What the hell is it?
Fantasy football is a role-playing game for jock-nerds, similar to DND, or a video game. Usually consisting of 8-12 people. You select or Draft a team and spend the year battling each other head to head till there is but one victor.
Each week you must pick your squad to do battle against your opponent. Certain actions in real NFL games determine how much damage or points are scored. Whoever has the most at the end of the week wins.
Types:
There are different types of fantasy football based on the commitment of each group or league.
Daily or Weekly. As it implies it’s shorter in nature with very little commitment. This is the option that is associated frequently with gambling. And to be honest it is. These are the leagues where million dollar jackpots can be found. But just like Vegas the house always wins and the likelihood of you winning in the long run is low and it requires huge investments to pay out. We do not condone gambling if you have an addiction or financial issues.
Redraft or Season long fantasy is the most common type and what we talk about the most on the show. This is where each year the league chooses from the entire player pool including old and new players.
Keeper Leagues are the same as redraft but each year a team is allowed to keep a certain number of players. Frequently there is a cost associated with keeping a player that is proportional to their value. This favors players who are a bit more savvy at playing a long term strategy that involves year over year work.
Dynasty leagues are the natural conclusion of the least to most amount of investment paradigm. This is for players who have a core group of friends who want to extend the fun to a full year round game instead of just one season at a time. This closely mimics real NFL teams. Rosters are usually 20 or more players deep with Rookies being drafted each year.
Platforms:
If you want to play there are many options. It’s good to try a few before you settle your league into one. As moving to another platform can be difficult at best. We recommend something that has a good app/web design, easy to use, and has access to data.
Some examples for Redraft, Keeper and Dynasty
ESPN
Yahoo
Sleeper
CBS
NFL
Daily/Weekly:
Draft Kings
FanDuel
Building your team and types of players:
At the start of each year the league holds a Draft from the available pool of NFL players. You take turns selecting players in one of a couple of formats.
The most common type is called Snake Draft and generally is regarded as the fairest. You start at team one then each player gets a turn in a predetermined order (which is up to each league). All the way to the last player which will complete round 1. Round 2 is that order but in reverse. This gives the last player two picks back to back. Then round three is reversed back to what round one looks like and so on and so forth.
In Linear drafting the order is kept the same each round and closely mimics what the NFL does in their draft each year.
You need a whole crew to go to battle with you each week. There are going to be many different opinions on how many of each player type is the most fun or the most strategic. We’ll cover the general requirements we think are fun. We feel at a minimum you need 15-18 players on your team and will need the following types.
1 Quarterback (QB)
2-3 Wide receivers (WR)
2-3 Running backs (RB)
1 Tight End (TE)
1-2 Flex (WR/RB/TE)
1 Defensive Unit (D/ST)
1 Kicker (K)
5-7 bench spots (any from above up to a limit)
Quarterbacks - This is the player in charge of the team's offense. The player who calls the plays and throws the ball.
Wide Receivers- This is the player who catches the ball usually further down the field.
Running Backs - This is the player who runs the ball. Generally it is handed, tossed or lightly thrown to this player.
Tight Ends - This player looks like he can’t catch but can. Usually catches the ball closer to the QB than the WRs.
Kicker- This is the player that kicks the ball up and through the yellow uprights or goal posts.
Defense - This is the entire unit of defense and special teams for any given NFL team. Some leagues like to do individual players and this is known as IDP.
Scoring:
You’re probably thinking by now, how does one score points. Here’s where it gets tricky. Once again a lot of this depends on how a league likes to play and is broken down into one of three categories:
Points per Reception or PPR. In this type of league where every player who catches a pass will get 1 point on top of their usual points.
Half-PPR they get half a point in addition to their usual points.
Non-PPR or what used to be called Standard. No additional points are rewarded for catching the ball. This is a touchdown dependent league.
Now that we’ve discussed the three main types of scoring let’s get into the nitty-gritty. I hate harping on it but once again this can vary by each league but generally speaking.
All players except defense can get 1 point for every 10 yds they run with the ball. Known as Rushing yards.
All players except defense can get 1 point for every 10 yds they catch and then run with the ball. Known as Receiving yards.
All players (usually only the QB) except defense who throw a pass and a player catches it gets 1 point for every 25 yds thrown. Known as Passing yards.
A player who scores a rushing, receiving or defensive score or Touchdown gets 6 pts.
A Player who throws for a Touchdown gets 4-6 pts depending on the league.
All players who kick the ball for a Field Goal(FG) get 3 points for any kick that's 1-39 yds long, 4 pts for 40-49 yds and 5 pts for 50+ yds.
A Player who kicks for an Extra Point (XP) will get 1 point.
A Player who throws, catches or runs for a 2 Point Conversion (2PT) gets 2 points.
You can also lose points. This happens when a player commits a Turnover. Examples include an Interception (throwing the ball to the opposing team) or a Fumble (dropping the ball and the other team picks it up). This is -2 points.
You can also lose points by your Defense performing poorly and allowing their real world opponent to score.
What’s the point?
Winning a Championship of course! To be one of the final contenders at the end of year! To get a shot at glory!
Beating your friends in something is the epitome of life. To be able to lord it over them from a whole year. To pronounce I am the best!
It’s triumph and defeat. Much like the real world the difference between winning a Championship and slipping into chaos is razor thin.
I guess friendship is also cool too. You can also make money if you’re particularly skilled at it.