If you're clicking on an article called "How Does Fantasy Football Work?" I'm going to assume you're not exactly a seasoned expert of the game. Maybe you've just been invited to a league with your coworkers and never played. Maybe you finished last place in 2023 and are looking to be more competitive this time around. Maybe your league mates think you know nothing about football and you want to shock them. Or maybe you are an experienced player and you're just turning over every stone to improve your game as much as possible.
Whatever the case, you've come to the right place. At SI Fantasy we want to help everyone from the newest beginner to the most competitive veterans. We're going to help you have a competitive team while also making sure you're having a blast while you do it. After all, this is where fantasy football championships are won and fun.
By the time you finish reading this article, you'll have the confidence you need to get signed up for your 2024 league with your eyes set on not only a playoff berth but a championship win!
What is Fantasy Football?
At its most basic, fantasy football is a game that allows you to become the manager of your own football team, rostering real-life NFL players and scoring points based on the way they perform in their games.
There are a ton of different types of fantasy football leagues out there, but we're going to focus on the most common one, which is likely what you'll be joining: a 12-team snake draft league (don't worry, we'll explain what terms like that mean further down).
Everyone in your league will have a unique roster (only one team can have Patrick Mahomes, for example), and each week of the season you compete against someone else in your league to try to win that weekly matchup. Wins and losses are tracked like they are for real football teams.
At the end of the fantasy football regular season (typically after Week 14 of the real NFL season), a predetermined number of teams (often 6 or 8) will make the league playoffs. That becomes a single-elimination tournament, with the last team standing winning the championship.
It sounds simple on the surface, and that's part of the beauty of the game. Once you understand how to play, you can make it as casual or as intense a process as you'd like depending on how you'll have the most fun. So let's make sure you understand how to play.
How to Play Fantasy Football
The list of things you need to do to play fantasy football may seem daunting on the surface, but once you break it into the basic elements it becomes a lot more manageable. Your draft is a one-off event, and once you're into the flow of things your in-season management can become a pretty simple routine.
Let's look at the basic segments.
Drafting Your Team
To start the season, every "manager" (real-world player, like you) in the league will participate in a draft to select their rosters. Typically the draft is structured to go in "snake" order, which means the order reverses with each round.
If you get the first overall pick in Round 1, you won't select again until the final pick in Round 2. Then you'll be back up with the first pick in Round 3, and so on. If you start out picking 12th in Round 1, you'll pick first in Round 2. This format helps balance rosters, so the manager who drafts first doesn't easily get the best team.
There is no end to the amount of philosophizing we can do on fantasy football draft strategy, and there's a reason it's most managers' favorite part of the season. But the must-know keys are a lot more simple.
- Player rankings: It doesn't get more important than this. Even if you don't strictly follow anyone's rankings, simply the idea that you know you'd rather have Christian McCaffrey than Alvin Kamara comes down to how you rank the players. SI Fantasy's Michael Fabiano has done the heavy lifting with his top-200 player rankings. Even if you don't agree with all of his choices, using this as a general baseline will give you a good idea of how to value players in your draft.
- Positional value: Quarterbacks are king in real football, but not in fantasy football. Just see how many running backs and wide receivers are ranked ahead of Patrick Mahomes. Make sure to be smart about when to draft a quarterback, and wait for the later (or even final) rounds to draft a defense and kicker.
- League settings: Make sure you know your league's settings for starting lineups and scoring points. If you have the option to start two quarterbacks (often known as super flex), then your approach will be very different than a typical league. Similarly, rankings change slightly depending on whether you have point-per-reception (PPR) scoring or not.
In-Season Roster Management (Waivers, Trades & Starting Lineups)
Just because the draft only happens once doesn't mean that you're stuck with that same roster all season. Savvy managers will constantly be looking to improve their roster all year, with an eye toward starting the best lineup possible every single week. Here's how they do it:
- Waiver wire: The "waiver wire" is going to be the main way you update your roster each week. Teams can add and release "free agents" (players who are on NFL rosters but not on any fantasy rosters in your league) all season. To prevent a mad race on Sundays to be the first to grab someone good, the additions are put on hold when games kick off until (usually) Wednesday morning. Managers can put in "waiver claims" on these players, and you are awarded your picks based on a rotating priority list. After waivers "clear" on Wednesday, you can typically add or drop players at will with no wait.
- Trades: Like in the real NFL, you can make trades with other teams. Some managers can be almost impossible to trade with (they'll only make a deal if it rips you off), but others love to trade. Your league will usually have a "trade deadline" week, after which trading will be turned off. This makes sure teams who have no shot at making the playoffs can't suddenly hurt the competitive balance of the league by making silly trades.
