With the NFL entering its 16th week of the season and playoff match-ups shaping up, fantasy football mania is in full swing. Fantasy football has always been a huge topic at North Atlanta, and has become an even bigger part of our students’ lives due to COVID keeping us out of the classroom. 

In the typical league, each player buys in for a fee ranging from $5 to $20 in hopes of winning the league and taking home sometimes over $150 depending on the size of the league. However, a downside to these leagues and a fear for all fantasy managers are the punishments for the student with the worst fantasy team.

One North Atlanta student has already accepted his fate as being the league’s worst team. Senior Pearce Dillon has had to deal with injuries on his team all year and was never able to recover after losing his Number One pick Saquon Barkely. He currently sits at a 2-8 record on the year and has no hope that he can stay out of last place. “Our league’s punishment is to camp out in the woods by ourselves with no phone or lights,” said Dillon. “If I hadn’t lost Saquon I could have been a playoff team for sure.”

Senior Charlie Ferguson is another student who had better success this year even though he too had to deal with the loss of his top star, Saquon Barkely. Ferguson is 9-1 as of this week and was able to successfully maneuver around the injury by drafting well and picking up other pieces of the waiver wire. Using these pieces, Ferguson could trade them away for better assets such as Tyreek Hill that allowed his team to thrive. “Our punishment this year is the Waffle House Challenge, which is when one of us has to stay at a Waffle House for 24 hours, but for every waffle we eat, an hour gets subtracted,” said Ferguson.

Fantasy football is a great way for students at North Atlanta to stay in contact with their friends during our time away from school. The only downside is you may be stuck with doing a punishment that won’t be so enjoyable.