The months of July and August are an exciting time for everyone.

We have summer vacations, trips to the beach, outdoor concerts and, of course, the opening of NFL training camps.

That means fantasy football is finally back, and your road to the championship lies before you in all its glory.

If you are one of those people who didn’t start your fantasy prep work until now, you are already behind.

Those who routinely win leagues have been studying since the Chiefs beat the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

They’ve studied all the rookies, watched the draft, tracked the free-agent movement, and have been gobbling up each and every news byte that has come from mini-camps.

But one of the most overlooked changes made in the offseason, the coaching movement, is where you can best the competition, even if you are starting your research late.

One of the biggest flaws in many people’s fantasy football game is not understanding the X’s and O’s of the NFL.

You don’t have to know what “Spider 2 Y Banana” actually means, but learning the basics of each team’s offensive system will not only help you make better decisions on fantasy draft day, but it also will help you make better waiver claims and lineup decisions each week.

If you want to know how your favorite fantasy analyst builds his player rankings and sleeper lists each season, this is the way.

The best way to show you this is by example, so let’s back the clock to August 2023.

When Joe Lombardi was replaced by Kellen Moore as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator, you were warned not to draft Austin Ekeler as a top running back.

Lombardi’s offense is notorious for featuring the running back in the passing game, and Ekeler thrived.

But Moore’s offense uses more of a between-the-tackles power-run and limits the number of passes to the running back.

Those who ignored the coaching movement ended up drafting one of the season’s biggest busts.

Having that understanding of schemes also helps you from year to year, with as many coaches and coordinators moving around as players.

This season we have eight new head coaches and 15 new offensive coordinators.

Wouldn’t you like to know things like how Hunter Henry’s value will boost this season with Alex Van Pelt as New England’s new coordinator?

Or how Alvin Kamara and Kendre Miller will thrive under Klint Kubiak’s new offense in New Orleans?

Even things like how and why Tank Dell won’t be as valuable a commodity as many think?

All of this is at your fingertips with the proper research.

Don’t be the person who comes in last in your family’s fantasy league.

Don’t be the water-cooler joke because your team in the office league didn’t win a game all season.

Be smart with your research, and understand that winning takes more than just picking names off a random rankings sheet.

Your fantasy football career can flourish with the right kind of knowledge.

Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football news and advice [WEB: insert link: https://www.fantasyalarm.com/nfl].