- Your starting lineup: Your roster includes more players than fit in your starting lineup. That means each week you have to decide who to start, and who to sit. SI Fantasy will have you covered all year with weekly rankings and weekly start 'em, sit 'em advice to help you make those tough decisions.
Scoring Points (and Winning Games)
Scoring can vary slightly from league to league, but if you're in a more-or-less typical league, your scoring will typically look something like this:
- RB/WR/TE: All score points the same way. 1 point per 10 yards rushing or receiving, and 6 points for every touchdown. Some leagues will offer 0.5 points or a full 1 point for every reception (PPR scoring) and others won't ("standard" scoring, even though it's no longer the standard). You will typically also be penalized with -1 or -2 points for a lost fumble. These players will also score like quarterbacks for their passing stats if they happen to throw on any trick plays.
- QB: Because QBs put up bigger numbers, it's harder for them to score. You usually get 1 point per 25 passing yards, and 4 points for a passing touchdown, with a -1 or -2 penalty for interceptions and fumbles lost. Quarterbacks' rushing stats score the same way as other positions, which tends to increase the value of QBs who post big numbers with their feet. On trick plays they can also score typical receiving stats.
- Kicker: Your kicker generally scores 1 point for any extra points made, 3 points for a typical field goal, and a boosted number for longer field goals. This is often 5 points for a 50-plus yard field goal, and sometimes 4 points for a 40-49 yarder. Some leagues penalize missed field goals or extra points, though this is not the standard.
- Defense: This is where you'll find the most variance, but the general idea for defensive scoring is the same. A defense starts with 10 points by default, and it loses points for allowing certain ranges of points (and sometimes yards). Points can be added, however, from sacks (usually 1), turnovers (usually 2), and touchdowns (usually 6, which can be scored by either the defense or the special teams unit).
Playoffs and Championships
Like in the real NFL, stakes are high when the playoffs arrive. As mentioned above, the fantasy football playoffs take place during the NFL regular season, usually in Weeks 15, 16 and 17. Making the playoffs will depend on your record in the regular season.
The format varies by league, but the general outline is the same. The playoffs are almost always single-elimination, so one loss sends you packing. That also means any team that makes it can be just two or three straight wins from glory.
A two-week playoff will almost always simply send the top four teams from the league to the postseason. The No. 1 seed will play No. 4 and No. 2 will face No. 3. Then the winners of those games face off for the championship.
A three-week playoff either lets eight teams make the cut (which feels a little excessive when that accounts for a full two thirds of your league, in my opinion) or will see six teams make it. In this case, the No. 1 and No. 2 seed both earn first-round byes to reward them for stellar regular seasons.
Preparing for Your Fantasy Football Draft
The draft is such a significant event that it's worth giving extra attention here. You know how to draft your team if you've made it this far, but you'll probably want a deeper understanding of how to draft your team well before things are live.
Know Your Rankings
This is highlighted above, but it's worth repeating. Rankings will be at the core of your draft strategy, whether you're going to follow rankings strictly or just use them as a guideline while trusting your "gut feeling rankings" to guide you.
Whatever site is hosting your draft will have its own rankings, but these can vary greatly in quality. Plus, only looking at those means your league mates all have the same information (and can predict your picks to beat you to the players they know you'll want to draft next).
Comparing players across positions can be helpful (which is where our top-200 rankings linked above comes in handy), and it's also important to know the pecking order within individual positions. Our positional rankings have you covered there.
Sleepers, Breakouts and Busts
Three significant categories you'll hear about in any draft advice are "sleepers", "breakouts" and "busts'. These buzzwords are simple to understand, and they're crucial to nailing your roster.
Different people define them differently, but in general a breakout is a player who is in for a massive year. They may have already been strong fantasy producers in the past, but this could be the year they finish with the most points at their position. This could be someone like a third-round WR who could end up outscoring CeeDee Lamb.
Sleepers are found later in the draft, so named because other managers could be "sleeping" on their potential. This is someone you could nab in the 10th round when people are drafting backups, who can end up becoming an every-week starter when all is said and done.
Busts are players to avoid drafting. They're typically going off the board too high in drafts, and selecting them could be a recipe for disaster. Maybe a WR has moved into a more run-heavy offense with a downgrade at quarterback, but people are still drafting them highly because of a strong 2023. Maybe a running back has new competition in the backfield and won't be the workhorse they were last season.
Here are some key resources we've produced for each of those categories:
- Sleepers: Ultimate sleepers lineup, QB sleepers, RB sleepers, WR sleepers, TE sleepers
- Breakouts: Ultimate breakouts lineup, QB breakouts, RB breakouts, WR breakouts, TE breakouts
- Busts: QBs to avoid, RBs to avoid, WRs to avoid, TEs to avoid
Positional Considerations
Not all positions are created equally in fantasy football, and they're not even equal to their value in the real NFL. If teams were re-drafting the entire NFL, how many players would go ahead of Patrick Mahomes? Probably zero. And we'd probably see at least 5 quarterbacks go in the top 10 picks. But nothing close to that happens in fantasy football.
