Now that he’s a former NFL player, Donald Driver is allowed to play fantasy football, and he’s loving every second of it.
The Green Bay Packers legend played 14 seasons, all while calling Lambeau Field his home, and if he could, he probably would have picked himself plenty of times for his fantasy team.
Driver had seven seasons of at least 1,000 yards, including six straight from 2004 to 2009.
Now, he gets to feel like a general manager.
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“As a player, we don’t get the opportunity to play fantasy football. Once you get done playing the game, you kind of get into the mindset that you become your own GM,” Driver told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “I always wanted to do it as a player, but couldn’t do it. So, now, I have this opportunity to actually do it now as a former player.
“I love it that I get to be the GM. No one’s trying to pick me up, I get to pick everybody else up and trade and do all those good things.”
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Driver has partnered with IBM, whose Watson app has been helping ESPN fantasy participants make trades and draft players the last seven years.
Fantasy used to be kept score manually, and fans simply had to use box scores and eye tests to decide who to draft. Now, there is plenty of technology to see who should be traded, cut, drafted, benched and started.
Driver has some connections being a former wide receiver in the league, but no amount of real football IQ or experience can replicate the advantage IBM gives him, he says.
“Some people say it’s not fair when you have inside scoops, but I’ll say this: What I’ve been really amazed about is being able to use the Watson app to be able to see the data between players that’s going to be able to play this week, not play this week, what their statistics is,” Driver says of the technology.
“You really don’t get the inside scoops. You do call your guys and check on ‘is this guy playing that week.’ I do have that upside of this, but … there’s still no value to it at the end of the day because they’re not gonna tell me if they’re playing even though I have them on my fantasy team.
“I think that’s the part that so many people get excited about. I think, as a player, when you’re actually playing the game as an active player, you can kind of know who’s playing, who’s not, who’s good, who’s bad. But being a part of this new technology for AI, it’s just been amazing to see all the massive data that comes through the process, seeing the guys.
The use of Watson has created an “even playing field” among the millions of fantasy players, Driver said.
“You can win games … if your quarterback’s playing well, but he gets a sack, fumble, it’s over,” he said. “The points drop, you lose the game. Those type of things. You’re not always going to get the waiver care, the trade grade.
“Those things that we never had back in the day. Now, all this technology allows us to play this game as a true general manager, and it allows us to have a lot of fun being able to go back and forth. So now, I think the playing field makes it even across this game.”
Even with his inside scoops, he’s 2-5 in his league. He has won two straight, though, and is vying for a playoff spot.
