Knowing the rules is the first step to winning any game. Most fantasy football leagues have a similar scoring system, but you should make sure you understand the ins and outs of your league’s scoring system before diving into the remainder of the regulations. Points-per-reception, individual kick return scoring, and inflated touchdown scoring can all affect the outcome of your draft.
After you’ve looked at the scoring system, the roster limits are the next most crucial thing to look at in the regulations. Although most leagues have identical scoring, the amount of players and positions that a club can have varies greatly from league to league. Your league may impose a limit on the amount of running backs a club can have, or you may be forced to have a backup at every position, or you may be allowed to build your squad however you wish. In any case, understanding the roster restrictions will help you avoid unpleasant surprises on draft day. To do so, you’ll need to be familiar with some of the unusual position titles you’ll see in your league’s starting lineup:
Quarterback for the team (TQB)
This position is used to designate the quarterback position for an entire team. This implies that any player on a team’s NFL roster who is classified as a Quarterback will earn you fantasy points. Although this position isn’t used in many leagues, it has an impact on quarterback fantasy values in those that do. The value of the Philadelphia Eagles TQB and the Pittsburgh Steelers TQB could rise as a result of this position in 2010. Because Mike Vick only gets a few snaps per game, the Eagles TQB’s owner would get points both while Vick and Kevin Kolb are on the field. As a result, the owner of the Steelers TQB will collect points from both Ben Roethlisberger and his replacements when he returns from suspension.
Flex (RB/WR) running back/wide receiver
This position is becoming more frequent, and it can be filled by a running back or a wide receiver on the squad.
Flex Wide Receiver/Tight End (WR/TE)
This position, like the other flex positions, can be manned by either a wide receiver or a tight end.
The Offensive Utility Position (UTIL) is a unique position that may transform a league in an instant. It is more widely employed in fantasy baseball than fantasy football. Any offensive player, including quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends, can play this position. In most scoring systems, the most common position employed as a UTIL is quarterback, but pay attention to your league’s scoring system to see whether a running back or wide receiver could be a better alternative.
Special Teams / Team Defense (D/ST)
This position refers to an entire team’s defense and special teams unit in almost all fantasy football competitions. On defense and special teams, scoring might include sacks, interceptions, fumbles, and scores.
Keep track of how many players are in your starting lineup. If you’re in a normal league with only one QB and TE in your roster, keep in mind that you’ll only need one of them each week, so having two ‘great’ players at those positions isn’t necessary unless you plan on moving one.
You can begin preparing for your draft once you’ve reviewed the scoring system, roster criteria, and other restrictions.
Is it possible to have a QB as a flex player?
The number of players who can be starting in the flex position varies by league. Most leagues will only accept running backs or wide receivers, while tight ends and quarterbacks may be allowed in some. Quarterbacks are popular in superflex fantasy leagues because they may be used as a flex position.
In fantasy football, what is a defensive player’s utility?
Team managers can start any defensive roster space with the Defensive Player Utility (DP) option. The DP slot can have a maximum of fifteen starts (15).
In ESPN fantasy football, what is a flex position?
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Note from the editor: This story was first published in July 2010. For your convenience, we’re bringing it back in archival form.
Every passion and hobby has a unique genesis, a point in time when a person is first exposed to an activity or subculture that they may choose to pursue for the rest of their lives.
My then-technophobic father asked me where the Internet was a few years ago (he’s a doctor, after all), and I told him it was in a building outside of Cleveland. After years of practice, he’s become eBay’s Gordon Gekko, placing precise bids on wooden gnomes, antique beer bottles, and 5-irons (unrelated interests).
The point is that, because to all of the incredibly accessible materials at our disposal, we can all go from novice to expert in a very short amount of time.
From the outside, fantasy football may appear to be a complicated and time-consuming sport, but once you’re immersed in it, you’ll find it to be a rather simple game to master. My goal is to show you how fantasy football works and introduce you to what may be a fun, powerful, and long-lasting activity for you.
