8 team League Thread (1 Viewer)

[Bills_Fan11]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?

Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do.

The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

 

[the rover]

I ended up commishing an 8 team league that's going into its third year. Turns out, it's still fun. Totally different than a 12 team league with long benches. You can't rely on depth to come out in the long run--depth doesn't matter when you can grab a starter-caliber player off waivers whenever you want. It makes gambling on high-risk/high-reward players that much more interesting, because the drop off after the first tier of players is a bigger drop relatively than in a deep league. Elite players become more valuable, and a 1st round QB isn't necessarily a stupid idea.

Not a waste to prepare, but you don't have to worry about your 5th and 6th string RB. Drafting depth can be a mistake. You may want to consider getting a second QB before you get a 4th RB. You want the top of each position, including TEs, D's and even kickers. Draft your top picks earlier than you normally would; almost like a league where you need to fill out your roster before you can draft backups.

 

[Tyrion]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do. The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Seems obvious but, for the same reason you need a top QB, fill out your starting line up with the best players. Depth is not as important in 8 man leagues since the mid to later rounds and the waiver will have plenty of players to get depth. It is generally not that important or effective to try to stock pile for trades since everyone should have quality starters and won't feel pressured to trade.

 

[Bills_Fan11]

Yah, obviously I'm not taking 3 RB's with my first 4 picks.

Guess I should've been more specific. Like, what's the earliest you take Brees? Witten? Don't know my draft position yet but been wondering if Brees would be going overboard with the 2nd pick since, AP is in a tier by himself at RB IMO.

I killed this league last year but sorta got lucky by hitting on all the mid-round picks like Turner, AJ, and Megatron (took Romo/Sjax in the 8spot) so I'm not really sure what the optimal early strategy should be.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do. The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man? Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

 

[the rover]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do. The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man? Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

8 team leagues are goofy. Fun, but undoubtedly goofy.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do. The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man? Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

8 team leagues are goofy. Fun, but undoubtedly goofy.

I agree. But so are IDP leagues, dynasty leagues, 32-team leagues, and any league with pretend teams who pretend to score points based on real athlete performances. They're all goofy, but fun.

 

[Bills_Fan11]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do. The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man? Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

Hey I'm with you - the whole thing was sort of tongue in cheek. It's typically difficult mention that I'm in an 8teamer (either online or IRL) without somebody waving their "bigger fantasy penis", so instead of getting all defensive about it I like to preempt the inevitable condescending comments so that I get mostly helpful replies. I mean all things being equal I'd rather do 10 or 12, but I enjoy it enough. Plus, playing each team exactly twice is kinda cool.

 

[coolnerd]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?

Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do.

The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man?

Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

Can i use this as a part of my signature???

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?

Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do.

The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man?

Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

Can i use this as a part of my signature???

It's all yours, my good man.

 

[David Dodds]

Let's say you start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WR and a TE. After 7 rounds, I would make sure I had exactly these 7 positions covered in this type of league. You will get all kinds of opportunities to add quality depth with just 8 owners. Just load up with younger backs and WRs and hopefully you can trade off some one to upgrade once the bye weeks hit. Good luck.

 

[sinatravolta]

Couple of points - plugging your league rules and such into the VBD excel spreadsheet or the Draft Dominator should give you a good starting point. Then adding in some knowledge about how people draft could tell you - hey - maybe it's worth reaching on QB if you know that people are going to go crazy with them and you're on the early end of a run.

I think having tiers is extra important here. Right now I think in the top 3 spots I'd take an RB (Peterson, MJD or Turner), but after that I'd probably take a QB or a WR. After those first 3 RBs, to me there are some guys I'd rather have than others - but not huge differences over the next 8-10 RBs. Also - there are plenty of RBs with potential that can be had later - so it's not that key that you get a solid RB2 - you could draft 3 guys later - and only need 1 of them to hit. It looks to me like there are about 30 at least solid RBs this year, and some more after that with potential. So even if you don't take any RBs early - it's ok if it's because you got a stud QB and some stud WRs. If they are casual players - there are going to be RBs to be had for good value later.

Specifically on QBs - if you're worried about that - I'd make sure you got one of the top 5 (Brees, Brady, Peyton, Rodgers, Rivers) - because to me after that is where you've got worries. Warner and McNabb might put up good numbers but are likely to get injured at some point. Also to your point - you might take a 2nd QB like a Cutler/Palmer/Schaub who has potential earlier than you'd expect because guys like this will go faster than people like Cedric Benson, and if these guys value QBs heavily in the draft - they likely will in the season too so if one starts off fast they could be good trade potential.

