Fantasy football as we know it has been infiltrating our lives since 1985, when the first league breached the budding confines of the internet. Its mechanisms have changed only incrementally since that very dawn.
Daily fantasy and points-per-reception alterations have brought a little variety to the sport in recent years, but the status quo remains largely the same.
Jonah Baker
Football itself has its own laundry list of problems, but fans possess the unique ability to enact immediate change on the fantasy football landscape.
Fantasy football began with a focus on only those who scored points in games. This runs in direct contrast to the most tired adage of the sport, claiming that defense wins championships. Let’s start by flipping the game on its head, and place the focus on defense. Defenses are usually relegated to one roster spot while individual offense and special teams players occupy up to eight other spots.
Advanced stat tracking has made it much easier to quantify how much individual defenders contribute to a defense’s success, and we may finally be at a point where there is enough data to reinvent fantasy football around the defense.
Priorities for drafting would be pleasantly difficult to figure out because just about every player on the defense generates some form of measurable production. This would immediately make drafting more exciting, since the different positions are separated by fewer markers. Linebackers make all the tackles, but defensive ends and linemen get more of the sacks. More points would be given for turnovers and pass deflections to give advantage to defensive backs. It could even go as far as measuring how much corners and safeties shut down premier wide receivers in addition to their interception and tackle totals.
And to complete the reverse of typical fantasy, each roster would be rounded out with a team offense that would score a percentage of their point output along with bonuses for yardage and penalties for turnovers.
A defense-first league would be a fabulous opportunity for fantasy football players to differentiate their own leagues. Turnovers or sacks could score varying levels of points depending on your prerogative, and the rules of each league could even change from year to year to fit whatever whims that league has.
To complete the transformation, we would have to parse through special teams, as well. Kickers would be drafted and scored as they have been for years, but other pieces of special teams could be separated. Punters would get points based on how much their kicks pinned opposing offenses inside their own territory. Kick returners and punt returners as individual player spots would get a little too complicated since many returners are also receivers or defenders, so return teams would be drafted as wholes.
Defense-focused fantasy football is a great concept for anyone who has grown tired of traditional fantasy football, and it could also be a way to attract new fans to the sport. Defenders have always provided some of the best entertainment in the sport, and applying them individually to the wide world of fantasy sports would undoubtedly produce similar effects.
Jonah Baker can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @jonahpbaker