Try as we might, things don't always play our way in fantasy football.
Four weeks in, some of us are 0-4, or perhaps 1-3 and staring up in the standings at multiple 4-0 teams, and that hopeless feeling has started taking over. As a quick note of encouragement, don't give up! Teams rally from 0-4 and into the playoffs every single year, and besides, upstanding competitors give full effort from start to finish.
However, if what you desire is recapturing that preseason excitement of a new fantasy football season, there's a perfect pick-me-up: This is a great week to start up a brand-new Knockout league!
While many Knockout leagues kicked the season off in Week 1 with 18 teams, a Knockout league can start in any week. The one caveat is that you must fully complete your draft before the kickoff of the week's Thursday game in order for your season to begin during that specific week, so plan accordingly.
Week 5 is a great starting point because you'll require only 14 teams, a smaller managerial pool, to begin, and NFL teams are only now starting their bye weeks. With four teams having already been bumped in full-season Knockout formats, you're potentially nearly 30% of the way there by recruiting those already eliminated from other Knockouts.
I'm among that group, as in one of my two in-house Knockout leagues, I've already been ousted. That team's draft went James Cook III, George Pickens, DeVonta Smith, Drake Maye, Kyle Pitts Sr. and ... well, it was a one-and-done. Others who rostered Ja'Marr Chase, Colston Loveland and Matthew Stafford, who had awful season openers, might've suffered the same fate, and those who in subsequent weeks had Jaxson Dart, De'Von Achane or Rashee Rice, all of whom left games early because of injury, might also now be seeking a new Knockout league.
Don't let that early-season frustration grab hold. Try -- or try again -- a Knockout league, diversifying your style of play, deepening your player knowledge and challenging your ability to strategize. It will make you a better manager in any format.
In addition to my preseason top strategies to win in Knockout leagues, here are some updated strategies to consider when formulating your draft (and early-season) strategy.
Tips To Win A Short-Season Knockout League
1. The talent pool is richer. A 14-team draft is considerably shallower than an 18-team draft, and while full-season Knockout drafters scrape the bottom of the barrel when filling out their four bench slots, Week 5 drafters can squeeze at least a little more utility from them.
Consider that Tre' Harris, Jordan James and Geno Smith were final-round picks in my two staff Knockout leagues. In a 14-team draft beginning today, prospective final-round picks -- going by my updated rankings for the format -- might be more along the lines of Ryan Flournoy, Keaton Mitchell and Jacoby Brissett (the latter two barely beneath my rankings cutoff). There's greater potential for immediate utility from your bench slots, and that's going to prove important considering when you're starting because ...
2. The bye weeks begin in Week 5. Byes are the bane of a Knockout manager's existence, as a four-bench format effectively prohibits stacking your bye weeks and makes it difficult to keep non-elite talent rostered through the bye. In Week 5, the effects of this ring loudest, as 196 rostered players still significantly deplete the player pool, whereas in Week 14, the final bye week of the season, only 70 players will remain rostered in Knockout leagues. There's no week in the season during which the impact of the byes will be more strongly felt than Weeks 5 and 6 ... not even Bye-maggeddon in Week 11.
Now, for Week 5, only the Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs are on bye, but that still leaves us without the No. 2 scoring running back (Kenneth Walker III), the Nos. 3 and 5 scoring quarterbacks (Bryce Young and Patrick Mahomes) and Week 4's top-scoring wide receiver (Tetairoa McMillan). And in Week 6, we'll see fantasy superstars such as the Detroit Lions' Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown, Cincinnati Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase, Chase Brown and Joe Burrow and Minnesota Vikings' Justin Jefferson sit out (though Chase and Jefferson face injury questions anyway). All of these players will (and should) still cost you a premium in your draft, but each presents a strategic disadvantage because of these early byes.
The flipside of this is that all of Walker, Gibbs, Chase and company shouldn't be allowed to slide significantly in your drafts, either. A player with his bye in the rearview becomes more attractive for Knockout play, so, for example, if you can successfully steer a Gibbs-led team through Week 6, he'd make an even more compelling case as the No. 1 overall Knockout player from that point forward.
