Fantasy Football is a decades-old tradition, starting in 1962 and quickly garnering millions of fans. Often lauded as one of the most thrilling activities for die-hard sports fans, NFL viewers create their own ideal draft of players from a variety of teams. 

Each week, players face off against someone else in their league and play for points. The player with the most points wins and this process is repeated weekly for the duration of the season.

According to the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association, the number of Fantasy players has grown from just 500,000 in 1988 to 62.5 million in 2022. Fantasy football is by far the most popular of all fantasy sports, with 79% of those 62.5 million players playing fantasy football. Among these millions of players, 65% are men, and 48% are between the ages of 18 and 34.

Although the rules are standard and simple, fantasy football fans can always look forward to a unique experience, with new players and strategies in every draft. Every individual has their own drafting method, often based on their level of knowledge and interest in the NFL. 

Whether it be detailed data collection, random selection or baseless aesthetic appeal, there is enjoyment to be found for every kind of viewer. This diverse range of Fantasy Football fans is extremely prevalent at GCSU.

To help understand the broad range of Fantasy Football enjoyers, GCSU students shared their unique experiences with their drafts. 

“I honestly don’t know much about football,” said Jack Roach, a senior psychology major, “so when I draft, I pick my friends’ favorite players to mess with them. I’m more interested in fantasy football to have a shared experience with friends, so seeing my roommate get mad that I drafted Lamar Jackson before him yet again is more enjoyable than winning. For the rest of the roster, I tend to just put my faith in the projected points and hope for the best,” 

Jack, however, does have one strategic fallback, explaining that he favors drafting receivers, as they’re the most versatile players. Beyond comedic enjoyment, there are a variety of different strategies a player can employ while drafting.

“In drafting, I’ll look online to see what other people have done in my draft position,” said Max Gohn, a senior Finance major. “I have a few players in my head to choose if they’re still available after a few rounds, but going with the highest available-ranked player is often a safe bet.” 

While following a more strategic drafting route, Max also values the community aspect. 

“We chose a traditional league rather than a dynasty league- we like to start fresh every year,” said Gohn. “ The draft is a really fun way to switch things up. Oftentimes if certain players do better than expected one year, they’ll be drafted by a different person the next.” 

Max and his friends to have more fun by choosing a traditional league, allowing them to embrace the spontaneity of Fantasy sports. 

In a traditional league, players create an entirely new draft every season, whereas a dynasty league requires players to keep their roster from season to season, setting them up for long term game play. 

Where traditional leagues value the exciting, ever-changing nature of football, dynasty leagues encourage strategy and deliberate foresight. Senior history and philosophy major Cade Steel shared his opposing experience with dynasty drafting. 

“I did multiple dynasty leagues and I pretty much only do them exclusively for a couple of reasons,” said Steel. “The first being that dynasty has a higher skill ceiling then traditional redraft leagues as the good and bad decisions essentially compound across seasons (like a real team lol) so in redraft if you’re terrible at fantasy you could just get lucky in the draft one year because you get to draft an entire new team.” 

In response to a question about aging talent in the NFL, Max Gohn was unconcerned, saying, “I think the aging talent pool is a natural part of the NFL nfl cycle- rookies turn to solid players, players turn to legends, and legends eventually get worse.” 

In stark contrast, however, Cade Steel shared that he is very interested in aging talent. “On the one hand you have a guy that could be performing still near elite top 5-15 at his position but he’s also like 34 and about to croak, so a lot of them end up falling in dynasty league drafts but end up being great value if they aren’t completely cooked.”

With every Fantasy Football fan experiencing a unique journey this season, 2025 is set to be a thrilling year for all football fans.