What is Fantasy Football?

If you don’t know anything about fantasy football or how the game works, then you've come to the right place. Despite being a huge football fan, I also didn't know anything about fantasy football for the longest time. And I don’t mean that in a casual sense; I literally knew nothing about fantasy football, scoring, structure or even where you’d go to join a league.

All that changed when I finally got suckered into a league and played fantasy football for the first time.

And now, I’m here at Matthew Berry’s Fantasy Life writing a full blown explanation guide on how fantasy football works.

Life comes at you fast…

So if you’re new to fantasy football and want to know how it works, I’m going to go through everything there is to know about fantasy football below: the scoring, how leagues are created, the different types of leagues, how fantasy football drafts work, and anything else we can fit into this article.

We won’t cover every minute detail, but we’ll go over the basics and a little more. And guess what, if you have questions about some of those details after we’re done, there are plenty of other articles already on our site that can help you.

Once you're done reading, you'll be ready to dive into your first fantasy football league, and that’s where the real fun begins.

So buckle up, bookmark this page, and settle in. You’re about to get the best how-to guide for fantasy football available as well as some details on the history of the game.

What is fantasy football?

Fantasy football is exactly what it sounds like. In fantasy football, you manage a football team, just like a real life football manager would, but with players that you choose! 

There is a catch though. 

The players are real, as is the scoring, since it's all based on stats that stem from real NFL games. However, the teams you are actually managing? Those are fake and made up by you (the manager) once you join a league.

I can already hear your next question.

How will I go about making these fake teams which will dominate my lifeforce for five months from September through January every year? 

Glad you asked. Here's how it all works…

How does Fantasy Football work?

In fantasy football, your goal is to put together the best team possible. How you do that is first by joining a fantasy football league. Most leagues are private, meaning that you have to be invited to play. Fantasy players can set up a league on numerous different sites, with ESPN, Yahoo, and Sleeper being the most popular platforms.

How a fantasy football league works

Once you’re in a league, you’ll then decide as a group on the rules for the league. Some of the things you’ll have to iron out are player movement (waivers and trades), scoring, and playoff structure. Many leagues appoint a manager to help set these rules and manage the league.

After the league has been created and set up on whichever platform is chosen, the league will then have a draft where all of the members get to construct their team by choosing from all of the available players currently active in the NFL, whether it's superstars like Patrick Mahomes or fourth-string RBs like Deneric Prince.

This all may sound complicated, but there is a pretty standard group of rules and draft order that nearly every fantasy football league follows, and most of the big fantasy football sites have default settings that don’t require much adjustment.

Aug 19, 2023; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Fantasy football drafts

Drafts can vary on how they are structured, so we’ll cover those in more detail below. However, in general, every team gets a random draft spot and then gets to make picks until their entire roster (starting positions and bench spots) is filled.

After you’ve drafted a team, your players will then earn points for you every week (assuming they are active) through the stats they compile. You’ll also have to choose which players on your team to sit and which to start. As a warning, these decisions can haunt you until your dying days on this earth if you accidentally chose not to start a player who blows up for a huge game.

Luckily, we have a tool to help this part easier as well. Once your team is assembled and the roster is set, that's when the fun begins. 

Fantasy football matchups and scoring

At the start of every week, you’ll be matched up against your opponent, another team in your league. Your goal is to select a lineup of players who will outscore your opponent’s starting lineup. 

Unlike betting on an NFL game where you need to pick the correct side in order to profit, in fantasy football, you don’t care about actual real world results of the game. All that matters is the stats of your players from that game. The more receptions, yards, and TDs that your players log in the game, the higher their fantasy scores will be.

In this sense, playing fantasy football truly is playing a game inside a game.

At the end of all the games for a specific week, the total points scored by your starting lineup will be tallied up. If they've scored more points than your opponent’s team (for that one week), then you've won that week. Sounds easy, right?

Fantasy football overview

That’s the basic overview, but as I mentioned at the start, fantasy football is filled with details and can involve all different sorts of quirks depending on what kind of league you join. A lot of these nuances will be learned on the fly, and they all contribute to making fantasy football one of the most fun and popular strategy games on the planet. 

