10 ways to make your fantasy league more fun

Last year, much than 13 cardinal radical played fantasy football connected the ESPN platform, organized into astir 2 cardinal leagues. Those are unthinkable numbers. Personally, I had 10 leagues connected ESPN past season, ranging from redraft to dynasty setups and for the astir part, each league offered thing a small different.

Every year, astir this time, we effort to springiness a small other emotion to leagues that are reasoning of making changes to support things caller and exciting. If you and your leaguemates consciousness similar things person gotten stale, present are a fistful of ideas to see implementing this year.

Note: All of the changes suggested beneath tin beryllium made by the commissioner of the league and/or anyone other who has league manager (LM) powers.

League size and draught options

Increase the fig of teams successful your league

You wouldn't judge however overmuch a league changes conscionable by adding 2 teams. If you're successful an 8-team league, this is the twelvemonth for you to invitation 2 caller friends into the league. Ten-team leagues unit you to marque immoderate pugnacious flex decisions, whereas astir 8-teamers are star-studded.

If you summation your league size from 10 teams to 12, you'll announcement the quality successful the draft, arsenic endowment thins retired rather a spot quicker. Being successful a 12-team league truly stretches your cognition of NFL extent charts. I see 12 to beryllium the saccharine spot for league size.

Make the power to a wage headdress draft

I tried to person readers to springiness this a effort a mates years ago and since I'm truthful passionate astir it, I'm backmost astatine it.

The biggest selling constituent is you tin draught immoderate subordinate you want, arsenic agelong arsenic you person the wealth to spend. The ESPN modular wage headdress setup gives each manager $200 of fake wealth to unafraid players to capable retired their roster. You tin walk up for a mates of superstars and capable your seat with sleepers, oregon opt for a much balanced approach. It's truly up to you. There is nary "right" mode to bash it. It's the astir amusive you tin person successful a draft. Period.

Roster and scoring settings

Ditch kickers and defenses

I privation to accidental this close disconnected the bat: I'm not against kickers and defenses, alternatively I'm for adding much well-known players to your team. It's conscionable much amusive to person players that are retired determination connected the tract gaining yards and scoring points. Consider getting escaped of the kicker and defense/special teams (D/ST) slots and adding a 3rd starting wide receiver spot and an further flex, oregon amended yet ...

Add a superflex position

A mean flex presumption allows you to employment an further moving back, wide receiver oregon choky end, but a superflex (OP, which stands for violative subordinate successful ESPN leagues) besides allows you to spot a backmost successful that slot. This means your league fundamentally becomes a two-QB league, which allows you to person a somewhat higher-scoring league without changing the scoring system.

Let's look it. We phantasy managers cognize much astir QBs than we bash kickers anyway. My buddy Tristan H. Cockcroft has an nonfiction coming retired soon that delves deeper into wherefore you should play successful a superflex league. Make definite you cheque it out!

Change to incorporated 'TE premium' scoring

With a fewer notable exceptions, choky ends conscionable don't people arsenic overmuch arsenic wide receivers, moving backs oregon quarterbacks. One mode to marque things a small much absorbing is to marque your league a TE premium league by adding an further half-point per reception to your choky extremity scoring setting. So if your league awards 1 constituent per reception, your choky extremity would gain 1.5 It's a amusive mode to marque the TE presumption person a small much oomph.

Increase the fig of IR slots

Injuries are inevitable successful the NFL, and that surely impacts our phantasy game. Nobody wants to driblet a prime subordinate due to the fact that helium is going to miss a fewer weeks. The default league mounting is 1 injured reserve (IR) spot, but by adding astatine slightest 1 much it allows managers to debar playing with a depleted roster. This is particularly existent erstwhile bye weeks rotation around.

Roster absorption and play style

Change from waivers to FAAB to find pickups

FAAB stands for escaped cause acquisition budget. In a FAAB league, everyone volition commencement the play with a acceptable magnitude of wealth to usage connected escaped agents (usually $100). Instead of putting successful waiver claims, you determine however overmuch of your escaped cause fund you privation to spend. This allows for much strategy erstwhile moving the waiver wire, since you person a finite budget, and allows for ALL teams to beryllium progressive connected waivers, not conscionable the ones astatine the bottommost of the standings. One of the archetypal changes a league should marque erstwhile going from a casual league to a much competitory 1 is to power implicit to a FAAB system.

Try adding a keeper element

While the astir fashionable mode to play involves drafting an wholly caller squad each year, keeper leagues let you clasp a definite fig of players from past twelvemonth and rotation them implicit the pursuing season.

Most keeper leagues let you to support 1 to 4 players for a constricted fig of seasons. This lets managers get and support their favourite players connected their roster portion inactive keeping the draught caller by having to propulsion your prima players backmost each fewer years. It's a truly amusive mode to interaction the league, due to the fact that adjacent teams retired of playoff contention tin marque moves to assistance bolster their squad for adjacent season.

That said, the format does deemphasize the draught a spot due to the fact that a batch of the apical endowment volition beryllium kept. If you power to a keeper league, beryllium alert that the much players you keep, the shorter and little star-studded draught time volition be.

Want to flex your GM muscles? Make it a dynasty league

A dynasty league is simply a keeper league but supercharged. Instead of keeping a fistful of players, you support your full roster. This means drafting (mostly rookies) and trading becomes highly important, arsenic it's the main mode for you to adhd endowment to your team. Dynasty leagues are arsenic aggravated arsenic they get and aren't for the faint of heart, but if you privation to found your dominance arsenic the champion wide manager among your friends, there's nary amended mode to bash it than by showcasing your dynasty superiority.

Awards

End of twelvemonth 'award' for past place

Many leagues person traditions similar title trophies that the victor gets to support until idiosyncratic other dethrones them, but let's speech astir thing little positive.

Come up with a repercussion for the biggest loser (to beryllium agreed upon by the full league) to marque the "Toilet Bowl" a crippled that carries weight. Something like, the loser has to transportation retired a punishment, and the victor gets the No. 1 wide prime adjacent season. Adding successful a small spot of excitement for the consolation bracket tin beryllium a large mode to support the crippled live each the mode done Week 17. You don't person to person a life-changing punishment similar a tattoo, conscionable a small information to enactment your champion squad guardant astatine the extremity of your phantasy season.