Glossary of Fantasy Football Terms

ADD/DROP – The process of dropping a player from a roster and adding a free agent as a replacement. Also called TRANSACTIONS in many leagues.

AUCTION DRAFT - An alternative to the more common "serpentine" drafting method, auction drafting allows fantasy football owners to build a roster by bidding dollar amounts on individual players. Each team begins the auction with a set salary cap - the total amount of money that can be spent to acquire players. In this form of drafting, any player can be offered for bid by the team that is “up” with the high bidder acquiring him. Important strategy develops in the selection of which player is to be offered for auction at a particular time in the draft. Teams must build rosters by purchasing players without exceeding their overall salary cap.

BONUS SCORING - Extra points that are awarded when a player goes over a set threshold. For example, some leagues award bonus points for touchdown runs over 50 yards.

BUST - A highly sought-after player in the preseason who fails to live up to expectations.

BYLAWS – A must in any league, it defines all aspects of a functioning league including rules and fees.

CHEAT SHEETS – Ranking lists prepared by fantasy football experts to aid owners in making draft selections. Players are ranked by position and desirability based on their expected performance. Also known as DRAFT PROJECTIONS or DRAFT RANKINGS.

COMMISSIONER - The person, either elected or not, who agrees to be the league administrator. His duties often include collecting fees and dispersing winnings, payment of league expenses, settling disputes, adherence to league rules, selection of a league management service (or compiling stats), recruiting eams to replace defunct franchises, organization of the draft and preparation of a weekly newsletter, among others. This person is often the league’s originator, and may assume ‘commish for life’ status. Many leagues allocate a stipend for the commissioner.

DEPTH CHART – An actual ranking of players at each position on their NFL team. A depth chart indicates starters and each level of substitutes. Useful both in drafting and during the course of season play, depth charts help to determine the next option should a team's starter be injured, benched or suspended.

DRAFT - The preseason process of stocking teams with players.

- AUTOMATED DRAFT – A pre-set method of selecting players used without having to be physically present during the drafting session. Players are pre-ranked by each franchise and are assigned according to whoever happens to be highest on the list when a particular team’s turn to draft comes up.

- ONLINE DRAFT – A live draft held on the internet that often incorporating a custom online ‘draft room.’ This form of drafting may take several days to complete.

- DRAFT NIGHT or DRAFT DAY – The date designated for all fantasy league teams to get together at a specific location to select players. Annual league business is also often conducted.

DRAFT LEAGUE - A type of fantasy football league that doesn’t allow any carryover players from year to year. This is the most common type of league often popular because it gives franchise owners a fresh start each year and emphasizes draft strategy.

DYNASTY LEAGUE - A type of fantasy football league that allows each team to build a franchise much as would be done in the NFL. Dedication and commitment is required on the part of participants because management of rosters is often more involved than in other forms of fantasy leagues.

FREE AGENT – A player that isn’t on a fantasy league roster and is available for acquisition.

IDP – An abbreviation of Individual Defensive Player. The incorporation of IDPs into fantasy leagues is an alternative to using team defense in determining outcomes and adds the additional strategy of earning points for the performances of individual players.

INJURED RESERVE - A roster spot used to keep an injured player "reserved" from the rest of the league. Typically, a player on injured reserve is on a team's roster but not allowed to be placed in the starting lineup. In the NFL, if a player is placed on IR (injured reserve), he is no longer allowed to see game action for the rest of the season.

INJURY REPORT - NFL teams are required to provide injury reports on a daily basis. These reports list player injuries and status for the upcoming game. Injury reports are useful to fantasy team owners when determining who to start and who to cut loose. The reports are somewhat general in nature designating injured players as either “probable” (75% chance of playing), “questionable” (50% chance of playing), “doubtful” (25% chance of playing) or “out” (no chance of playing). NFL teams often use this report strategically and fudge in which category to place injured players to affect how opponents prepare for an upcoming game. However, once a player is designated as officially “out,” he can’t see any action in the upcoming game.

