What's the best way to set up a Fantasy league ... (1 Viewer)

[PsychoMan]

Offshoot of the "Luck vs Skill" threads.

I am trying to find a way to set up a league next season that will minimize the impact of "luck" on the league, and better reward "skill" (by way of $$$winnings$$$).

First of all, I know that some may suggest to do an auction format so everyone has equal opportunity at obtaining each player at the beginning of the season. While that may be true, I would like to focus more on a fantasy draft since most fantasy footballers (including all the owners I play with) prefer the draft format more. I also want to stay away from the total points leagues, because that can get boring for everyone quickly if a couple teams are running away with the lead.

My specific league is a redraft league, with head to head matchups. The past few seasons, my league has had a 13 game regular season, then a 3 week playoff. The winnings went to the top 3 teams at the end of the playoff (spread out 70/30/10% of the total pot). A lot of good teams have gotten screwed early in the playoffs and haven't made any money the past couple seasons (yes, including myself). It's a redraft league, and we start 1QB/2RB/3WR/1TE/1K/1DEF.

Brainstorming ways to accomplish this ...

1) Have a regular season, total points champion (weeks 1-13), and a fantasy playoff champion (weeks 14-16).

2) Make the league deeper by adding more starting positions. Instead of starting 1/2/3/1/1/1 - I am considering making it 2/3/4/2/1/1 or 1/2/3/1/1/1 with a few flex positions. This will give more of an advantage to the owners who do their research and know the team depth charts better.

3) Spread out the winnings more. Once the regular season ends, award $$$ to the top 3 teams with the highest point totals in some kind of ratio (30%/15%/5% of total pot). then have an 8 team playoff with no byes during weeks 14,15,16. Award $$$ to 1st through 3rd place with the same ratio (30%/15%/5% of total pot).

For instance, if there was a $500 pot:

Winnings for 1st/2nd/3rd place point totals after regular season (week 13): $150, $75, $25

Winnings for 1st/2nd/3rd place of the tourny weeks 14-16 would get the same denominations: $150, $75, $25

Any other ideas? I want to know how others have setup leagues they consider "fair".

When it's all said and done, the less reasons to , the better.

 

[thatguy]

You could go by total points, all play records, some form of roto style, etc. Lots of ways to decrease the luck factor, but I think most make it less fun. The idea of going head to head Vs. someone every week makes it more competitive, IMO, and I like that.

That's why I like dynasty leagues. Sure, you may get unlucky for a few seasons, but the best teams will eventially come out on top more often than not.

In our dynasty league, first and second place during the regular season win some money, and first, second, and third in the playoffs win some money. In this way, most of the top teams have a great chance of being rewarded in some way.

This season I finished fourth in total points, first in points against (by over 100), first in bench points (by almost 200), but I had by far the worst efficiency - meaning my team was very good and very deep but I sucked at managing my lineup. I finished in 7th place. Still, based on total points I should probably have made the playoffs. Suffice it to say, I won nothing, but I'm fairly certain I will win something next season and the year after that and so on. I strongly prefer head to head, but in pure head to head, really the only way to mitigate the luck factor is to award regular season performance and to play in dynasty leagues where time will even things out.

 

[PsychoMan]

some form of roto style, etc

Someone please educate me. What's roto style?

 

[SigEp316]

we play TOTAL POINTS and have side action with every team every week. So, you're essentially playing HEAD TO HEAD with every team, every week. Takes a lot of the luck out of it.

 

[thatguy]

some form of roto style, etc

Someone please educate me. What's roto style?

I'm not even sure if it's used very often or at all in fantasy football, but it's very popular in fantasy baseball. Basically, you choose the stats that you want to acknowledge, so I would think rushing yards, passing yards, receiving yards, rushing TDs, passing TDs, receiving TDs, receptions, etc. Then, you keep a running total of each team's totals in each category throughout the season. Say you have a 12 team league, the team that has the most points in a given category is awarded 12 points for that category, the team with the least is awarded 1 point, and so on for all the guys in between. Add up all the points for each team, and that makes your standings. It tends to quite boring, especially toward the end of the season when the standings are fairly set, but it is generally a pretty good indicator of who has the best, most balanced team, and it makes week to week variability a non-factor. Generally, roto leagues go all the way through the end of the regular season, and there are no playoffs. I don't really like roto at all, and as I said I'm not sure anyone uses it for fantasy football, but it significantly reduces the luck factor.