We’ll cover as many of those details as possible in the rest of the article, but for now, here are some key concepts about fantasy football to remember as we progress. We’ll call these our fantasy football building blocks:

• Fantasy football team – fake, but made up of real players from the NFL.
• Fantasy football draft – this is how you decide who is on your team.
• Fantasy football scoring – stems from the weekly results of real NFL games and is based on the stats players achieve within these games (receptions, touchdowns, yards gained etc.).
• Fantasy football leagues – made up of a group of teams (usually 10 or 12 but can vary in size) that play each other every week. The best team at the end of the season is the champion.
• Fantasy football sit/start decision – who you decide to start and who you decide to leave on your bench for the week.
• Fantasy football waivers – the process by which you can add free agent players and/or drop current players from your roster.

What are the different types of fantasy football leagues? 

This is where things get interesting. While season-long (often referred to as redraft) leagues are still the most popular form of fantasy football, there are now many different types of fantasy football games to try. 

Rather than go through all of the different league formats at once, I broke down the main variations of league types to give you an idea of how each game type works.

Redraft leagues (season-long fantasy football)

This is the most popular type of fantasy football league best suited for beginners.

Redraft fantasy football leagues reset every season. Fantasy rosters from the prior year dissolve once the championship game ends, and every manager drafts a completely new team each season. Sometimes managers will change as well, although it’s not uncommon for there to be a recurring group of managers. It all depends on the commitment and closeness of the league’s managers.

Redraft leagues involve in-season management that includes navigating weekly player waivers, trades, and lineup setting. 

Most redraft leagues are head-to-head scoring, which means that you're matched up against a new opponent every week and receive a win or loss based on the result. The teams with the best records go on to face each other in the fantasy playoffs, much like in the actual NFL.

Keeper leagues

Keeper leagues operate much the same way that redraft leagues do except for a couple of different quirks. In keeper leagues, players get the option of “keeping” a specific number of their past players (normally up to three players) for a price. The price is generally draft capital from the next year’s draft. 

Most keeper leagues determine the cost of a keeper by using the round in which that player was drafted the prior year. The team would then forfeit that round's draft pick in the upcoming season's draft in exchange for keeping said player.

Jan 8, 2023; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson (17) catches a pass asMiami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard (25) pressures during the second half at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports

For example, a team could've drafted Garrett Wilson in the ninth round last year. Wilson is currently being drafted in the second round of drafts in 2023, so a team could add value and have an advantage over the rest of the league if they were to keep Wilson in the ninth round for the coming season.

A keeper league still holds new drafts every season. However, unlike a traditional redraft league, keeper leagues allow you to keep a small number of players from your team into the next season.

Dynasty leagues

Unlike traditional redraft leagues, a dynasty fantasy football league has no hard reset. After the first season in a dynasty league, you retain 100% of the players you took in the league's startup draft and carry over all of those players into the next season and so on. 

Typically, rosters in dynasty leagues will also be much larger than in standard redraft formats. Since you only have one shot at drafting your team from scratch, dynasty rosters also give you the chance to roster a deeper team.

While the startup draft is the only time all of the players in the NFL will be available to be drafted, dynasty leagues still have an annual rookie draft that involves selecting players from the incoming rookie class. The rookie draft is an integral part of any dynasty league and is a good way for teams to build out their squad for future seasons.

Dynasty leagues can involve a lot of work but also tend to favor fantasy football players with more experience and knowledge. In that way, they’re often a great step up from redraft leagues where most beginner fantasy football players will begin their journey. 

IDP leagues

Most standard leagues start a team defense and special teams spot (DST). However, independent defensive player (IDP) leagues involve starting at least one single defensive player every week in an IDP position.

IDP leagues award points to defensive players through stats like tackles, interceptions (INTs), and sacks. Most IDP leagues have a single slot for defensive players, but some IDP leagues will have multiple starting spots for LBs, CBs, etc.

