Fantasy Impacts of a Longer NFL Season

When casual fans see that Commissioner Goodell is pondering the possibility of extending the NFL season to 18 or 19 weeks, they browse over it and are mildly glad they get to see another game or two from their team.  

After quickly scanning the article, they go on to read another article without much of a thought to it.  

The fantasy football fan however, is pulling his hair out thinking of the possible effects to this. Questions such as these arise in the fantasy football fan's head:

"What does this do to my running backs?"

"Does this help my wide receivers?"

"Do I cut back my number of leagues from 12 to eight?"

Running backs will probably take a hit in value. With an extra game or two added to the schedule, any team without a two back system will either revert to one, or at least give their No. 2 back more carries to keep their running backs healthier and fresher.

We may even see more three back systems in the NFL, much like the Earth-Wind-Fire trio of Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw of the New York Giants.  

There won't be too many more running backs like LaDanian Tomlinson or Clinton Portis, who get all the carries for their team when healthy. To compensate for this, more fantasy leagues would need to switch to a three back system, to even out the teams who have two workhorse backs and the teams who have two part timers.  

Quarterbacks would be affected to some degree.  In some scenarios, teams may work their younger quarterbacks in more slowly than if they had the normal seventeen weeks.  

This would help the younger quarterbacks for later on in the season. Older quarterbacks may be spelled by their backups more often to prevent being worn down.

Wide receivers would be affected the least.  Like quarterbacks, younger wideouts would be worked into the offensive scheme more slowly, and older wideouts would be spelled more often.

Defenses may be a little more run down at the end of the season, so look for more defensive depth in selecting a defense/special teams to put on your roster.

Overall, fantasy stats in general decrease, but not enough to make you seriously reconsider your draft strategy.  

Running backs would take the biggest hit; the starter getting less carries and the back up getting more, but otherwise, I do not foresee a large decrease in numbers of anyone.