Tired of seeing your fantasy football season crumble because of one bad week in December?
Tired of putting up the 2nd highest points for the week only to lose to the weekly high score?
Tired of playing checkers and want to play chess?
If you answered “yes” to any of the questions above then you, my friend, are ready for roto fantasy football. Yes, it is just like roto fantasy baseball, tracking where you rank in each scoring statistic (a.k.a. category) as opposed to scoring a single fantasy points total for the week or season. Roto is short for rotisserie, the original way to play fantasy sports.
I recently discovered that FanTrax offers roto scoring for their fantasy football product while reading Matt Williams (@MattWi77iams) series on his inaugural roto football experts league. I’m starting up a league myself and I’m looking for others to join me!
Roto Scoring
For a short explanation how a roto scoring league works, lets say you have a 12-team league and 10 statistical categories. One of the statistical categories is passing yards. The team that has the highest passing yards in the league earns 12 points (since there are 12 teams) for that category. The team that has the second highest passing yards earns 11 points. Third – 10 points, fourth – 9 points, and so on down to the lowest passing yards scoring just 1 point.
One key to roto scoring is it does not matter how many more yards, or stats of whatever category, your team has over the next team. It could be 500 yards or 1 yard, only the ranking matters in awarding points. In our fictional 12-team league with 10 categories, the maximum a team can score is 120 points by finishing first in each category.
Roto scoring also allows for the use of ratio stats, such as passing completion percentage, rushing yards per attempt, etc., which is difficult to apply in a traditional fantasy points scoring league.
Statistical Categories
- Passing Touchdowns
- Passing Yards
- Passing Yards/Attempt
- Rushing Touchdowns
- Rushing Yards
- Rushing Yards/Carry
- Receiving Touchdowns
- Receiving Yards
- Receptions
- Turnovers (Fumbles Lost and Interceptions)
We’ll have nice symmetry with 3 stats for each: passing, rushing and receiving plus one universal negative stat (turnovers). Also, there are eight counting stats and two ratios.
Rosters
- QB (1)
- RB (2)
- WR (3)
- TE (1)
- FLEX (3)
- Bench (6)
That’s right, no kickers or defense. We’re keeping it simple. The Flex position is RB/WR/TE. If we get 12 teams or less we will probably make one of the Flex positions a “super” flex (QB/RB/WR/TE).
Draft
Slow draft (8 hours per pick, timer turned off overnight) starting when league fills to at least 10 teams or as many as 16.
In-Season Management
This is a league we expect you to actively manage your team during the season. If we are going to do this, lets do it right! There are weekly starting lineups and waivers.
Standings
Points will accumulate for the season. There are no weekly head-to-head matchups. The highest points after Week 17 will be crowned the Draft Buddy RotoBowl I Champion!
Draft Order
- Bubba – @bdentrek
- Chris W – @cman113060
- Jim – @Fantasytaz
- Pat – @PJHofer07
- Mike S – @MStepney71
- Josh – @kingsperry37
- Chris S – @Roto_Chris
- Mike Z – @FFzinger
- Dan – @DanYoldi79
- Pat – @PolkaPat
- Mike A – @MikeJAdamson
- Matt – @Razzball_MB
- Steve – @fantasygeek37
- Evan – @EvFWFB
- Brad – @RotoPilot
Follow Along
We’re no longer accepting participants but you can check in on the draft here.
If you have any questions hit me up on Twitter @Roto_Chris or leave a comment below!