FANTASY FOOTBALL GLOSSARY.
ADD
Adding a free-agent player (a player not already assigned to a team in your league)
AUCTION DRAFT
Owners take turns nominating players, who are then bid on by all interested owners. Each owner is given a spending limit (or salary cap) to complete their roster. Usually the nominating owner will attach an opening bid with the player they nominated. If no other league owner bids on that player, the nominating owner will purchase that player for the bid assigned.
ADP (AVERAGE DRAFT POSITION)
ADP is used as draft preparation tool that lists the average round in which a player is typically chosen during a fantasy football draft (Snake/Serpentine Drafts). These reports are generated by sites that conduct either real or mock drafts.
BASIC SCORING SYSTEM
The most basic scoring systems award points only for touchdowns, field goals and extra points. League settings will determine the amount of points earned for each category.
BENCH PLAYER
A player on your roster that is not in your starting lineup, and therefore will not garner points towards for their performance.
BREAKOUT
A player who finishes in the top 5 of his position, that wasn’t being drafted as such.
BUST
A player who enters the season with high expectations as evidenced by his ADP, who fails to perform to that level statistically.
BYE WEEK
NFL teams play 16 games in 17 weeks. The week that the team does not play is considered their bye week. Pay close attention to the bye weeks of the players on your roster, as you do not want to get stuck with a positon(s) that will net you zero points for the week. You can find 2015 bye weeks here.
CHEAT SHEET
A prepared list of players ranked in order of fantasy value based on their predicted fantasy points. Be aware of your leagues scoring system, as rankings will vary based on such.
COMEBACK PLAYER
A player who returns from a significant injury/retirement and re-emerges into a fantasy football starter.
COMMISSIONER
The person who is responsible for maintaining and keeping order in the league. The commissioner will generally collect any league fees, fix glitches with incorrect scoring, contact the league hosting site, arrange draft dates, run the draft, and remain unbiased when handling certain disputes during the season. Some leagues have the commissioner approve/disapprove of any trades (I don’t recommend that)
CUSTOM-SCORING LEAGUE
A league that decides to assign its own value to touchdowns, field goals, extra points, bonuses etc.
CUT (DROP)
When a player is released from ones roster and put on waivers or free agency (depending on league settings)
DEEP LEAGUE
A league in which there are more than 12 owners. A deep league can also consist over larger than normal roster sizes. In most cases, 12 team leagues usually consist of 16 roster spots. Deep leagues (of 12 teams) would have 20 or more roster spots per team.
DEPTH CHART
An NFL roster that shows first, second and third-string players. Fantasy depth charts may differ as they could show the order in which an owner should have that player on their roster. Just because a player is listed as the first string player, doesn’t always that mean that they should be owned ahead of the 2nd string player.
DRAFT
Where owners take turns picking players for the upcoming season. Most draft orders are constructed through a random drawing or are based on the previous year’s results, with the poorest teams drafting first. Be sure to know what type of draft a league uses prior to arriving to the draft. Drafts can be done either in person or via the internet.
DRAFT DASHERS
People who attend and enjoy the thrill of the draft only to abandon their team long before the season is over.
DROP (CUT)
Releasing a player back into the free-agent pool or to waivers.
DYNASTY LEAGUE
This is a league in which most of, or all of an entire roster is retained. This league calls for a long-term commitment, but it also makes each draft run much smoother as only a few players (mainly the new rookies) are being drafted.
FAAB (Free Agent Acquisition Budget) (Blind Bidding)
A type of process used for players on waivers. The league will set a certain budget (fake money) for the entire season, that you can use to pick up players on waivers. This takes the place of a waiver order and each team interested in a player will put in a bid that is unknown to the rest of the league. If awarded the player, you will be deducted the amount of your bid from your budget.
FFB/ FF
The abbreviation used for fantasy football.
FLEX
The starting spot in your roster that can consist of a player from more than one position. Generally a flex position can either be RB/WR, RB/WR/TE. Some leagues allow for a QB to be used (considered Super Flex)
FIRE SALE
When a team’s season is lost and they cannot make the playoffs, owners of teams sometimes like to trade away their stud players to boost another team’s chances of winning the championship. Usually this can be considered collusion unless you’re in a keeper/dynasty league and are getting players back that could potentially help your team in the future.
FLIER/Gamble
Taking a gamble on a player who has high potential but also has high risk. Usually with fliers, you are banking on an injury to another player.
FREE AGENT
A player who isn’t on a team’s roster and is available is to be picked up by anyone at any time. Players usually have to clear waivers before becoming a free agent.
GM
General Manager of a team. Same as the owner
Ghost
Sometimes call Ghostship. This is similar Draft Dasher as this is the owner that is not actively managing his/her fantasy team.
HANDCUFF
Taking the immediate backup for one of your star players. You’ll see this a lot with the running back position. This ensures you that if your star player gets hurt, you will still have that teams’ starting running back.
IDP (Indivudual defensive player)
IDP is used in place of team defenses in some leagues. These leagues will consist of much larger roster spots and the scoring settings/categories will vary from league to league.
