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Fantasy Football: Evolving or Devolving? (1 Viewer)

BoltBacker

Footballguy
I'll admit, I'm an old fart in this hobby and I started when there were only three scoring systems:TD leagues, Distance TD leagues, or "Performance" leagues(which were very fancy because you actually got points for yards).

Fast forward about 30 years and now it seems like nearly every league is a PPR yardage league and 3 catches for 30 yards is the same thing as scoring a TD. Am I the only one that thinks this is MADNESS? Somehow it seems just because you can use formulas to more accurately predict yards and receptions they are "good" stats. Since TD's are more difficult to predict those have morphed into "bad" stats.

IMO the hobby was much more fun when big plays mattered. Those distance scoring leagues when you and your opponent had a ton of starters each week could swing wildly based on the MNF game. With big enough starting lineups there's a pretty good chance you or your opponent had at least a few players playing in ANY matchup. 

To be clear, I'm not saying you have to completely dump yards. Technically, even in the distance scoring leagues you do get credit for SOME yards. But yards and receptions shouldn't be the huge factors they are in fantasy football right now. So few leagues use first downs, rushing attempts, qb sacks taken, incompletions, etc, etc...... why? So many stats like TD's and TO's mean so little in fantasy football when they are by far the biggest factors in the outcome of real football games. 

It's time to STOP over-emphasizing yards and completions just because they are easier to project. Who is with me and willing to think just a little outside of the tiny, little box that most leagues seem completely locked into? I suppose a cynic would wonder if it's because the rankings and cheatsheets all seem to cater to those leagues but with wonderful tools like the draft dominator out there you can really still get help if you really want/need it.

 
the beauty of fantasy football is you can make your league whatever you want. back in the day you referenced, there were only a few types. now there are many. I think that's a great thing.

if I'm offered to join a league and I dont like the scoring I politely decline 

is 3 catches for 30 worth the same as a TD? maybe. what if those 3 catches set up a goal line carry for a score? what if it was 4th and 8? let me ask you a question: who helps their team out more, the rb who rushes for 120 yards and zero scores, or the guy who they put in at the goalline whi has 2 yards and 2 TDs?

I think giving points for receptions and yards is great. it allows there to be more meaningful players than just the handful that score TDs. makes it fun and more strategic for everyone.

 
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I thought Yahoo’s standard was now half point PPR. That should be what leagues evolve to. I’m wondering if superflex doesn’t move to becoming close to a standard too. Seeing how most everyone now does late round QB.

 
I enjoy the hobby still and there is certainly more variety than ever. I think it is evolving but we can all have our preferences. That said, I agree PPR is dumb. 

 
I'm not a fan of PPR, I wish podcasts and general analysis would talk in terms of QBx and RBx and WRx rankings as opposed to he will be a 3rd pick, etc..  So many iterations of leagues in scoring systems, size of leagues etc, 2 QB Leagues, superflex leagues, I would find it a lot more helpful to talk in terms of position rankings when talking about a player.

 
I think PPR is kind outdated as well. People began using is it in the era of the workhorse RB to balance things between RB and WR a bit. Drafts back then used to be all RBs until the mid 2nd round. So ppr made it more interesting by increasing the value of WRs. Flash forward now and it’s a pass first league that loves to throw to the RB. So ppr is actually making the top RBs even more valuable since they are catching more passes the we saw 10 years ago, 

 
I still play in more "standard" scoring leagues and I'm not really a fan of PPR.  I do enjoy the PPR leagues I play in, but I feel its just a way to inflate scoring. At one time it was necessary to balance the scoring between RBs and WRs/TEs, but the NFL has swung so far towards the passing game that the original reason for PPR has become obsolete.  IMO, the internet and automated league hosting sites have made it easy to add all the scoring you want, and people like the higher scores.

Saying that, I'm still just as involved in FFL now as I was 25 years ago.  I just don't have to buy a copy of USA Today on my way to work Monday mornings any more.

