Fantasy Football 2017: Why the preseason matters
By Nafisa H
With the 2017 NFL season nearing, we discuss why the preseasonmatters to fantasy football.
Yes; the NFL preseason is upon us! Now, for most football fans, preseason football matters for one reason: it means that the regular NFL season kickoff is just a few weeks away. With that comes fantasy football drafts and, although preseason games don’t factor directly into your fantasy team’s success, they certainly are important to it.
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For starters, well, simply look at who’s starting. Since there’s always a risk of injury in football and because a team’s preseason record won’t increase or decrease their chance at a playoff run, most team starters sit out the majority of the preseason in order to be full go when it counts. The first-string players, both veterans and rookies, will get a few reps in each game before hitting the bench.
It’s important to note who’s on the field and for how long as that’ll give you an indication as to how big of a role a player is expected to have. For your fantasy football team, you’ll want players that make an impact and rack up points for your team consistently. So, while a NFL team can benefit from a running back by committee system, your fantasy team probably won’t as the running back will be splitting carries.
Speaking of splitting responsibilities, it’s important to look out for players that go beyond their typical positional needs. Versatile players. For example, if you can draft a power back that’s great, but if that back is just as potent when catching passes in the backfield as he is from the line of scrimmage, you’ve struck gold!
Even if you’re lacking depth at running back, your fantasy team can still benefit with your receivers that have running backs that help in blocking and pass protection.
The key to success in fantasy football is really looking at the bigger picture and teams and the game as a whole. Yes, you are drafting individual players from different teams but each of their team’s success impacts their fantasy performance.
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In the same way, an individual’s injury, whether minor or major, will have fantasy implications. And the sad reality is, whether limited or full go, players are bound to get injured. This is just one more reason why preseason matters.