Well, it's started.
Not The Walking Dead. That doesn't start again until October. I'm talking about another production with actors stumbling around and dressed up in elaborate costumes: The NFL preseason.
As usual, the NFL Hall of Fame inducted a class of worthy candidates, including Derrick Brooks and Andre Reed. They even inducted Ray Guy, whose Hall-worthiness I wrote about several years ago. And, as usual, they "honored" these inductees with a pretend football game featuring future insurance agents, high school coaches and personal trainers wearing NFL uniforms.
If the league wants to honor these great players, they should do it during the Pro Bowl so the best of today can play in front of the best of yesterday. But I digress. This is about the preseason, and the damage it can do to your fantasy team. Because there was exactly one game being played on Sunday, and a football fan would be hard-pressed to ignore it.
Like I've said for years, I don't watch the preseason. I think I can get all the info I need out of the recaps Ian Allan provides, and I'll know about a significant injury just as fast as Twitter allows. I don't need to watch fake football and let what I see on the field affect my judgment on draft day. And no matter how often we say "I know it's the preseason, but," it's the "but" that hurts us.
That being said, I'm not militant about it. The game was on where I was on Sunday, and I glanced at it occasionally in the background. I saw a guy wearing a Giants helmet throw a long touchdown pass to another guy in a Giants helmet. I saw some punting. I saw people fall on the ball after it was fumbled. It looked like football, but it wasn't so I didn't really pay attention to who did what. I think I'm better off that way.
When your brain sees a running back tear through a defensive line and elude the linebackers for a long gain, it will recognize that back as a good player. Never mind that it's the fourth quarter, the defense has no business being on an NFL field and the back in question is destined to hold a clipboard this year. You'll see it and think it means something.
Do established NFL veterans try during the preseason? Absolutely. They try not to get hurt. They try to keep their job if it's in jeopardy and they try to eek out another year on the roster if they're on the wrong side of 30 and in decline. But they aren't showing you anything. Rookies are trying, but they know that the games don't count and they know they're playing against starters who are mostly trying to avoid injury, and backups trying to avoid the Turk. Guys on the bubble are trying very hard, but what does that have to do with your draft?
In the later rounds, it means everything. Watching the preseason won't hurt much in the early rounds. But in the middle of your draft, you might move someone up or down based on what you saw in August. And in the later rounds, when the players all look mediocre, you'll be tempted to waste a pick on a guy who tore it up when nothing mattered. And every wasted selection -- even the ones late in the day -- hurts your team.
I can't tell you not to watch the preseason, but I can advise against it. You won't gain anything from it. If something interesting happens, you'll find out about it soon enough. And you won't be buying what the NFL dishes out at full price (including a full slate of commercials on television). Follow it from a safe distance and I think you'll be happier. You'll feel better by not gorging yourself on fake football when the real thing is right around the corner, and you'll draft better by filtering out misleading information that comes from meaningless games.
Do you watch the preseason? Do you think it helps your game? Share your thoughts below.