I notice that players are missing more games nowadays than they did in the past. It’s rare to see a player participating in all 17 games.
Consider, for example, the 1999 season. Of the 31 wide receivers who led their team in receiving that year, they missed only 7 games combined. But last year, those receivers missed 53 games (an average of over 3 per player).
In the 1985 season (and this is remarkable), the running backs who led their teams in production (using PPR scoring) missed only 9 games combined. While there were only 28 teams at that time, it was nonetheless, a remarkably low number. Last year, the 32 No. 1 running backs missed 45 games – just over two and half per guy.
Even at wide receiver, it’s rare to see guys staying in the lineup all year. Only two players at the position (DJ Moore and Terry McLaurin) haven’t missed a game the last four years.
For the heck of, I ran a check on all of the numbers since the move to a 16-game season in 1978 – QB, RB, TE and WR for each team. I used PPR scoring, but it wouldn’t much at all with a different scoring system. I counted up the games missed for each of the No. 1 guy.
This isn’t perfect, of course. When a player like Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 of the 2008 season, that doesn’t show up (I think his replacement, Matt Cassel, went the distance for the Patriots that year – they would count as “healthy” at that position. But it provides a measure of sorts.
And the number of missed games has risen. Four of the five seasons with the most missed games, in fact, have occurred in the last four years. And all four of the seasons with the fewest missed games occurred before 1985.
Here’s a boiled down chart (taking measurements every five years) …
| MISSED GAMES BY TEAM STAT LEADERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | QB | RB | WR | TE | Total |
| 1979 | 28 | 15 | 17 | 29 | 89 |
| 1984 | 55 | 17 | 19 | 35 | 126 |
| 1989 | 59 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 127 |
| 1994 | 62 | 12 | 9 | 32 | 115 |
| 1999 | 83 | 31 | 7 | 27 | 148 |
| 2004 | 73 | 63 | 14 | 35 | 185 |
| 2009 | 67 | 30 | 20 | 47 | 164 |
| 2014 | 69 | 36 | 18 | 50 | 173 |
| 2019 | 60 | 49 | 31 | 69 | 209 |
| 2024 | 83 | 45 | 53 | 48 | 229 |
I’m not sure what’s fueling this. The concussion protocol, I suppose, contributes. It results in some players being held out who would have taken the field in the not-too-distant past. And a shorter preseason and more practice restrictions could be a factor – making it harder to get players ready for game-speed action.
I think there’s also a change in mindset. I think there are more coaches nowadays that are looking to hold players out of meaningless games. And probably also more coaches and players who are willing to take more of a long-term approach with injuries (not risking additional missed games by trying to return too soon).
For fantasy purposes, I think it means backup players are more important than they were in the past. You’re almost certainly going to have to use them.
—Ian Allan