Why Madden NFL 23 players make the best fantasy football managers

The best time of the year is finally here. Madden NFL 23 officially launches on Friday, and players will be glued to their consoles as they hit the virtual gridiron.

The Madden season comes at the perfect time as fantasy football drafts also gain momentum. Did you know that die-hard Madden fans share some of the same qualities as the best fantasy football managers? When you play Madden, you are already one step ahead in the fantasy game.

Do you enjoy diving into Franchise mode or Madden Ultimate Team to build a winning team from the ground up with your favorite players? How about swapping players and making moves with your friends online for the ultimate advantage? Then Fantasy Football is for you! There isn’t a huge learning curve either. All the information you need is in the game.

Here are three reasons why you should put your Madden strategy skills to the test in a fantasy league with your friends.

You know how to build teams

If you’ve ever joined an online franchise league with your friends, Fantasy Football will be easy to play. In a Madden franchise league, you must manage a full roster of players in a 32-team draft. Fantasy managers only care about players with skills in leagues, which are generally made up of 8, 10, or 12 teams. Madden gurus have had experience with cuts, trades, and claiming freehand players. Fantasy Football has that kind of management but with a smaller pool of players. You can keep track of performances and injury status, and add and remove players using the waiver wire to maximize your success.

Fantasy experts like ESPN’s Mike Clay use projections and rankings to categorize players into different ranks based on stats, offensive schemes, and on-field weapons. Madden players have the same knowledge of each team’s strengths and weaknesses as a fantasy manager. You can even use Madden ratings and skills to make decisions about who you draft and launch on your team. The players with Superstar and Superstar X-Factor abilities in Madden are the same ones dominating opponents and leading fantasy managers to victory on Sunday.

Have you ever wondered how the fastest skill players in Madden would fare on a fantasy team? Start a league with your friends and draft players with the highest speed ratings like Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, Marquise Brown, Darren Waller or Kyle Pitts. Are you an excellent Madden scout good at finding those hidden gems and diamonds in the rough? See what your strategy would be on a fantasy team before creating your franchise or ultimate team roster. You can create an “Air it Out” fantasy team with the best passers and catchers in Madden, or a “Ground and Pound” fantasy team with the best rushers at each skill position.

The possibilities are endless because in Fantasy it doesn’t matter how you score, it just matters that you score as many points as possible.

They know how to take advantage of matchups

Madden offers soccer fans the opportunity to immerse themselves in the sport of soccer, controlling everything from offensive and defensive plays to the players on the field and adapting to situations in real-time.

Fantasy is also an interactive experience for football fans, instead putting you in the seat of a coach, GM or scout tasked with making important decisions before the game begins. Looking at offensive and defensive matchups each week is key for fantasy managers. Making decisions about who starts in your squad based on your players’ defenses is what separates a football fan from a football expert.

As a Madden player, you know the importance of analyzing these WR/CB and RB/LB encounters. You also have insight into which players are best suited to play big games against different opponents. Running backs like Jonathan Taylor, Derrick Henry, and Christian McCaffrey, quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Justin Herbert, and wide receivers like Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson, and Davante Adams are even more dominant in Fantasy than they are in Madden single-takeover weekly matchups. You can even use Madden to simulate matchups each week and make fantasy decisions based on each player’s performance. How you lead your fantasy team is entirely up to you.

You are not afraid of competition

Madden players crave competition and use the game as an outlet to enjoy the sport they love. Whether you’re beating one of your friends in an intense game or collecting collectibles, coins, and cards in Madden Ultimate Team, the passion for the sport and trying to beat your opponents keeps you playing year after year. Fantasy Football offers you the same feeling. While it can be unpredictable at times, nothing beats the thrill of having the right to brag about your friends every week. Anyone can win, and if you have that competitive nature in you, it doesn’t have to end when you turn off your console.

Both Fantasy and Madden create a new investment for football fans that goes beyond victory and defeat, offering the opportunity to interact with the world’s most spectacular athletes as they achieve feats that ordinary people can only dream of. It turns the monotonous grind of a four-month, 18-game season into an exhilarating roller-coaster ride.

If you’re ready to take on the challenge of fantasy, there’s no better time than now. We’ve got all the tips, tricks, and tools to get you started. If this is your first time playing, check out the Fantasy Football Beginners Guide. These simple instructions will have you playing like a pro in no time.

Finally, remember to have fun. That’s what gaming is about.