Nfl Dfs Intelligence Monitor

Comprehensive NFL player injury tracker and Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) intelligence tool that monitors official injury reports, practice participation, and player news from ESPN, CBS Sports, and Yahoo Sports.

What is NFL DFS Intelligence Monitor?

NFL DFS Intelligence Monitor is a powerful scraper specifically designed for Daily Fantasy Sports players, fantasy football managers, and sports analysts who need real-time, accurate NFL injury data. This Actor continuously monitors official NFL injury sources and aggregates player status updates, practice participation reports, and projected return dates into a unified, normalized dataset.

What can NFL DFS Intelligence Monitor do?

✅ Real-Time Injury Tracking: Monitor all 32 NFL teams for injury updates, practice reports, and status changes

✅ Multi-Source Data Aggregation: Combines data from ESPN (446+ players), CBS Sports (32 teams), and Yahoo Sports for comprehensive coverage

✅ Confidence Scoring: Every data point includes a 0-100 confidence score based on source reliability and data completeness

✅ Change Detection: Track changes in player status between runs to identify new injuries or status updates

✅ Position Filtering: Filter by QB, RB, WR, TE, or other positions to focus on fantasy-relevant players

✅ Weather Integration: Optional weather forecasts for outdoor stadiums to assess game conditions

✅ DFS-Optimized Output: Data structured specifically for fantasy sports analysis with normalized fields

What data can NFL DFS Intelligence Monitor extract?

Data Field	Description	Example
Player Name	Full player name	"Kyler Murray"
Team	NFL team name	"Arizona Cardinals"
Position	Player position	"QB"
Injury Status	Current status	"Out", "Questionable", "Doubtful"
Return Date	Projected return	"Nov 3"
Injury Notes	Detailed updates	"Coach said it's too early to tell..."
Confidence Score	Data quality (0-100)	98
Last Updated	Timestamp	"2025-10-21T18:14:29Z"
Data Sources	Origin sources	["ESPN"]

Use Cases

🏈 Daily Fantasy Sports Players

Perfect for DFS players on DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo who need up-to-the-minute injury intelligence to make informed lineup decisions. Monitor practice participation and injury designations to identify value plays and avoid inactive players.

📊 Fantasy Football Managers

Stay ahead of your league with automated injury tracking for all your players. Set up scheduled runs to receive updates before waiver wire deadlines and trade discussions.

📈 Sports Analytics & Research

Aggregate historical injury data for statistical analysis, player availability patterns, and team health trends. Export to CSV or integrate via API for custom dashboards.

🎯 Sports Betting & Props

Track injury impacts on game lines, player props, and team totals. Weather data integration helps assess outdoor game conditions for betting analysis.

📰 Sports Media & Content Creation

Automate injury report collection for beat writers, podcasters, and fantasy analysts. Always have the latest data for content creation.

Input Configuration

The Actor accepts the following input parameters:

Teams (Optional)

Select specific NFL teams to monitor, or leave empty to track all 32 teams.

{
  "teams": ["Dallas Cowboys", "Kansas City Chiefs", "San Francisco 49ers"]
}

Positions (Optional)

Filter by player position. Leave empty for all positions.

{
  "positions": ["QB", "RB", "WR", "TE"]
}

Data Sources

Choose which injury sources to scrape:

• ESPN (Primary): 446+ players, all 32 teams, ~25s extraction time
• CBS Sports (Backup): 32 teams, 24s load time
• Yahoo Sports (Backup): Fastest option at 4s load time

{
  "data_sources": {
    "espn": true,
    "cbs_sports": false,
    "yahoo_sports": false
  }
}

Advanced Options

• change_detection: Track status changes between runs (default: true)
• minimum_confidence: Only include data with confidence ≥ threshold (default: 70)
• include_weather: Add weather forecasts for outdoor stadiums (default: false)
• max_request_retries: Retry attempts for failed requests (default: 2)

Output

JSON Format

The Actor outputs structured JSON data compatible with Apify dataset exports, webhooks, and API integrations:

{
  "player": "Kyler Murray",
  "team": "Arizona Cardinals",
  "position": "QB",
  "injury_status": "Out",
  "injury_type": "Foot",
  "return_date": "Nov 3",
  "game_status_probability": 0.0,
  "practice_participation": {},
  "confidence_score": 100,
  "last_updated": "2025-10-21T18:14:29.966322Z",
  "data_sources": ["ESPN"],
  "injury_notes": "Oct 20: Coach Jonathan Gannon said Monday that it's 'too early to tell' if Murray (foot) will be able to play in the Cardinals' next game Monday, Nov. 3 at Dallas following a Week 8 bye."
}

Export Formats

Results can be exported in multiple formats:

• JSON: Native format with full metadata
• CSV: Spreadsheet-compatible for Excel/Google Sheets
• XML: Enterprise system integration
• RSS: Feed readers and aggregators

How to Use

Quick Start

1. Run with Defaults: Click "Start" to monitor all 32 NFL teams using ESPN data
2. Filter by Team: Select your fantasy roster teams to reduce runtime
3. Schedule Runs: Set up daily/hourly monitoring for automatic updates
4. Export Data: Download results in JSON/CSV or integrate via API

Example: Monitor Your Fantasy Roster

{
  "teams": [
    "Dallas Cowboys",
    "Kansas City Chiefs",
    "San Francisco 49ers",
    "Philadelphia Eagles"
  ],
  "positions": ["QB", "RB", "WR", "TE"],
  "change_detection": true,
  "minimum_confidence": 80
}