 

[thatguy]

A roto-type fantasy football league would likely lessen the value of a guy like LT, because he really only gives his owner a significant edge in rushing TDs.

 

[Road Warriors]

I think the best way to keep the luck factor reduced is to have some payout for the regular season top teams. Generally speaking, the top teams will come out ahead thru 13 or 14 weeks. The playoffs is where you can get lucky / unlucky... 1 and done can kill you if you hit a tough week. That said, I prefer leagues where the bulk of the prize is given to the overall champion.

 

[trader jake]

One minor item not noted yet...start "Team QB" ("Chiefs QB" instead of "Trent Green", etc) instead of an individual player.

 

[Capella]

League I'm in uses a combo of H2H and average of entire teams points -- you get a win for both, so you essentially play 28 games in a year.

You play your scheduled opponent one week, and then the league average. It's pretty fair.

Personally, I just prefer to use total points. H2H is idiotic.

 

[-OZ-]

One minor item not noted yet...start "Team QB" ("Chiefs QB" instead of "Trent Green", etc) instead of an individual player.

1. Does anyone like using this?2. Why use this but not Team RB or team WR?

 

[trader jake]

One minor item not noted yet...start "Team QB" ("Chiefs QB" instead of "Trent Green", etc) instead of an individual player.

1. Does anyone like using this?2. Why use this but not Team RB or team WR?

I don't, but if the major goal is to "minimize luck in FF" this is one (albeit minor) way to accomplish it.

 

[pgreenfan]

California Football

 

[Nemesis]

1-Standings/Playoff teams could be done by Fantasy League Points:

Each week, you award 2 League Pts to each team that won their H-to-H matchup, PLUS you award 1 League Pt for the Top 5 scores of the week. Decreases the schedule factor by giving credit to a team that scored well, but still lost.

2-Last playoff spot is reserved for the team that scored the most points and didn't get in the playoffs due to record/div record/H-to-H.

3-No Bonus points for Length of TD scored..........I've seen where Leagues give 3 or 6 EXTRA points for a >50 yd TD (while a 49yd TD gets just 6 pts).

4-Some may argue this, but if you have PPR league............reduce the PPR RELATIVE to the points given for a TD scored/yards gained. To me, giving someone 5pts for 5 receptions with 0 yards does not equal someone that caught 1 reception for 60 yards or someone that caught a TD. I didn't say eliminate it.......just reduce PPR to something closer to 1/2 PPR.

5-Evaluate your Defenses: Go look up the Top 10 NFL Defenses........then compare that to your Top 10 Defenses in your Fantasy League. In my league, I put more emphasis on Yds Against than I do in other categories. Basically, I want owners coming to the draft each year knowing which teams have a Top 5 defense and that they can select them with a little more confidence.............doesn't mean they will finish Top 5, but the luck factor is reduced and adds a little more draft strategy than everyone waiting until the last 2 rounds to select a defense.

 

[trader jake]

California Football

Someone give this man a ham.

 

[ooofffaaa]

I haven't been able to find this yet but someone once told me of a format where you play against 3 teams every week as opposed to just one. This way if you lose a high scoring game, say 150-149, you still have a shot at beating the other 2 teams. So instead of being 0-1 you'd be 2-1 for that week. I've never played that and I'm not sure how the playoffs work but it sounded pretty cool. Anybody here play in that type of league?

 

[yetiknight]

My fourteen team league splits the pot between the total points and super bowl champ. We play sixteen games. Teams seven thru ten play a wild card game in week seventeen. Then there is an eight team tournament starting the second round of the NFL playoffs. The rules for the playoffs are pretty complex.

