.jpg)
A player gets stats on a Thursday, Sunday, or Monday and those stats turn into points for your fantasy team and the team with the most points wins. That’s fantasy football in a nutshell. However, there is a lot more nuisance to it than that, especially with the rise of different scoring systems becoming popular. Standard, PPR, half-PPR, differences in quarterback touchdown points, fractional scoring, 1.5 PPR for tight ends, and defensive scoring changes all make for exciting ways to make a familiar game different and challenging once more. The problem often is though, that owners don’t adequately account for the changes in scoring systems when drafting between the multiple teams they have or frankly if your league changes the scoring system from one year to the next. The same guys or defenses shouldn’t necessarily be going in the same spots across all those formats because they won’t always bring you the same scoring as they will in other systems.
We’ll take you position-by-position and break down how the differences change the points they can put up and how that changes the values for those players heading into your drafts.
Quarterbacks
For the quarterbacks we are looking at the standard scoring, FFPC, and NFFC scoring. Each of these is just slightly different in how it weighs some of the stats they put up. Standard is 25 yards passing per point and four points per touchdown, while FFPC is 20 yards passing per point and four points per touchdown while NFFC is 20 yards passing per point and six points per touchdown. We have ranked the top-24 quarterbacks and shown the scores posted for last season in each of these systems.
As you can see in the table above, the systems keep the same quarterbacks within a few spots of each the other ones, however that isn’t what you should be noticing. Fantasy football isn’t a game of who has the better ranked players, it’s a game of who has the highest scoring teams week-to-week and in order to have that, you have to prioritize the highest scoring players in the systems you’re playing within. So, what you should’ve noticed is the difference in scoring for the quarterbacks despite the same exact stats counting in all three systems.
Each system, as described above, is weighing different things differently compared to the others and thus the point totals change for each of the quarterbacks. The important thing to notice about the point changes is what point totals the top-x quarterbacks are putting up. So for example, if you head into your draft and you say “I want a QB that puts up 320 or more points this season”, an average of 20 points a week over 16 games, that might be great for a standard league in which six passers reached that mark last year, but in the FFPC there were 14 and NFFC saw 16 hit that level meaning the 20-point barrier isn’t equal across all leagues. That 20-point mark quarterback in standard, Jared Goff , scores nearly 24 points a game in FFPC and nearly 27 points a week in NFFC simply by slightly tweaking the passing yards and touchdown points.
Let’s take a look at this a little differently though too. Just focusing on an overall package of stats from a passer is usually the way to go, but let’s break down what the scoring changes mean depending on what type of quarterback each guy is. Comparing two guys who had polar opposite seasons last year is a good way to start. Drew Brees is constantly considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league year-after-year and last year he was eighth across the board in fantasy scoring. Derek Carr was considered to have a terrible year in 2018 and the 18th place ranking in each scoring format backs that up, however did you know that Carr actually put up more yards than Brees in 2018? Carr put up 4,049 to Brees’ 3,992. So where’s the scoring difference coming from? The fact that Brees had 36 total scores with five interceptions to Carr’s 20 scores and 10 INT line. How about two QBs that had nearly identical TD-INT lines in 2018 in Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson . Ryan had 35 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, and three rushing scores, while Wilson had 35 passing touchdowns, seven interceptions, and no rushing touchdowns yet Ryan outscored Wilson 364-302.4, 421.2-344.9, and 484.2-407.9 across the three formats. Why? Well Ryan put up 4,924 passing yards and 125 rushing yards to Wilson’s 3,448 passing yards and 376 rushing yards. In this case the passing yards made a huge difference in scoring as Ryan was consistently the second best QB in fantasy and Wilson was ninth or 10th best.
We didn’t even touch on systems that count QB sacks against the QB like some leagues do and, in that case, knowing offensive line strength is important as well.
Running Backs
The running back spot is being compared across standard, half-PPR, and PPR scoring systems, the most common ones used in fantasy football.
Above are the top 36 running backs from 2018 based on average rank across all three systems. That’s the top three for each team in a 12-team league.
