Damar Hamlin Scare Leaves Fantasy Football Commissioners With These Options

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The frightening fall that led to on-field CPR performed on Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin during Monday Night Football also led to questions about the NFL schedule, whether the game between the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals will ever be completed, and how fantasy football leagues can deal with the uncertainty.

Hamlin continues to receive medical attention after suffering cardiac arrest, with one friend saying his "vitals are back to normal" while adding that doctors have inserted a breathing tube. He has received well wishes from across the spectrum, including from Bengals owner Mike Brown who called the situation "unprecedented."

Some of the most popular fantasy football sites have made statements about how leagues and players can proceed in their championship contests played as part of Week 17.

What to Know About Fantasy Football and the Bills vs. Bengals Game

Just about all of them have designated authority to league commissioners, who can convene with their respective teams to figure out their own solutions in what is an extremely unique situation.

ESPN Fantasy Football

"Due to the circumstances of Monday's Bills vs Bengals game, ESPN Fantasy Football will officially score fantasy matchups for week 17 and week 18 (if applicable) only after the Bills vs Bengals game is ruled final (either after being played or canceled)," ESPN Fantasy Football wrote Wednesday in a statement posted on all league pages. "For scoring we will use the official NFL player statistics for the game. Points for Bills and Bengals players will remain as they appear until the game is played or canceled and will be updated following that time. This may impact matchup results, league champions and final standings for your league."

The current matchup period will be extended until Thursday, ESPN added. Team managers on the platform will be able to enter waiver claims beginning on Thursday morning, with claims processing approximately 48 hours later than usual.

Yahoo Sports

Yahoo Sports also made a statement, stating that Week 17 standings will update for now, but scoring updates will be applied once the NFL makes a decision regarding the game.

The platform says that if official NFL scoring changes impact championship game matchups, it will retroactively adjust Week 18 scoring to reflect that change. Payouts for private and public prize leagues will not be processed until the NFL makes a final decision.

Sleeper

Fantasy app Sleeper is another touting "platform flexibility."

"Given these unprecedented circumstances, we will be scoring Week 17 as is," Sleeper tweeted. "If the NFL resumes the game at a later time, there will be an option in commissioner tools to re-run Week 17 results. This is an option, not the default."

Given these unprecedented circumstances, we will be scoring Week 17 as is.
If the NFL resumes the game at a later time, there will be an option in commissioner tools to re-run Week 17 results. This is an option, not the default.
Our prayers are with Damar Hamlin and his family.

— Sleeper (@SleeperHQ) January 3, 2023

MyFantasyLeague

MyFantasyLeague.com said that should the game be continued, those stats would be applied to the Week 17 matchups. A tweet advised leagues to determine what is best.

RealTime Fantasy Sports

RealTime Fantasy Sports had previous provisions in place, however: all Bills and Bengals players would receive zero points if the game is canceled or rescheduled to any time after this week.

3. However, if the game is canceled or re-scheduled for any time AFTER this week then all Bills/Bengals will receive 0 points. This is directly from our rules in all season-long contests, which was specifically added for these scenarios:

— RealTime Fantasy Sports (@RTFSnews) January 3, 2023

The fantasy football subreddit offered league commissioners advice on how to navigate scoring and acknowledge legitimate league winners.

One post offered the following suggestions:

  • Points stay as is, with the current team with the most points being declared the winner.
  • Championship opponents simply split the money pot and are declared co-champions.
  • The projected winner becomes the winner based on projected points totals.
  • The Week 18 score totals of Bengals and Bills players count towards the Week 17 totals.
  • The Week 17 matchup is completely void, replayed with Week 18 totals deciding the ultimate victor.

The Fantasy Footballers

Andy Holloway of The Fantasy Footballers endorsed the same suggestions.

"We have seen variations of all of these, including paying out both championship managers a second-place payout and donating first place to Hamlin's charity, etc.," Holloway told Newsweek. "Whatever you do, having a league consensus on how to handle it is the most healthy way to move forward, either via vote or general consensus."

Newsweek reached out to ESPN, Yahoo, CBS Sports and NBC Sports Edge for comment.

Update 01/04/23, 12:29 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Andy Holloway.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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