In this edition of the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast, Matt Harmon and Scott Pianowski talk about why the month of September matters for fantasy managers and drafting injured players.

Video Transcript

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: And one of my big concepts is I think September is an underrated part of fantasy football. Just a thought. And the idea that-- all these ideas, oh, I'm going to-- what's the playoff schedule? And I'm going to crush in December. And I want to be 3-0. I want to be 4-1. I want to be somebody.

I did a really brief thread on by weeks, and talked about how by week season, week six, that's when trading season starts. That's when the standings have a little bit of personality to them. It's like, OK. We've got five games in the bank. Are you 4-1? And can you go pick off players from panicky by week managers?

Are you one of the teams that's 1-4 and you have some really key guys who aren't playing in week six, and now maybe you think about trading out of that because you need to win right away? I want leverage. And leverage comes from having a team that you can play early in the season. I was not one of the guys-- and I realize it's really convenient for me to pick out Michael Thomas.

But I was not one of the guys who said, oh, draft Michael Thomas last year and you'll have this wide receiver who won in the middle of the season. I just never looked at it that way. I realize this is apples and oranges with him and Godwin because maybe Godwin can't contribute early. But I think having-- you're going to have guys get hurt anyway.

Injuries are going to find you. I don't like to draft into injuries, unless I get a really nice discount. And some people will say, hey, wait, Yahoo, you're getting that great Godwin discount. So I'll try to be open-minded to that. But I'm not-- I don't want to draft him where I would normally draft a wide receiver starter.

I would only be comfortable drafting Godwin when he was ostensibly a bench player for me. And if that means I'm underweight, or even out of the Godwin business this year, I can totally live with that.

MATT HARMON: Yeah. I mean, just in my rankings, I've got him. I mean, I do-- I do definitely have him pretty buried, for sure. But I don't want to be taking him in the same range where guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown go. Rashod Bateman, Elijah Moore, Jerry Jeudy, Brandon Aiyuk, Gabe Davis, Darnell Mooney, even Michael Thomas, who's at least going to roll out there in week one. We're going to-- we think. He does have a hamstring injury. But, you know, those guys, we're going to get the answer on real quickly. Now, I am looking at my rankings--

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: I have to-- I have to say this. I have to jump in here and say this. One of the sites that was calling us out for Godwin being misranked, I believe their ADP has St. Brown 40 or 50 slots below Godwin. I think that's absurd. Please. Take the Sun God, especially if you're getting that kind of a discount, man.

MATT HARMON: Yeah. I am sitting here looking at my rankings thinking Chris Godwin or Amari Cooper. Like I know the the best is probably at the end of the season for Marty Cooper. The best is probably at the end of the season for Chris Godwin. And I don't know, I just-- I like Chris Godwin better as a player.

So that is one I got to think-- I got to think about that one. So maybe I can get him from 94th overall or whatever we've got him to like 91st. I don't know.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: So how low was Godwin for you, receiver-wise? 35? 30? 40? Where is he?

MATT HARMON: Initially, I had him 38. I think he-- I think he's got to be-- I think 33, 34 is kind of the range for him. Would you rather have Adam Thielen or Chris Godwin?

SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Thielen.

MATT HARMON: Same. Yeah. And I've got Thielen 33.