Fantasy football is not just about hanging with your friends and yelling at your television. When you're dealing with numbers, to some degree, you're dealing with math. Don't worry, you don't need to break out your calculators and pocket protectors because the math only need be as serious as you want it to be.
When configuring your league’s scoring system, it’s a delicate balance. You don’t want one position group to dominate scoring. What good is an elite wide receiver that only scores 175 points in a season when a top quarterback can 350- or 400-plus points?
Ideally, you want each position to be as valued and impactful as they are within the NFL games every week. Quarterbacks score the most, running backs and wide receivers aren’t too far behind and tight ends are still valuable, especially the top guys.
With that balance in mind, let's begin by defining the scoring rules for a standard scoring league.
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Standard Scoring
- 4 points per passing TD
- 6 points per rushing or receiving TD
- 6 points for player returning kick/punt for TD
- 6 points for player returning or recovering a fumble for TD
- 2 points per rushing or receiving 2 pt conversion
- 2 points per passing 2 pt conversion
- 1 point per 10 yards rushing or receiving
- 1 point per 25 yards passing
This is the boilerplate starting point for any fantasy football scoring system. You can probably etch this into stone tablets. All variations should only be minor tweaks from this system.
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Four-point vs. six-point passing touchdowns
A common variation is to award six points per passing touchdown, instead of four. More points can feel like a good thing, but quarterbacks don't need any help scoring more points. The four-point TD keeps them in check and limits their scoring in order to give other offensive positions a chance to be impactful.
In 2021, Bills QB Josh Allen scored 417.7 points in standard scoring leagues. If awarded six points per passing TD instead, he would have netted an additional 72 fantasy points (36 passing TDs * 2 extra points per TD = 72). A nearly 500-point QB season would make him more than twice as valuable as top-five RB like Najee Harris.
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PPR Scoring
The next question is whether you want to provide a boost to running backs, wide receivers and tight ends by scoring points for receptions.
Point-per-reception (PPR) and half point-per-reception (half PPR) scoring systems are used in the majority of leagues today. PPR came first and changed the game for the better. Half-PPR is growing more popular.
You have to remember that 15-20 years ago, running backs ruled the roost. While there were dominant receivers like Terrell Owens or Calvin Johnson, let’s take a quick look at how a standard scoring league would have scored someone like Megatron.
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In 2012, Johnson had 122 receptions for 1,964 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. In a standard scoring system, he had 220.4 points. Meanwhile, RB Adrian Peterson had 2,097 rushing yards, 13 total touchdowns and 217 receiving yards. This gave him 307 standard scoring points. That’s nearly 40% more points than Johnson’s 220. You could certainly argue Peterson had the better year, but 40% better?
So, what if we used a PPR scoring system?
Peterson would’ve had 347.4 points and Johnson would’ve had 342.4 points. Doesn’t that feel more apropos? It just hit the spot, right?
Well, if PPR is so perfect, what's the point of half PPR?
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Half-PPR Scoring
I mentioned that half-PPR was becoming more popular. The reason for that is evolution of the NFL.
The days of workhorse running back are long gone. Sure, there are a few, but the running back position has become more specialized. As teams use running back rotations or sub in a backup with better hands on passing downs, the game’s best RBs struggle to match the production of a league that has become pass-happy.
In 2021, Rams WR Cooper Kupp had 145 receptions for 1,947 yards and 16 TDs. That incredible stat line produced 439.5 fantasy points, more than the aforementioned Allen had in 2021 (402.6). With wide receivers consistently scoring more and more, you could argue they needed a slight adjustment. Hence, the change to half-PPR.
The sweet spot provided by half-PPR means most of your league’s running backs and wide receivers are producing about the same amount of points. Yes, there will be guys like Kupp who have a monster season, but in general when you compare the top-40 backs and receivers, they produce points at about the same clip across both position.
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TE Premium Scoring
A notable trade-off when shifting from PPR to half-PPR is that tight ends take a big hit.
In any given season, the highest-scoring PPR TE would be lucky to crack the top 30 in scoring across all positions. You take the wind out of the position’s sails by reducing to half-PPR. TE premium scoring adds another 0.5 point or full point for all TE receptions.
So, a RB or WR would get 100 points for 100 receptions while a TE would receive 150 or 200 points for 100 receptions in a half-point TE premium or full-point TE premium scoring league, respectively.
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The Best Fantasy Football Scoring System
With all the caveats laid out in mind, it seems to me that the best fantasy football scoring system is a league with four-point passing touchdowns, a half-point per reception and another half-point for TE receptions.
- 4 points per passing TD
- 6 points per rushing or receiving TD
- 6 points for player returning kick/punt for TD
- 6 points for player returning or recovering a fumble for TD
- 2 points per rushing or receiving 2 pt conversion
- 2 points per passing 2 pt conversion
- 1 point per 10 yards rushing or receiving
- 1 point per 25 yards passing
- 0.5 points per reception
- 0.5 points per TE reception
So, if a RB or WR had one reception for 10 yards, that is 0.5 points for the reception and one point for 10 yards—for a total of 1.5 points.
If a TE had one reception for 10 yards, that’s 0.5 per reception, another 0.5 because it’s a TE reception and one point for 10 yards—for a total of two points.
Yes, we are deep in the weeds here when working our way from standard to PPR to TE premium. But we have the keep our eye on the prize: a well-balanced scoring system that rewards every position with points commensurate to that position.
This scoring system keeps quarterbacks as the top scorers, keeps running backs and wide receivers close enough to quarterbacks in scoring that there’s a good competitive balance while keeping tight ends afloat with a small scoring bonus.
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