Fantasy football rules vary from league to league. Fantasy football leagues allow an almost endless variety of different rules to customize the number of teams, the number of players on each team, draft type, team schedules and scoring systems. These various rules may seem intimidating, but beginner fantasy football players can count on some basic rules and core concepts for any fantasy football competition. The following are commonly found fantasy football rules that beginners should understand.
You Will Draft Your Players
The beginner fantasy football player will want to know what kind of draft to expect. Some groups like to get together in person and make a whole night of the draft, complete with a dry erase board, plenty of beer and even more trash talk. Other leagues hold online drafts. Some leagues even allow automated drafts, allowing participants to rank players ahead of time and have their computer pick players for them.
A beginner fantasy football player will want to research NFL news, training camp results, position battles, and statistics from previous seasons. A beginner fantasy football player will also want to understand the rules of his particular league to help him focus on certain players and positions. Although most leagues have rules governing trades and free agent acquisitions, your draft picks will form the core of your roster.
Your Team May Play Other Teams Or Simply Accumulate Points
A beginner fantasy football player must understand the rules determining how the season progresses. Some fantasy football leagues use a simple point system. Each team scores points each week, depending on NFL player performances and the league’s point system. The teams with the highest point total at the end of the year go to the playoffs. However, most leagues employ schedules involving games between teams. In these leagues, the teams with the best records go to the playoffs.
A beginner fantasy football player must understand the difference between the rules used by these two types of leagues. The match-up system inserts the element of luck, because one player could benefit from another player’s failure to make proper adjustments on a given week. For example, a beginner fantasy football player may forget that some of his players’ teams have a bye week, or he might forget that a certain player is injured. Those sorts of beginner mistakes can hand a win to the other team. This would never happen with a point system, because in those leagues, the other players cannot affect your performance.
Scoring Will Be Based On Player Performance
Your team’s performance is based entirely on how your players perform in their NFL games. The beginner fantasy football player must understand the scoring rules to know which players to draft and which players to start on a given week.
Most systems combine points for player yardage and player scores. In some leagues, yardage is more important. Other league rules put more emphasis on touchdowns. Some leagues allow teams to use defensive players and even allow points for the NFL coach you draft. The beginner fantasy football player will need to know whether he should draft the halfback who averages 1000 yards per season or the short yardage specialist who plunges in for a large number of goal line scores.
Regardless of the rules a league uses, most beginner players will enjoy the excitement and camaraderie a fantasy football league can provide.
