By Brooke Brottman

Football is a competitive game and unfortunately, there will be times in which players are going to miss time due to injuries. Fantasy football games are not won and lost because of touchdowns, yards, interceptions, and field goals anymore. Injuries are now becoming the main reason why fantasy teams win or lose. It is now to the point now where the best team is not winning fantasy football leagues. The healthiest team is. A player's injury status can have a significant effect on fantasy football as it can alter draft strategy, roster construction, and most importantly, it can determine who starts and who sits for your fantasy team.

So far in 2020, nearly half of the top 25 fantasy football picks, by ADP (average draft position), have missed or will miss a game due to injury, heading into Week 5 of the NFL season. With just four weeks into the NFL season, it seems like there are more high profile injuries than ever before. With less time for teams to practice, less time for live hitting, no preseason games, and an overall lacking in preparation, injuries are beginning to take a toll on teams more so than usual. Teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers have lost nearly their entire starting lineup's worth of players to injuries, and it's been just four weeks. 

One of the biggest losses for fantasy owners came in Week 2 when Saquon Barkley, Running Back for the New York Giants, tore his ACL. This was a big loss for the Giants, but also a tremendous loss for fantasy owners everywhere. Barkley was consistently being drafted in the top two of fantasy drafts in almost every league. Another big loss is when Davante Adams, who is the star wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers and many fantasy teams, left the game versus the Detroit Lions with a hamstring injury in week 2. Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, Davante Adams, and Chris Godwin were four of the projected top-six fantasy football wide receivers (WR) heading into the 2020 season, but they have all missed significant time with a variety of injuries. Christian McCaffery, running back for the Carolina Panthers was a player that was likely selected first overall in many fantasy drafts across the nation. However, he has been sidelined with a right ankle injury since Week 2 and has yet to be activated off of injured reserve. The bad luck for running backs would continue throughout the season as Nick Chubb, the NFL’s second-leading running back will be out for at several weeks this season after suffering an MCL injury for the Cleveland Browns in Week 4. For fantasy football, it’s more huge news as the running back position had already been scattered with injuries across the league, and now one of the more dependable names on a team that runs the ball more than any other squad in the NFL will miss several weeks in 2020.

The list of high-profile players that will miss time this year for fantasy owners goes on and on and is much more significant than in years past.  For comparison, 16 out of the top 25 players drafted in 2019 fantasy drafts missed a combined 48 games due to injury which comes out to 12% of possible games. In 2018, 12 of the top 25 players missed 14.5% of games. So far in 2020, 12 of the top 25 picks have already combined to miss 17 games, which is four games each, sitting at 17% of possible games played so far, and we are only heading into Week 5. In 2020, we are on track to exceed all of the previous seasons by far.

The volume of injuries at every single position suggests that the hurt for fantasy owners will likely continue throughout the season. Couple that with the uncertainty surrounding the NFL teams and their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is a stressful time to be a fantasy player. It has never been more important for fantasy owners to be more systematic in acquiring backups in a timely fashion for this year’s season.

Brooke Brottman is a sports writer for La Tonique.