Some might call me an elitist snob when it comes to fantasy football leagues. Those people are correct. If a league doesn’t meet my very lofty and very specific standards for settings, I’m probably not going to participate.
Ultimately, the reason for this is simple — I want to have fun. What is fun for me is what is the right balance of excitement and fairness.
Here is how I think you can accomplish that in your leagues.
Best Fantasy Football League Settings
If you ever want to really get under my skin in a debate, just say this to me regarding change: “Well, that’s how it’s always been.”
I’m sure all of us have encountered this in arguments before. It’s no different in fantasy football.
I started playing fantasy football way back in 2003. To give you an idea of what the landscape was back when MySpace was first founded and before Facebook even existed, here it is.
In my first fantasy football league, we had continual rolling list waivers, no Flex spot, and whole-number scoring. No one thought anything of it.
By 2007, all of my leagues had converted to fractional scoring and added a Flex spot. There wasn’t much resistance to that. But waivers were a whole different story.
In the early 2010s, FAAB (free agent acquisition budget) started to rise to prominence. While most of my leagues adopted it relatively early, some holdouts just didn’t want change because “that’s how it’s always been.”
Think about all of the things you do daily. You probably watch TV on high definition, heat up food in a microwave, and surf the internet on a computer that is not plugged into anything. At various points throughout history, none of those things were possible.
Times change. The NFL changes. And with it, fantasy football must change.
Here are a handful of the best settings changes you can implement to your fantasy football leagues in an effort to improve excitement and competitiveness.
Add More Starting Roster Spots
I played a lot of video games growing up. When I played those games, I enjoyed them.
I spent literally thousands of hours playing Halo 2 on Xbox. Then, the Xbox 360 came out, and along with it came Halo 3.
I didn’t play Halo 2 anymore because there was a newer, better version of the game. I didn’t play on my Xbox anymore because the Xbox 360 was a newer, more advanced console.
The point of this anecdote is to showcase change. My favorite gaming memories were those Halo 2 and Halo 3 years. But am I about to go play either of those games on either of those consoles in the year 2024? Absolutely not.
As we press forward, things can and should be left in the past in favor of newer, better things. That includes fantasy football starting lineups.
The default starting lineups on platforms like Yahoo and ESPN are like playing Halo 2 on an original Xbox in the year 2024. On most platforms, you’re starting two WRs, two RBs, and one Flex (along with the onesie positions of QB, TE, DEF, and K).
Given that kickers and defenses don’t get drafted until the final couple of rounds, even if we assume every team in your fantasy draft takes a quarterback and tight end before any bench wide receivers or running backs, that would mean every player picked after the seventh round is going on your bench.
Realistically, plenty of managers are going to wait on QB, TE, or both and draft more WRs and RBs in the sixth and seventh rounds. Should those players really be on benches? I certainly don’t think so. That neither promotes skill nor fun.
One of my longest-running leagues initially had three WRs, two RBs, and one Flex. I was actually an advocate for removing a WR to reduce the size of the starting lineup about a decade ago…and we did! We removed a WR spot in 2013. Looking back on it now, it’s crazy to think I was that guy.
The reality is a change like this is necessary because the best fantasy football leagues change their settings with the NFL. For example, back in the early 2000s, having a Flex position was not even standard, and it was the right call by fantasy platforms.
Using my first year in fantasy, 2003, as an example, 13 running backs had over 300 carries. Last season, there were zero. In 2022, there were four. And in 2021, 2020, and 2019, there were just two.
The NFL in 2024 hardly resembles the NFL in 2003. Almost every team uses a committee at running back. Offenses revolve around passing rather than running. Scoring is up.
These changes have resulted in more fantasy-relevant players at both the running back and wide receiver positions. That inherently alters the threshold of a replacement-level fantasy starter.
In 2023, the WR36 averaged about 12.0 fantasy points per game. Twenty years ago, that same WR36 was around 10.0 fantasy points per game. I love where my league settings are right now, but it would be foolish of me to assume that we’re set for good. There will inevitably be required changes at some point in the future.
To account for the differences in how football is played, your fantasy league cannot start only five WRs/RBs anymore. My preferred league settings are three WRs, two RBs, and two Flexs.
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Two seasons ago, I experimented with a three-WR, two-RB, and three-Flex league. It still works. I enjoyed it. I certainly prefer it to a basic two-WR, two-RB, one-Flex format, but it pushes the envelope a bit too far in a 12-team league.