If you draft an early-bye player, you need to immediately formulate your backup strategy for that week. In Gibbs' case, I'm prioritizing an extra, starting-capable running back for my flex spot, recognizing that this player will need to be in a running back slot for Week 6. Then I'm hammering the three flex positions (RB/WR/TE) in FAB exiting Week 5 to reinforce the roster for his absence. I'm also actively avoiding any other player with that same bye.
3. The tight end pool is less scary. A seasonlong Knockout league drains the tight end pool beyond most managers' comfort levels, but the story changes enough to influence draft strategy for a league beginning this week. Besides there being a need for only 14, rather than 18, starting tight ends, the position's annually unexpected breakthroughs tend to be more recognizable after four weeks' play.
This year, Isaiah Likely, Juwan Johnson and Dalton Kincaid -- all of them selected 13th or later at the position on average entering Week 1 -- have emerged as start-worthy tight ends in a 14-team Knockout league. There's less reason to force an early tight end pick, and Trey McBride and Brock Bowers settle in the mid-second and early-third rounds in my updated rankings.
4. Beware players who are already injured. Injuries are a problem in any fantasy football league, but they're as detrimental to Knockout success as bye weeks. Among the top 10 most knocked-out players in each of the season's first three weeks, 47% were those who sat out entirely or left games early because of an injury.
Stashing players -- either injured or as late-season sleepers -- is not an optimal Knockout strategy, nor is practicing extreme patience through injuries or poor performance. It's not uncommon for a player dealing with a short term, or even day-to-day, injury to have the ailment linger and adversely impact his play even if he is active and on the field. Lamar Jackson, for example, played through a hamstring strain for much of 2025, hindering his fantasy production.
This season, Saquon Barkley, Rashee Rice and Caleb Williams are players whose injury situations cast them into the higher-risk category for short-season Knockout leagues. None gives you the advantage of "O" tag/IL eligibility early in the week, during FAB bidding, and all bring heightened odds of getting you ousted.
5. Consider the short- (and long-) term schedule. Beginning this week, Mike Clay provides rest-of-season fantasy strength of schedule, an invaluable tool for any format but especially so for Knockout leagues. Especially with the bye weeks upon us, maximizing your short-term production to keep you in the race through October is critical.
The Dallas Cowboys, for example, draw nothing but advantageous matchups the next five weeks (TB, @GB, @PHI, ARI, @IND) and get three additional home games after that ahead of their Week 14 bye. They're an exceptional team target, especially for those who spend early draft picks on players from teams that are off the next 2-3 weeks.
Conversely, the aforementioned Chiefs, who are off for Week 5, have to tangle with the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos in Weeks 7 and 8. It's further reason not to pay the full premium for players such as Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
6. Go wild(-er) with FAB! Your dollar goes further in a 13-week season than a full, 17-week Knockout league. On average, you should be spending 2% more per week on free agents in the former than the latter, but that assumes you're spending equal amounts weekly. Budgeting is important in Knockout leagues, but it's still wise to make aggressive early-season bids where necessary, because players acquired earlier contribute to your team over a greater number of weeks.
This speaks to the earlier point about bye weeks: With more FAB over a smaller number of bidding periods, addressing those week spots when your players' bye weeks arrive carries more importance. If you draft Gibbs or St. Brown, for example, you should consider making a more aggressive FAB bid for a knocked-out star player from Week 5 knowing you'll be short in Week 6, whereas managers who drafted a starting lineup of late byes can afford to be a little more conservative early and carry a larger budget into the later weeks.
7. A final reminder: If you're not last, you're first. It's important to remember that a Knockout league is the only format in which you can finish first simply by being second-to-last every week. You don't need to throw a Hail Mary when all you need is a first down for a makeable field goal, so prioritize safe, reliable players who don't have health or schedule red flags, and put yourself in the best position to win simply by not losing. Good luck, have fun and don't get knocked out!