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Fanademy

Public explanation · subscriber tool

How Fanademy's fantasy football start/sit optimiser works

Who should I start in fantasy football this week?

Fanademy's start/sit optimiser fills every legal lineup slot at once from the roster you provide, maximising the current week's published projection without using a player twice. It then forces each close bench candidate into the lineup and measures what the best legal lineup gives up, which answers the roster decision more faithfully than comparing two names in isolation.

How the method works

  1. Load the roster and week

    Resolve roster players through canonical nflverse GSIS ids and use the selected week's current publication.

  2. Define legal slots

    Apply quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, FLEX and SUPERFLEX eligibility without duplicating a player.

  3. Optimise the whole lineup

    Choose the combination with the highest total published projection rather than solving each slot independently.

  4. Measure the close calls

    Force a bench candidate into a legal lineup, re-optimise the other slots and report the projection difference.

What it cannot tell you

  • Weekly projections refresh on the publication cadence and are not a real-time injury-status feed.
  • A close projection difference should be treated as a close decision, not false certainty.
  • The optimiser can only enforce the roster and eligibility rules supplied to it; unusual league constraints must be represented correctly.

Common questions

Why optimise the whole fantasy lineup instead of comparing two players?

FLEX and SUPERFLEX slots couple several decisions. Starting one running back at FLEX can change which wide receiver belongs in a standard slot, so two independent head-to-head choices can produce a lineup that is worse than the global legal combination.

Does the start/sit answer update in real time?

No. It changes with the published weekly projections, while linked beat-writer news refreshes hourly. A late inactive announcement can occur after either source and should be checked against an official game-status source.

The method and its limits are public. Personalised ranks, projections and decisions beyond the free top five require a subscription.

Open start / sit

Published 2026-08-03. Updated 2026-08-03.