That 3-2-3 format created razor-thin margins when it came to injuries. While still better than the default, three-WR, two-RB, and two-Flex lineups seem to be the perfect starting roster size for the current NFL. You can also alter it to be two-WR, two-RB, and three-Flex.
The most important number is the total number of WRs and RBs you can start. In my experience, I’ve found the optimal number to be seven.
While I am a big proponent of trying to create a level playing field and maximizing skill, I also want this game to be fun. Isn’t it fun to root for your players to score fantasy points?
Equally important, how frustrating is it to bench guys that have huge weeks? I promise you that still happens, but it doesn’t hurt as much when you’re benching guys who weren’t seriously considering starting anyway.
If you hit on a wide receiver in the eighth round or grab a gem off the waiver wire in Week 2, your opponent shouldn’t be able to stream a guy just as good. Adding starting roster spots makes your league more skill-based and more exciting.
Implement the 2-Win System
Fantasy football traditionalists scoff at the notion of doing anything other than classic head-to-head. In actuality, there are many different ways to score the game.
I like the excitement of head-to-head, but man, it can be frustrating at times. Anyone who’s played this game long enough has experienced the misery of getting buzzsawed week after week.
We all lament over those incorrect lineup decisions that cost us matchups. But I still find it easier to swallow a loss when I know I could’ve reasonably done something different.
For me, the most frustrating loss is one where I put up the second- or third-highest point total of the week and still lose my head-to-head matchup.
Enter the two-win system. In addition to your head-to-head matchup, add a second weekly win for finishing inside the top half in scoring.
Assuming your regular season runs the usual Weeks (1-14), that means there are 28 potential wins available each season. Fantasy football Godfather Matthew Berry is a noted proponent of adding the second weekly win vs. the league median.
Sleeper has this option as a league setting. It requires nothing other than your commissioner clicking a box when creating your league. The platform tracks it for you.
Awarding a second win for the top 50% of teams each week allows your league to maintain the excitement of head-to-head matchups while adding an element of fairness in rewarding the teams that score the most points on a given week. So far, only one of my fantasy football leagues has done this, but it’s easily one of the best settings changes I’ve made.
Tiered PPR
I will admit I have not implemented this setting nor advocated for it in any league yet. However, I remain intrigued by this relatively new concept.
Let’s start with the obvious: Non-PPR fantasy football is awful. And yes, it is non-PPR, not “standard.” The term “standard” is defined as “used or accepted as normal or average.”
Remember those Halo 2 and pre-Facebook years from before? Yeah, that’s when non-PPR was standard. Okay, maybe that’s a bit unfair. It was still standard as recently as the mid-2010s. But it’s not anymore!
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For a few years now, Yahoo’s default has been half-PPR. On ESPN and Sleeper, the default is full-PPR.
The issue with the name is me being a bit nitpicky. The most important takeaway is your league should have an element of PPR. Non-PPR overvalues touchdowns and increases randomness.
Of course, that doesn’t mean PPR is perfect. Opponents of full-PPR will argue that receptions are overvalued. They will say that a receiver catching two passes for five yards should not be scoring more fantasy points than a running back ripping off a 20-yard rush. As a result, I find half-PPR to be the best compromise, but tiered PPR scoring might be the wave of the future.
In tiered PPR scoring, the amount of points per reception is correlated with the length of the reception. Here is an example of how tiered PPR scoring could work:
- Four-yard reception or shorter: 0 PPR
- 5-9 yards: 0.25 PPR
- 10-14 yards: 0.5 PPR
- 15-19 yards: 0.75 PPR
- 20+ yards: 1.0 PPR
Catching the ball is a skill, and receptions should matter … but perhaps we can correlate that to the extent they actually matter in the NFL.
The most efficient running backs in the NFL average five yards per carry. In full PPR, a catch for no gain is just as valuable as a 10-yard rush. Tiered PPR rewards players for receptions relative to how impactful those receptions actually are.
Auction Drafts
I love me some auctions.
My fantasy football league distribution has reached a point where 50% of them now have auction drafts. Year after year, I can’t help but notice my best teams are consistently in leagues with auction drafts. At this point, if I decide to join new leagues, I will only look for auctions.
Part of that is my burning desire to give myself the best chance to win. But also, they’re so much fun!
Your first thought when considering an auction draft may be, “That sounds complicated. I don’t want to learn an entirely new drafting style.” Completely understandable. But hey, there was a time when you didn’t know how to do a snake draft, right?
I can and will write an entire article on auction draft strategy later this year. For now, we’ll stick to the basics.
