Every week many of the students at South Windsor High School are interested in one thing, Fantasy Football. With the NFL season past its midway point, the students who are interested in football get a general idea of which players on each team are playing well and who aren’t.
The allure of this hobby lies in how invested users are. “Fantasy football keeps me more invested in the NFL season. I enjoy watching my fantasy team perform well, and it makes fall sports much better,” explained senior Lucas Statz.
And, to keep it interesting, there have been some unexpected stars this season, but there have also been people who didn’t perform as well as the fans had expected.
Someone who exceeded everyone’s expectations was Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who was a first round pick for the Lions. Speaking from experience, when the season started, no one really expected Gibbs to have much value. For an up and coming rookie to be traded in our fantasy league for Jamaal Williams, which would have been a good trade in the beginning of the season, Jamaal Williams who would eventually be the Rb2 for the Saints, he would eventually turn out out to not be valued nearly as much as Jahmyr Gibbs. As far as fantasy production goes. But that’s just the way fantasy is swaying sometimes in either direction.
Gibbs was doing well through the whole season production wise, but he failed when it came to getting more reps from David Montgomery, who was the goal-line running back for the team. This all changed during week 7, with Montgomery going down with an injury. From that point on, Gibbs showed his explosiveness and agility at running back.
In PPR leagues, Gibbs became an even more viable player due to his pass catching abilities, where he would receive 1 point per catch, plus 0.1 points per yards after catching. Gibbs’ playoff schedule is one of the better ones for running backs, and even with a split backfield, he will be putting up numbers for fantasy football.
As of 12/4, Gibbs is coming off games where he has not performed his best, and we would recommend trying to trade for him while his value is lower than where we believe it to be (as long as trades are open).
When you are not winning, and losing a lot it can be stressful for users. “Whenever you are negative, it sucks, but when you are on the verge of the championship, it is great. Watching football, hanging out with your friends; it’s amazing,” said senior Thomas DeHaes.
Probably the best rookie quarterback of the 2023 NFL draft, and currently looking like he is going to be the best rookie this year is CJ Stroud of the Houston Texans. If he is on your fantasy team, you are guaranteed to have a massive advantage on your opponent. With a passer rating of 101 and 20 touchdowns to 5 interceptions, these stats are unheard of for rookie quarterbacks.
“C.J. Stroud is a very versatile quarterback; he was great at Ohio State, and the game really translated well. He is looking good so far, averaging a great amount of passing yards, number one in passing stats in the NFL right now, and it really translates over to fantasy,”said senior Rayan Zaki. The Texans future looks bright with Stroud leading the team.
“Very similar to C.J. Stroud, Tyreek Hill, is number one in receiving stats in the NFL right now. He is averaging 123 receiving yards per game. I think about 60% of his yards are from yards after catch,” explained Zaki.
Yards after a catch means the amount of yards they run after catching the ball before they get tackled or downed. “Great runner, great tackle breaker, and he’s good on his feet. He really helps in fantasy,” Zaki told The Prowl.
As for the fantasy season over all, this year is coming close to the end. The playoffs start week 15, and the trade deadline has already passed in most leagues. This season so far has had a lot of exciting and unexpected players showing off their skills, keeping the league managers entertained.
“This season has been fun so far, and it’s been giving my friends and I a lot more to talk about while being competitive,” said senior Alex Ouellet
Fantasy football has led to a spark of conversations amongst students at South Windsor High School who originally did not share much in common, and for the most part, is a sports enthusiast’s favorite part of the year.
“Throughout the season trading my players and trying to predict who will play well has been very fun,”said senior Alex Ezedine.
Watching the games, analyzing players and who they will eventually go up against to try and forge the best team is something people actively do within fantasy leagues. Fantasy football brings people together at South Windsor High School offering friendly competition and building bonds.
“I think the bonding experience between your friends and in the back of your mind you are always worrying about the punishment. It just makes it really intense week by week,”said senior Joe Bemis.