The Basics
Fantasy football players are “owners” and “managers” of teams that compete in competitions, earning “fantasy points” based on real football player statistics. The majority of leagues are scored weekly, with teams facing off in a head-to-head matchup on a rotating schedule. The teams with the greatest records at the end of the season advance to the fantasy playoffs (often held from Weeks 14-17 of the NFL schedule).
The idea is to bring together the best productive players from various positions. A quarterback, two running backs, one “flex” player (a slot for either a running back or a wide receiver), two wide receivers, one tight end, one team defense/special teams (you draft the entire Pittsburgh Steelers defense and special teams, for example) and a kicker are required in a standard league. Seven bench places are available to add depth to your lineup. This may appear to be a ridiculously large number of players to handle at once, but as the season progresses, you’ll wish you had even more room on your roster.
The fantasy football season officially begins with the draft. The draft, which is usually held in the weeks preceding up to the NFL season, is where you build your roster from the ground up. The majority of leagues include 10 to 12 teams, and the drafts are held in either “snake” or “auction” methods. You assemble your team and fill out your roster one by one. Many leagues have turned draft day into a festival, with furious trash-talking and friendship becoming staples. Take a few minutes to read Christopher Harris’ insightful take on drafting techniques once you’ve mastered the fundamental rules and settings of fantasy.
Playing the Game
Obviously, you want to win the game. Every permutation of fantasy revolves on numbers. The idea is to maximize production from every starting position on the roster, just as it is on the field. While real-life players put their lives on the line for additional yards, we put our egos, pride, and semi-public humiliation on the line for fantasy glory.
The path to fictitious glory (but still glory) begins, of course, with a clear comprehension of the rules of the league you’re joining. Once you’ve laid the groundwork, you can concentrate on becoming the greatest manager you can be, which will need you to fill a variety of positions.
Manager of Operations: You’ve already spent some time mocking it up and reading other fantasy “nerdery” over the summer. You are the war room on draft day. You and only you are putting together the team. While a draft can take several hours, it can also be completed quickly. While drafting, having a few cheat sheets and some scribbled notes on the side will help focus your decision-making process. Given the attrition of the NFL season, the nature of a fantasy roster generally alters by November and December, even if it’s difficult to imagine in August and September. This means that the quality of your backup players is often just as important as the performance of your “stars” in determining your team’s success. Spend some time getting to know some of the value players, or “sleepers” as the cool kids refer to them.
Transactions on the waiver wire (collection of players who are not owned in a given league) and seeking trades with other managers can have just as much of an impact on your season as the draft process. A GM’s job is never truly finished, much like in real life.
Coach: If the GM’s job is to assess the roster against the entire player market, the coach is expected to make the best judgments for each week. Given your restricted starting spots, you must choose which players to start and which to bench in this capacity. The process of “coaching” a team is ultimately a blend of informed decisions and gut instincts. Some start/sit decisions can be true conundrums, causing handwringing and pacing. But, as a golfer may say, the “stress” of it all is what allows for such a large payout when you succeed.
Should I start with a quarterback or a running back?
Every rule has an exception, and if you’re in one of these leagues, quarterbacks have a higher weighted worth, therefore you’ll need to get them earlier. In both scenarios, the first players off the board will be stud running backs. Tight ends are also valuable due to position scarcity. However, with two quarterbacks in the starting lineup (most superflex leagues will have a QB in that place), there’s suddenly greater motivation to avoid a subpar starter and the Ben DiNuccis of the world in your secondary.
In these leagues, taking Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, or Aaron Rodgers late in the first round and into the second round, depending on what other guys are still available, would not be a stretch. At the very least, you won’t want to wait until the fifth round before grabbing your QB1. Following that, it might be a good idea to consider a QB2. Remember that there are only 32 starting quarterbacks in any given week (fewer in most weeks due to byes), yet a productive wide receiver may still be found on the waiver wire in a pinch.
What is offensive player utility op, and how does it work?
Quarterback (QB): If this option is chosen, specific NFL quarterbacks will be drafted. The league cannot employ the TQB option if the QB slot is selected. The number of starters at the quarterback position is limited to six (6).