KEEPER LEAGUE - A type of fantasy football league that allows each team to "keep" a set number of players on their roster from year to year. It incorporates elements of dynasty and draft leagues.

LAME DUCK – A franchise that isn’t functioning or whose owner hasn’t been adequately managing the team by changing starting lineups to keep play competitive. Generally, it involves a team that has been doing badly or an owner that has lost interest. Many leagues have provisions for taking-over inactive franchises.

LEAGUE - The organization of teams including specific rules of competition.

MOCK DRAFT – A ‘pretend’ draft, usually conducted by fantasy football experts, designed as a drafting aid to indicate the value of players. Mock drafts give fantasy owners an idea of the likely draft position of individual players.

OWNER - Refers to the person in charge of each individual fantasy football franchise.

PLAYER RANKING – Method of preparing for a draft that lists players, usually at each position, in order of preference. Also prepared during the course of the season on a weekly basis by fantasy football experts to indicate a ranking of players at each position for upcoming games. Usually, player rankings aren’t as detailed as player projections.

PROJECTIONS – Method of preparing for a draft that projects expected statistical performances by players for the season based on past statistics as well as additional influential factors. Also prepared during the course of the season on a weekly basis by fantasy football experts to indicate likely performances of individual players for upcoming games.

RESERVE – A substitute roster player that isn’t in the starting lineup. Reserves don’t earn points in that week’s game.

ROSTER LIMIT – The number of players allowed by league rules to make up a roster. In most leagues, the number of players at each position is also designated.

SCORING SYSTEM - The scoring module for your league that defines how points are earned. Most leagues now include individual player performance with a variety of stats and point designations depending on position.

SERPENTINE DRAFT - The most commonly used system of determining draft order that reverses the draft position of an odd numbered round in the following even numbered round. For example, in a ten team league, the team that has the first pick in the first round would pick tenth in the second round and first in the third round. Some leagues may keep the draft positions intact for odd and even rounds, while others redraw positions after every two rounds.

SLEEPER - A player that a franchise owner thinks other teams may not value highly, but is prime for a productive season and may be able to be drafted in later rounds.

STARTING LINEUP – Players that will count for a fantasy team in the upcoming game. Most leagues only allow a set number of starters, generally in fixed positions. Some allow formation choices that vary the number of players at each position permitted as starters.

TEAM DEFENSE – A scoring scheme that awards points based on the performance of an entire defensive team. It requires less strategy than utilizing IDPs (individual defensive players).

TIERS – A method of breaking down players into groups of expected performance in preparation for the draft. Rather than focusing on specific players, it helps to picture groups of approximately similar value.

TRADE – The exchange of a player or players between two teams. To eliminate late season collusion, many leagues that allow trades require approval by the commissioner before a trade can be completed.

TRADE DEADLINE – A designated date towards the end of the regular season that ends the ability to make a trade.

TRANSACTION – The adjustment of a roster by dropping or adding players after the draft and during the course of the season.

TRANSACTION DEADLINE – A designated date towards the end of the regular season that ends the ability to drop or add players.

UNDROPPABLE PLAYERS - A method of maintaining fairness and integrity in some fantasy football leagues. These leagues maintain a list of "undroppable players" consisting of the best players in the league that can’t be dropped from a roster for any reason. Its purpose is to prevent collusion between a team out of contention with a team in contention by not allowing a star to be dropped then picked-up by the contender.

VALUE BASED DRAFTING – A system of drafting that takes into account the relative value of each player’s ability to score at a particular position. Its premise is to try to draft the best player available at each position based on the spread of scoring ability for that position.

WAIVER – A process used by some fantasy football leagues to make all free agents equally available to every team. Waivers generally require a player that has been dropped to be available for a set number of days to allow a team with the poorest record to strengthen its roster if desired.