IDP leagues are great for knowledgeable football fans, mainly those who understand the usage and defensive schemes of each team. 

Superflex leagues

While most redraft and traditional fantasy football leagues start at least one flexible (flex) position that can be filled by a RB, WR, or TE, a superflex league adds another flex spot that can be filled by a QB, RB, WR, or TE.

Since there are only 32 QBs starting every week, and bye weeks do happen, QBs are often drafted much earlier in superflex leagues and are far more valuable in trades or as waiver additions.

The superflex variation allows fantasy football managers to put more emphasis on the QB position while still allowing some flexibility to start a RB, WR, or TE in a pinch.

2QB leagues

2QB leagues go beyond superflex. While teams have the option to start a second QB each week in superflex formats, 2QB leagues require teams to start two QBs each and every week.

These leagues make QBs even more valuable, as the QB position tends to be the highest-scoring position in fantasy on a yearly basis. Getting two QBs in your lineup each week can pay huge dividends in this format.

If you're playing in a 2QB league, you'll need to adjust your draft strategy and rankings to make sure that you're placing more emphasis on QBs throughout the draft.

Fantasy Football league formats

Now that we've covered the different types of leagues, it’s time to move onto the details of how these leagues work. Before we get too far down the road and cover things like drafts and waivers, let's start with the basics, such as how a league champion is determined each season. 

Head to head

The vast majority of fantasy football leagues are head to head and structured similarly to how the NFL playoffs are structured. That means that before the league begins, a league schedule is automatically set where teams will face one opponent each week.

In head-to-head leagues, the higher score will determine which team wins the matchup. You could have a top-two score among the teams in your league that week and still lose if your opponent outscored your team. Conversely, you can also win that week even with a very low score as long as you've managed to outscore your opponent.

Head-to-head leagues rank teams by win-loss record, so like the NFL, the teams with the best records then move onto the fantasy playoffs at the end of the fantasy regular season.

It’s important to note that while win-loss records are king in these leagues, overall points accumulated can still factor in as tiebreakers or bonuses depending on how your league sets up its payout structure (if you're playing for money).

Best Ball 

Best ball is a relatively new format of fantasy football that involves no in-season management. Best ball leagues focus on the one thing that fantasy players love to do: drafting.

Once you draft a roster, you're done. The in-season portion of the league is all automated, so there are no waiver wire pickups, no trade offers, and no setting weekly lineups.

Every week during the regular season, the best combination of scores from your roster based on the league’s scoring settings will be taken and added up to give you an overall score for the week. At the end of the year, the team that accumulated the most points over the course of the season is the winner of the league.

In best ball, boom-or-bust players like Marquez Valdes-Scantling who don't see consistent target shares but can score long TDs in any given game are more valuable since managers don't need to decide whether to sit or start those players each week.

Jan 29, 2023; Kansas City, Missouri, USA;Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (11) is pulled down by Cincinnati Bengals safety Vonn Bell (24) in the third quarter of the AFC championship NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the Super Bowl with a 23-20 win over the Bengals. Mandatory Credit: Sam Greene-USA TODAY Sports

Best ball leagues are new but have grown at an insane rate over the past few seasons. There are now best ball tournaments that have fields with well over 500,000 entries. Underdog Fantasy, one of the leaders and pioneers of the best ball format, has its Best Ball Mania IV tournament running and is still taking entries for the upcoming season with a first-place prize of $3 million.

For more information on best ball and Underdog, you can check out our best ball guide.

You can get your best ball journey started on Underdog Fantasy, where you can also get a 100% deposit match of up to $100 when you sign up with promo code LIFE below!
 

Points only leagues

Points only fantasy football leagues aren’t as popular as head-to-head leagues, but they do have a following. In a points only league, there are no weekly matchups. The only way the league is tracked is through the points your team scores every week. The league is judged based on this running tally of points, and at the end, the team that's managed to gain the most points during the season is declared the winner.