 
I think PPR is kind outdated as well. People began using is it in the era of the workhorse RB to balance things between RB and WR a bit. Drafts back then used to be all RBs until the mid 2nd round. So ppr made it more interesting by increasing the value of WRs. Flash forward now and it’s a pass first league that loves to throw to the RB. So ppr is actually making the top RBs even more valuable since they are catching more passes the we saw 10 years ago, 
:hifive:   And the first TE would be Gonzalez in the 3rd or 4th and not another one till the 7th. But its a different NFL now.

 
I'll admit, I'm an old fart in this hobby and I started when there were only three scoring systems:TD leagues, Distance TD leagues, or "Performance" leagues(which were very fancy because you actually got points for yards).

Fast forward about 30 years and now it seems like nearly every league is a PPR yardage league and 3 catches for 30 yards is the same thing as scoring a TD. Am I the only one that thinks this is MADNESS? Somehow it seems just because you can use formulas to more accurately predict yards and receptions they are "good" stats. Since TD's are more difficult to predict those have morphed into "bad" stats.

IMO the hobby was much more fun when big plays mattered. Those distance scoring leagues when you and your opponent had a ton of starters each week could swing wildly based on the MNF game. With big enough starting lineups there's a pretty good chance you or your opponent had at least a few players playing in ANY matchup. 

To be clear, I'm not saying you have to completely dump yards. Technically, even in the distance scoring leagues you do get credit for SOME yards. But yards and receptions shouldn't be the huge factors they are in fantasy football right now. So few leagues use first downs, rushing attempts, qb sacks taken, incompletions, etc, etc...... why? So many stats like TD's and TO's mean so little in fantasy football when they are by far the biggest factors in the outcome of real football games. 

It's time to STOP over-emphasizing yards and completions just because they are easier to project. Who is with me and willing to think just a little outside of the tiny, little box that most leagues seem completely locked into? I suppose a cynic would wonder if it's because the rankings and cheatsheets all seem to cater to those leagues but with wonderful tools like the draft dominator out there you can really still get help if you really want/need it.


I could not disagree more.  The TD often is a compilation of several plays, all of which could be considered equally critical if the TD drive would have died without them.

To put it another way that uses your logic, so a 1 yd TD plunge is that much more valuable than 3 catches during the drive that while only netting 30 yds, each gave the team a first down and kept the drive going where it ended up on the 1 for the TD run?  I firmly disagree with that conclusion.

The addition scoring gives more players more value, allows for flex options, and therefore the game can be won in many different ways and combinations.  Why would diverse strategies aiming at the same goal of compiling FF pts and winning be so less desirable than a simplistic strategy of getting the players that score the most TDs or resign your season?

I’m old too, but fortunately I not stuck in the past waxing nostalgicly about how great standard leagues were.  They weren’t (aren’t) IMO.

 
And you ppr detractors ought to consider graduated ppr and some research into scoring systems that help to level value between positions.  We also use pts per carry so that workhorse RBs gain more value, and pts given for completions and subtracted for incompletions so that more accurate QBs are rewarded - as well as return yds and other scoring.

The only thing that limits a league is its imagination and a willingness to drill down a bit on historical data that is readily available and compilable in a short time to determine how you want value for positions to shake out when compared with each other.  Then be prepared to tweak it occasionally every few years to reset value as your league sees fits (we just bumped PDs by .5 pts/PD and added 1 pts for TFL to help D players - particularly DTs and CBs - that had lost some relative value and helped overall IDP scoring to the balance we like.

 
What would be really interesting is if an enterprising researcher could look at a scoring system that comes as close as possible to valuing all position equally. Presumably, this would entail looking at several years of data. For example, one might find that over a 20 year period a reception should be worth .43 points for WRs and .78 for TE in order to have the same value as a RB. TD passes might need to be worth 5.35 points as well.

Admittedly, this is equal parts dorky and time consuming, and I'm sure somewhere along the way, a stats geek like myself has undertaken this task.

To me, a league like this would be evolutionary because it would diminish the mentality of things like "Only draft a QB after round 10", and zero rb and zero wr strategies.

