Fantasy football can be about more than players and fantasy points. This weekend, I will fly to Kansas City to participate in the 19th annual Heartland Football League fantasy football draft. Over the last 2 decades, a lot has happened among the group of friends who first set up the HFL, back in the days of very limited Internet connectivity (when only a few “geeks” even knew what the Internet was!) and hand-scoring leagues using the USA Today sports page (the only newspaper we could get at that time which had complete box scores for every game each week).

There have been a total of 268 regular-season fantasy match-ups per franchise (if your team has been in the league all 19 years), and over 100,000 fantasy points scored.  The league’s scoring system, set up to model NFL scoring and produce fantasy points that are within the realm of possibility in the real NFL for any given match-up, has averaged 32.459685 fantasy points scored per team (per week). But those numbers don’t tell the whole tale, not by a long shot.

5 of the original 12 owners have been active in the league all 18 years (the 6th to have played in all 18 years of the league is taking a break starting with the coming draft in K.C.). Another owner has been with us since the second season (254 games). Another original owner returns to the league this year after taking 1 year off  - all told, 7 of the original 12 owners (8 if you count the “newbie” with “only” 254 games played) are still involved in the league to one extent or another and remain friends with their old college buddies. 17 owners have been a part of the league at one point or another during the past 19 years.

Well in excess of a dozen births have been heralded; many marriages celebrated and many funerals seen; promotions boasted of; new homes purchased; old homes sold; new cars envied (our league commissioner’s wife had a Porsche Cayenne delivered for her husband as a surprise gift, timed to arrive during the league’s live draft a few years back!); cars wrecked; sicknesses fretted over and recoveries noted; businesses started and businesses closed - in short, the game of life being played out. For the league owners, fantasy football has been a touchstone to return to, and provided a forum for us all to get away from our everyday lives for a while, or to seek advice about our everyday lives when needed.   

It isn’t just about the league trophy (although for some of us, winning isn’t the only thing, it is everything - there is a fever pitch of competition that the HFL brings to the fore, without question) - it has become, simply, MORE.

So if you are new to the hobby of fantasy football, and are thinking about setting up a league with some of your buddies, I’d encourage you to do it! 20 years from now, you just might be glad you took the plunge.

I know I am.

With fantasy draft season heating up, the staff at Footballguys.com is in overdrive covering all sorts of strategies for dominating your fantasy league. Over the past 10 days, a bevy of quality strategy articles on the QB position have been posted for our subscribers’ consideration - I thought it would be worth while to highlight these offerings and provide a quick capsule describing each article.

First of all, there is a faceoff between Jeff Pasquino and me, Mark Wimer, debating the merits of expending an early draft pick on a QB and also the merits of the alternative  - employing a quarterback by committee composed of mid- to late-round picks.

 Clayton Gray employed his strength of schedule expertise to craft two articles looking at the best combinations of 2 QBs and 3 QBs in a committee, projecting the point totals for every combination worth considering at this season.

Chase Stuart takes a close look at some specific combinations of QBs that he recommends for those looking to draft a committee in start-1 QB and start-2 QBs leagues.

For those who are looking for a high-upside, low-draft-cost alternative at the QB position, Jeff Tefertiller has penned a look at how to identify sleepers at the QB position.  

Happy Drafting! It’s my favorite time of the year, and I bet it is yours, too!

Last night, we conducted our first of several planned drafts in conjunction with the site. They will be released in full detail in the coming weeks along with detailed analysis and commentary from each of the participants. For now, I just wanted to share some broader reactions to the events that unfolded last night in our ever popular Survivor Draft:

What is a Survivor Draft?

There are two primary differences between a Survivor-style draft and a typical fantasy redraft league. One, there are no transactions after the draft. The team you draft is the team you get. Yes, that means if Larry Johnson breaks his leg in a few weeks, that team who rostered him is a man down, with no hope of replacing his production. Two, you don’t compete head-to-head but rather the goal is to avoid being the lowest-scoring team in a given week. If you are the lowest scoring team, you get eliminated (hence, SURVIVOR). Here are the draft particulars for our league:

• 12 teams, 24 rounds, Serpentine
• Performance Scoring:
  • 1 point per 10 yards rush/rec
  • 1 point per 20 yards passing
  • 4 points per pass TD
  • 6 points per rush/rec TD
  • -1 per INT
  • 1 point per reception
  • Kickers = 3 points per FG plus 0.1 per yard beyond
  • Defense = 1 point per sack, 2 pts per INT/FumRec/Safety, bonuses for points allowed but not yard
• Survivor Style:
  • Rosters are fixed (no free agency, no trading…this team is what you have for the entire season)
  • You don’t set lineups
    • Your top scoring QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 Flex (TE/WR/RB), 1 Def, 1 Kicker count
    • Low score each week (1-4) gets eliminated, bi-weekly eliminations through week 12
    • Immunity to high score in weeks 1-4 for the following week

Drafting in a Survivor league is a ton of fun because the strategy you have to employ differs greatly from traditional redrafts.