 

[coolnerd]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?

Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do.

The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man?

Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

Can i use this as a part of my signature???

It's all yours, my good man.

 

[shredhead]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?

Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do.

The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man?

Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

Can i use this as a part of my signature???

I'd use this instead.

Hey I'm with you - the whole thing was sort of tongue in cheek. It's typically difficult mention that I'm in an 8teamer (either online or IRL) without somebody waving their "bigger fantasy penis", so instead of getting all defensive about it I like to preempt the inevitable condescending comments so that I get mostly helpful replies.

 

[coolnerd]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?

Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do.

The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

Why do people feel they have to apologize for their league? If you feel that badly about it, you aren't forced to play. What can you do? Quit. There's nothing "manly" about a 16-team dynasty league or an eight-team work league. It's all different degrees of nerdplay. Just embrace it. The owners are what make any league competitive or fun. If you admit to playing in a girly man league...does that make you a girly man?

Sorry. I don't mean to single you out. I just think "league envy" is silly and I never understood why people can't just enjoy their leagues instead of comparing them to some invisible standard or apologize for even mentioning such a league on this forum-- which is, you know, dedicated to fantasy football.

Can i use this as a part of my signature???

I'd use this instead.

Hey I'm with you - the whole thing was sort of tongue in cheek. It's typically difficult mention that I'm in an 8teamer (either online or IRL) without somebody waving their "bigger fantasy penis", so instead of getting all defensive about it I like to preempt the inevitable condescending comments so that I get mostly helpful replies.

yeah, it was a better line but "nerdplay" fits my screen name better.

 

[shredhead]

I'd use this instead.

Hey I'm with you - the whole thing was sort of tongue in cheek. It's typically difficult mention that I'm in an 8teamer (either online or IRL) without somebody waving their "bigger fantasy penis", so instead of getting all defensive about it I like to preempt the inevitable condescending comments so that I get mostly helpful replies.

yeah, it was a better line but "nerdplay" fits my screen name better.

OK that makes sense. I'm off to create my "fantasy penis" alias

 

[Manster]

i play in an 8 man league. we were gonna go to 10, but it fell through.

our waiver wire is all 1st come 1st serve, so it's a free-for-all. it's a pretty fun league, different strategy. all owners are involved. i think thats the main thing. i find it amusing that all the guys that make fun of 8 and 10 man leagues think if you're in one, and you dont win, you must suck.

i think you've gotten good advice so far.

i go into the draft shooting for studs at each position. since it comes back around fast, it's pretty easy to do. imo, it's even more important to get one of the stud WR's this yr. in the mocks i've done for any size league, theres a big drop off in WR talent in the mid rounds. so might as well spend a high pick to get an elite WR.

 

[-jb-]

i play in an 8 man league. we were gonna go to 10, but it fell through.

this is what happened to us. we immediately made it a start 2QB league. since it's dynasty, it's pretty much impossible to expand now. the rosters (41 players) and starting line-up is so big, though, that it's still fun. it becomes more about starting the right players, rather than drafting the right ones.Start:QBQBRBRBWRWRWRTEPKSTDLDLLBLBCBCB

 

[Jail]

I was in an 8 team league once because we had some people drop out at the last minute that we couldn't replace. Nobody really liked the idea of an 8 team league, so we just balanced it out by expanding rosters and starting 2 QBs, 3 RBs and 4 WRs. Turned out fine that way.

 

[Bri]

an 8 team league that is not deep is very difficult. The waiver wire is often better than some of your players(for a week) and thru that and trades, the player movement can be quite entertaining.

Not a fan of 8 team 25 man roster or somesuch though

 

[Bri]

i play in an 8 man league. we were gonna go to 10, but it fell through.

this is what happened to us. we immediately made it a start 2QB league. since it's dynasty, it's pretty much impossible to expand now. the rosters (41 players) and starting line-up is so big, though, that it's still fun. it becomes more about starting the right players, rather than drafting the right ones.Start:QBQBRBRBWRWRWRTEPKSTDLDLLBLBCBCB

41 players but 16 starters including IDP....waiver wire have good talent on it, all the time? Or is it fairly typical for FF?

