Even Matthew Berry doesn’t know everything about fantasy football.
The longtime ESPN star turned NBC Sports and Peacock personality is synonymous with fantasy football. As a result of his prominent role on NFL programming like Football Night in America, Berry has also developed quite the contact list within the league.
Of course, Berry relies on those sources as he preps his fantasy football plays throughout the NFL season. In an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz ahead of Week 14 of the season, Berry revealed how he leans on coaches around the league to inform his analysis and what he does when they lead him astray.
“I’ve had NFL coaches tell me, we planned on this, this is what we practiced all week, and then it doesn’t go anywhere near what they expect,” Berry said.
The fantasy father has to stay ahead with so much fantasy football content all over sports media in 2024. It’s only natural that he would take a peek at teams’ game plans to get a sense of who might go off in a given week.
“I have literally had coaches who are sources (of) mine text me and say, ‘This guy’s gonna have a huge game, we have found something in the defense, and we think this guy is somebody that we’re going to really target, and he’s going to have a great game,'” Berry explained.
“And I don’t want to give up my source, so I go on TV, and I’m like, ‘You’ve gotta start this guy, this guy’s gonna have a huge game, blah blah blah,’ with whatever stats I have. But I know secretly, the coach has told me, oh yeah we’re targeting this guy.”
The only problem is that even the coaches’ crystal balls only work so well. Berry explained that sometimes when he hypes up one player or another, human circumstances get in the way. If they make mistakes on the field, like a drop or a fumble, the best-laid plans come apart.
As for how he gets his information, Berry can’t expect coaches to care about fantasy football. So he comes at his reporting like a typical Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport-type insider.
“I have sources all over,” Berry said. “I don’t ask a specific fantasy question; I ask a football question. But they know who I am, and they know what I do, and they understand why I’m asking.”
So now we know where the info could come from when we take Berry’s advice while setting our lineups. But it’s far from foolproof and liable to the same randomness we see on any given Sunday.