If anyone has access to something like this, I'd love to see it. Thanks.

 
The only thing that limits a league is its imagination and a willingness to drill down a bit on historical data that is readily available and compilable in a short time to determine how you want value for positions to shake out when compared with each other.  Then be prepared to tweak it occasionally every few years to reset value as your league sees fits (we just bumped PDs by .5 pts/PD and added 1 pts for TFL to help D players - particularly DTs and CBs - that had lost some relative value and helped overall IDP scoring to the balance we like.
This

 
What would be really interesting is if an enterprising researcher could look at a scoring system that comes as close as possible to valuing all position equally. Presumably, this would entail looking at several years of data. For example, one might find that over a 20 year period a reception should be worth .43 points for WRs and .78 for TE in order to have the same value as a RB. TD passes might need to be worth 5.35 points as well.

Admittedly, this is equal parts dorky and time consuming, and I'm sure somewhere along the way, a stats geek like myself has undertaken this task.

To me, a league like this would be evolutionary because it would diminish the mentality of things like "Only draft a QB after round 10", and zero rb and zero wr strategies.

If anyone has access to something like this, I'd love to see it. Thanks.


Try FFLM.  You can set up a free fake league of your desired size and positions in a couple of minutes, create your desired scoring system in another 10-20 minutes depending upon how complex you want it, and then run historical data that you can import into excel to analyze over a few years by scoring and position.  Then tweak the scoring and rerun until you get the league where you want it by value of positions.

In a couple of hours you’ll have your scoring system just as you want it with the historical data to support the value.  Get as detailed as you want - I only carried scoring per item to 2 decimal points and tweaked it to stay as much as possible to whole number or 1 decimal definitions as much as possible to not get too geeky, but we do have 2 decimal point scoring for some things like rushing attempts, return yards, and sack yards for example.

 
I guess I come down on this one as the blanket statement of "fantasy football is supposed to be fun."  As an example, in the leagues I'm in, nearly everyone recognizes that using a playoff format to crown the league champion doesn't make a ton of sense in reality because of the randomness of one week samples.  However, everyone really enjoys the drama of the playoff race, which nearly every year comes down to the majority of the league fighting for the last spots over the last 1-2 weeks.  One of my favorite things every year as commissioner is sending out the endlessly complicated playoff scenarios.

Likewise, we could be a points league, but the drama of head-to-head, coming down to a Monday night game or the huge ebbs and flows that come with it, that's all part of the fun.

In reference to the author's point, my sense is having multiple ways to accumulate points is fun.  For example, I play in a league that is 12 people with 17 roster spots.  There's not a ton to grab off waivers barring injury.  Much of the waiver/free agency moves are based on research and speculation.  In that sort of environment, relying solely on scores would make for some pretty dry weeks.  On the flip side, by rewarding more than just scores, there's an entire universe of players who would be useless in a scoring-heavy league that become legitimate fantasy contributors.  I think having more to choose from, and thus more decisions to make, is fun.

Bottom line, there isn't a right way or a wrong way.  Play in a league that is fun to you.

 
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I guess I come down on this one as the blanket statement of "fantasy football is supposed to be fun."  As an example, in the leagues I'm in, nearly everyone recognizes that using a playoff format to crown the league champion doesn't make a ton of sense in reality because of the randomness of one week samples.  However, everyone really enjoys the drama of the playoff race, which nearly every year comes down to the majority of the league fighting for the last spots over the last 1-2 weeks.

Side note:  one thing that always REALLY bugs me is on boards like this (although it's more so on other boards) where people write "Player X should already be owned in any legitimate league."  Maybe every league is different?  Ugh. OK, off the soap box.
I would love to play in a league where you play everyone every week. It's frustrating when you're unlucky to be the 2nd highest scoring team and you happened to play the highest scoring team that particular week. Play everyone every week, top team at the end wins it all would be a lot of fun IMO.