 

[CD Dragon]

my money league fell to 8 teams last year

i changed it to a

start

2 QB

2 RB

3 WR

2 TE

1 flex (RB/WR/TE)

1 PK

1 DT

PPR

1pt/10 yds QB/RB/WR

1pt/7 yds TE

turned into a crazy fun year

 

[-jb-]

i play in an 8 man league. we were gonna go to 10, but it fell through.

this is what happened to us. we immediately made it a start 2QB league. since it's dynasty, it's pretty much impossible to expand now. the rosters (41 players) and starting line-up is so big, though, that it's still fun. it becomes more about starting the right players, rather than drafting the right ones.Start:QBQBRBRBWRWRWRTEPKSTDLDLLBLBCBCB

41 players but 16 starters including IDP....waiver wire have good talent on it, all the time? Or is it fairly typical for FF?

nope. jack diddly in the free agent pool. to give you an idea an idea, the following are the top ranked free agents that are not rookies:Luke McCownDan OrlovskyJosh FreemanChris SimmsKyle BollerRicky WilliamsTJ DuckettMaurice MorrisJerome HarrisonTashard Choice(I'm actually looking to add Harrison or Choice in the draft)Nate WashingtonNate BurlesonBobby EngramJustin GageMiles Austin

 

[jwb]

I play in mostly 12 and 14 team dynasty leagues, but my one redraft is a local 8-teamer. Totally different. You can forget "value drafting" - you can't keep taking rb's (for example) because they are value.

Also, 8-teamers are really... interesting in picking a starting lineup for. Here was my dilemma last year: choose two of MJD, JAX, Turner, Slaton, CJ3. Then choose two of Marshall, Calvin, Royal, Bowe, and Colston. Yea, nice problem to have, but remember, everyone else has a super-team too, so (to me) it becomes more lucky in hoping you pick the studs that blow up that week. With the 12 and 14 team leagues I'm in, starting lineups are really easy to pick - maybe one or two minor decisions.

The playoffs in this 8-teamer vary wildly every year. And most guys draft right from magazines. I finished third last year with the guys I mentioned above.

It's fun - I'm glad I'm in one league like this.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I was in an 8 team league once because we had some people drop out at the last minute that we couldn't replace. Nobody really liked the idea of an 8 team league, so we just balanced it out by expanding rosters and starting 2 QBs, 3 RBs and 4 WRs. Turned out fine that way.

When I've been in these situations, I've had the league see more success by using fewer starters, not more. As in, 1 QB, 1 RB, 1 WR, 1 TE and one flex (we ditched special teams in that format). Also, maybe a bench of two players total. Yes, the waiver wire has all the talent in the world, but it doesn't matter because you can't carry them on your roster anyway. You have to cut a valuable player to make room.Your way works, too. But if the idea of seeing everyone with large all-star teams is unappealing, tight rosters and unforgiving benches balance it out because having a great player isn't the end-all. You have to have the right one.

 

[neverfox]

Great thread. It looks like it's relevant for me since my normal 10-team is about to become 8 simply because we are having trouble filling the last two teams.

That said, I need some advice about how to make it play as close as possible to my current 10-team format:

Normally, we play 10-teams, 16-man roster, 8 starters (1QB, 1RB, 2WR, 1RB/WR, 1TE, 1PK, 1TM). Our waivers are blind bid with $100/season. It's an exact copy of the antsports rules. It's a great format IMO. But with 8 teams, I not sure how I should modify it, if at all. I'd really prefer not to modify the lineup unless it would be impossible to make it play well otherwise. Instead, I prefer to adjust the bench. Down? Up? How much? I'm thinking that the waivers have the ability to limit themselves because of the budget limit.

Any advice, relative to my current format, would be appreciated.

 

[JimOtto#2]

Great thread. It looks like it's relevant for me since my normal 10-team is about to become 8 simply because we are having trouble filling the last two teams.That said, I need some advice about how to make it play as close as possible to my current 10-team format:Normally, we play 10-teams, 16-man roster, 8 starters (1QB, 1RB, 2WR, 1RB/WR, 1TE, 1PK, 1TM). Our waivers are blind bid with $100/season. It's an exact copy of the antsports rules. It's a great format IMO. But with 8 teams, I not sure how I should modify it, if at all. I'd really prefer not to modify the lineup unless it would be impossible to make it play well otherwise. Instead, I prefer to adjust the bench. Down? Up? How much? I'm thinking that the waivers have the ability to limit themselves because of the budget limit.Any advice, relative to my current format, would be appreciated.