Now we all think we know how to attack the difference between PPR and non-PPR leagues for running backs in fantasy. But do the facts bear that out as much as we thought? Looking at the chart above, it’s hard to make the argument that we have. In general, the top-10 is the same in all three scoring systems, though the back half of that gets shifted a tad but never more than a couple of spots between any of the systems. So, what does that mean? RB1s are RB1s no matter your system, there is a reason we are calling them RB1s. However, just like the QBs we have to pay attention to the points changes across those ranks.
David Johnson and Joe Mixon are the number nine and 10 ranked running backs in all three systems. Johnson goes from 194.6 in standard last year to 244.6 in full PPR, a difference of exactly 50 points. Mixon meanwhile, goes from 200.4 in standard to 243.4 in full PPR, a difference of 40 points. Once more if we’re looking at scoring averages per game from a roster spot, like a ton of people do to fill out rosters based on scoring totals, and you want 15 points on average from your RB1 spot, that’s 240 points over 16 games. In standard leagues last year, only five backs posted that or better while in half-PPR seven accomplished it, and in full-PPR 10 went over that mark, meaning that point average doesn’t get you as far in half or full PPR formats as it does in standard. The more stats you take into account in the scoring system, the higher the scores will be across the board and thus you simply need more from a guy to measure up. Another good way of thinking about his is that in standard there was one back over 300 points last year, Tood Gurley, while in half-PPR there were four, and full-PPR had five and each of those four and five backs posted higher scores than Gurley’s total in standard (313.1 for Gurley in STD, 313.7 for 4th in half-PPR, 319.1 for 5th in full-PPR).
Well that’s all well and good that the top backs don’t make a difference across systems, but what about the RB2 and RB3 options and so forth. Well that’s a good question, and one I was fixing to answer right now in fact. Let’s look at a few guys we all know but may not get how the scoring completely changes their value. James White , Tarik Cohen , Kenyan Drake , Dion Lewis , Jalen Richard , Duke Johnson , and Theo Riddick are all guys who took major steps forward as catches were taken into account. White is an integral part of the Patriots pass offense and doesn’t do much traditional between the tackles running and it shows in his point values as he picks up 87 points between standard and full point PPR formats last year and changes from RB11 to RB6 in the rankings. Cohen got a bunch more pub than Jordan Howard in the Bears backfield last year for the same reason James White does in the Patriots backfield. Cohen put up 164.9 points in standard but 235.9 in full PPR, a difference of 71 points and went from RB17 to RB11 and now has gotten the Bears to ship Jordan Howard out of town entirely. The biggest changes between points come for Jalen Richard and Theo Riddick as they both either nearly doubled or did double their point totals between the two formats. Richard went from just 88.6 points in standard (RB42) to 156.6 in PPR (RB29) and Riddick was even bigger at 55.5 in standard (RB63) to 116.5 in PPR (RB42). Both are blessed to be in pass happy systems and benefitted from screen passes, wheel routes, and dump downs from Derek Carr and Matthew Stafford making them viable in PPR and half PPR formats but having them be after thoughts in standard systems where you’re just getting credit for the yards.
The opposite also happens as well, where a RB is better in standard than they are in PPR formats because they are the pass catching option or just don’t catch passes period. Kareem Hunt , Derrick Henry , Adrian Peterson , Marlon Mack , Jordan Howard , Sony Michel , and Latavius Murray are a few good examples of this. Despite being part of the Chiefs high-powered offense, Kareem Hunt only had 26 more points in PPR than he did in standard last year and that change moved him from the eighth ranked running back to the 12th ranked between the two systems. Sony Michel might be the best example of this as he only put up seven additional points between standard (132.1) and PPR (139.1) making him go from the RB25 spot to the RB34 spot. Knowing that these guy’s role is to carry the rock and not be the pass-catching targets in the offensive schemes they’re in is important as you get ready to draft in which ever scoring system your league is because as you can see, you don’t want to blow a first or second round pick on a guy who want live up to that spot.