The point is that everyone in our league has accepted that there is a huge luck factor involved with H2H. So why not draw it out more. Total points champ has exclusive bragging rights because they had to beat everyone in the league to win. It just makes more sense to me.

 

[AcerFC]

In my league we give money payouts for a lot of different things. The buy in is 235.

1. The high score every week is $50

2. The top 3 breakdown (play all) teams get money- 300-200-150

3. The high points team gets $100

4. The best league record gets $100

5. Each playoff team gets $50

6. Teams 1-4 get paid out- 200-125-75-50

We play h2h and the play all records really help to eliminate the luck factor. Because there is so much opportunity to win money, it keeps everyone coming back, even those teams that have bad beats

Next year we will be going with the last playoff team is the high scoring team that did not make playoffs

 

[PsychoMan]

To those who have used the play-2, play-3 or play-all methods, as opposed to straight up H2H, how do you like it? Did you switch from H2H because of the "luck" factor involved?

 

[Chaz]

In one league, we do the following to minimize luck:

1. The last playoff team is based on total points, not H2H. Helps keep the "hard luck" teams in it.

2. Our playoffs are total points for all playoff teams over a three week period. Gives the better team the best chance to emerge. Also fun because six teams are still mathematically alive and chiming into the message board right to the end. I don't know of any other leagues that do this and it may sound a little odd, but it works for us.

3. Auction format draft. Blind bid FA.

 

[Johnny Rock]

1) Get rid of Def/ST

2) Team QB

3) Play against 2 teams per week to eliminate having 2nd hi pts and losing.

4) Set up the playoffs to reward the best regular season teams. Max 4 teams (in 12 teamer) with a shot at Championship eliminates the crappy team from going on a late run.

5) If you have 3 division winners and a wildcard, consider the wildcard to be the Hi Pts or Best Power Ranking rather than next best record with tiebreakers.

6) Use Hybrid Auction/Serpentine draft or Auction draft

 

[baronson]

remove LT2 from the player pool. i'm serious.

 

[braven112]

To those who have used the play-2, play-3 or play-all methods, as opposed to straight up H2H, how do you like it? Did you switch from H2H because of the "luck" factor involved?

Our league uses a mix of play 2 and play 1. Next year we plan to play 2 during the non-bye weeks and play 1 for the bye weeks. We've done this mostly because it allows us to have a better schedule, but it also helps the more skilled teams because they'll more than likely win at least 1 game even during an off week.If you decide to play more than one game per week I would work the schedule around your league structure. Our league, for example, two 12 team conferences with 3 division per conference. Double headers allow us to play all the teams in one conference once; your division 2 times and 1 division in the other conference on a rotating basis, Much like the NFL does their schedule. We also have division games set up only on weeks without byes. Decreasing the luck while increasing the fun!!

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

The "least luck" scenario would have a total points league with an auction format, blind bidding for waiver wires and no trades. You would also eliminate TDs from scoring, since plays like the 1-yard plunge after a bogus pass interference call would be a matter of luck.

I'm not saying this would even be fun. Just trying to think of how to eliminate as much luck as possible.

But even with all that, there would still be a lot of luck involved, considering things like injuries and Mike Shanahan.

 

[R.White]

How about a "Double Elimination" Play-Off system? I haven't given it much thought at this point, but it would require more weeks for PO's?

 

[bbuster]

1-Standings/Playoff teams could be done by Fantasy League Points:

Each week, you award 2 League Pts to each team that won their H-to-H matchup, PLUS you award 1 League Pt for the Top 5 scores of the week. Decreases the schedule factor by giving credit to a team that scored well, but still lost.

This sounds like AntSports H2H Victory Points Leagues. Has anyone here tried this?

For the most part, I think the playoffs are the area that luck seems to be the most prevalent. I kind of like the idea of playing out the season H2H for your playoff spot and making the playoffs a total point event.

I've never tried it, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea. Total points leagues(for the whole season) are really boring, even if you are winning.

 

[ravnzfan]

1-Standings/Playoff teams could be done by Fantasy League Points:

Each week, you award 2 League Pts to each team that won their H-to-H matchup, PLUS you award 1 League Pt for the Top 5 scores of the week. Decreases the schedule factor by giving credit to a team that scored well, but still lost.