Running backs and wide receivers are by far the most valuable players in fantasy football. That's especially true in 2024 when there aren't as many elite tight ends as we've seen in recent years.
Your first couple picks should probably be at the RB or WR positions, and they will also make up most of your roster.
Quarterbacks
For a while, people loved over-drafting quarterbacks in fantasy football. Their decreased importance in fantasy compared to real football was underestimated. Then the push went probably too far in the other direction, with people not valuing them at all.
Now we've landed somewhere in between, with a better balance. The elite fantasy quarterbacks will typically be drafted in the Round 3 to 5 range. If you want one of them, that's the time to make your pick. But if you're not taking one that early, you can afford to wait until the middle rounds of the draft, focusing on RB, WR and maybe even TE first.
Defense
Defensive scoring in fantasy football is massively matchup-dependent. There are maybe only two or three defenses that are worth starting regardless of who their opponent is. And all but the worst real-world defenses become viable fantasy starters when they have the right matchup.
Because of this, it's not worth drafting a defense highly. At the most extreme, you can ignore the position until the final two rounds of your draft. If you want to land a hopeful top unit sooner that's fine too, but you'll still want to make sure most of your roster is set before that. Don't fall into the trap of "filling out your starting lineup" and selecting a defense before you have any backup RB or WRs.
Kicker
Kicker scoring is again incredibly variable, and there's not usually a big gap between the top scorers and the borderline starters. The No. 12 kicker last year scored 8.9 fantasy points per game. Only one kicker averaged more than 9.9 per game (Brandon Aubrey's 10.6). So the difference in having the second-best or your league's worst starter was a whopping 1 point every week. This is why kickers should only be selected in the final round of your draft, and you shouldn't be shy about replacing yours if they're not performing.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
Nothing will prepare you better than live draft experience. Most of the sites that host leagues will also let you participate in "mock drafts" — practice drafts after which you don't have to worry about controlling your team for the rest of the season. These can be helpful, but you'll also find people not taking them seriously leading to scenarios you would never encounter in a real draft.
The SI Fantasy team has already run some mock drafts, and reviewing these can give you a better idea of how a real draft may play out. Check out our industry insiders' mock draft and Fabiano's one-man mock draft.
Fantasy Football Terms to Know
One of the least accessible parts of fantasy football for a new player is the jargon. Even I'm guilty of it — just check out how early in this guide I dropped "12-team snake draft" on you. Here's a list of some key terms to know, including some I've already used in this guide and a bunch that I haven't.
League and Draft Types
- #-Team: How many different managers (and therefore teams) are in your league. The default is 12-team, but you'll also see 10-team and 14-team leagues as common alternatives.
- 2-QB league: A league that includes two quarterback positions in the starting lineup instead of the typical one.
- Auction draft: An auction draft is a different way to decide teams. Instead of a rotation draft order, managers all get a certain "budget" to bid on players for their team. This gives you more control over your roster, as every manager has a shot to bid on every player.
- Autodraft: If someone doesn't show up for their draft (either snake or auction), the websites will autodraft for them. This means the computer selects for them based on the site's rankings. An auto draft roster will typically have a poorly balanced roster and may draft players who were recently injured.
- Dynasty league: A special, usually more intense league type. Managers all keep the same roster from year to year, only having a new draft to add rookies each offseason.
- IDP: Short for "individual defensive player." IDP leagues forgo the typical team defense roster position and have you draft individual defensive players the same way you do for players on the offensive side of the ball.
- Keeper league: A blend between a usual league and dynasty, keeper leagues allow you to designate a set number of players (often 1 or 2) to remain on your roster from one season to the next.
- Live draft: Some drafts are done the old-school way — in person without the help of a computer. The draft is recorded by the commissioner, who later inputs the rosters into the online platform to track the league.
- Redraft league: A typical league where your roster is drafted completely new every year. Nothing from your past seasons rolls over to your new team the following season.
- Snake draft: A draft where the order of picks alternates in every round, with managers selecting in opposite orders in the odd-numbered rounds compared to even-numbered rounds.
- Superflex league: A league that allows (but doesn't require) you to start two quarterbacks. One of your starting lineup slots will allow you to start a quarterback or a running back, wide receiver or tight end.
Draft Jargon
- ADP: Short for "average draft position". This indicates where in drafts a player has been selected, on average, this offseason. You can see this indicated as a position-specific ranking (e.g. the QB2") or as an overall pick (e.g. "has an ADP of 45.5").
