It’s Week 15 of the NFL season, and like many people, I’m in the midst of my fantasy football playoffs. I’ve battled through injuries, poor performances, and CoVid to get to the Semi-Finals, and in a flash, my vision of a championship was crushed.
Ok, it wasn’t a flash, it was more like a short run by Derek Carr in the 1st Quarter where he pulled up with a groin injury. The next time we saw him, he was on the sideline cheering on Marcus Mariota wearing a sweatshirt.
After about 8 minutes of football, he finished with 2.2pts, and I need a miracle to advance to the finals. But should I be punished for an injury happening? It’s not like he had a bad performance, in fact they were moving the ball well. it’s not like he was a WR who happened to get less targets than his teammate. In those circumstances, it’s just the game being played, and I’m out of luck. But a freak injury to your Quarterback shouldn’t flush 14 weeks of hard work down the drain.
Don’t worry though, I have a solution to this problem. I propose that if your Quarterback or your Kicker get injured, and the backup is still a free agent in your league, they are automatically inserted into your starting lineup for that game and that game only. The points for our injured player and his replacement will be combined for a final point total for that game. That way your team doesn’t get screwed because of the injury, but also, the person at the top of the waiver wire still can pick them up if they choose for next week. For example, tonight I would have had Marcus Mariota added to my roster which would have put me in a great position to win my semifinal matchup.
The reason I propose this rule change for only Quarterbacks and Kickers is because they are the only position where they take most if not all snaps. Sure, some teams have specially designed packages for their backup QB like the Saints, but not many, and this rule only applies in case of an injury, so ideally it doesn’t come into play often.
And again, this is only in case of an injury. If your QB get’s pulled because he’s playing terrible, you are stuck with them. Just like if a running back receives less touches than his teammate one week, doesn’t matter, you are stuck with them.
While luck does come into play throughout the Fantasy Football season, the champion shouldn’t be crowed based on who was the “luckiest” down the stretch, it should be who put the best team on the field. And just like real football, if your starter gets injured, you can bring in the backup.
