If you’re expecting this tip to be about Gene Simmons and his giant tongue, you’re out of luck. KISS=Keep it simple stupid and it is a great tip for fantasy owners at this time of year. The NFL Preseason starts this week and people with upcoming fantasy drafts will be looking very closely. Every 20+ yard catch, every 20+ yard completion, every touchdown, every 15+ yard run is reason to move someone up your fantasy board. Right? Wrong. Preseason stats rarely matter. Save yourself some time and look at these 5 types of players this preseason. 

Guys coming back from injury: For these guys, the preseason does matter. These guys coming back from injury, however good they were before, have to prove themselves again before you can truly feel safe using an early pick on them, especially with running backs.

Guys who get injured: This one is obvious so I almost don’t have to put this down, but if a guy gets hurt in the preseason, so does his fantasy stock. Injury reports are our friends. Unless they are coming from Bill Belicheck, they are most likely accurate. There’s a big difference between a guy going out with a knee sprain and a guy going out with an ACL tear.

Rookies: While players coming back from injury have to prove themselves all over again, rookies have to prove themselves. Period.

Guys in position battles: Here you should not pay attention to the stats as much as who’s getting the reps on the field, especially during weeks 3 and 4. If a player gets a week 3 or week 4 start in the preseason, he’ll likely get the week 1 start. If you believe in the ability of a player who is trapped in a position battle, watch to see if he’s on the field a lot in the preseason. 

Guys you’ve never heard of: The preseason is a great time to see the abilities of players you’ve never heard of, for three reasons. One, they could get playing time this season if there’s an injury, allowing you to pick them up off of waivers, two, they could get playing time in future season and if you plan on playing fantasy football in the future its good to know the abilities of players that other drafters haven’t heard of, and three because if they’re getting preseason reps, they could win a starting job and if they do that, you could get them for cheaper in fantasy drafts because other drafters haven’t heard of them either.