This sounds like AntSports H2H Victory Points Leagues. Has anyone here tried this?

For the most part, I think the playoffs are the area that luck seems to be the most prevalent. I kind of like the idea of playing out the season H2H for your playoff spot and making the playoffs a total point event.

I've never tried it, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea. Total points leagues(for the whole season) are really boring, even if you are winning.

my local auction league uses:

a)auction format--obviously

b)team QB---we use 16 roster spots, so you only need to carry 1 or 2 if you want

3)use "victory" points

ours is a 10 team league, so there are 20 victory points in play each week...

--10 get awarded to the 5 teams winning (or 1 each if there is a tie, eliminating any BS tie breaker rule)

--10 get awarded to the top scoring teams as follows:

----2 each to the top 3 teams(6)

----1 each to the next 4 teams (4)

----0 each to lowest scoring 3

we've had a team Win w/a low score (bottom 3), which gets them 2 victory points and the same week a team lose w/a top 3 score, also earning them 2 victory points

the result for each team was identical in the standings, despite 1 "W" and 1 "L"

also, the victory points get split if there is a tie, either in a game (1 each) or w/a score---if 2 teams tie for the 3rd highest score they split 2+1 points, for 1.5 each--slightly less than the top 2 (2 each) and a tad more than those scoring 5-7(1 each)

we pay top scoring team each week $20(rewards a bad team for a good week), and send 8 teams to the playoffs---but you need to win a round 1 game to start collecting, so only 4 teams collect, not all 8...(we opted for this over a 4 team playoff)

we've tweaked these rules over 10 years, and are very happy w/where we stand w/them

 

[Stealthycat]

if you're serious about the luck factor, remove it from the daft by going to auction style

HUGE advantage drafting int he #1 spot and getting Tomlinson vs drafting in the #12 spot and getting the 12th best RB on the board

 

[Stealthycat]

also, trim the roster size to down to like 16 and force teams to play the weekly wiaver wires and free agents like mad. thos teams relying on luck instead of skill and being active will miss out on the Colston's and the Cotchery's and the Garcia's that can make/break FF teams

 

[Anonymous Internet User]

i'm a big fan of all-play. it combines head-to-head with total points leagues. i'd suggest trying it with the twist of playing one team twice each week (counts as double). think of it as playing every team in the league every week, plus having one head-to-head matchup. this has the effect of adding one extra "week" of play to everyone's W-L record at the end of the season, and allows for focused following of stats of you and your opponent (if you're into that - and of course we all are).

best records at the end of the regular fantasy season make the playoffs. rarely need tiebreakers because the record would involve (for a 12-team league, 14 week season) 11*14 + 11 (extra H-2-H) = 165 games. IF two people are tied, I suppose you can use their H-2-H matchup to tiebreak, or use total points.

i'd also recommend an auction format in these leagues with NO flex, but with a large STARTING roster. something like:

1QB 3RB 4WR 1TE 1K 1DST

This means that you need to have a deep team in order to compete. Eliminating flex is necessary to prevent people from totally loading up at one position while ignoring others.

 

[Callas Disregard]

1) Have a regular season, total points champion (weeks 1-13), and a fantasy playoff champion (weeks 14-16).

2) Make the league deeper by adding more starting positions. Instead of starting 1/2/3/1/1/1 - I am considering making it 2/3/4/2/1/1 or 1/2/3/1/1/1 with a few flex positions. This will give more of an advantage to the owners who do their research and know the team depth charts better.

I'm in a homeboy league that does both of these. Regular season total points champ gets 10% of the pot, which effectively rebates his entry fee. In addition, we start 2/3/4/1/2, with TEs counting as WRs. (By starting 2 defenses but making defensive points low, we reduce the luck of one defense having a monster day.) I think the deep lineup reduces luck a little bit because it rewards deep drafting: people are still drafting starters at the big 3 positions in rounds 10-12. I'm not sure it's a huge difference though: the guy that got LT won the total points championship and is in the title game. (which is true in all 3 of my leagues) Another way to reduce luck is to move to auctions -- either for the draft or waivers or both. (If you have a bad waiver system that might increase luck more than anything.)

