How the NFL Lockout affects Fantasy Football

I was surprised to see a copy of a popular Fantasy Football magazine in my mailbox the other day. I had to double check to make sure that it was a 2011 edition and sure enough it was. I wondered how anyone could put something like that out with the NFL lockout in place. After all, there has been no free agency and if there is how would they know where players went?

Then I thought about good of a marketing idea this was. With nothing going on in football right now putting out a magazine like that will certainly attract fan’s attention by giving them something to read and think about while the lockout goes on. I believe that people will buy this left and right even if there might be several changes that render the publication basically inefficient when it’s time for fantasy football to begin.
Anyone who is a die hard fantasy football fan and loves to watch every move that’s made by NFL teams in the offseason must be upset at what has been happening between the NFL and its players. Ever since the matter went to court it’s appeared as if nothing is going to get resolved quickly it may go on much longer.

If you usually start preparing for your fantasy draft at this time of the year there is nothing holding you back from doing your research on the players that are already in position on their teams. To be safe, take a look at guys that don’t have any risk of being a free agent because it’s still possible that the league could have some kind of free agency period when things are settled.

If that does happen you have no idea where those free agents are going to go so don’t spend a lot of time researching them. We don’t know where they are going to go right now or if there will even be free agency.

Another thing to keep in mind is those players that have new head coaches coming into the season. The lockout has prevented those coaches and players from getting together to discuss the new systems that they plan to implement. This spells trouble for those teams. If you have your eye on a player that is on a team undergoing a coaching change you should be wary of that player because things aren’t going to be the same for them this year.

And their development in the new system will be seriously hampered thanks to the lockout.

Finally, the other thing to consider is how rusty players are going to be when things finally get solved and they get back to work. You should keep a close eye on which groups of players are working out together because even though the workouts are informal and perhaps not that well put together those players will be better off when the season starts.

Don’t get frustrated that there isn’t anything going on with football right now and that the season or at least a part of it may be in jeopardy. Both sides will realize the mistakes that they have made and get back to football soon.

It’s inevitable.