From league to league in every fantasy sport you have differences in the way things are scored. You have points and categories leagues in some sports like MLB and NBA and you have head-to-head leagues in all of them. In fantasy football leagues, things can get crazy. You have your standard scoring, point-per-reception (full or half), yardage bonuses, touchdown bonuses and the list goes on forever. Your job as the player in the specific league you’re playing in is to adjust to your leagues rules and scoring and learn what it takes to win the chip, as G Baby and the rest of the Kekembas all called it.
There are a couple of basics you MUST know when you’re dipping your toes into Fantasy Football. First off, is your league standard or point-per-reception scoring (PPR). The way you’ll draft receivers may be different based on the amount of volume they see and you’ll tend to gravitate towards those guys in PPR. If they’re someone who contributes a lot of yards and scores a bunch, well, those are your prototypical standard league pass catchers. Same really goes for running backs because the James White ’s and Tarik Cohen ’s of the world don’t hold a candle of value in standard leagues compared to what they bring in standard leagues.
There’s also scoring differences within PPR formats. Some commissioners enjoy .5 PPR leagues and some go the full point. Others do crazy stuff like 1.5 PPR for the tight end position specifically, which is what occurs in the Scott Fish Bowl. Going back to White and Cohen for a second, you might have them lower on your draft board in .5 PPR leagues compared to 1-point formats, so just something else to take note of.
A few examples of this are some adjustments you should make when factoring in which type of league you’re playing in. Let’s take a look at some numbers from 2019.
Austin Ekeler , RB LAC
Standard Leagues: 215 fantasy points, RB8
0.5 PPR Leagues: 261 fantasy points, RB6
1.0 PPR Leagues: 307 fantasy points, RB4
Why are the point differentials so different going from league-to-league? Well, despite only having 132 rushing attempts, Ekeler caught 92-of-108 targets that came his way and finished a smidge under 1,000 yards at 993.
Let’s look at another drastic difference in a player's numbers varying from league to league. One so significant your rankings will need to be adjusted heavily.
James White , RB NE
Standard Leagues: 128.2 fantasy points, RB28
0.5 PPR Leagues: 164.2 fantasy points, RB22
1.0 PPR Leagues: 200.2 fantasy points, RB17
White only had 67 carries in 2019, but caught 72-of-95 targets and notched 645 yards to boot. White checks in as a top-30 RB in PPR formats, but could possibly be outside the top-40 in standard scoring.
Let’s move over to the wide receiver position, because they matter as well. Water is wet, I get it.
Keenan Allen , WR LAC
Standard Leagues: 157.3 fantasy points, WR11
0.5 PPR Leagues: 209.5 fantasy points, WR8
1.0 PPR Leagues: 261.5 fantasy points, WR6
I mean, how is the guy not going to be a top-10 WR with 100-plus receptions, right? Well, standard leagues don’t reward them, so he missed that mark there. That said if you’re in a PPR format, Allen’s caught 97 passes or more for three consecutive seasons. Moving a player like Allen up your rankings in PPR formats is exactly what making the adjustments is all about.
Standard leagues, especially for wide receivers, are very touchdown dependent. It’s good to look at regression from standard to point-per-reception formats as we’ve only touched on players improving from the former to the latter.
DeVante Parker , WR MIA
Standard Leagues: 174.2 fantasy points, WR4
0.5 PPR Leagues: 210.2 fantasy points, WR7
1.0 PPR Leagues: 246.2 fantasy points, WR11
What Parker did better than everyone else -- outside of two others -- was score touchdowns. Nine of them to be exact. Because standard leagues are weighted so heavily on scoring, players like Parker that are getting into the endzone so frequently are where you should look. Now Parker has only a one year sample of actually scoring a bunch, but that’s besides the point.
We also have to take a look at leagues that aren’t your run of the mill scoring systems for quarterbacks. The norm is four points for passing touchdowns and 25 yards but if you’re playing at FFPC, it’s 20 yards for a point and the NFFC loves it’s QB play considering they reward them handsomely with six points per passing touchdown. There weren’t any big movements in terms of rankings when discussing standard versus NFFC leagues, but the amount of points was the biggest difference. If you’re not drafting QB’s earlier in formats like this, you’re going to be behind the eight-ball. There were four guys who threw for at least 30 touchdowns last season and they were the top four scorers at the position (Lamar Jackson , Dak Prescott , Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston ). Let's take a look at some scoring differences at the position.
Lamar Jackson , QB BAL
Standard Leagues: 413.7 fantasy points, QB1
NFFC Leagues: 520 fantasy points, QB1
Jackson was better than everyone last year, clearly, but if he was able to repeat his numbers from 2019 this year, he’d have to be considered at the top of every draft. In that situation, even in a non-fluid running back position that you need depth at, it would be the ideal plan to go quarterback early. He scored over 100 points more thanks to 36 passing touchdowns in NFFC than he did in standard formats.
Tom Brady , QB TB (numbers w/ NE)
Standard Leagues: 265.7 fantasy points, QB12
NFFC Leagues: 354.2 fantasy points, QB12
You don’t see the massive difference in scoring on a weekly basis with someone like Lamar Jackson because he was the top quarterback on the board in any situation. Someone like Brady though, a middle of the road fantasy quarterback, the differences matter. Brady averaged just 16.6 fantasy points per game in standard leagues, but 22.1 in the NFFC. Even the middle tier quarterbacks should be weighted differently -- and held on a higher pedestal in scoring formats like the NFFC has.
As for tight ends, they matter too. Especially in leagues such as the Scott Fish Bowl. They could very well be the most important position in the league. Not only do you receive 1.5 points per reception, but you also get .5 points for first downs.
Travis Kelce , TE KC
- Standard Leagues: 157.3 fantasy points, TE1
- PPR Leagues: 254.3 fantasy points, TE1
- Scott Fish Bowl IV: 323.30 fantasy points, TE1
Just LOOK at that discrepancy. There is a reason when drafting in leagues set up similarly to the Scott Fish Bowl, tight ends are drafted so early on. We’ve seen throughout 2020 drafts that the two ranked players at the position are consensus first-round picks in Kelce and George Kittle . Is he being drafted in the second round normally? Yes, but investing in a TE in the first-round isn’t an approach you see everyday.
Tyler Higbee , TE LAR
- Standard Leagues: 91.40 fantasy points, TE9
- PPR Leagues: 125.9 fantasy points, TE8
- Scott Fish Bowl IV: 196.4 fantasy points, TE8
Going into your draft you must factor in the differences in scoring when it comes to all positions, especially when leagues like SFB are giving TE 100-plus more points than they are in standard formats. Tyler Higbee , a consensus top-10 player at his position this season, will be drafted multiple rounds ahead of the regularly scheduled program, so the preparation for that should have you ready for the tight end run or for you to start the run yourself.
Fantasy football can be very fickle at times, but something as easy as understanding your leagues rules and adjusting your rankings, player pools and draft strategy are not. Those are straight forward. Those all can be well thought out plans year in, year out. The players you constantly see winning high-stakes leagues, industry leagues or even your home league and the one’s adjusting to everything your league manager has to throw at them