How to use AI for fantasy football

What is fantasy football, and how does it work?

Fantasy football, as you guessed it, is a fantasy. It involves joining an imaginary football league with other people—usually around 8 to 14 people. Everyone drafts their own real-life football players to form a team. How your team performs is based on your players’ weekly stats, and every point a player makes adds up. Teams cannot have the same players (for example, there can’t be multiple teams with Patrick Mahomes). You’ll play a different team each week, and the team with the most points wins. At the end of the season, the teams with the most points advance to a playoff, and the winner gets a prize, whether it’s cash or bragging rights.

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Tips for using AI for fantasy football

There are many unexpected ways to use AI for fantasy football, from trades to performance projections. Consider these tips and tricks for your next season:

Research real time stats

Use a generative AI search tool to access current stats in the NFL. Try a prompt like, “What are the current stats of the top-performing players in the NFL?” AI lists stats for the highest-performing players, including passing yards, touchdowns, interceptions, and overall passer rating. Of course, your team probably won’t consist exclusively of the best players since teams cannot share the same player, so narrow down your prompts even further with more specific criteria to uncover potential hidden gems. Find underrated tight ends by asking AI to, “Share a list of underrated tight ends in the NFL and their current stats.” Adjust this prompt as needed for other positions, like kickers, wide receivers, quarterbacks, and more.

Evaluate the strength and balance of your draft

Once you have a team assembled, evaluate the strength of your draft and identify weak areas. Or, if you have other ideas for teams, compare multiple draft variations to determine which has the most potential based on your players’ performance, positional depth, and overall team balance. Keep track of everything with multiple Excel spreadsheets featuring your different teams and any relevant data. Upload your spreadsheets to the generative AI platform of your choice so it can compare and identify which draft has the most potential. Go for a prompt like, “Look through this spreadsheet of my potential draft teams and identify which is the strongest lineup.”

Come up with fantasy football team names

Generative AI is fantastic for brainstorming team names. These names could be puns based on central members of your draft or be completely random. Offer your draft picks to AI and see what witty ideas it comes up with. Use a prompt like, “Look at my draft picks. Suggest several funny team names that fit my lineup.”

Make tradeoffs

Throughout the fantasy football season, there’s the option to make trades. Evaluate the value of a trade using AI. Which player do you want to trade, and who do you want to trade for? What might be the drawbacks of exchanging a certain player? Turn to AI for guidance, asking a prompt like, “I’m thinking about trading [player] for [player]. Based on current NFL stats, is this trade worth it? Will it make or break my roster? [roster].”

Project the performance of your draft

If you know your competitor’s roster, compare it against yours with AI. AI search tools gather historical and current player data and use predictive modeling to guess the outcome of your weekly games. List the players on your roster along with your competitor’s to analyze potential game outcomes. Try saying, “Compare my fantasy football draft against my upcoming opponent’s draft. What are the best-case and worst-case scenarios?”

Ready for a great fantasy football season? Invite AI along for the ride and learn how to incorporate it into your daily life with more tips and tricks from Life Hacks.