Here are two ways to reduce luck in the playoffs but not in the regular season:

1. Bye weeks for the best teams.

2. Award points for home-field advantage, so that the better team throughout the season has a slight advantage.

 

[diesel7982]

some form of roto style, etc

Someone please educate me. What's roto style?

I'm not even sure if it's used very often or at all in fantasy football, but it's very popular in fantasy baseball. Basically, you choose the stats that you want to acknowledge, so I would think rushing yards, passing yards, receiving yards, rushing TDs, passing TDs, receiving TDs, receptions, etc.

Then, you keep a running total of each team's totals in each category throughout the season. Say you have a 12 team league, the team that has the most points in a given category is awarded 12 points for that category, the team with the least is awarded 1 point, and so on for all the guys in between. Add up all the points for each team, and that makes your standings.

It tends to quite boring, especially toward the end of the season when the standings are fairly set, but it is generally a pretty good indicator of who has the best, most balanced team, and it makes week to week variability a non-factor. Generally, roto leagues go all the way through the end of the regular season, and there are no playoffs. I don't really like roto at all, and as I said I'm not sure anyone uses it for fantasy football, but it significantly reduces the luck factor.

This is all I play, and I guarantee you its not boring.

 

[Jedi Knight]

I have several ways our league uses.

1- Use IDP instead of team def. It balances well against offensive players and blunts the "LT effect". Two things though, IDP scoring must equal offensive scoring and the IDP line-up should have more players than the offensive line-up.

2- Formations instead of line-ups. Player chooses a formation of players versus picking individual players. Then "best-score" to fill the formation. We have used this for three seasons now, and our league members swear by it.

3- Combination of H2H, total points, and play-all record for playoff seeding.

4- Playoffs are a combo of 2X avg weekly score added to weeks 15 and 16 score. Most total points wins. This gives strongest regular season teams a "Home-Field" advantage, but not insurmountable for teams that get hot late in the season and squeak into the playoffs.

5- Almost forgot, but mentioned in other posts- Blind-bidding waivers and auction draft.

 

[thayman]

I have several ways our league uses.

1- Use IDP instead of team def. It balances well against offensive players and blunts the "LT effect". Two things though, IDP scoring must equal offensive scoring and the IDP line-up should have more players than the offensive line-up.

2- Formations instead of line-ups. Player chooses a formation of players versus picking individual players. Then "best-score" to fill the formation. We have used this for three seasons now, and our league members swear by it.

3- Combination of H2H, total points, and play-all record for playoff seeding.

4- Playoffs are a combo of 2X avg weekly score added to weeks 15 and 16 score. Most total points wins. This gives strongest regular season teams a "Home-Field" advantage, but not insurmountable for teams that get hot late in the season and squeak into the playoffs.

5- Almost forgot, but mentioned in other posts- Blind-bidding waivers and auction draft.

IDP is way to underrated IMO. Completely changes the makeup of a league.

 

[(HULK)]

The winnings went to the top 3 teams at the end of the playoff (spread out 70/30/10% of the total pot).

I guess everyone in your league gives 110%

 

[PsychoMan]

The winnings went to the top 3 teams at the end of the playoff (spread out 70/30/10% of the total pot).

I guess everyone in your league gives 110%

I can't believe it took till post 34 to notice that

 

[Captain Quinoa]

if you're serious about the luck factor, remove it from the daft by going to auction styleHUGE advantage drafting int he #1 spot and getting Tomlinson vs drafting in the #12 spot and getting the 12th best RB on the board

wrong

 

[Captain Quinoa]

also, trim the roster size to down to like 16 and force teams to play the weekly wiaver wires and free agents like mad. thos teams relying on luck instead of skill and being active will miss out on the Colston's and the Cotchery's and the Garcia's that can make/break FF teams

wrong again

 

[dlptown]

Add depth to the rosters. We have a 30 man roster and I plan to increase it by at least 5 next year (13 teams IDP). Also consider using double-headers and we use a head to head for playoffs but use all 17 weeks for our championship. Payouts are spread out, but the points champion gets 40%.