Example: Full NFL Coverage with Weather

{
  "teams": [],
  "positions": [],
  "data_sources": {
    "espn": true,
    "cbs_sports": true,
    "yahoo_sports": false
  },
  "include_weather": true,
  "minimum_confidence": 70
}

Pricing

Compute Units

This Actor typically consumes 0.05-0.15 compute units per run, depending on configuration:

• Single team: 0.02 CU ($0.002)
• All 32 teams (ESPN only): 0.08 CU ($0.008)
• Multi-source (ESPN + CBS + Yahoo): 0.15 CU ($0.015)

Cost Examples

Usage Pattern	Compute Units/Month	Estimated Cost
Daily updates (all teams)	2.4 CU	$0.24
Hourly gameday monitoring	12 CU	$1.20
Real-time (every 15 min)	48 CU	$4.80

💡 Tip: Monitor only your fantasy roster teams to reduce costs by up to 80%

Integration with Apify Platform

Scheduling

Set up automated runs:

• Daily: Morning updates before work
• Hourly: Gameday monitoring (Sundays)
• Custom: Before waiver wire, trade deadlines

Webhooks

Receive real-time notifications on status changes:

{
  "webhookUrl": "https://yourapp.com/api/nfl-alerts"
}

API Access

Integrate injury data into your apps:

$curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/[DATASET_ID]/items"

Monitoring & Alerts

Track Actor performance, success rates, and data quality metrics from your Apify dashboard.

Technical Details

Data Sources

Primary Source: ESPN

• ✅ 446+ players across all 32 NFL teams
• ✅ 98% average confidence score
• ✅ 25-second extraction time
• ✅ Includes injury notes and return dates

Backup Sources:

• CBS Sports: 32 teams, reliable structure, 24s load
• Yahoo Sports: Fastest option (4s), 47 data tables

Confidence Scoring Algorithm

Every data point receives a 0-100 confidence score:

• Team name present: +30 points
• Position data: +10 points
• Injury status: +25 points
• Return date: +15 points
• Detailed notes (>50 chars): +20 points

Scores ≥80: High quality, ready for DFS decisions Scores 50-79: Medium quality, verify with additional sources Scores <50: Low quality, manual verification recommended

Change Detection

Tracks differences between runs to identify:

• New injuries
• Status updates (Out → Questionable)
• Practice participation changes
• Return date modifications

Multi-Source Fallback

If ESPN fails or returns low confidence, the Actor automatically falls back to CBS Sports or Yahoo Sports for redundancy.

FAQ

Is this Actor legal to use?

Yes. This Actor scrapes publicly available data from official NFL injury reports published by ESPN, CBS Sports, and Yahoo Sports. All data sources are publicly accessible websites that display injury information for fan and media consumption.

How often should I run this Actor?

Recommended schedules:

• Daily: Morning updates (6 AM ET) for overnight news
• Gameday: Hourly on Sundays during NFL season
• Critical times: Before lineup lock (DFS), waiver wire (fantasy)

Which data source is most accurate?

ESPN is our primary source with 98% confidence and 446+ players. However, we recommend enabling multiple sources for redundancy. CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports provide backup coverage if ESPN changes or has issues.

Can I filter by specific injuries?

Currently, the Actor returns all injuries. You can filter the results by parsing the injury_type field in your application. Common values: "Hamstring", "Ankle", "Concussion", "Knee", etc.

Does this include practice participation data?

Practice participation tracking is available in the advanced configuration. This feature monitors Wed/Thu/Fri practice reports to assess player availability probability.

What about weather data?

Enable include_weather: true to add game-day weather forecasts for outdoor stadiums. Useful for assessing conditions that may impact gameplay (wind, rain, snow, temperature).

How do I get alerts for status changes?

Use Apify's webhook feature to receive HTTP POST notifications when player statuses change. Configure webhook URLs in the input settings or use Apify integrations (Slack, email, etc.).

Known Limitations

⚠️ NFL.com timeout issues: The official NFL.com injury page has slow load times (60s+). We use ESPN as primary source which provides identical data faster.

⚠️ Beat writer data: Twitter/X integration for beat writer updates is planned for future release.

⚠️ Historical data: Currently provides real-time data. Historical injury pattern tracking coming soon.

Support & Issues

Need help or found a bug?

📚 Documentation: See SUMMARY.md, TEST_RESULTS.md, and SCRAPER_ROBUSTNESS_ANALYSIS.md for comprehensive details

Related Actors

• NBA Injury Tracker: Monitor NBA player injuries and status
• MLB Daily Lineups: Baseball starting lineups and injury reports
• Sports Odds Scraper: Track betting lines and prop odds

Updates & Changelog

Version 1.0.0 (October 2025)

• ✅ ESPN scraper (446 players, 32 teams)
• ✅ Multi-source support (CBS, Yahoo)
• ✅ Confidence scoring system
• ✅ Change detection
• ✅ Weather integration
• ✅ Comprehensive testing

Roadmap

• 🔄 CBS Sports & Yahoo Sports integration
• 🔄 Beat writer Twitter/X monitoring
• 🔄 Practice participation details
• 🔄 Historical injury patterns
• 🔄 DFS-specific analytics (impact scores, replacements)

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About

Built with Crawlee and Apify SDK. Uses official NFL injury data from public sports media sources.

Keywords: NFL, injuries, fantasy football, DFS, Daily Fantasy Sports, sports data, player news, injury reports, practice participation, ESPN, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, scraper, data extraction, API

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License: Apache 2.0 Last Updated: October 21, 2025