It's amazing to me the way the NFL Network, ESPN, and the NFL itself have begun promoting fantasy football in a huge way the past few years, undoubtedly because of the recognition that ff is now the key to the league retaining its popularity. But the injury epidemic in the NFL is going to result in the decline of fantasy football's popularity.
Key receivers like Julian Edelman and Cameron Meridith were lost for the year just in preseason, even though the league now does everything possible to keep players healthy during training camp. Yesterday, Allen Robinson tore his ACL on his first reception and is done for the year (same thing happened to Keenan Allen last year). Danny Woodhead is expected to miss significant time, so might David Johnson. Odell Beckham missed last night's game. Just as an example, Beckham, Robinson and Johnson are the three best players on one of my teams, Edelman and Meridith are key receivers on another. I have Woodhead on several teams. How much enthusiasm can you muster when your team is decimated before the season really begins?
Yesterday in general was the lowest scoring week for fantasy I can remember. Lots of players expected to do well didn't, while formerly obscure players like Tarik Cohen and Chris Carson are suddenly must-adds.
When fantasy football starts to lose its hold over DWFs in a big way, then you'll really start to see major declines in TV ratings and interest in general. Fantasy football props up a league rife with bad play, corruption, pandering to blacks and ghetto culture, and as at least a small but growing number of fans realize, systematic discrimination against White football players on a large scale. And because NFL players are so injury prone, noticeably more so than they used to be, the decline of fantasy football is bound to happen and quite possibly sooner than most people expect.