INJURED RESERVE (IR)
Some leagues will allow you to put an injured player on injured reserve and open up a roster spot for someone else without having to lose a player. In certain instances, this can only be done for players that are listed on the real NFL injured reserve and when they are activated in “real life” they must be active on your fantasy team. You would have to clear a roster spot before activating the player from IR. Check your league rules and settings because this could result in an invalid roster and you could be subject to disqualification for that week.
INJURIES
OUT: The player will not play that week (or any other amount of time as announced by the NFL team)
DOU :Doubtful- The player has 25% chance of playing.
QUE: Questionable status- the player has 50% chance of playing. Be sure to monitor the players status leading up to the game.
PROB: Probable- The player has 75% of playing that week.
KEEPER LEAGUE
These leagues allow you to keep a certain number of players each season for a designated penalty in the draft. Keeper leagues vary as far the penalties for keeping players. Some leagues allow you to keep a certain number of players for no penalty at all, while other may assign a 1 or 2 round penalty based on where that player was drafted. Example: Jeremy hill was drafted in round 11 in 2014. To keep him the following year, one would have to give up a 10th or 9th round pick (depending on league rules) to keep him
LINEAR DRAFT
Just like the actual NFL draft. In this type of draft, the draft order in Round 1 repeats itself throughout the draft. If you have the last pick in the first round, you will have the last pick in the second round and so forth.
MOCK DRAFT
A “fake” fantasy draft that isn’t played out during the season but often is used by team owners to practice drafting and prepare in advance.
OWNER
The person who runs his/her own fantasy team and ultimately is responsible for making all personnel decisions.
PERFORMANCE SCORING SYSTEM
A scoring system in which players are given bonus points for passing, rushing and/or receiving milestones.
PPR (POINT PER RECEPTION)
Indicates a league that awards a point per reception to running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. Some leagues also use a half point per reception as well. League settings could vary and some may award .5 for running backs, 1 for wide receivers and 2 for tight ends. Understand and be familiar with your league scoring prior to drafting.
PROJECTIONS
A player’s predicted statistics, which are used to help determine that player’s fantasy value.
QBBC (Quarterback by Committee)
When a fantasy owner will rotate their starting QB on a weekly basis based on the more favorable matchup. This strategy is more often used when the owner doesn’t draft a quarterback in the early rounds, and instead will use multiple mid/late round picks on two quarterbacks.
RBBC (RUNNING BACK BY COMMITTEE)
Dreadful term used to describe the situation when a team uses more than one running back in a prominent role.
RESERVE
Backup or bench players.
ROSTER
The list of players on your team.
SNAKE OR SERPENTINE DRAFT
The most common form of fantasy drafting. This is where the team that picks last in round 1, will pick first in the 2nd round thus having two picks back to back. The team that has the #1 overall pick, won’t pick again until the last pick of the second round and will also have back to back picks as they select the 1st pick of the 3rd round.
SLEEPER
A player that significantly out performs their draft value. 2014 examples would include Jeremy Hill and Odell Beckam Jr.
STARTING LINEUP
The players who’s stats will count towards your weekly performance. Check your league settings for the number of players at each position that can be in your starting lineup.
STUD
Could have two meanings: 1) A proven superstar that performs at the highest level year in and year out. 2) A player that finished in the top 5 at their position. These players could either be in the top 10 already, or a player drafted in the later rounds.
TEAM QB
Not common but still used. This format allows you to have all the quarterbacks for a given team. Therefore, if you have Aaron Rodgers, you would also have the 2nd and 3rd string QB from the packers. This safeguards you from injury and in most cases, if the starting QB gets hurt during the game, you would still get credit for statistics put forth by his replacement for that game,
TRADE
A transaction that involves the swapping of one or more players from one team to another. In some fantasy leagues, the commissioner has the power to approve or deny all trade requests. A voting process among owners is also used in leagues. My personal believe is that all trades should go through instantly without any league voting or commissioner approval. If the trade seems absolutely lopsided, then it could be addressed at that point.
TRANSACTION
Any roster change (waiver-wire add/drop, trade, etc.). Some leagues limit the amount of transactions a team can make, often charging money for excessive moves.
UNDROPPABLE
List of players that cannot be dropped from an owners team. This is done to protect the integrity of the league and avoid a potential occurrence of collusion.
WAIVER HAWK
A Player that waits until the early morning hours to instantly pick up a player as soon as they clear waivers. Usually someone would do this to avoid giving up their waiver position or use any of their FAAB money.
WAIVER ORDER
Refers to the order that established at the end of each week barring your league settings. The higher you are on the waiver order, the better chance you have to claim a player on the waiver wire.
WAIVER WIRE
Used for players that are either released by an owner, or during a certain time period during the week. Usually, if a player is released, they will be on waivers for 24 hours in which owners would have to put in claim for that player before they become a free agent and available to everyone. In addition, all free agent players are typically on waivers from the start of their teams’ game until usually Wednesday morning (depending on league settings)