 

[Benchwarmers]

Having a well balanced league.

In EFS we have 1 qb, 2 rbs, 3 wrs or 2 wrs &1 te, 5 offensive lineman, 1 pk and 1 punter

On defense we play combination of 11 players.

24 starters each week.

So Defense scores alot and can make LT not matter as much. OL also makes teams play on which teams will have good offenses and also plan on injuries on OL which are many throughout the year. We also play double games a few weeks out of the year. I like EFS because the luck factor doesnt really come into plan. These leagues are also dynasty so if you try to win it all one year your team might suck for years to come.

http://dynasty.efsports.com/rules/rules.htm to see the scoring

 

[Wilbur Wood]

One minor item not noted yet...start "Team QB" ("Chiefs QB" instead of "Trent Green", etc) instead of an individual player.

I don't agree that the Team QB reduces luck. IMHO, it further "dumbs down" the game. Every year part of the calculus that goes into a roster is taking a calculated gamble on one or two "QBs-in-waiting" (and dynamically manage these roster spots over the course of the year).Stash away a Vince Young early this year and he probably paid some dividends for you over the course of the year, to a lesser extent Leinert and Cutler (last week). Even if you didn't have McNabb I saw some teams jump on the Garcia bandwagon early this year when McNabb got hurt when a lot of McNabb owners didn't even bother picking him up right away because they thought Garcia was washed up based upon the Det/Clev experience OR they believed some "experts" on this board who suggested that Feeley was the better play. This strategy has much more of an impact in a Super Flex league (in which you can, but are not required to, start a 2nd QB)

 

[oso diablo]

remove LT2 from the player pool. i'm serious.

the easy counter-suggestion is to use an auction, rather than a draft. Personally, i like the draft, so i've been thinking of ways to mitigate the advantage of a top player like LT2. Tried by Abandoned

Several years ago, when Emmitt was dominating the league, we instituted a strange serpentine draft, where BOTH rounds 2 & 3 went in the reverse (12 to 1) order, then alternated from there. I had done the math, and it made sense, except that happened to be the year that Smith got hurt, and that killed the idea going forward. Nobody wanted the #1 pick.

New Possibility

Here's what i'm noodling on now. Allow teams to bid Points for draft spots. I mean, you literally offer up x.x points per week that will be deducted from your actual total each week. So, you calculate what having the #1 pick and nabbing LT2 is worth, and bid accordingly.

Not sure how far to extend that - just 1st pick or until nobody bids?

 

[perry147]

Do not have a draft at all just let every team plays whichever players they want but YOU CAN ONLY PLAY THAT PLAYER ONCE.

Starting Lineup: 1 QB 2 RB 2 WR 1 TE 1 Def 1 K

Total Points wins the league.

In this format the luck factor in very minimized.

 

[Wilbur Wood]

Do not have a draft at all just let every team plays whichever players they want but YOU CAN ONLY PLAY THAT PLAYER ONCE.Starting Lineup: 1 QB 2 RB 2 WR 1 TE 1 Def 1 K Total Points wins the league.In this format the luck factor in very minimized.

100% Disagree. A skilled blackjack player will win $$ over the long term, not with one hand.For the most part, too many other random elements come into play relative to fantasy points scored in an individual game.For example, before the season started I was very high (higher than most) on Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Maurice Jones Drew. Over the course of a fantasy season by rostering these 3 players at a very minimial initial investment will paid tremendous dividends to a fantasy team. However, now transpose this same level of insight into your format (FFTOC) and I am left with trying to determine which of 16 games these 3 guys might actually reap their best point totals. Moreover, any fool who may have never even heard of Colston or still thought that Brees was on the Chargers might figure out by the 4th or 5th week of the season that these guys or big producers and plug them into their lineup (as long as they weren't facting a Top 5 Defense) and get more production out of them than I did.Similarly, I avoided all Raiders, especially Randy Moss like the plague in all drafts. My buddy has Moss still graded as a Top 5 WR going into the year. I don't put Moss in my FFTOC lineup all year. My buddy plans on "optimizing" Moss in a Week 7 home matchup vs Arizona. However, by Week 6 its obvious even to Bryant Gumbel that Moss is useless, so my buddy never uses him as well and we are both left with the same result despite the fact that I was a lot more right on Moss than he was.

