Okay, so the other day, I was watching a football game with my buddy, and we started talking about some stats. That’s when he drops this term, “DNP.” I’m like, “DNP? What’s that even mean?”
He gives me a little explanation, but honestly, it kind of went over my head. I mean, I get it means the player didn’t play, but I wanted to know all the nitty-gritty details. So, what did I do? I hopped on my computer and did a bit of digging.
First, I just typed “DNP football” into the search bar. Boom! Tons of stuff popped up. Basically, DNP stands for “Did Not Play.” It’s like this tag they put next to a player’s name when they didn’t step onto the field for a game.
But here’s the thing I found out – it’s not always because the player is injured. Sure, injuries are a big reason, and they’ll have things like “DNP – Injury” listed. But it can also be because the coach just decided not to use them. Maybe they were resting their star player or trying out a different strategy. Sometimes it is because of illness. In these cases, it might say “DNP – Coach’s Decision” or “DNP – Illness.”
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Injuries:
I learned that if a player gets hurt, they might be marked as DNP for future games until they’re all healed up. It makes sense, they don’t want to risk further injury. And this can last for a single game or even several weeks.
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Coach’s Decision:
Then there’s the coach’s call. Sometimes, a player is perfectly healthy but just doesn’t fit into the game plan. I saw examples where coaches benched players to give others a chance or because they weren’t performing well.
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Other Reasons:
There were a few other reasons I came across. Suspensions, personal reasons, even being traded to another team mid-season could result in a DNP.
Now, I also found out there are some other terms related to practice like FP(Full Participation), LP(Limited Participation). And they are just for practice.
Oh, and get this – in fantasy football, DNPs can totally mess with your lineup! If you have a player with a DNP, they score zero points. That’s a bummer if you were counting on them. Sometimes, the lineup with DNPs are still eligible to win, but each DNP will lower the level. And if the game is canceled or postponed, the picks will be DNP’d.
So yeah, that’s my little adventure into the world of DNPs. It’s a simple term, but there’s a lot more to it than I initially thought. Now, I can finally keep up with my buddy’s football talk. We may have a talk next time.