- Fall: When a player gets drafted later than they typically do, that is described as "falling." Christian McCaffrey usually goes No. 1 or No. 2, but if you get him at No. 5 you could say he fell to you.
- Reach: Taking a player way ahead of their average draft position or ranking. If someone usually goes in Round 5 but you select them in Round 2, that was a big reach.
- Sniped: When someone takes the player you want right before you have a chance. Say you chose not to draft a running back in Round 5 in hopes that a specific one would be available next round. If the manager one pick before you takes that player, you've been sniped.
- The turn: Getting two picks in a row in a snake draft. In a 12-team league, the player drafting 12th overall is picking at the Round 1-2 turn (final pick of Round 1 followed by first pick of Round 2). After that, the player who is drafted first overall is picked at the Round 2-3 turn (final pick of Round 2 followed by first pick of Round 3).
In-Season Terms to Know
- Bye week: NFL teams each get a week off throughout the season. When your player is on a bye week, they can't score any points since they won't be playing in a game. That means you need someone else in your starting lineup.
- FAAB: A phrase meaning "free agent acquisition budget," FAAB is an alternative to a typical waiver wire priority system. Similar to an auction draft, this lets managers place bids using their budgets for the waiver wire additions they want — giving everyone a chance to add every player. This budget is set at a finite number and has to last you the entire season.
- FLEX: A position in your lineup that can include players at multiple positions. Usually this means RB/WR/TE. If QB is included, this is known as a "superflex" spot.
- Handcuff: A backup to a top running back who could become a strong fantasy option if the starter was hurt. For example, Bijan Robinson's "handcuff" is Tyler Allgeier, because if Robinson went down for the season, Allgeier would be an every-week starter. Managers who roster Robinson, therefore, may also want his handcuff on their bench.
- Streaming: Electing to deprioritize a specific position (usually quarterback or kicker) in drafts with the plan to add new starters off the waiver wire each week depending on matchups.
- Waiver priority: The order in which players will be awarded their waiver wire claims. If multiple managers try to add the same player from waivers, the team with the best priority will be awarded them. This usually rotates based on who has most recently made a waiver wire addition.
- Waiver wire: The players not currently on rosters in your league who are available to be added each week.
Fantasy Football Draft Kit
The SI 2024 fantasy football draft kit is your one-stop shop for everything else you might need to know as you prepare for your season. This is an organized landing page for the huge amount of pre-draft content our insiders have produced all offseason. From yearly staples like rankings and sleepers to deep dives like 25 Stats You Need to Know, the draft kit is loaded with crucial analysis for players of all skill levels.
SI Fantasy will also keep you covered from the minute your draft ends until the final whistle decides your championship in Week 17. Weekly waiver wire advice, rankings, start 'em sit 'em picks and more will have your back every step of the way.
Your 5 Most Important Takeaways
5. Understand the Basics
For as much variance as we see among fantasy football leagues, the basics of the game remain pretty consistent. A firm grasp of the fundamentals will help you adapt to any of the other league types or scoring systems out there. Understanding the basics will also really help a beginner avoid making any major blunders and incurring any mocking from your more experienced league mates.
4. Know Your League
You don't want to find out your league has a 2-QB starting lineup only after you take a running back first overall. Make sure to check out your league settings before the draft arrives, getting nice and familiar with the scoring and roster settings. If the settings are default this can be easy, but keep an extra close eye out for any unique quirks.
3. Cover Your Bases With Key Resources
You don't need an entire battle station set up for draft day, but you should have a few resources handy. Know what rankings you want to refer to. Have a decent idea of what kind of roster construction you're planning on (drafting QB early? going RB-heavy?). Identify the sleepers you can't imagine leaving the draft without selecting. Decide if anyone is on your "do not draft in any circumstance" list. You can stay flexible as the draft rolls on, but preparing these ahead of time will make your life a lot easier. That draft time limit feels incredibly fast once you're on the clock.
2. Stay Informed
So much can change every week in the NFL. Whether it's injuries, depth chart shifts or surprisingly difficult matchups, staying on top of all of this can be incredibly time-consuming. That's why it can be helpful to find a source you trust (maybe I'm biased, but SI Fantasy is a great option!) to check on a few times each week. We'll make sure you don't miss anything important while also saving you from having to do hours of research yourself.
1. Keep it Fun!
Remember why you're playing. Fantasy football can be a ton of fun in its own right while also hugely enhancing how much fun you have watching football on Sundays. Consider how much (or how little) time you want to put into your fantasy league weekly, and accept that sometimes that will change. Remember that at SI Fantasy we want to help you win a championship, and we also want to keep things fun for you. Don't hesitate to lean on our weekly resources to simplify your process while keeping your team competitive all year long!
This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Does Fantasy Football Work? How to Play (and Win) Your 2024 League.
