Fantasy football has become one of the most popular and exciting ways for fans to engage with the NFL. Combining strategy, statistics, and a dash of luck, fantasy football allows players to create their dream teams and compete against friends, family, or strangers in leagues that run throughout the football season.
Here’s how it works: at the start of the NFL season, fantasy football leagues hold a draft where players select NFL athletes for their fantasy teams. Each participant chooses a lineup of quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, team defenses, and a kicker. Every week, these players’ performances in actual NFL games are scored based on specific actions, such as yards gained, touchdowns, and successful field goals. The points earned from the stats of players in real games determine the weekly scores for each fantasy team, creating head-to-head matchups within the league.
I had the pleasure of talking to two Juniors at Chandler High who are participating in fantasy football this season, Tyler Beal and Ethan Dye.
Tyler, who has been playing fantasy football for quite some time, told us that his drafting style was “to try and get good WRs and RBs early on, then get people who did well last year or in the past couple of years.”
Ethan, a first-time player, said he was able to understand the drafting process eventually: “It was difficult at first, but I found good players by looking at stats and figuring out what I still needed for my team.”
Success in fantasy football requires more than just a love for the NFL; players must analyze statistics, monitor player performance, and even predict potential injuries or lineup changes. Fantasy team managers who stay up-to-date with NFL news and trends tend to have the best chance of advancing in their leagues. The end goal is to make it to the playoffs and eventually win the championship.
While victory at the end of the season is the goal, losing in fantasy football can typically come with a punishment. Many leagues add creative, and sometimes harsh, punishments on the last-place finisher. These punishments range from lighthearted embarrassments to more extreme challenges.
Tyler explained that his favorite punishment is “probably the 30 days of posting embarrassing TikTok dances, because it’s not just a one-time thing, and it’s something that doesn’t do any harm besides embarrassing them.”
Ethan said, “From the ones that I’ve seen, I would say the milk mile sounds like a crazy punishment.”
Fantasy football has evolved into more than just a game. For many, it’s a yearly tradition, an intense competition, and a bonding experience. With the NFL season now in full swing, fantasy football leagues are just heating up, and it’s shaping up to be an absolutely fantastic season.