I been commish of a fun 8 teamer on its 6th year. Starting roster is 2QB, 3RB, 4wr/te (flex), 1 te, 1K, 1 def. It's got alot of starters in the line-up to keep the pressure on.... you need to draft well because if you get some injuries or flops at one position you get killed. It's fun to have so many players starting because you have action in more games in a given week. Everyone in the league loves it and many of the players are in 12 teamers as well.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Been in an 8-team for 8 years now (going on 9). It's a 3-protect league (and actually you can protect up to 5 of your best 7 as once one of your guys is taken you can pull back another protect). The challenge with this kind of league often comes in picking your starting lineup - more good players per team equals more chances to screw up and start the wrong player. It's got a couple of other quirks in that it's basically TD-only (you get only a 1 point bonus for 100 yards rushing or 100 yards receiving or 300 yards passing) and the passing TDs are worth the oddball number of 5. There's no dedicated TE position and there's actually 3 flex spots. Given this format I usually go RB-RB-RB-RB in my first four rounds/protects since all 4 of them can start. I've actually managed to get pretty stacked teams this way (for example my 3 protects are ADP, MJD, and SJax). That's another quirk of these leagues - ridiculously stacked teams are a bit more of a common phenomenon. Since protects generally make the best QBs unavailable to me, I actually I have no issue with taking a QB late (the 10th guy is usually on par with the 5th guy anyway) and playing the matchups.

The lamest part of this particular league is that 3 out of 4 teams in each division make the playoffs - I think I qualified one year with like 4 wins.

A lot of the enjoyment comes with the leaguemates that you have anyway.

-QG

 

[WeaponX]

I'm in an 8 team league (its actually 40 teams with 5 8 team divisions, top 2 in each division make playoffs along with the next 2 top scoring teams). Its a 2QB league so you have to be a little more prepared and the draft shapes up a little different. I would never play in an 8 team league with your standard starting lineup, so the addition of playing another QB and playing teams in the playoff that have some same players makes it fun. There are a few sharks in the league, but a bunch of guys that just buy the FFB magazines and show up for the draft(they have trouble making the playoffs most of the time.

Standard scoring of 1pt/10yds rush or 20 yds passing. Plus 6 point bonuses for 100+ yds rush/rec. and 300+ yds passing.

I went against the traditional draft strategy and went QB/WR early. My team ended looking like this

QB- Brees, Schaub, Farve

RB- Portis, Grant, R. Brown, LJ, Rice

WR- Moss, Megatron, A. Gonzalez, A. Bryant, Avery, Morgan

TE- Cooley, Miller

K- Crosby

D/ST- TB

QB Run started at the beginning of the 2nd round and Brees, Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Warner, Romo, and McNabb were all gone by the end of the 2nd. I went Brees/Moss/Megatron/Schaub/3 Rb's in the first 7 rounds. The draft turned out better then i expected so I'm not complaining.

 

[SSOG]

Anyone else in one of these girly man leagues?Happens to by my casual work league, so what can you do. The typical novice mistakes of taking QB too early, etc. seems to be unwittingly correct in 8teamers, so is it pretty much a waste of time crapshoot to prepare for it? If not how do you gameplan?

