What's the optimal scoring system and rules for a fantasy football league?
While most leagues play head-to-head points, the starting lineups and statistical categories have evolved the past two decades.
Back when fantasy football started to take off in the late 1980s it was easy. All TDs were six points.
Teams started two RBs, two WR and there was no such thing as a flex. But now there all kinds of flex combinations, two-QB leagues and scoring systems that include all kinds of stats.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, QBs appeared to be the dominant fantasy scorers.
To combat that, the QB pass was lowered to four points. Then in the late 1990s and early 2000s, RBs appeared to dominant fantasy scorers.
A point-per-reception league was introduced to give WRs more value. Ever since, PPR formats have been on the rise.
My hometown league, that includes my RotoWire co-founders Herb Ilk and Jeff Erickson, has come up with a scoring system that I think is the best format for fantasy football. While our baseball league has kept the same system for the sake of continuity (an old-school AL 4x4 league), our NFL league has experimented with new twists every season. I think we finally came up with a winner.
Our goal was to have all the positions score about the same. That way having a lower pick in the draft wouldn't be a total disadvantage.
It's a 14-team league, so we also wanted there to be viable options on the waiver wire each week.
As a result, we've come up with this format:
Starting lineup:
1 QB
2 RB
3 WR
1 Flex - QB/RB/WR/TE
1 K
2 IDP (any position)
6 Reserves
Scoring Rules
1 point per reception
3 points per passing TD
6 points all other TDs
1 point for every 30 yards passing
1 point for every 10 yards rushing + receiving
decimal scoring
Other Rules
-Weekly prize for total points (keeps people interested all 17 weeks)
-6 teams make playoffs in weeks 14-16, just total points winner in week 17
-Playoff spots for two division winners, four wild cards (two record, two points)
-We have a draft to select draft slots and Banzai draft format (1-14,14-1,14-1,14-1,1-14)
The scoring rules make the positions pretty even.
Last year the top ten scoring players were 4 QBs, 3 RBs, 2 TE, 1 WR.
Check out how RotoWire's No. 3 projected player at each position scores in this format:
-A QB who throws for 4,996 yards and 38 TDs = 280 points
-A RB who has 1,949 total yards, 69 receptions and 10 TDs = 293 points
-A WR who has 1,328 total yards, 90 receptions and 10 TDs = 253 points
The WR is lower, but you have to start three of them (plus some can start in the flex spot)
It's mostly a two-QB league as most teams start a QB in the flex. But it's viable to start a RB or WR in the flex as well, or even a top TE. With individual QBs, that adds about 5-7 players to the free agent pool. And there's always a lot of turnover in low-end QBs. Usually those QBs who change jobs at the lower end never get picked up a 1-QB league.And two QB leagues with traditional scoring formats typically make the value of a QB so high, that the first two rounds are dominated by QBs and there few on the waiver wire.
The end result is a draft where taking almost any position in the first few rounds is viable and a free agency pool that has more viable options than a typical 14-team league.
If that's not the best, what is?