Fantasy Football League Suggestions
I started playing fantasy sports back in 2003. Back then, the NFL was very different. I can still clearly recall when the concept of a flexible job first emerged. Rightfully so, the resistance was overwhelmingly strong. The thought that a club might carry three elite running backs would upend the league in the early to mid-2000s.
Nine running backs carried the ball more than 300 times in 2004. Eight running backs carried the ball more than 300 times in a single season from 2013 to 2019. Three running backs might not even be necessary to start right now. The ideal tactic back then, with all the bell-cow backs there were, was to start as many running backs in your draft as you could. Our fantasy leagues must adapt to the NFL’s adjustments as well. In the forthcoming season, your league should think about making the following five rule modifications.
Before we jump into this, I have a rule that not everyone will agree with, I really hate when someone joins a fantasy league and can’t take the time to pick a name. fantasy football team names are easy to do and add a ton of fun to your league.
Rivalry Weeks (Battle Week)
Because each club plays every other team once before the playoffs begin, 14-team conferences are the ideal for scheduling reasons. With a conventional 13-week regular season, 12-team leagues have had to figure out what to do with the extra two weeks. You play each squad once; what happens next? My leagues have tested two different “rivalry week” concepts.
Position Weeks are often held in Weeks 7 and 14. For those who are not familiar, a position week is a time when games are chosen depending on the standings. Third place versus fourth place, etc.; first place versus second place. It eliminates the randomness of which two teams you play twice, but it doesn’t address the issue of playing two teams twice and every other team merely once.
One of my leagues tried out Battle Royale Week for the first time in 2018, and it was a big success. Instead of having a head-to-head opponent in Weeks 1 and 13 (these are the greatest options because there are no teams on bye), it’s a pure war royale. Each week, the top six scoring teams receive a victory, while the lowest six each suffer a defeat. With this method, you only need to play every team once and finish with a top 50% point total for the final two weeks. It’s really enjoyable. The only catch is that your commissioner could need to adjust the schedule ex post facto.
Two-Win Method
The scoring system based on the two-win method is integrated with the battle royale week. A perfect season under the two-win rule would be 26-0 rather than 13-0. A win is earned by defeating your head-to-head opponent and ending with a point total in the top 50% of your league during each week’s head-to-head and battle royale matches. This would at least somewhat relieve the suffering of those of you who have survived the season when it feels like you are running into a buzzsaw every week. If you’re intrigued, review some of your league’s earlier seasons and evaluate them as if you had applied the two-win system. You might be shocked at how different the outcome might have been.
Modify your starting lineup positions.
This one refers to how the NFL was different 15 years ago, which I mentioned in my opening. Think about granting fantasy owners more freedom. Change one of the starting RB spots from two to a flex. The rule that fantasy owners must start two running backs is a little out of date considering how few NFL teams use a workhorse running back. It’s now standard practice for teams to rotate as many as three running backs, which is known as “running back by committee.”
The same choices ought to be available to fantasy owners. Try using the following starting lineup: QB, RB, WR, TE, WR/TE, WR/RB, flex. If they so choose, fantasy owners can still start three running backs. They can also use five wide receivers while starting just one.
The NFL is making the move to becoming much more pass-centric. It may seem excessive to start five wide receivers, but giving teams an extra starting roster slot rewards them for discovering those special players later in the draft or on the waiver wire. There comes a time when having too many spots on the starting roster significantly raises the luck factor. It’s not excessive to only need one starting RB and add one more starting slot. Test it out!
Award Final Playoff Spot To Highest Scoring Non-Playoff Team
This is an additional strategy to counter the unfavorable luck fantasy owners may encounter throughout a brief 13-week season. When you have a terrific team in fantasy football but your opponents just tee off on you every week, there is nothing more discouraging. The teams finishing one through five are admitted as usual if your league has six playoff slots, however the sixth spot would go to the top scoring team still in the league.
That might imply that the team with the sixth-worst record is eliminated. Okay, fine. It should go to the 5-8 team with 200 more points.
Allow Injury Replacements
With fantasy football, luck is already a big factor. The fact that you no longer have your player makes it horrible enough when he gets hurt. You may lose a matchup if a player is injured early in a game.
Decide if you like the concept before figuring out how to apply it on the main fantasy host sites. For quarterbacks, the solution is simple: if your starting QB is injured, you keep racking up scores with his backup. The issue can possibly be resolved by using “Team QB” rather than a specific player.
It gets a little trickier for other positions. I’ve found that listing each team’s bench players in the order that they would replace injured starters is the best method. The substitute will take the injured starter’s position if they are injured in the first half and do not return to the game at any stage (it has to be automatic, otherwise fantasy owners could exploit this if the injured player happened to have a monster first half). Of course, if they so want, fantasy owners can turn down setting injured replacements before kickoff.
Have an open mind to fresh concepts. Never be the person who despises instant replay because “that’s how things were back in my day.” The community will get better at enhancing the game and making it more entertaining for all players the longer fantasy football is played and the more popular it develops.