The primary appeal of auction drafts is the ability of every manager to draft every player. In snake drafts, everyone is pretty much a slave to their draft position. Your position in your draft dictates what subset of players is available to you.
The moment your commissioner publishes your draft order, you already know dozens of players you simply cannot draft. You drew Pick No. 8? No Christian McCaffrey or Tyreek Hill for you! In auction drafts, the entire player pool is open to you. Get your guys!
Every season is different. But every year, you can bank on a portion of a snake draft where you don’t want to draft any of the players. You think to yourself, “I wish I could just pick twice in the next round.” In auction drafts, you can!
Do you want to forgo the expensive guys and build a roster loaded with Round 3-5 type players? Go for it. Do you want two first-rounders? It’s going to cost you, but that’s your call to make. No set of restrictions imposed by the format of your draft is going to stop you.
We’ve all experienced seasons where we love multiple players with the same ADP, but we can’t draft them all. In an auction draft, you can do just that.
Auction drafts also result in greater variance in terms of team construction and quality. Have you ever looked down at a draft board and said, “I guess I have to do this?” and taken a guy you don’t really want? That doesn’t happen in auction drafts.
The biggest drawback of auction drafting for most people is the duration. An auction draft takes double the time of a snake draft — if not more. But if you love fantasy football, this might be the single best league setting change you can make.
What’s another couple of hours in early September for 17 weeks of fun anyway?
Award the Final Playoff Spot to the Highest-Scoring Non-Playoff Team
I remember when I first heard about this concept. It’s one of those things where your kneejerk reaction is to push back at the notion. The top six teams by record make the playoffs, and that’s how it is! Resist the urge to be the “That’s how it’s always been” person.
This is still a relatively new fantasy football league setting idea. There are expert leagues that implement it, but I do not yet know anyone personally who has. Regardless, the idea intrigues me.
The concept is as simple as the heading above suggests: The final playoff spot should go to the highest-scoring team not currently in the playoffs.
To alleviate any confusion, here is how it would play out, assuming your league — like the vast majority of leagues — has six teams make the playoffs. The top two teams (presumably) would get the byes. Then, the teams finishing third, fourth, and fifth in the standings secure a playoff spot as normal.
It is that sixth and final seed where this rule comes in. Instead of that spot going to whichever team is in sixth place by record, that final playoff spot would go to whichever team outside the top five has the highest point total after the regular season is over.
If you’ve been playing fantasy football long enough, you’ve been on both sides of the ledger here. You’ve probably had a season with a bottom-six point total where you made the playoffs, as well as one with a top-six point total where you missed the playoffs.
I’ve seen the points leader miss the playoffs entirely in one of my leagues one year because of bad scheduling luck. This setting ensures that your league will never see that happen.
If you somehow finish 5-9 but lead your league in points, you will get into the playoffs over that 7-7 team with a lower point total. Not only does this increase fairness, but it adds excitement over those final couple of weeks as securing that No. 5 seed and dropping a high point total become more important.
None of my leagues have implemented this … yet. However, each time we get a season where a top point scorer misses the playoffs due to bad scheduling luck, something like this comes up.
This is also a good alternative if your league doesn’t want to go to a two-win system.
Third-Round Reversal
This is another setting I’ve been interested in for a couple of years. Fortunately, I was finally able to experience it in a dynasty startup this season. As fate would have it, I drew the No. 12 spot. So, naturally, I was a pretty big fan!
When it comes to snake drafts, the third round is a bit of an inflection point in the draft. It is the round where you find the biggest cliff regarding talent drop-off. Most notably, this occurs at running back.
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The running back dead zone typically starts somewhere in the middle of the third round. That means the teams picking toward the back are picking in that dead zone.
The theory behind a snake draft is that although the teams picking toward the back will have a worse first-round pick than the teams at the top, both of their first two players drafted will be better than the top-picking teams’ second player drafted. While that’s true, the problem is in the third round, where the scales tip heavily in favor of the earlier drafting teams.
So, the teams at the top get the best players in the first round, and they get the safer, more reliable third-round players.
Third-round reversal is exactly as it sounds — the draft flips in Round 3. Assuming a 12-team league, Rounds 1 and 2 proceed as normal. Round 1 goes 1-12. Round 2 snakes back and goes 12-1. Third-round reversal flips the draft in Round 3, with it once again going 12-1, meaning Round 4 would then go 1-12, and so on.
Historically, the earlier you pick, the better your team will likely be. By reversing the draft in the third round, you allow the teams with the lower draft positions to get the select few third-rounders off the board before the cliff. It’s a great way to increase fairness without sacrificing any excitement.