With regards to your second statement. I agree... I have a short bench keeper league, so guys on my WW are going to be owned in really deep bench leagues. Also, scoring system plays a big part as well. 

 
I would love to play in a league where you play everyone every week. It's frustrating when you're unlucky to be the 2nd highest scoring team and you happened to play the highest scoring team that particular week. Play everyone every week, top team at the end wins it all would be a lot of fun IMO.

With regards to your second statement. I agree... I have a short bench keeper league, so guys on my WW are going to be owned in really deep bench leagues. Also, scoring system plays a big part as well. 
I haven't done a "play everyone every week" league but I could see that being really interesting.

I guess in some ways it comes down to who is in your league.  I'm lucky to play with mostly close friends, and so I really like the head-to-head versus one person matchup because I spend one week connecting with that one person.  Not to get too sappy, but I honestly believe fantasy football is something that helps keep our friends group together spread across the country.  Maybe this is a bit of a unique circumstance, but I like the individual games and the individual attention that comes with them.

 
I'm still a leading proponent of PPR leagues. Yes the evolution to a passing league has made a different kind of RB more desirable - but the PPR scoring system expands the opportunity to match those RB outputs with like WRs. I don't think that has changed at all. 

Plus, the RB position has evolved with specialization so that you don't see the Ladanian Tomlinson/Priest Holmes 20 rushing TD seasons anymore. The last time was 2006. So it's not like you're making RBs more valuable by including receptions.

But I primarily like because it makes building an entire roster more interesting. Everyone in 12 team leagues has a chance at a stud player now - but then you better know when to draft your Cooper Kupps and Duke Johnsons or you're not going to win.

IMO the thing that has made it less fun is that even n00bs and morons have access to good information. You don't have to do as much homework as you used to to be good at the hobby.

 
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I felt this post was in the making, @BoltBacker. ;)

I sort of agree with you. When I helped create our main league 15+ years ago (yikes!) our goal was that we really wanted a scoring system where if a guy who really BLEW UP you have a much better chance at winning. So to that end we put in some good bonus scoring that really inflates the points for a player with a massive game:

  • 3pt for 100 R/R and 300 passing
  • 5 pt for 200 R/R and 400 passing
  • 2pt for 40+ TDs (All)
It might not seem like much but when you get a guy who goes off in a game you usually win, which to your point, is kind of the point of FF. :)  The rest of your team would have to lay a huge egg if you had your QB go for 425/3 and a WR go 200/2. No chance of being dink and dunked into a loss.

This is by far the most equitable and fun scoring system of any league I've been in. We also are 14 teams and 1 RB 2 WR 1 TE 1 FLEX. That lineup to me is even more important. Having to start 28 RBs during a bye week is just bad for a league. Being able to go 3-wide in a .5ppr allows you to build a team anyway you want. Heck you could even go after two stud TEs. :)

 
. You don't have to do as much homework as you used to to be good at the hobby.
Yep

But there's so much information that some of it conflicts. Seems there are hundreds of sites with rankings, some better than others but none will be perfect. So you do your due diligence and hope for the best. It's kind of like the stock market. By the time a couple sites call someone a sleeper, he might be overrated, or at least his upside is included in the market price. 

 
Yep

But there's so much information that some of it conflicts. Seems there are hundreds of sites with rankings, some better than others but none will be perfect. So you do your due diligence and hope for the best. It's kind of like the stock market. By the time a couple sites call someone a sleeper, he might be overrated, or at least his upside is included in the market price. 
It's just a different environment to navigate, in my opinion.  If you accept that the so-called "experts" don't really know what they are talking about more than anyone else, the flood of information can be used to one's advantage.  Simply go the opposite way of the consensus.  Draft guys you want one round higher than their suggested ADP.  Since no one really knows sleepers or busts, look at who everyone is calling a bust.

Part of the fun of fantasy is that you're always functioning in an equal environment.  In the past, before the web, you had to find ways to get an advantage.  Now, with a stream of web information, you have to find a new way to get an advantage.  Trying to figure that out is all part of the game.