It always irritates me when people pull this whole "anything fewer than 12 teams in a league is for girls and anyone who takes a QB high is a novice, because the way I do things is obviously the only correct way to do things" nonsense.I'm in an 8-teamer, and I don't feel the need to apologize for it. It's just as competitive as any 10 or 12 team league I've been in. I also love when "sharks" hop into the league for the first time and get their butts kicked because they think that we're drafting QBs and defenses high because we're "n00bs". In reality, we're drafting QBs and defenses high because we think for ourselves rather than mindlessly spouting that "RBs are worth their weight in gold" schtick without any context. RBs are valuable because of position scarcity- a higher percentage of NFL RBs are starting fantasy RBs than any other position, which means some pretty terrible RBs wind up being fantasy starters out of sheer necessity. Smart players realize that position scarcity is much less of an issue in 8-teamers and take advantage of all the superior jerks who go RB-RB (or even RB-RB-RB) to start the draft. I also think that 8-team leagues dramatically reduce the role of luck in determining outcomes, because it minimizes the effect on injuries on your team (and injuries is one of the few things that cannot be reliably predicted). In an 8-teamer, winning is based less on staying healthy and more on recognizing talent, compiling it, and then accurately predicting who to start in any given week.No league is "girlier" than any other. Every league has rules, and those rules apply equally to all parties, and those rules favor whoever understands them and their impact the best. The only difference between an 8-teamer and a 12-teamer is that, all other things being equal, you should win a championship once every 8 years instead of once every 12 years. Someone with a 75% winning clip in an 8-team league is a better fantasy football player than someone with a 65% winning clip in a 12-team league, though. And, again, I stand by my claim that 8-team leagues minimize the impact of luck on the game's outcome.Anyway, I know that you weren't necessarily bashing 8-teamers, but there are plenty out there who do, and it gets on my nerves. </Rant>

 

[pinequick]

I'm in an 8 team league (its actually 40 teams with 5 8 team divisions, top 2 in each division make playoffs along with the next 2 top scoring teams). Its a 2QB league so you have to be a little more prepared and the draft shapes up a little different. I would never play in an 8 team league with your standard starting lineup, so the addition of playing another QB and playing teams in the playoff that have some same players makes it fun.

This is what our league does. 8 guys who mostly knew each other from our college days. We just increase our starting roster requirements to create the scarcity that makes it interesting (2 QBs, 3 RBs, 3 WRs, 2 TEs, 1 K). If you set it up correctly, size of league is pretty much irrelevant, IMO.

 

[SSOG]

I'm in an 8 team league (its actually 40 teams with 5 8 team divisions, top 2 in each division make playoffs along with the next 2 top scoring teams). Its a 2QB league so you have to be a little more prepared and the draft shapes up a little different. I would never play in an 8 team league with your standard starting lineup, so the addition of playing another QB and playing teams in the playoff that have some same players makes it fun.

This is what our league does. 8 guys who mostly knew each other from our college days. We just increase our starting roster requirements to create the scarcity that makes it interesting (2 QBs, 3 RBs, 3 WRs, 2 TEs, 1 K). If you set it up correctly, size of league is pretty much irrelevant, IMO.

I've said before that I think it'd be loads of fun to do a 2-team league that starts 12 QBs, 18 RBs, 24 WRs, 12 TEs, 12 PKs, and 12 Defenses. In my opinion, that's the closest thing to a pure-skill league out there. Injuries don't really make a difference, byes don't really make a difference, you can't blame someone else for making a stupid trade that skews the competitive balance... it's just your projections vs. the other guy's in a straight up contest to prove once and for all whose were better.

 

[Cmoney22]

The first league I ever played in was a family 8 person league 4 years ago, and it is still my fav league to this day. Im sure it has to do with me knowing everyone and the fun atmosphere during the season, but I really like it. We play 2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, a WR/RB spot, a WR/TE spot, K and Def with only 4 bench spots available. It keeps it really competitive and with us going to PPR last year along with making keepers avail and it being an auction draft, it is just a blast. Cant wait for our draft, gonna be so much fun

 

[WampusCat43]

We're trying to get a 'couples' league together in our neighborhood. Actually, one of the wives is promoting it. We're going to be lucky to get 6 teams.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

My work league is an 8-teamer. It's actually two separate 8-team leagues. I wish it was a 16-teamer, but I am not mad or ashamed to play in an 8. It still requires decision making, probably more than a 12+ team league since there are so many options.

 

[Bills_Fan11]

My work league is an 8-teamer. It's actually two separate 8-team leagues. I wish it was a 16-teamer, but I am not mad or ashamed to play in an 8. It still requires decision making, probably more than a 12+ team league since there are so many options.

Yah that's how mine is. Well anyway I resigned this week so I'll either have to play with random strangers online this yr or ask my new employer on the 1st day: "fantasy league?" Bleh....

 

[neverfox]

Great advice! It looks like 2 QB is a universal consideration. One question: how do you guys typically work divisions and schedules? In my 10-team it worked out nicely with 2 divisions: you play your division teams twice and everyone else once. This takes you through week 13 and then you have 14-16 playoffs with 6 teams and 2 byes. With 8 I think you just go with no divisions, each team twice, yes? 14 week season, 15-16 playodds with 4 teams?