TQB (Franchise Quarterback): This unique score option includes all quarterbacks from a specific NFL team. If the league is chosen, it will form a squad and obtain statistics for all quarterbacks who play for the NFL team. If you own the Patriots quarterbacks and Brady is injured in the first quarter, you’ll receive all of the points scored by his replacement(s) for the rest of the game. The TQB position can include up to four starters (4).
NOTE: If your league requires each club to have a Team QB, the Team QB can only be used in the Team QB position.
As a result, if your league has an Offensive Player Utility position, you cannot use a Team QB in that position.
If your league allows individual quarterbacks, you might put your starting quarterback (Tom Brady, for example) in the QB roster slot and your backup quarterback (Jamarcus Russell) in the Offensive Player Utility slot.
The league will pick individual NFL running backs if they are selected. In football, fullbacks are referred to as running backs. At the running back position, the maximum number of starters is eight (8).
If this utility slot is chosen, club owners can start either a running back or a wide receiver each week during the season. The number of starters in the RB/WR position is limited to five (5).
Wide Receiver (WR): The league will draft individual NFL wide receivers if they are selected. The number of starters at the wide receiver position is limited to ten (10).
Wide Receiver/Tight End (WR/TE): If this utility slot is chosen, club owners can start either a WR or a TE every week. The maximum number of starters at the wide receiver/tight end position is five (5).
Tight End (TE): If picked, individual NFL tight ends will be drafted. The TE position can have a maximum of five starters (5).
If the offensive player utility (OP) slot is chosen, club owners have the option of starting any offensive roster space. The OP slot can have a maximum of fifteen starters (15).
Defensive Tackle (DT): If picked, individual NFL defensive tackles will be drafted. At the defensive tackle position, the maximum number of starts is five (5).
Defensive End (DE): The league will draft individual NFL defensive ends if they are selected. The number of starters at the DE position is limited to five (5).
Individual NFL linebackers will be drafted if the position is chosen. At the LB position, the maximum number of starts is five (5).
If this utility position is chosen, team owners have the choice of starting either a DT or a DE each week during the season.
The number of starters on the DL is limited to six (6).
Cornerback (CB): The league will pick individual NFL cornerbacks if they are selected.
The CB position has a maximum of five starts (5).
The league will pick individual NFL safety if they are selected.
At the S slot, the maximum number of starters is five (5).
If this utility position is chosen, team owners have the choice of starting either a CB or a S each week during the season.
The number of starts in the DB position is limited to six (6).
Defensive Player Utility (DP): If this utility slot is chosen, the club owner can start any defensive roster space.
The DP slot can have a maximum of fifteen starts (15).
D/ST (Team Defense/Special Team): This roster spot combines the Team Defense and Special Teams.
The D/ST slot can have a maximum of four starters (4).
The league will pick individual NFL place kickers if they are selected.
At the K slot, the maximum number of starters is five (5).
Punter (P): The league will draft individual NFL punters if they are chosen.
At the P slot, the maximum number of starts is five (5).
The league will draft individual NFL head coaches if they are chosen. The HC slot can have a maximum of four starters (4).
Should I flex a running back or a wide receiver?
In standard leagues, running backs, even those ranked outside the top 24, who are highly involved in their team’s game plan have value and typically outscore their wide receiver counterparts, though the scoring margin can be razor-thin. Outside of the top-30 running backs, the difference in scoring between wide receivers and running backs is so small that the flex spot is usually a case-by-case choice. When comparing low-end RB4s to low-end WR4s, wide receiver opportunity nearly always outweighs running back opportunity.
In fantasy football, how do defensive players work?
Fantasy IDP leagues have existed from the beginning of the game. While IDP leagues are not for everyone, they do provide a new level of challenge and excitement to the fantasy game. However, if you’ve never played in an IDP league before, they might be perplexing and daunting. So we’ll try to simplify things for you.