 
It's just a different environment to navigate, in my opinion.  If you accept that the so-called "experts" don't really know what they are talking about more than anyone else, the flood of information can be used to one's advantage.  Simply go the opposite way of the consensus.  Draft guys you want one round higher than their suggested ADP.  Since no one really knows sleepers or busts, look at who everyone is calling a bust.

Part of the fun of fantasy is that you're always functioning in an equal environment.  In the past, before the web, you had to find ways to get an advantage.  Now, with a stream of web information, you have to find a new way to get an advantage.  Trying to figure that out is all part of the game.


I believe that all this information is a good thing.  I like to go contrarian to the group think with players I believe will outperform their draft positions, and advocate others to do the same. Early in drafts this year I’ve been promoting Sutton, Moore, and Mayfield because I feel they’re dropping too far from the projected performance that I am anticipating.  The drooling over all the RBs has these guys as tremendous bargains IMO (dynasty viewpoint of course, but I see both WRs as great later redraft selections also).

 
What would be really interesting is if an enterprising researcher could look at a scoring system that comes as close as possible to valuing all position equally. Presumably, this would entail looking at several years of data. For example, one might find that over a 20 year period a reception should be worth .43 points for WRs and .78 for TE in order to have the same value as a RB. TD passes might need to be worth 5.35 points as well.

Admittedly, this is equal parts dorky and time consuming, and I'm sure somewhere along the way, a stats geek like myself has undertaken this task.

To me, a league like this would be evolutionary because it would diminish the mentality of things like "Only draft a QB after round 10", and zero rb and zero wr strategies.

If anyone has access to something like this, I'd love to see it. Thanks.
Here you go...

 


Here’s ours

The difference in the top scorer vs number 1.5 X starting requirements (flex league) in ppg is about:

QBs 10 pts

RBs, WRs, and TEs 12-13 pts

D players 3-5 pts

The idea for the league was to count as much meaningful contribution as seemed reasonable on any given play, to balance value between positions, and to have weekly scores being the difference between O and opponent’s D each week in H2H (haven’t been able to find a way to make the last part work except manually, so we just keep total team score instead).  that accounts for the difference in player value O vs D since we start 8 O (including K) and 12 D (including P) each week.

 
What would be really interesting is if an enterprising researcher could look at a scoring system that comes as close as possible to valuing all positions equally. Presumably, this would entail looking at several years of data. For example, one might find that over a 20 year period a reception should be worth .43 points for WRs and .78 for TE in order to have the same value as a RB. TD passes might need to be worth 5.35 points as well.

Admittedly, this is equal parts dorky and time consuming, and I'm sure somewhere along the way, a stats geek like myself has undertaken this task.

To me, a league like this would be evolutionary because it would diminish the mentality of things like "Only draft a QB after round 10", and zero rb and zero wr strategies.

If anyone has access to something like this, I'd love to see it. Thanks.
The “problem” I have with this is that all positions should not be valued equally. 

For this moment in time, QBs are much most important than, say, RBs and should be that way in FF accordingly. 

I do agree that there is evolution but how to do this in dynasty leagues?  If you build your team a certain way, you would be less likely to want to change your league scoring rules because of it. 

 
The reason there used to be so few scoring systems is that there used to be far fewer sources of information, so we built our systems based on what we could find in a box score.  (When I started this hobby, we literally looked at the newspaper the next day to figure out our fantasy scores.  Get off my lawn!   :P )

As the ability to get more and more stats in near real-time improved, our interest in crunching the numbers led to a proliferation of ways to look at and use that data, both in analyzing the game and in setting up scoring systems.  The ability to custom tailor a scoring system to anybody’s particular preferences is an unmitigated good thing.

There has also been a parallel evolution in the “game” of fantasy football.  Originally a goal was to make it look a lot like an actual NFL game and score.  This evolved to make it less of a simulation and more of a game, with scoring systems adapting to favor predictable elements and increasing balance.  There is, of course, merit in both approaches.  And most of us like elements from both sides.  (Look at the opposition to 2QB leagues, or the historical resistance to decimal scoring to see folks who favor a better “simulation.”  Even then, few are going back to the old days of TDs and FGs being the only fantasy scoring plays.  But if folks like the OP want to, more power to them!)

