Random Scoring Ideas, Part 1
I’ve written already about modifying Kicker scoring settings to make them more interesting, but in this post, I want to take a quick dive into two scoring settings at QB and RB.
QB Yards
I follow Fantasy Football Analysts quite a bit, and the drum-pounding theme you’ll hear over and over again is draft a mobile quarterback. It’s not rocket science – when you score rushing points at a 10-yard rate against passing points at a 25-yard rate, then mix-in rushing touchdowns at 6 points vs passing touchdowns at 4 points, you just need basic math to understand how a mobile quarterback can outscore a pure pocket passer. Take this example:
- Tom Brady: 300 pyds, 3 PTD = 24 pts
- Lamar Jackson: 200 pyds, 80 ryds, 1 RTD, 1 PTD = 26 pts
Most casual fans would think Tom Brady had the better game, right? He produced more total yards and more total touchdowns. So why is he scoring less points?
To fix this, I propose a passing accelerator scoring method. Let’s not penalize pocket-passers for producing air yards instead of foot yards. Here’s how it works:
Passing Yards 0-N = 25-yard rate
Passing Yards > N = 10-yard rate
You can debate over what N should be. I like to use 200, but you can adjust that to your liking. If you use it, Tom Brady’s stats above now score like this:
- 200 passing yards = 8 points
- 100 passing yards > 200 = 10 points
- 3 passing TD’s = 12 points
This brings his total to 30 points, which is a little bit better than Lamar Jackson’s scoring day, as it should be.
RB Attempts
This one is pretty quick, but if we’re going to play PPR and give receivers bonuses for targets, then we ought to give running backs bonuses for carries (rushing attempts), as that stat is the equivalent of a reception. This helps to boost the backs who don’t catch as much out of the backfield, putting them on a more even playing field. But, we don’t want to boost them at the same scoring rate as receivers. Take this example:
- Nyheim Hines: 5 rec, 50 yds = 10 pts
- Miles Sanders: 16 carries, 80 yds = 12 pts
We use 0.25 per rushing attempt to give Sanders the boost here and prevent pass-catching RBs from getting all the love. If we didn’t give Sanders a boost from his attempts, his paltry 8 pts wouldn’t have been very valuable, despite having a solid game 5yds/carry game over a large number of rushing attempts (by today’s standards). There’s an argument that Sander’s game was more impactful to his team in comparison to Hines, and his fantasy points should reflect this.
Conclusion
Both of these settings aim to balance advantages that certain “style” players have over others in attempt to make other players more interesting to roster. It doesn’t prevent rushing QBs or pass-catching RBs from having value, but rather it boosts the potential value of pocket passers or tote-the-rock rushers if they can achieve high stats in those areas.