Each club in most regular fantasy football leagues has the option of picking and starting a team defense. Based on how many points are scored against it and how many huge plays the defensive unit generates, that team defense usually scores points for you. While this style makes for a more manageable squad, the disadvantage is that the performance of team defensive units is largely determined by the offense they are facing rather than the unit’s own competence. After all, what’s the fun in picking a whole team’s half to play as a single unit? Would you ever play in a league if you had to start a team offense instead of a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end?
Instead of starting a full team defense, the IDP model allows you to start select defensive players. Some IDP leagues begin with only a few defensive players, while others begin with as many as or more defensive players than offensive players. Each defensive player is given a score based on his or her performance. Points are awarded for tackles, sacks, interceptions, passes defended, and, of course, touchdowns. IDP scoring systems are as diverse as offensive scoring systems, therefore understanding the IDP scoring system and lineup requirements of your league is just as important as understanding the offensive side of a fantasy team.
Despite the fact that IDP leagues have existed for a long time, there is no global “standard scoring format.” Just as there are two primary variations on the attacking side of the ball (PPR and Non-PPR), there are two significant variations on the defensive side of the ball: “tackle heavy scoring” and “sack heavy scoring.”
Tackle-heavy leagues do exactly what they say on the tin: they penalize pass rushers while rewarding tacklers. The biggest benefactors of this scoring system are the 4-3 middle linebackers, weak side linebackers, and safeties. 3-4 outside linebackers are the ones who take the most hits. The 3-4 outside linebackers rarely rack up large tackle totals because they are primarily responsible for bringing down the quarterback. If they don’t get a sack in the game, you’re probably looking at a goose egg, and nothing is more frustrating than a player who gives you zero points for the week, offensively or defensively.
Sack-heavy scoring, on the other hand, rewards gamblers who pick sack specialists. Sack-heavy scoring leagues are defined as those having a sack-to-tackle ratio of 5:1. For example, if a solo tackle is for one point and a sack is worth four, the sack will be worth five points because it counts as a tackle as well. You gain an extra bonus for tackles for loss if you get points for them. To compensate for the one sack, your tackle-heavy linebacker will need to earn five solo tackles. Obviously, you’re looking for players with a lot of promise in both formats.
In an ideal world, you’d utilize a scoring system that strikes a balance and serves the league’s best interests.
To answer this question, you must first determine how many IDPs each club must begin with. In most IDP leagues, three to four IDPs are used. You should definitely choose them late in the draft and carry few, if any, IDP reserves in this situation. Each week, the waiver wire will be strewn with lots of plug-and-play choices. You may easily select an appropriate IDP lineup by looking at weekly rankings from various sites.
IDP leagues with more depth start two defensive linemen, three to four linebackers, and two defensive backs. Some leagues require DEs and DTs to be classified separately rather than as DLs, and CBs and SFs to be listed separately rather than as DBs. Defensive players should be drafted significantly earlier in this format, with some great IDPs being selected as early as the third round, however the fourth or fifth round is a more common starting point for IDPs.
IDP leagues are merely a different version of the same game you’re already playing. It may appear daunting at first since you may not be as familiar with the defensive players as you are with the offensive players. But that’s why we’re here: to assist you learn the IDP game and become as familiar with the defense as you are with the attack. The resources listed below will assist you on your trip.
DLF’s IDP section will feature frequent articles and insight into the life of IDPs.
The DLF Forum’s IDP Discussion is a fantastic resource for connecting with other informed IDP community members.
In fantasy football, how do defensive points work?
The conventional fantasy football scoring system is the most straightforward to adopt, especially in leagues operated by individuals rather than by a website. The points are usually divided down as follows for defensive players:
- 2 points for a blocked kick.
- 2 points for safety
- 1 point for a fumble recovery
- 2 points for interception
- Points: 0 Allowable = ten points
- 1 to 6 points 8 points are allowed.
- Points: 713 6 points are allowed.
- Points: 14-20 2 points allowed
- Points: 21-27 1 point is allotted
- Points: 28-34 0 points are allowed.
- Points: 35-41 -2 points allotted
- 42 points or more -4 points allowed