The hobby has definitely “evolved” and like classical evolution this has led to the rapid diversification of league types, each optimized for its particular niche of the market which it serves exquisitely well.  In fact, “evolution” seems tombe the perfect description of the way the hobby has developed within my lifetime.

 
I'll admit, I'm an old fart in this hobby and I started when there were only three scoring systems:TD leagues, Distance TD leagues, or "Performance" leagues(which were very fancy because you actually got points for yards).

Fast forward about 30 years and now it seems like nearly every league is a PPR yardage league and 3 catches for 30 yards is the same thing as scoring a TD. Am I the only one that thinks this is MADNESS? Somehow it seems just because you can use formulas to more accurately predict yards and receptions they are "good" stats. Since TD's are more difficult to predict those have morphed into "bad" stats.

IMO the hobby was much more fun when big plays mattered. Those distance scoring leagues when you and your opponent had a ton of starters each week could swing wildly based on the MNF game. With big enough starting lineups there's a pretty good chance you or your opponent had at least a few players playing in ANY matchup. 

To be clear, I'm not saying you have to completely dump yards. Technically, even in the distance scoring leagues you do get credit for SOME yards. But yards and receptions shouldn't be the huge factors they are in fantasy football right now. So few leagues use first downs, rushing attempts, qb sacks taken, incompletions, etc, etc...... why? So many stats like TD's and TO's mean so little in fantasy football when they are by far the biggest factors in the outcome of real football games. 

It's time to STOP over-emphasizing yards and completions just because they are easier to project. Who is with me and willing to think just a little outside of the tiny, little box that most leagues seem completely locked into? I suppose a cynic would wonder if it's because the rankings and cheatsheets all seem to cater to those leagues but with wonderful tools like the draft dominator out there you can really still get help if you really want/need it.
I think it bothered most fantasy owners that Touchdown Tommy Vardell was worth more than Barry freaking Sanders.

As another poster mentioned, its personality based.  TD leagues are the craps and roulette tables of fantasy while PPR leagues are the poker tables.

 
What would be really interesting is if an enterprising researcher could look at a scoring system that comes as close as possible to valuing all position equally. Presumably, this would entail looking at several years of data. For example, one might find that over a 20 year period a reception should be worth .43 points for WRs and .78 for TE in order to have the same value as a RB. TD passes might need to be worth 5.35 points as well.

Admittedly, this is equal parts dorky and time consuming, and I'm sure somewhere along the way, a stats geek like myself has undertaken this task.

To me, a league like this would be evolutionary because it would diminish the mentality of things like "Only draft a QB after round 10", and zero rb and zero wr strategies.

If anyone has access to something like this, I'd love to see it. Thanks.
That sounds very interesting.  I am a big fan of trying to balance out the positions.  The position i have always had trouble with is the Kicker, a position where scoring has failed to evolve and is still very similar to what it was in TD leagues.

One can semi-accurately predict when an offense will score a lot, but accurately predicting if that offense will scores TDs or FGs and how long they will be is much more of a crapshoot.  Too much randomness and that is why kickers are universally drafted at the very end and have very little fantasy trade value.

A kicker on a  team that scores 12 points does at least twice as well as the kicker on a team that scores 42 points.

I have always proposed that kicker scoring be changed to 2 points for XP and all FG under 40 yards, 4 points for FG over 40 and 5 points over 50.  Suddenly the Kicker position becomes much more predictable and therefore more valuable.

 
I think it bothered most fantasy owners that Touchdown Tommy Vardell was worth more than Barry freaking Sanders.

As another poster mentioned, its personality based.  TD leagues are the craps and roulette tables of fantasy while PPR leagues are the poker tables.
Hey now! In eighth grade, me and my best friend won a league (where you phones in lineups) fielding Tomny Vardell, Anthony Miller and the Chiefs D (RIP DT). 

