Fighting Chance Fantasy's Question of the Week: What tips do you have to make the fantasy playoffs?

We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Holiday with family, friends, and loved ones. After digesting all that great food and the NFL triple-header on Turkey Day, it's time to get our heads back in the game to make a playoff push. Every week a few staff members here at Fighting Chance Fantasy will tackle a hot topic of the week to get fantasy managers ready for a championship run. Topics will vary from week to week, with an emphasis on giving you an edge against your league mates. Here's this week's question. 

Now that the fantasy trade deadline has passed, what tips do you have to position your fantasy team for a playoff run?

Once the trade deadline passes it’s time to really get focused on making the playoffs. I’m constantly looking at the waiver wire to see if any players are worth adding that may improve my team. I mainly search for running backs and wide receivers that can be lottery tickets and league winners should players ahead of them in the depth chart get injured. On certain occasions, I will even add players just to play defense against another league mate. This is in order to prevent them from getting better, and possibly beating you in the process. Try to look at your all players' playoff schedule. Nothing hurts more than to have a number one-seeded fantasy team only to get bounced from the playoffs in the second round after your first-round bye. Give yourself options at every position, just in case injury strikes you’re covered. Lastly, at this time of year as “Winter is Coming” try to check the week’s game weather forecast. If there is a windy blizzard at game time, the passing or kicking game will be affected, so you may have to start a player in a better weather setting. - Leo G. @smooth1074

To best answer this question, every fantasy owner must first identify the state of their team. Are you already in the playoffs or basically guaranteed to be in? Are you currently in but on the verge of falling out? Do you basically need to win out to get in? Once you've identified that, you can then figure out the best approach for preparing for the playoffs, which mainly revolves around the waiver wire. Post-trade deadline, the only way to improve your team is the waiver wire, and it's unlikely you will find any league-winning players with immediate production, so stashing talented guys an injury/benching away from significant touches is good practice for a team all but guaranteed to be a playoff team. If any of the players you stash breakout come playoff time, your already great team will only get even better. For teams on the edge of the playoff picture or on the outside looking to get in, the best approach to the waiver wire is identifying a weak point on your team and attacking it. What players do you have on your roster that you won't likely start at any point in the coming weeks? Essentially, if you are stashing high-upside backups as a non-contender, you are doing it wrong. Those players breaking out won't be too helpful if you are in the consolation bracket. It's also good to identify what positions you are weakest at and try to have as many potential starters as you can. Whether that means rotating players based on matchups or predicting who will break out in an upcoming week is up to you. Basically, if you are feeling good about your team heading towards the playoffs, get low-floor, high-upside players to fill out your bench, but if you aren't too comfortable, try to get as many startable players to fill out your roster on any given week. - Seth Q. @SethQuinn14

In the last couple of weeks, we talked about which player to buy and sell as we get closer to the fantasy playoffs. Most trade deadlines have passed by now but there is still time to load your benches with high-upside options. This is the time of year to move on from those stashes that never flashed any real upside. We're reaching the endgame of the fantasy season, so get rid of those roster-clogging, semi-usable flex options. Instead, use those spots for talented players waiting for an opportunity. We want options that can jump into RB2 or WR2 conversation if the starter misses time, for whatever reason. Why keep holding a player like Kareem Hunt or James Robinson when you can hit the waiver-wire lottery on players yet to break out like James Cook or Isaiah Spiller? Make those bench spots count. It can make or break your chances of making the playoffs. - Michael Chasco @chascoFCF

What tips or tricks do you have up your sleeve to make a playoff push? What hot topics or questions would you like for us to cover in the upcoming weeks? You can reach us on Twitter at @FCFantasySports.