Points only leagues still require you to set lineups, and there is a little different strategy involved as well. You should almost always be playing for maximum upside in points only league with all your roster decisions as opposed to a head-to-head matchups against a weaker opponent where being safer with your roster decisions might be the better option. 

Many fantasy football purists consider points only leagues as the fairest way to play fantasy football, as it takes the randomness of week-to-week matchups out of the equation.

Rotisserie roto leagues

A rotisserie roto fantasy league is more commonly found in fantasy baseball or other sports. It involves no head-to-head matchups and instead ranks everyone on their performance within specific statistical categories. 

In a football rotisserie league, that means that players would be ranked in areas like TDs, receiving yards, and catches. The idea is to finish as highly in the standings for each category as possible since that team would gain the most ranking points at the end of the season and win the championship.

While this is a popular format for fantasy sports like baseball, it’s important to note that rotisserie leagues are rare in the fantasy football world.

Fantasy Football draft formats 

If you are new to fantasy football, one thing you'll learn right away is that the most fun part of any fantasy football league is the draft. Drafts are great for so many reasons but mainly because of the strategy component involved in how you construct your team. 

Drafts can also be tricky because emotion is often involved (we all have our favorite players), but once you’ve got a couple under your belt, you’ll begin to see how a little extra planning can go a long way to ensuring you execute a solid draft. 

Our draft rankings page is a great way to prep for any draft. These rankings are sortable by scoring method and position.

Standard fantasy football drafts (a.k.a. snake drafts)

Snake drafts are the most common draft format in fantasy football. Once a league is full, snake drafts randomly assign each team a number, and that number corresponds to the draft order for the first round.

The term “snake” refers to the fact that once the first round is over, the order “snakes” back around so the person who picked last in the first round will now pick first in the second round (and the person who picked first in Round 1 would pick last in Round 2.

You'll often hear the term “picking at the turn”, which refers to being in the first or last position. The turn allows a team to pick twice in a row, which is often a powerful position to be in, although there is also a huge gap in between picks for people picking on the turn.

For example, in a 12-team snake draft league, the 1.01 spot wouldn't pick again until their back-to-back picks at the 2.12 and 3.01 spots.

3rd round reversal snake drafts

Third-round reversal snake drafts flip the order at the beginning of the third round to prevent the 1.01 spot from having an advantage in selecting the top players.

While a normal snake draft sees the person who landed the 1.01 pick also get the 3.01, a third-round reversal snake draft reverses the order in the third round and gives the player who landed the 1.12 pick the first pick in Round 3 as well.

For example, in a 12-team third-round reversal snake draft league, the 1.01 spot's next two picks would be 2.12, 3.12, and 4.01. After the third-round reversal, a normal snake draft resumes for the remainder of the draft.

Auction fantasy football drafts

Auction drafts aren’t as popular as snake drafts, but they are a ton of fun. 

A fantasy football auction draft functions in the exact same way a real-life auction would. In an auction draft, NFL players are put up for bid and then “auctioned off” for managers to bid on. Teams bid on a player until each of the remaining teams either drop out of the bidding or are priced out. Once that happens, the bidding ends, and the player is awarded to the team who made the highest bid.

Auction drafts start by awarding each player in the league a virtual bankroll that also works as a self-imposed salary cap for each team. The most common number used in auctions is $200, but leagues can decide on any total they want. Most auction mock drafts and any player value rankings for auction drafts will follow the $200 starting amount though, so if you are thinking of starting an auction league, it’s probably easiest to use the default $200 total for now.

Aug 18, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson (7) runs the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals during the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Auction drafts are fun because managers can build their team with any player they want to target. For example, based on average draft position (ADP), it's unlikely that a manager starting from the 1.12 would be able to select Bijan Robinson this year. But in an auction, any manager can select Robinson if they have the funds to win the auction on him.

Executing a solid auction draft involves a ton of nuance and strategy. If you are new to auctions, or have an upcoming auction draft, you can learn more about them here.

Fantasy football scoring types

Fantasy football scoring can vary drastically from league to league. That said, there are some constants in scoring that nearly every league follows.