 
First league I was ever in had pretty cool scoring.  No PPR and TDs were scored 6 for 1-9 yards, 9 for 10-39 and 12 for 40+.  And we had DOUBLE those points if it was a "non-traditional" TD (RB catching one, for instance).  Guys like Marshall Faulk and Edge James were GOLD.  

As others mentioned here, in leagues like this, things could flip QUICK.  I remember I was up a ton after Sunday's games and Randy Moss went apesh*t on MNF against the Packers I think and scored 2 40+ yard TDs and had like 130 yards.  I was sunk.... :lol:  

And as others have intimated, I think it's all a matter of preference... and that said I think it continues to evolve.

 
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First league I was ever in had pretty cool scoring.  No PPR and TDs were scored 6 for 1-9 yards, 9 for 10-39 and 12 for 40+.  And we had DOUBLE those points if it was a "non-traditional" TD (RB catching one, for instance).  Guys like Marshall Faulk and Edge James were GOLD.  

As others mentioned here, in leagues like this, things could flip QUICK.  I remember I was up a ton after Sunday's games and Randy Moss went apesh*t on MNF against the Packers I think and scored 2 40+ yard TDs and had like 130 yards.  I was sunk.... :lol:  

And as others have intimated, I think it's all a matter of preference... and that said I think it continues to evolve.
Pretty sure that's the Terry Bradshaw system.  My main still uses a variant of that performance scoring. 

 
I really like how best ball leagues have taken off the past several years...there is now a "best ball season" to help you prepare for redrafts which is pretty rad.

We didn't have that 10 years ago.

 
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Another positive evolution is how great the free sites are, specifically ESPN for hosting drafts and leagues.   20 years ago people were shelling out cash for CBS and for auction software, now ESPN does both very well, and for free.

 
I like points for first downs.

Move the chains, get some recognition.
Why points for first down hasn't been more embraced is one of the biggest mysteries in fantasy football as far as I am concerned.

Right up there with people still using straight "snake drafts". I have yet to hear a single rational reason why people are still doing that instead of some flavor of 3rd-round-reversal.

I feel like people are just getting so stuck in their ways playing FF they won't even try anything new. I get the whole, "There's a scoring system for everyone" argument but why on earth would you reward players for getting yards but not reward them more for getting first downs?! Why WOULDN'T you use a draft that is statistically(and logically) just more fair?

BTW, before someone says it I completely agree that auction is a better solution but I understand the people that only feel comfortable drafting more than I understand the people that only feel comfortable with a snake draft because that's the way Lewis and Clark played fantasy football by god.

 
I really like how best ball leagues have taken off the past several years...there is now a "best ball season" to help you prepare for redrafts which is pretty rad.

We didn't have that 10 years ago.
This is a great point. 

I also like the survivor format where every single week matters, though it's tough to find people to fill those types of leagues.

Another big improvement is the ability to draft on your phone wherever you are(within cell coverage limits).

Just seems to me that so many people are clinging to rules because.... well, those are just the rules. Whether or not they make any sense anymore.

 
I think it bothered most fantasy owners that Touchdown Tommy Vardell was worth more than Barry freaking Sanders.

As another poster mentioned, its personality based.  TD leagues are the craps and roulette tables of fantasy while PPR leagues are the poker tables.
Like I've said, I don't think yards and receptions should have NO value but is should be scaled way, way back.

IMO if you had a distance scoring method where first downs were worth a great deal more than yards then Barry Sanders would be worth a great deal more than Touchdown Tommy Vardell. I guess I have a bigger problem where any dump-off back on a terrible team that is always trailing is worth more important that guys that are actually scoring TD's.

 
IMO the thing that has made it less fun is that even n00bs and morons have access to good information. You don't have to do as much homework as you used to to be good at the hobby.
If that bothers you I think the best way to combat it is drafting very early(especially the best-ball leagues). I've often found I have my most success in leagues drafted before July.