 

[Stealthycat]

Captain Quinoa - so you voluntarily draft in the last spot of every draft because its no more or less the advantage ?

LOL - thats funny

Look , the post was to REMOVE luck from the league, and since drafting is a HUGE part of the way your team will be built, draft it where everyone has the same shot at Tomlinson as everyone else, not some LUCK of the draw

 

[perry147]

Do not have a draft at all just let every team plays whichever players they want but YOU CAN ONLY PLAY THAT PLAYER ONCE.Starting Lineup: 1 QB 2 RB 2 WR 1 TE 1 Def 1 K Total Points wins the league.In this format the luck factor in very minimized.

100% Disagree. A skilled blackjack player will win $$ over the long term, not with one hand.For the most part, too many other random elements come into play relative to fantasy points scored in an individual game.For example, before the season started I was very high (higher than most) on Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Maurice Jones Drew. Over the course of a fantasy season by rostering these 3 players at a very minimial initial investment will paid tremendous dividends to a fantasy team. However, now transpose this same level of insight into your format (FFTOC) and I am left with trying to determine which of 16 games these 3 guys might actually reap their best point totals. Moreover, any fool who may have never even heard of Colston or still thought that Brees was on the Chargers might figure out by the 4th or 5th week of the season that these guys or big producers and plug them into their lineup (as long as they weren't facting a Top 5 Defense) and get more production out of them than I did.Similarly, I avoided all Raiders, especially Randy Moss like the plague in all drafts. My buddy has Moss still graded as a Top 5 WR going into the year. I don't put Moss in my FFTOC lineup all year. My buddy plans on "optimizing" Moss in a Week 7 home matchup vs Arizona. However, by Week 6 its obvious even to Bryant Gumbel that Moss is useless, so my buddy never uses him as well and we are both left with the same result despite the fact that I was a lot more right on Moss than he was.

But you can flip this also.I want to play my best players against the weakest competition (like the Colts run defense) - the ability to analyze the matchup maximizes my points. ORLets say you have several unknown players playing behind starters, if you find out that the starter is out that week you can then play the quality backup and reap those rewards.

 

[BGP]

One of the biggest areas of luck is the draft. You must not have a draft. Let everyone have access to every NFL player. They pick and choose their own lineup from that.

 

[dlptown]

The bidding factor is an interesting consideration, but we allow trading during the draft. So if someone really wants a shot at LJ, LT or SA, they can pony up their first to move up, plus a 4th, or whatever. I don't think that being in 12-14th draft position determines your fate.

 

[Aaronur]

Give the teams with the better regular season records or point totals some sort of advantage in the playoffs, a 10 point lead or an extra player something like that to reward them for their great regular season.

Another way, although I don't think anyone does this and I read it in a column so it isn't my idea, would be to redraft for the playoffs and give the top team first pick in every round.

 

[bbuster]

also, trim the roster size to down to like 16 and force teams to play the weekly wiaver wires and free agents like mad. thos teams relying on luck instead of skill and being active will miss out on the Colston's and the Cotchery's and the Garcia's that can make/break FF teams

I think that small rosters can offer some interesting challenges, but I'm not sure it really affects the luck factor much. One of the leagues that I'm in has only 14 roster spots. It's quite a headache because we don't even have room to carry backups at some positions. It sucks when you actually end up with a very good TE and D and are unable to back them up. When you have a bye week, your choice is to leave that position empty or drop someone. Liike I said, it gets pretty tricky, but I really don't see it having much affect on the luck factor.

 

[Tick]

No kickers, no defenses. Deep starting rosters.