FPC Editor Competes in National Fantasy Football Competition

Kayla Morton remembers drafting the Sailing Ducks when she was 10 years old. Little did she know her very first fantasy football team would lead her into a sports career and even a national fantasy sports competition to show off her skills at 24 years old.

“I think I remember picking the Sailing Ducks name because I wanted to act like it was a cute little name, but really, it was so I could be sneaky and attack,” Morton laughed. “I think my mascot was even a killer duck or something. Whatever it was, it was not ‘sailing’.”

At 10 years old Morton joined her family fantasy football league and has since played in leagues with high school and college friends, but also more competitively with her dad’s coworkers, with as much as $100 buy-ins, and most recently, on a national stage.

Morton Selected for Scott Fish Bowl

Prior to the 2021-22 season Morton was selected to compete in the Scott Fish Bowl, a fantasy football league where industry analysts, experts and fans all play together to raise money for charity.

But Morton didn’t play as a fan.

She represented women in the sports industry and played as a fantasy football analyst for Full Press Coverage, and her former employer, The Hillsboro Banner, a newspaper from North Dakota.

“I was just on Twitter one day and I saw a tweet from Scott Fish himself who said he wanted more women in the tournament. If we replied to the tweet he’d look at our work,” Morton said. “It took him no time to credit the work I did as a fantasy football podcast host and my work as a newspaper sports editor.”

Sports Journalism, More Than a Job

Morton is wrapping up her stint as the Managing Editor for the Miami Dolphins page at Full Press Coverage where she covered the NFL team for more than three seasons. In addition, she co-produced the site’s most successful podcast, The Full Press Fantasy Pod, for more than one year before her move to TV news in North Carolina. She was also the head of the sports section of a newspaper in North Dakota for more than one year as well.

Oh yeah, and she found time to play fantasy football, too.

“I’ve had as many as five teams going at once in any given season,” she said. “Fantasy football is by far my favorite hobby and honestly one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. It probably just comes from my love for football – but also from my love for competition.”

Going By the Book? Forget About It

She said she has a very intricate way of drafting her teams.

“Oh you can’t go by the way the sites que players, are you kidding me?” she said, making a face. “If you don’t make your own rankings by the most important metrics, you won’t stand a chance each year. I use spreadsheets.”

Color-coded spreadsheets at that. For every position.

“My secret? Yeah, right,” Morton said. “I’ve given you too much information already. No way I’m telling you how I formulate my spreadsheets.”

Play Fantasy Football … to Pay for College?

She continued, “I once drafted Jimmy Graham number seven overall one season and then paired him with Drew Brees on my turn back when I was a senior in high school because of the weeks of research I did for my spreadsheets. Everyone in my league laughed and made comments…until I won the championship and used the $232 to pay for all my college textbooks my first semester.”

Putting in the Time Pays Off

Morton said it takes her multiple days to do each position and color-code them. She did confirm that she ranks each starter and backup per position you can score points for.

“Wide receiver takes the longest obviously,” Morton said. “You have three starters, but a lot of teams dip into a fourth depending on their offensive scheme,  and then you have to evaluate if the three starters actually are who are going to play starting roles. Take Miami for example. Everyone knew Albert Wilson wasn’t going to be on the field a lot, but he was pegged as a starter when it was fantasy draft time.”

She said it paid off during the Scott Fish Bowl, a league with more than 20 rounds of rolling drafting.

Morton said she was paired with people from across the United States who drafted over the summer.

“It was one of the most dynamic and challenging fantasy leagues I have ever played in,” she said. “You can’t make trades and adding and dropping players are sparse because your rosters are so large. It really played to those who drafted well and the knowledge you have of NFL players.” 

Do You Have a Crush on Matthew Stafford?

Morton said her goal was to have solid running backs and to draft Matthew Stafford.

“I love Matthew Stafford, that’s really it,” she laughed. “No, he came into the league roughly around the time I started playing fantasy so I’ve always wanted him to succeed. And hey, I think I did pretty well picking the Super Bowl winning quarterback.” 

But Morton’s draft hit the injury bug a lot throughout the year, seeing guys like Derrick Henry, Sam Darnold, Will Fuller, and others go down, that severely impacted her overall record.

“For the first time in ages I didn’t make the playoffs, what a shit time for that to happen,” she laughed. “I’m so much better than my record in this showed, but that’s okay. I had so much fun just talking with my randomized group throughout the summer and football season. And hey, for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t nervous for a league, so that was pretty dope.”

Girls Know Football, Too

Morton talked about how she got to play with people from CBS Sports such as Chris Towers, or have people weekly reach out to her on Twitter and ask who they should play.

“For the first time really, I truly felt like people saw the girl behind the sports journalist and it didn’t matter that I’m a girl. I know my football and people trust my extensive knowledge on the topic,” Morton said. “Sure this is really just a hobby, but being recognized for what I got my college degree in, really, it just feels good.”

A Degree in Fantasy Football? Next Time.

She clarified that she didn’t get a degree in fantasy football.

“Hell, I should have. I definitely spent more time playing fantasy football in college than I did putting in effort for some of my classes,” Morton said. “I remember multiple times my dad asking me why I’m adding and dropping players at 2 a.m.”

Nothing Beats Fantasy Football with Your Dad

Morton said while she plays in many leagues, none is more important than the money league she does with her dad.

“It’ll be after 11 p.m. for Monday Night Football in the worst matchup of the year and we’ll be on the edge of our seat texting because one of us needs two more points in a game we shouldn’t be losing in the first place,” Morton said. “Usually you don’t get ‘You up?’ texts from your dad, but those are my favorite.”