Unless they’ve been living under a rock for the last thirty years, it’s safe to say that most people understand how a traditional redraft fantasy football league works. However, there are a bunch of different leagues out there that all offer a fun twist on traditional fantasy football. In this article, we’ll explore some of the different types of leagues and what makes each unique so you can decide which league best fits your style.
Superflex leagues introduce an additional layer of complexity by prioritizing quarterbacks, the highest scoring position in fantasy football and the most important position in real life. Unlike traditional leagues that restrict the Flex spot to RB/WR/TE, Superflex leagues allow managers to start QBs at Flex. This wrinkle creates a seismic shift in how the QB position is valued compared to traditional redraft leagues.
The ability to start 2 quarterbacks generally results in QBs being the most valuable position. This may depend slightly on your league’s scoring format, but generally, the demand for QBs results in a shift in draft strategy. (Once we have an article about scoring formats, we can list that here as a hyperlink with a comment like “see here for more info on the different types of scoring formats”)
Because the only real change between Superflex and redraft leagues is the flexibility of the Flex position, Superflex leagues also typically run for the duration of the NFL season, with a preseason draft and playoffs at the end of the regular season.
Dynasty leagues offer a long-term, immersive fantasy football experience. In this format, managers retain the majority, if not all, of their players from one season to the next. Each year, teams participate in a rookie draft, selecting only newly drafted NFL players or undrafted rookies from college. The emphasis in dynasty leagues is on building a long-term powerhouse, as the rosters evolve with each passing season.
Unlike redraft and Superflex leagues, dynasty leagues have no predetermined endpoint. They can continue indefinitely, allowing team owners to nurture their rosters, make trades, and participate in rookie drafts season after season. A champion is crowned each year, but managers are incentivized to acquire players and make trades even after they may have been eliminated from playoff contention during any single season.
Dynasty leagues foster deep connections and longstanding rivalries among league members. Sleeper, MyFantasyLeague, and ESPN are popular platforms for dynasty leagues, but Fantrax is a good option as well.
Keeper leagues share similarities with dynasty leagues, but with a more restricted number of players carried over from one season to the next. Each year, team owners are allowed to retain a predetermined number of players, often referred to as "keepers." The number of keepers and the rules surrounding them can vary depending on the league's settings. Keeper leagues strike a balance between the long-term commitment of dynasty leagues and the annual fresh start of redraft leagues.
Like dynasty leagues, keeper leagues can follow a Superflex format or other unique setting like Individual Defensive Player (IDP) scoring, which allows team owners to draft defensive players as opposed to just defense and special teams units. ESPN, Yahoo, and CBS, and Fantrax are popular hosts for Keeper leagues.
Guillotine leagues offer an exciting wrinkle compared to traditional fantasy football. In this format, the team with the lowest score each week is eliminated from the league and their players are placed on waivers. The remaining teams have an opportunity to bid on the eliminated players, enhancing their rosters with fresh talent. This relentless elimination format amplifies the competition and strategic decision-making, as owners must balance the amount of their waiver claims on both short-term success and long-term sustainability.
Because a single team is eliminated each week, guillotine leagues will last until there is just one team left standing. In the final week, when there are only two teams remaining, whichever team wins the next week is crowned the champion for the season. Guillotine Leagues is the industry leader for guillotine formats but MyFantasyLeague also offers a format called Eliminators, which is effectively the same game.
Zombie leagues provide a distinctive twist by introducing the concept of "zombie" teams. The overall goal for every team is to survive the season as a human and avoid becoming a zombie. The teams that are still human at the end of week 17 are crowned champions for that year.
There are multiple ways in which Zombie leagues decide on the initial zombie teams. One of the most common is to designate the four teams with the lowest performance in Week 1 as the zombies. From there, any time a zombie team outscores a human team, the human team is converted to a zombie.
There is also an opportunity for zombies to convert back into humans. In any week that starts with the same or more zombies than humans, the zombies can continue to convert humans, but additionally, the highest scoring zombie team finds a cure and has its humanity restored.
Zombie leagues typically last for the duration of the regular season. Guillotine Leagues is one of the more popular sites that will host Zombie leagues.
Vampire leagues provide a distinctive variation to traditional fantasy football leagues. In this format, one team, known as the vampire, starts with an empty roster and relies solely on the waiver wire to acquire players throughout the season. The vampire team aims to defeat other teams in head-to-head matchups. If the vampire wins, it can "bite" its opponent and steal a player from the defeated team.
The vampire team carries the burden of maintaining a competitive roster through astute waiver wire acquisitions and strategic bites. Every bite weakens the other teams, potentially disrupting their carefully crafted lineups and forcing them to adapt to unexpected roster changes. This asymmetrical gameplay fosters an atmosphere of intense competition, where each team strives to avoid falling victim to the vampire's bite. Sleeper is one of the more popular platforms which host Vampire leagues.
Best Ball leagues share nearly all the same rules as traditional redraft leagues except for one key detail: team owners do not set their lineup each week. In Best Ball leagues, each team’s lineup is automatically set after the games have concluded based on which players on their team perform the best.
Because Best Ball leagues eliminate the need for owners to set their lineups, the main focal points for owners are the initial draft, midseason acquisitions, and trades with other owners. Best Ball leagues are well suited for those of us who have trouble choosing who on your roster to start and who to bench.
The format and scoring procedures as well as duration of Best Ball leagues typically follow that of redraft leagues with a sole champion crowned during the playoffs towards the end of the regular season. Underdog, FFPC, and NFC, are popular platforms which offer Best Ball league support.
When it comes to fantasy football, there are no shortage of league types and formats. While we’ve touched on some of the most common league types, there are still others like Devy that we haven’t even discussed! Whether you prefer the classic dynamics of redraft leagues, the depth and longevity of dynasty and keeper leagues, or the thrill of elimination in Guillotine leagues, there is almost certainly a league format that caters to your desired fantasy football experience.