Below are the main scoring methods used by most fantasy football leagues as well as the most popular variations of scoring you’ll find.

Standard Scoring

Standard fantasy football scoring involves the following metrics:

As we’ll get to below, most standard fantasy football rosters involve a DST position, whereby you must start a team’s DST unit (defense and special teams) every week. Below is the scoring method whereby DSTs can gain points in a single game.

Beyond standard scoring fantasy football leagues, there are other wrinkles depending on the league scoring settings.

PPR and 0.5 PPR Scoring

As you probably noted above, standard fantasy football league scoring doesn’t award points for receptions. Since this kind of scoring tends to overvalue the contributions RBs make and undervalue WRs, different scoring methods were created to place more value on receivers.

In points per reception (PPR) leagues, 1.0 point is awarded to any player that makes a catch regardless of the yardage gained or lost. This makes WRs and pass-catching RBs much more valuable.

For leagues that feel this awards too much to players who catch a lot of passes but don't otherwise contribute, 0.5 PPR awards only half a point per reception, which helps balance the RB and WR positions.

Before you draft in any league, one of the first things you should do is note the reception scoring settings to ensure you're valuing RBs and WRs properly.

TE Premium

TE premium leagues are a niche kind of scoring league that adds value to the TE position by awarding extra points per reception to only the TE position. Many TE premium leagues award 1.5 points to TEs for a reception while only awarding 1.0 point to RBs and WRs.

This makes elite TEs extremely valuable and can change the draft strategy to prioritize players like Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews much earlier than in standard drafts.

Bonus Points

Some leagues also award bonus points for certain milestones. Generally, leagues that award bonus points will do so when a player hits 100 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, or 300 passing yards in a single game.

Bonus points can be fun, but they're also slightly arbitrary. In a league that awards bonus points for every 100 rushing yards gained, a player who runs for 99 yards in a game will miss out on the bonus, which can swing matchups if the opponent has a RB who ran for just one more yard that week to hit the bonus.

There's no right way to play fantasy football, so it's up to each league to decide how they want to set up the scoring settings. Just make sure you know all the ins and outs of your league's scoring settings before the draft.

Fantasy football roster and starting lineup requirements

One of the more important aspects to being successful in a fantasy football league is understanding the roster requirements for your league. Every week, you will be tasked with setting your roster for your upcoming match.

If you have also neglected to draft and roster enough depth at any particular position, your team could end up fielding a weaker roster. While fantasy football rosters can vary drastically from league to league, a typical fantasy football roster will look something like this:

• 1 QB
• 2 RBs
• 3 WRs
• 1 TE
• 1 Flex
• 1 kicker
• 1 DST
• 5 to 7 bench spots for any position

We went over flex positions above, but a flex position in most fantasy football leagues means that you can start a RB, WR, or TE there.

There are several different fantasy football league roster variations which will have different roster requirements. To recap the most common variations above, superflex leagues include a superflex spot where you can start a second QB each week. A typical superflex roster will look something like this:

• 1 QB
• 2 RBs
• 3 WRs
• 1 TE
• 1 Flex
• 1 Superflex
• 1 Kicker
• 1 DST
• 6 to 8 bench spots for any position

What are fantasy football waivers?

The waiver wire is a feature in fantasy football that allows managers to add players who are not currently on another team's roster. 

In most leagues, undrafted players go on waivers after the draft is complete. Players are also added to waivers each week when they are dropped from various teams' rosters.

Waivers can be a hugely important part of being successful in fantasy football. Injuries or poor play from starters will lead to unheralded or backup players rising up and being relevant in fantasy.

Aug 19, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Tennessee Titans running back Tyjae Spears (32) runs the ball as Minnesota Vikings safety Lewis Cine (6) looks to make the tackle during the first quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The increased playing time can make them hugely valuable assets for fantasy football, so plucking them off waivers before anyone else in your league does can be vital for success.

For example, Tyjae Spears could see a big role in 2023 if Derrick Henry were to miss any games due to injury or other issues. In that scenario, Spears would be a popular waiver add.

