Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman had strong words for fantasy football participants. Sherman was asked how players react and how they are affected when a teammate gets injured. In response, Sherman said:
“I think a lot of people, a lot of fans out there have looked at players even less like people because of fantasy football and things like that,” Sherman said. “You go and say, ‘Oh man, this guy got hurt.’
“You’re not thinking, ‘Hey man, this guy got hurt — he’s really physically hurt and he’s going to take time to recover and it’s probably going to affect his mental state and his physical state and now he has a long, rigorous rehab.’ You’re thinking, ‘Oh, man, he’s messing up my fantasy team.'”
During the game on Sunday against the Colts, Seahawks running back Chris Carson was carted off the field with a “significant” ankle injury. Rees Odhiambo also left the game with breathing problems.
Sherman continued to push the issue.”I think that’s why you see the frustration from a lot of players saying they don’t care about your fantasy team,” he said. “They don’t care about how it affects your fantasy team because these are real players, this is real life. This is real life and this is their real job and that’s affecting their well-being.”
I think every football fan that plays fantasy football may be guilty of this thought. Sometimes we get swept up in our fantasy leagues, especially if money is on the line. These are real people and when they get hurt they get hurt.
Sherman has been critical of this side of the NFL before. Last month, Sherman said the NFL injury reports are made public to help gamblers.
Richard Sherman says injury reports are all for the gamblers and fantasy football #Seahawks
— Jessamyn McIntyre (@JessamynMcIntyr) September 20, 2017
In conclusion, Sherman said “It’s terrible when you see things like that because we know these guys personally. A lot of times the fans know us from the surface and wear 32 [Carson’s number] and he’s running the ball and he’s doing great for my team, but they don’t think about the effects that an injury will have to a guy’s mental capacity and what his family and what his mom and girlfriend and wife might be going through. It’s different, but I’m happy that it’s not as bad as they initially thought.”
