Porter: 3 Things Every Fantasy Football League Needs To Do
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Let's face it. It's 2016, and everybody plays fantasy football.
The question is, how are you playing?
Like most things, there are many different ways to play fantasy football---from dynasty leagues, to keeper leagues, to two-QB leagues, to individual defensive player leagues, and so on and so forth.
While there certainly isn't a right or wrong way to play, as the founder and commissioner of my 14-year (and counting) fantasy football league with George Washington high school buddies, it's time I share my expertise with the world.
Here are three things that all fantasy football leagues must incorporate.
3. Create rivalry week
Every year, during Thanksgiving weekend, my league holds its annual rivalry week.
Each manager throws a couple of peanuts, if you will, into the pot and the manager who scores the most fantasy points during said week wins all the peanuts.
We pick Thanksgiving weekend because it's usually the week before our fantasy postseason begins (it keeps every manager engaged throughout the season) and most people are home for the holiday (we get together to watch the games).
Also, our trade deadline is set for Black Friday, adding another extra wrinkle to that weekend.
2. Eliminate the kicker
Name the top-five kickers last year...
...go ahead, I'll wait.
No one knows and no one cares! Kicker is the most arbitrary position in fantasy sports. It's the only position you do not prepare for, going into your draft. Zero skill is involved, because it is impossible to predict in any given season, in any given game, which kicker will succeed---or furthermore---which kicker will even get a chance to succeed (if the Packers score five touchdowns, Mason Crosby is only earning you five measly points, while Nick Folk kicks three field goals for the Jets and earns his owner at least nine points).
Last year, in standard scoring, the No. 1 ranked kicker (Stephen Gostkowski) scored 168 points. The No. 12 kicker (Caleb Sturgis) scored 132 points. That's a difference of a 2.25 points per week, an irrelevant amount of points (ps. if you do play with kickers take yours in the last round or for $1 in auction formats, which I will get to)!
The only thing that a kicker does is provide a poor fantasy player with a shot-in-the-dark at a 20-point unpredictable kicker performance, en route to a ridiculous upset victory he or she doesn't deserve. It's essentially like landing on the gold star in Mario Party for Nintendo 64---uncontrollable and completely unfair.
Eliminate the kicker and add an extra bench spot or a second flex. Boom.
1. Switch to an auction draft
If you do nothing else---if you never, ever listen to anything I write or say again---please, do this. Switch from your typical snake draft style to an auction style draft. I guarantee your league will love it or your money back!
No more "getting stuck" with pick No. 10. No more robotic drafts, where stupid fantasy players just take the next player on their printed out rankings list. No more determining your roster make-up based on a predetermined draft position.
An auction draft maximizes skill, giving each manager a chance at every single player. If you want Jamaal Charles, you can have him. If you want Aaron Rodgers, you can have him. If you want Riley Coo---never mind.
It keeps everyone on their toes and allows for all different type of strategies, including draft day bluffing!
I know what you're thinking: "How does it work?"
Simple. Each team gets a budget (standard is $200), managers take turns nominating NFL players (can nominate anyone you want at any time during the draft), and let the bidding begin!