1. Bye weeks become a major factor — In a redraft, bye weeks are an afterthought because you’re not going to pass up a better player in most cases simply because he may have the same bye week as another player on your roster. But in Survivor, with elimination being a possibility virtually every week, you can’t find yourself down two or three solid players in any given week without really putting yourself at risk.
2. No transactions = Risk aversion — In a redraft league, it might make some sense to roll the dice on Kevin Jones or Warrick Dunn or Kellen Winslow or Donovan McNabb; because you can always waive them or acquire someone via trade if they don’t recover from injury. But in Survivor format, players with question marks fall at least a few rounds lower than ADP; and some don’t get drafted at all.
3. Positional considerations can separate the wheat from the chaff — With 24 roster spots, you may think you’re well covered against any contingencies. But the truth is, every roster spot counts because injuries (and byes) will leave you critically short on contributors a few weeks a season, it’s inevitable. Going into a Survivor, you have to decide whether you’re going to grab that extra tight end or, instead, take another QB. It sounds easy, but each position you allocate some extra depth toward means you are taking depth away from others.
4. Handcuffing can make or break you – A lot of Survivor participants like to handcuff players to effectively lock up productivity. For example, if you draft Marc Bulger you may seriously consider taking Gus Frerotte late in the draft; knowing that you will end up having the Rams QB locked up. But not all handcuffs are created equal. What happens if you draft Jerious Norwood and Warrick Dunn only to see the Falcons sign Corey Dillon in free agency?

Next up: A few tidbits from the actual draft results…

In this thread over at our message board, several people — led by GregR — have collaboratively organized this list of considerations that every commissioner should address in the league rules. Note that this is not a list of specific rules. Rather, it’s a list of situations that require some sort of rule. In other words, this list doesn’t suggest whether “trade-backs” should or should not be legal in your league, whether there should or should not be a penalty for starting a player on bye week, whether a league vote should or should not be grounds to veto a trade, or anything else. It merely gives you a list of things that can be problematic if there is no rule in place.

If you’re a commissioner, you can save yourself a lot of headaches by addressing these issues before they happen. I’ve just listed the main points here, but the full thread, which contains examples and lots of good discussion, is worth checking out.

1. For leagues with entry fees: League fees must be paid by X (days/weeks) prior to the draft.
2. Fantasy games are final as of (the start of the following week of games / the following Friday / two weeks from… etc).
3. Owners are responsible for verifying the scores and the legality of lineups of both their own team and their competition. Owners are responsible for notifying the commissioner/website of stat changes should they occur.
4. The official source of stats for our league is (our website / NFL.com gambebooks / etc).
5. For leagues with Def/ST units, a definition of what constitutes a Defense/Special Teams/regular offensive play. Make sure your rule accounts for changes of possession.
6. What, if any, communications with the commish will be considered official in regards to the commish changing lineups, etc.
7. Whether any transactions committed on the website by an owner are final. If you allow owners to “take back” a mistake, you need to detail exactly what the conditions are for them to take it back and what steps they must take as far as league notification.
8. Trades offered on the website are considered valid offers until they are revoked or rejected. Owners are responsible for removing offers they have made. Due to the risk of a player asked for in a trade being injured, it is strongly recommended owners conduct negotiations outside the website and only use the website to consummate trades that are agreed to.
9. Trades must be consummated on the website to be official. Agreement by any other medium is not binding. -OR- Trades may be consummated by email only by both parties separately indicating their acceptance of a trade, including exact parameters, by email to the commish/entire league. Once such acceptance by both parties is received the trade is final.
10. A rule to handle confusion over players with the same name.
11. There is a class of issues which depending on your league may or may not be considered acceptable behavior/sportsmanship. Be specific as to if they will be allowed or not. They include:
    • Starting a player on bye week
    • Tanking a game (such as to get a better playoff matchup. In some leagues situations can arise where an owner may have a better chance at making the playoffs himself by losing which changes division and wildcard tiebreaks to ones he can win.)
    • Making trades that result in worsening your team in order to stock another team who plays a rival you want/need to lose.
    • Firesales (in keeper/dynasty leagues)
    • Using waivers to make a trade after the trade deadline.
    • “Loaning” players. (i.e. “I’ll trade you my backup defense, but you have to give it back after your bye week.”).
    • Two-part trades. (”You give me LT this week and I’ll give you LJ next week,” or, “Here’s a 3 player for 3 player trade, but I don’t want to give you my RB until next week. Let’s trade the other 2 for 2 now and agree to swap the remaining players next week”)
12. For leagues with voting to veto trades, what constitutes grounds for vetoing a trade.
13. You should always have established and documented tie-breaking procedures, whether for games if you don’t allow ties, or for playoff spots. It should be clear how you handle multi-team ties (see following comments). And you should always end your tie-breakers with a method that will always work like a coin flip.
14. A rule that has an imperative (you must do this or you must NOT do that) should have stated what consequence results from violating it.
15. Your rules should detail the decision making structure (commish/league vote/etc).
16. Your league rules should be in writing, and distributed to the league in advance.
17. You should have a final source for determining what position a player is listed at. You also may wish to address whether a player’s position stays what it was at the draft, or changes as your official source changes.
18. Money leagues: Future draft picks may only be traded for years which the owner has paid his league fees in advance.
19. Money leagues: In the event of an owner leaving or being removed from the league, his entry fee shall be handled as follows.
20. Provide clear guidance on the situation where an owner is not able to manage his team. It could be due to illness/hospitalization, family tragedy, etc.
21. For leagues that lock players after they are dropped, what happens if a team picks up players and drops them just to deny them to other teams?
22. Use examples in your rules whenever there is a chance that someone might not understand from just the text.