One of the most important things to understand about your fantasy football league is what type of scoring system is being used. Every league will be slightly different and put a unique twist on how players score points. Each league site has a way to see how your league’s scoring is setup. Make sure you look at that and ask your commissioner (the person running the league) if there are any weird scoring adjustments you need to know about before drafting.
There are 3 main types of scoring systems that are frequently used by all leagues:
Standard
Standard scoring is what a lot of leagues use. This scoring system means that each position scores points dependent on what that position is good at. It means that your quarterback gets points when they throw for a lot of yards and score touchdowns. Running Backs get points for…as you might imagine…running the ball. Wide receivers get points for catching the ball.
Fairly simple and straight forward. This scoring system also has the largest discrepancy between top tier players and mid-level players.
PPR
PPR stands for Point-Per-Reception. This scoring system includes the standard scoring rules but includes a point bump for those players who catch the ball. For each catch or reception that a player has, your team receives 1 point. This bump in points will affect your draft strategy because you now need to take into consideration how many catches you think this player may have for the season.
The downside to PPR is that the point bump can sometimes have too much of a point swing in one direction. If a player has 9 catches, they get 9 points plus however many yards they gained. It’s the same as saying: 1 catch = 10 yards of rushing
Half-PPR
Half-PPR stands for Half-Point-Per-Reception. Same as PPR, this scoring system includes the standard scoring rules. In this scoring system though, 0.5 points are awarded to a player for each reception they make. This bump will have an effect on your drafting strategy because you need to consider how many receptions a player may have this season, but it also means you can consider running backs who tend to catch the ball as well.
In my opinion Half-PPR is the best scoring system for fantasy football. It helps balance the teams with the elite players vs those with mid-level players. In this scoring system, 1 catch = 5 yards of rushing, which feels a little more balanced.
Let’s look at how these three scoring systems effected last year’s top players.
Top Ten 2019 Fantasy Scores (WR/RB) - Standard Scoring
| Rank | Player | Pos. | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian McCaffrey | RB | N.C. Panthers | 355.2 |
| 2 | Derrick Henry | RB | TEN Titans | 276.6 |
| 3 | Aaron Jones | RB | G.B. Packers | 265.8 |
| 4 | Ezekiel Elliott | RB | DAL Cowboys | 257.7 |
| 5 | Dalvin Cook | RB | MIN Vikings | 239.4 |
| 6 | Michael Thomas | WR | N.O. Saints | 225.6 |
| 7 | Nick Chubb | RB | CLE Browns | 219.2 |
| 8 | Austin Ekeler | RB | L.A. Charges | 217 |
| 9 | Mark Ingram II | RB | BAL Ravens | 216.5 |
| 10 | Chris Carson | RB | SEA Seahawks | 195.6 |
Source: https://fantasydata.com/nfl-stats/nfl-fantasy-football-stats.aspx
Top Ten 2019 Fantasy Scores (WR/RB) - PPR Scoring
| Rank | Player | Pos | Team | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian McCaffrey | RB | N.C. Panthers | 471.2 |
| 2 | Michael Thomas | WR | N.O. Saints | 374.6 |
| 3 | Aaron Jones | RB | G.B. Packers | 314.8 |
| 4 | Ezekiel Elliott | RB | DAL Cowboys | 311.7 |
| 5 | Austin Ekeler | RB | L.A. Chargers | 309 |
| 6 | Derrick Henry | RB | TEN Titans | 294.6 |
| 7 | Dalvin Cook | RB | MIN Vikings | 292.4 |
| 8 | Chris Godwin | WR | TB Bucs | 276.1 |
| 9 | Julio Jones | WR | ATL Falcons | 274.1 |
| 10 | Cooper Kupp | WR | L.A. Rams | 270.5 |
Source: https://fantasydata.com/nfl-stats/nfl-fantasy-football-stats.aspx
Top Ten 2019 Fantasy Scores (WR/RB) - Half-PPR Scoring
| Rank | Player | Pos | Team | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christian McCaffrey | RB | N.C. Panthers | 413.2 |
| 2 | Michael Thomas | WR | N.O. Saints | 300.1 |
| 3 | Aaron Jones | RB | G.B. Packers | 290.3 |
| 4 | Derrick Henry | RB | TEN Titans | 285.6 |
| 5 | Ezekiel Elliott | RB | DAL Cowboys | 284.7 |
| 6 | Dalvin Cook | RB | MIN Vikings | 265.9 |
| 7 | Austin Ekeler | RB | L.A. Chargers | 263 |
| 8 | Nick Chubb | RB | CLE Browns | 237.2 |
| 9 | Chris Godwin | WR | TB Bucs | 233.1 |
| 10 | Mark Ingram II | RB | BAL Ravens | 229.5 |
Source: https://fantasydata.com/nfl-stats/nfl-fantasy-football-stats.aspx
More or less, the top ten names for each scoring system are the same. The important thing to point out, is that even though the PPR and Half-PPR scoring system award more points for catching a pass, the majority of the top scorers are still running backs. This means that for your first round or two of drafting you will still want to focus on getting a running back.
The scoring system will also affect how many of each position you draft. If I’m in a Standard league, I tend to draft more running backs. If I’m playing in a PPR league, I like to draft more wide receivers. In a half-PPR, it’s good to have a balanced amount of running backs and wide receivers.
Recap of the scoring system
- Standard: Nothing special
- PPR: +1 point for each catch
- Half-PPR: +0.5 points for each catch