Waivers typically process early in the mornings on Wednesdays. After that, leagues can choose to have daily waivers or open up any unclaimed players to be added freely.

How do fantasy football waivers process?

Most NFL fantasy leagues will determine order based on a team’s record. As you can probably guess, the worst team will get first dibs on a waiver add. However, once that team has used up its place in the waiver order, they will then go back to the end of the line. 

In many ways, waiting and being patient on waivers is important if this is the way your league is set up. Grabbing one special player who can be a true difference-maker is often more important than getting a new player off waivers every week.

If you want a little more help with waiver adds, we also have a waiver wire hub that can help guide you on which players to be targeting on waivers this season.

FAAB Waivers

Free agent acquisition budget (FAAB) waivers are a different type of waivers that gives everyone an equal shot at acquiring players.

At the beginning of the league, every team is given a FAAB budget (typically $100 but can vary depending on the league), and each team can bid as many FAAB dollars as they have on any given player each week.

This way, smart fantasy managers aren't penalized by being last in the waiver wire order and can still have a good chance to add players they want.

Managing FAAB is another fun aspect of fantasy football and involves a lot of strategy. Blowing your FAAB budget too early in the season could mean missing out on great players who emerge later in the year.

However, holding onto your FAAB dollars for too long could be similarly wasteful in that you never add any players who could potentially help your team. After all, that FAAB money is lost and reset at the end of each season and doesn't usually roll over to the next year.

What is fantasy football trading, and how does it work? 

One final aspect of in-season management that you will become familiar with as you progress through your first league is trading. Throughout the year, all teams will be able to make trade offers to each other in hopes of acquiring specific players. 

Most leagues also impose a trading deadline (just like the real NFL) whereby trades are disallowed after a certain date. This stops teams who are out of the playoff race from unloading their best players for nothing to others who are still active.

Trades are more of a personal thing in fantasy football. Some people like to send a lot of offers to see what is available, and some people spend almost no time looking for trades. 

Whatever your preference, the Rate My Trade tool can help you evaluate any trade offer that you receive or are planning to send. It’s a great tool we have here at Fantasy Life for newer fantasy players who may still be learning how to value players and evaluate their rosters.

Why should you play fantasy football?

Life is short. Fantasy football is not only a great strategy game but also a way to improve your socialization and negotiation skills. Some fantasy players would say that trying to trade for an elite RB from Gary in accounting for two of your bench players in return is an art form.

Fantasy football also allows us like minded NFL fans to get together and trash talk, which is a proven way to increase IQ and attractiveness. Seriously, it's science.

The main reason to play fantasy football is that it makes dull NFL games more fun to watch.

Even if your NFL team is on a bye or out of playoff contention, fantasy football makes each and every NFL game meaningful to you. There will be plenty of boring, low-scoring Thursday night games between two 3-8 teams, but you could be glued to the screen if your fantasy RB is playing in that game.

Every play in every NFL game could produce fantasy points for your team (or opponent), which makes each NFL game that much more exciting. So if you love football but hate those boring nights where the primetime game lacks action, fantasy football is a great fix.

Where and when did fantasy football begin?

Wilfred "Bill" Winkenbach, is credited with the creation of fantasy football way back in 1962. Winkenbach was a California businessman who also had a limited partnership in the Oakland Raiders at the time.

He and seven fellow likeminded football enthusiasts created the first fantasy league, the Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League (GOPPPL). Fantasy football spread by word of mouth slowly after that before really picking up steam in the 1980s.

CBS launched the first online fantasy football game in 1997, and after that, the game grew like wildfire with the NFL launching its own official fantasy football game and site in 2010.

If you haven't tried fantasy football yet in the 60 or so years since its creation, there's no time like the present! Get some friends or even strangers together for a league and get in the game!

And if you want to try drafting first without all the other complications of fantasy football, check out best ball on Underdog Fantasy, where you can also get a 100% deposit match of up to $100 when you sign up with promo code LIFE! Simply sign up below to start drafting today!