Wide Receivers
Ah wide receivers, the position that people most often forget about in PPR and half PPR formats year-after-year. How that’s just not a wise decision to make the sake of your fantasy football team’s success each year. Below are the top 36 wide receivers based on average rank across the three main scoring systems following the 2018 season.
Just like with the other positions the top 12 guys are the same across all three systems though their point totals expectedly change and go up across the board. However, and this can’t be stressed enough, the expectation of points per week changes and so it should for you as well as your building your rosters in the draft. Only five WRs broke the 200 point mark last year in standard while 14 did it in half-PPR and 21 did so in full-PPR. Also while no one broke the 300 point barrier in half-PPR, seven did so in full PPR with an eighth just three points shy of adding to that number. That’s a huge change in strategy from league to league in the draft.
The key difference to drafting receivers in standard leagues versus PPR formats is maximizing where their points are coming from in a given week. Touchdowns are not part of the thought process in general simply because they can be highly random from year-to-year even amongst the top receivers as luck has just as much to do with it as skill and position on the depth chart. Receivers that get a lot of their points from the yards they accumulate are better plays in standard leagues since they are maximizing the point values that count in that format. Receivers that might be more possession type players who get a bulk of their points from the catches they make week-to-week on top of the yards they gain from said catches, maximize the points in PPR formats. You can see that even amongst the top-12 table where guys like Tyreek Hill and Tyler Lockett both slip a few spots as you go from standard to PPR because, while they racked up yards and touchdowns, they did it on relatively few catches. Lockett only adds 57 points to this total as he moves from standard to PPR and Hill adds 87 in the same move. Compare that to DeAndre Hopkins or Davante Adams or Julio Jones or Michael Thomas or Adam Thielen who each added at least 111 points to their standard scores and Thomas added 125.
Now this might sound a little odd, but it needs to be said, just because a guy is a wide receiver doesn’t automatically make him as viable in a PPR as in a standard. Want an example? How about Mike Williams . He ranked as WR19 in standard last year but just WR29 in PPR because he only had 43 catches despite having a solid stat season yards and TD wise. That means he’s a WR2 in a 12-team standard league and WR3 in a 12-team PPR who is a match-up dependent play. That’s a big difference in draft value. Want another one? DeSean Jackson was WR31 in standard last year even with his injury-shortened campaign but slots in at WR40 in PPR because he had just 41 grabs all year. That’s a fringe WR3 candidate in 12-team standards as you can also get bonuses for TD length, but in a 12-team PPR, he’s in the WR4 conversation and a bench role. Chris Godwin was a named that was all over the place in the pre-season last year and frankly all the way through until the midway point or so because everyone loved the role they thought he’d have on Tampa Bay’s offense. However, he turned out to be a better play in standard than PPR leagues. His 120.2 points in standard scoring ranks him 24th among his counterparts and makes him a borderline WR2 option in 12-teamers. That being said, his 59 catches that add to his stat line for the year drops him to 30th in PPR ranks and changes his whole value, especially if you play in two wide receiver leagues.
There are always guys who are red zone threats, and we have two articles coming out in the next few weeks talking about those players, but strictly talking yards and catches, it’s important to know how each guy is getting their points from season to season and make sure it fits with your leagues point system. Don’t just go based off of average points per week because in systems other than standard there are a lot of ways to average 10 points a week that might just be doing so with smoke and mirrors in some cases.
Tight Ends
For the tight end spot we are looking at things a bit differently than the other spots. We are still comparing them across three different scoring systems but this time it’s standard, PPR, and FFPC, which gives you 1.5 points per TE reception and thus can affect the value of the position. Below you’ll find the top-24 tight ends ranked across average rank over the three systems based on 2018’s stats.
I’m sure if you were asked who the top-five tight ends were last year you’d be able to name all five pretty easily and that holds true across the three systems as well as well five are in the same position across the board. Once more though, and this can’t be stressed enough, clearly, since I’ve mentioned it in every position, we should be looking at the point totals for those players and not just saying to yourself “I need a top x ranked guy at this position.” Especially at tight end where not only is the point spread from player to player bigger, but also where the systems, scoring and team offense, make the most difference in value from player to player.
