104 Views

Assessing the Impact of Concussions on On Performance in the National Football League Players Using Fantasy Football Points

Friday, May 3, 2024

Presenting Author(s)

Geoffrey R. O'Malley, Jr.

Medical Student
Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine
Nutley, NJ, US

Co-Author(s)

DA

David Adams, n/a

Medical Student
Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine, United States
MA

Mir Ali, n/a

Medical Student
Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine, United States
Nicholas D. Cassimatis, n/a

Medical Student
Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine
Nutley, NJ, US
JH

Jasdeep Hundal, PsyD

Director of Medical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Southern Region
Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Department of Neuropsychology, United States
John Knightly, MD

Director of Neurosurgery
Atlantic Neurosurgical Specialists
Morristown, New Jersey, United States
SM

Sean Munier, MD

Resident
Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery, United States
NP

Nitesh V. Patel, MD

Neurosurgeon
Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery
Red Bank, New Jersey, United States
Rohit P. Prem Kumar (he/him/his)

Medical Student
Hackensack-Meridian School of Medicine
Nutley, NJ, US
Syed A. Sarwar, B.A.

Student Researcher
Hackensack-Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery

Introduction: Recent seasons in the National Football League (NFL), have seen increases in concussion rates and debate over time to return to play. Fantasy football is a popular game played by football fans in which fans become team “owners” and draft players earning points for performance, mainly yards earned and touchdowns scored. The authors assessed variations in performance following concussions using fantasy football scoring.

Methods: The authors queried NFL injury reports from the 2021 and 2022 database recording players listed with concussions. Weeks missed were calculated using NFL game logs. Players' concussions that did not occur in games, complicated by other injuries, or roster status were excluded. Fantasy football scoring was collected from ‘ESPN Fantasy Football’ 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Results: The authors identified 130 players in the 2021 and 2022 NFL seasons who suffered concussions for which fantasy football data could be collected. Before and after concussions there was no observed difference in fantasy scoring. There was a significant reduction in fantasy performance in the bottom quartile of performers (t=-3.48, p=0.0015). No difference was observed between performance before and after concussions in the middle 25th to 50th (t=-0.71, p=0.4823) or 50th to 75th (t=1.48, p=0.1496) quartiles. Players in the highest quartile (75th to 100th), saw significant scoring improvements following concussions (t=3.67, p=0.0008).

Conclusion : This study finds no significant impact of concussions regarding fantasy football performance following return to play for the majority of players. This result is notable as musculoskeletal injuries typically hamper players' fantasy performance following return to play. However, players in the bottom 25th percentile of fantasy players see performance reduction. The root cause of this difference may stem from loss of playing opportunities due to lack of an established role on the team's offense.