Three Ways to Improve Your FF League

The vast majority of fantasy football leagues started their playoffs in Week 14 or will begin postseason play in Week 15. It’s a good time to look back on the 2009 fantasy season and to think about ways to improve your system for 2010. Here are three ideas that I believe should be implemented in every league:

1) Reward the Regular Season Champ

At the very least, the top team at the end of the regular season deserves to get his/her entry money back. Yes, the No. 1 seed can be an advantage (especially if a playoff bye is involved), but we’ve all seen the top team lose in round one of the playoffs. It’s just a one-week matchup, and anything can happen. That top squad deserves (monetary) credit for successfully grinding through the opening 13-14 weeks. If you don’t reward him/her, why do you play the first 13-14 games? You might as well skip those three  months, pull names out of a hat to determine playoff brackets in Week 13, and go from there.

2) Open a Playoff Spot to the Highest Scorer

The  head-to-head and scheduling aspects of fantasy football are a joke. Yes, it’s fun to pretend you are fighting against your best buddy or your bitter enemy, but do you have a way of stopping your opponent? Countering his moves? Exploiting his/her weaknesses? No, no and no. And the schedule is typically an arbitrary deal spit out by a commissioner system.

We’ve all felt the pain of being the second or third-highest scorer in a given week, only to lose to the highest scorer. How do you counteract that bad luck?

Make sure at least one playoff spot is awarded to the highest scoring team that didn’t otherwise secure a postseason slot. In one of my leagues, the highest-scoring team went 6-7 this season. In another, the third-best scoring squad went 5-8. Those owners deserve to be in the playoffs because they did well in the only thing fantasy owners can account for – setting their lineups and scoring points.

3) Get Rid of Team Defense/Special Teams

I’ve never been in a league where my “defense” does anything to stop my opponent. I get really, really upset when I lose because my opponent’s team defense has a huge week, and I feel dirty when my defense leads me to a victory. Yes, we can do our best to project who the best Team Defenses will be in a given week, but it’s the most inconsistent, unpredictable position.

Plus I don’t think most scoring systems are very true to the “real” football experience. For instance, let’s say I start the Cardinals in Week 15, and my opponent uses the Seahawks. The Cardinals end up holding the Lions to 10 points and 210 total yards… and I get a low score. The Seahawks give up 24 points and 430 yards to the Bucs, but Josh Freeman throws an interception for a touchdown… and my opponent’s defense looks great. Does that seem reasonable?

Two of my leagues abolished Team Defenses this season, and I love it. Not once during the season have I had to wonder if Team Defense A or Team Defense B will happen to get lucky on a given Sunday. It’s an unnecessary headache and an unnecessary position for fantasy football leagues. You are much, much better off adding a flex position or a third receiver spot.

Tags: NFL