Travis Kelce , Zach Ertz , George Kittle , Eric Ebron and Jared Cook were all top-five last year and coming into this year based on their usage and abilities on the field, but let’s delve a bit more into the differences they show even amongst each other in the scoring systems. They are the only five TEs to post 100 or more points in standard last year and sixth place, Trey Burton , was at 93.1 points, a full 32.5 points behind Cook, or two points a week. That doesn’t mean that Cook was close to Ebron or Ebron was close to Ertz or so on… Nineteen points was the difference between Kelce and Kittle, or one point a week, Ertz was 27 points behind Kelce, Ebron was 43 points back, and Cook was 64 points lagging. Those are huge gaps between just the top-five, and by far more than any other position shows. However, between the next seven, spots 6-12 there are just 12 points separating all of them meaning just .75 points per week is the difference between Trey Burton and Evan Engram from 2018. That’s why there’s the saying either get one of the top three or four or wait all together on the position.
Here’s the thing though the point differences get steeper as the scoring systems. Once you reach the PPR system, while the top two are closer, slightly, the next three get further away making Cook 100 points lower than Kelce. Yet again there is a 30-point gap between TE5 and TE6 and this time 6-12 are separated by 33 points, making Austin Hooper two points a week more valuable than Jimmy Graham . As you can see the FFPC, 1.5-PPR TE, system stretches things out even more as there is now a 120-point difference between Kelce and Cook, with all five being in the same order again, and nearly a 100-point separation between Kelce and Ebron. The same holds true further down as 6-12 differ by 42 points now.
That’s just broaching the surface though as there are some moves up and down the ranks between the systems which also inherently changes their values depending on the system. O.J. Howard for example is the 10th-ranked TE in standard leagues despite having a big impact in the red zone and touchdown departments for the Buccaneers but falls to 14th and 15th in PPR and FFPC respectively because he only caught 34 passes all year in 2018. Howard goes from a sneaky late round TE draft pick in standard, to outside the draftable window in a 12-team format in PPR or FFPC. The opposite can also be true in the case of the oft-injured Jordan Reed who was ranked TE17 in standard leagues but jumped to TE13 in FFPC and TE15 in PPR because when he was healthy and on the field, he was the main receiving target for whomever the Redskins were playing at QB that particular week last year.
Aside from the standard points changes that happen across the scoring systems, we also need to talk about general fantasy drafting strategy as well. In fantasy, as we’ve been discussing, the name of the game is to get the highest scoring players on your roster and in that vein it’s worth mentioning that in the PPR format, the top three tight ends would slot in as WR1, WR2, and WR6 and in the system in which the tight ends got 1.5 points per catch, slot in as WR1, WR2, and WR8. Wide Receiver is far far deeper than Tight End is, taking a tight end early and grabbing a top-flight receiver essentially gives you two top-flight receivers but one of whom others can’t copy since the position is so much shallower. Position scarcity, points changes, and draft strategy all rolled into one.
Kickers
As Rich Eisen loves to say, Kickers are people too, so why not talk about them. Most leagues approach kickers in the same way with one point for extra points, three for field goals 39 or less yards, four points for 40-49 yarders and five points for 50-plus yard field goals. However, there are a few formats out there that give you three points for any field goal plus .1 points for every yard past 30 yards. If you’re in a league that has the fractional scoring it gives you an advantage for kickers that routinely hit 40-plus yard field goals. Let’s say you have a kicker that kicks three 45 yard field goals in a game and a 55-yarder. A standard league gives you 17 points for that effort whereas the fractional scoring gives you 19 points, and those two points can add up throughout the season.
The other twist to pay attention to is whether or not the league gives you negative points for missed field goals. You can’t just treat every kicker the same since clearly they are accurate at different degrees and distances. Just putting up a nice total isn’t enough if he’s costing you the chance at points 25-33 percent of the time. So dig into the numbers and see where the misses were from before just assuming every kicker is the same.