The second set of preseason games is over, and we’re left with the reality that these matchups were mostly meaningless in the past and now are almost entirely so in terms of gleaning actionable fantasy football information. Before the “no preseason” of 2020, the NFL most often used the first half of Week 3 to trot out the starters and fine-tune the offense. Not so anymore.
The intent of preseason games, aside from siphoning money from season ticket owners, is to assess the roster and determine which 53 players enter the regular season. That is the primary and almost exclusive goal of every team. If they are close at the end of a preseason game, would they insert better-quality players to secure the win? Well… no.
So the bottom line to preseason games is that they don’t mean much to fantasy football, and can be more misleading than helpful in valuing players. It is football. There are some impressive plays. But most are players that are on the verge of unemployment. And there are only three playoff games under the current CBA agreement. So even less time to give players tryouts for a job.
