.

🎧 ESPN Fantasy Focus

A daily podcast that assumes you're a normal person. Liz Loza is one of the regulars — she's brilliant on why a player's situation changed, which is the part that actually helps.

🩺 Stephania Bell (ESPN)

A physical therapist who explains injuries properly. When you're wondering "are they actually going to play?", she's the one whose answer is worth more than a rumour.

📊 Cynthia Frelund (NFL Network)

Builds the projection models. Good if you like numbers — she shows her working and is honest about what her model gets wrong.

🗳 FantasyPros

Blends dozens of experts into one combined ranking. Handy when you're torn between two players and want a quick tiebreaker without reading ten opinions.

💬 r/fantasyfootball

The Reddit community runs daily "ask anything" threads where beginner questions get real answers, fast, with no snark. Genuinely one of the friendlier corners of the internet.

🤖 And of course — ask your co-pilot

"Explain what a flex spot is like I've never watched football." "Should I start X or Y this week and why?" "What happened to my running back?" This is exactly the kind of question AI is good at, and using it is the entire point of this league. Just tell us which level you were on.

Nothing here is too basic

Questions people are actually asking

I did nothing. Am I already losing?

No. Sleeper auto-filled a legal lineup for everyone after the draft, so you're playing whether or not you touched it. Improving it is optional, not remedial.

What if I forget to set my lineup?

Your last lineup stays in place. You'd only lose points if someone in it is injured or on a bye. It's not catastrophic — just not ideal.

Can I drop someone I drafted?

Yes, any time. They go back into the pool and someone else can take them. Don't drop a good player just because another looks slightly better this week.

Two of my players are on the same NFL team. Problem?

Not at all. Perfectly normal and sometimes an advantage.

Someone offered me a trade and I don't understand it.

Decline it, or paste it into the chat and ask. Genuinely — that's what the chat is for, and several of us will happily explain.

What's a bye week?

Each NFL team gets one week off during the season. Your player scores zero that week. The number in brackets by their name is their bye week.

My player is "Questionable". Do I bench them?

If you have a decent alternative, yes — Q players sometimes sit at the last minute and you can get stuck with a zero. If your alternative is much worse, it's usually worth the risk.

Where do I ask for help?

League chat, any time, about anything. This league exists so people can learn in public. Nobody here started out knowing this stuff.