 

[C-Bound]

Also, 8-teamers are really... interesting in picking a starting lineup for. Here was my dilemma last year: choose two of MJD, JAX, Turner, Slaton, CJ3. Then choose two of Marshall, Calvin, Royal, Bowe, and Colston. Yea, nice problem to have, but remember, everyone else has a super-team too, so (to me) it becomes more lucky in hoping you pick the studs that blow up that week. With the 12 and 14 team leagues I'm in, starting lineups are really easy to pick - maybe one or two minor decisions.

Agreed. I'm in a 8 teamer redraft with the same guys for many years and its a blast. Good point on the weekly lineups and you also must study the matchups each week more than any other size league. Sure, sometimes its a fine line between stud projections but if you don't nail yours right, your opponent might.

 

[pinequick]

Great advice! It looks like 2 QB is a universal consideration. One question: how do you guys typically work divisions and schedules? In my 10-team it worked out nicely with 2 divisions: you play your division teams twice and everyone else once. This takes you through week 13 and then you have 14-16 playoffs with 6 teams and 2 byes. With 8 I think you just go with no divisions, each team twice, yes? 14 week season, 15-16 playodds with 4 teams?

We do divisions with 8 teams. Play each team in your division 3 times (9 games total), teams from other division once (4 games total) = 13-week regular season. 4 teams make playoffs (division winners plus top two wildcards). Divisional playoffs in Week 14, and then a two-week Super Bowl in Weeks 15-16.The odd number of games (3) that you play vs. teams in your division really simplifies tiebreakers (not a bunch of teams that went 1-1 vs. each other during the season--it's always either 3-0 or 2-1, one way or the other).

 

[bostonfred]

I completely disagree about drafting your starting lineup before depth. First, RB depth is important because you never want to be the team keeping 4 WRs or a TE. Where there can be 32 starting RBs in the league, everyone wants to get as many as possible. Second, WR depth is important, but with only 16 starting WRs required, guys like Derrick Mason and Donald Driver will be late round picks. So unless you can get two stud WRs early, it's not worth bothering. I would expect the same to be true in most 8 teamers - WR12 and WR20 might be in the same tier, so if you can get one of the upper tier guys, I'd say don't bother. Get that extra RB or QB instead. Same thing goes at TE - how big is the difference between Owen Daniels and Shockey, really? If you can get the top guy, that's great, but don't fill out a roster just because.

My first league was an 8 teamer, still going strong and been around since 1996. We've had 2RB 2WR 2 FLEX forever, but we only added a second QB and required TE a couple years ago. We have deep rosters. It's a keeper league where you can keep 9 players, with a mandatory 1 qb, 1 d and 1k, and no more than four players at any one position. Everyone goes into the season with a fairly stacked team, but some are clearly better than others. Everyone always has to draft at least two starters. It's a fun league.

We've added some cool twists - we have a midseason draft, instead of free agency from week 1 to week 5. That takes some of the craziness out of the waiver wire juggling. We also shut down free agency before the playoffs, so you have to get depth together for your playoff run. One of my favorite things we do is we rotate the divisions each year - the four teams that make the playoffs are in one division, while the four teams that miss are in the other. And since the division winners get into the playoffs, that guarantees that at least one new team will make the playoffs every year, so the bottom teams always feel like they've got a shot. We've had some years where the playoff division had a lousy year and the losers division has stormed the playoffs. But there's also a real incentive to keep a good team together long term.

 

[Sheriff66]

 

[neverfox]

I went with the following:

2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 PK, 1 TM, 1 RB/WR/TE + 6 bench.

Scoring is PPR, Waivers $100 Blind Bid, No divisions, 14-week season, 4-team playoff weeks 15-16, play each team twice.

Rankings are not W-L but rather victory points: 2 point for win, 1 point for tie plus extra 2 points for top 2 scoring teams or 1 point for 3rd-6th top scoring teams each week. This balances head-to-head luck factor with good coaching.

I'm happy with it. Thanks again for the advice. If you see anything glaringly wrong with this design, let me know. Doing a few mock drafts, it tends to make QB/RB/WR approx equal value and TE/PK/TM approx. equal value as far as total team contribution to expected points. I like that aspect. Plus the 6 bench is nicely symmetrical because there is a slot for one bench player for each position but doesn't require it.