That said, sometimes the voices in the industry create an echo chamber and can all start beating the same drum and you can take advantage of that. A good example would be Todd Gurley last year. There were a lot voices of folks that were convinced that Gurley had limited upside. He was a borderline first round pick last year and won a lot of leagues for people.

Another way to take advantage of the people just following the expert rankings/projections/etc is it gives you a picture of when you need to reach if you want to get YOUR player because it's easier to predict where the herd will draft that guy.

 
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What would be really interesting is if an enterprising researcher could look at a scoring system that comes as close as possible to valuing all position equally. Presumably, this would entail looking at several years of data. For example, one might find that over a 20 year period a reception should be worth .43 points for WRs and .78 for TE in order to have the same value as a RB. TD passes might need to be worth 5.35 points as well.

Admittedly, this is equal parts dorky and time consuming, and I'm sure somewhere along the way, a stats geek like myself has undertaken this task.

To me, a league like this would be evolutionary because it would diminish the mentality of things like "Only draft a QB after round 10", and zero rb and zero wr strategies.

If anyone has access to something like this, I'd love to see it. Thanks.
I don't know if you are familiar with @KellysHeroes but over in the Looking for Leagues forums he has some leagues that try to do this.

I've always had good experiences in his leagues..... but that said I also always had good experiences in Unlucky's leagues right up until the year I really, REALLY didn't. Seems like a good guy though.

 
I think one thing to consider is how we change.

From the other threads, it seems like lots of guys on these boards are between 40-50 and been playing FF for being 15-25 years. Our lives are different now than when we began ff. Families, kids, jobs with more responsibility- meaning ff is not the end all, be all it once was. 

At one point, I was in 5 leagues, each with different scoring systems, seemingly adding a new league with a new format every year.

Now- I play in one ten team league with very basic scoring. It's the league I started with 23 years ago. 

I know I'm a different guy. Don't get be wrong- I still enjoy the hobby and the conversation found here, but my appetite for exotic systems has winnowed over time. 

If I'm more skeptical, I think the cause of that skepticism is me, not any particular system. 

 
I like the idea of making all the positions as comparable as possible in terms of scoring FF points - whichever stats are needed to make this happen seems like a good idea to me.  I disagree with the notion that FF should mimic the NFL in terms of QBs being more valuable or whatever.  Also, I really dislike distance bonuses and bonus points for some arbitrary number of yards... yes, 100 yards is as arbitrary as 93 or 117.  Rewarding TDs too heavily (or other stats too little) introduces too much luck because they are very random and harder to predict that yardage.

But those are just my preferences and I'll try to join leagues (or shape leagues I am in) to match my preferences - you should do the same.

 
I think one thing to consider is how we change.
That's a good point.

For instance I have NO INTEREST in a re-draft league anymore unless it's draft-and-go anymore. Most of my fantasy football interest takes place in the months between March and August while I'm waiting for the real games to start, although I do participate in a few dynasty leagues that require in-season maintenance. That could also contribute to the reason I'm looking for some more creative scoring rather than the vanilla 1pt/10yd PPR scoring leagues that have been the new "standard" scoring for far too long.

 
I always thought that any play that moves the chains should get a point.  Since other than scoring, that's the point of offense is to stay on the field.
I was in a dynasty league that the commish did a lot of innovative things in scoring. Instead of ppr you got a point for a first down. And in idp leagues, CBS got more points for things like passes defensed. The best corners actually scored the most. I wish more leagues went this way. PPR is crap imo and idp leagues need some tweaks too.

 
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I was in a dynasty league that the commish did a lot of innovative things in scoring. Instead of ppr you got a point for a first down. And in idp leagues, CBS got more points for things like passes defensed. The best corners actually scored the most. I wish more leagues went this way. PPR is crap imo and idp leagues need some tweaks too.
I agree with your point about IDP leagues. In the way receptions/yards are WAY TOO important on offense, tackles/assists are WAY TOO important in most fantasy leagues. Big plays should matter so much more.

 

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