Glossary of FF terms
Please email Stegman if, after reviewing this, you feel we have left off some key FF terms!
3rd year WR Rule
A BS theory made up by the fantasy football news and analysis industry which holds that WRs typically breakout in their 3rd year in the NFL. There is no more a 3rd year WR breakout trend than there is a 2nd or 4th year. If you are high on a WR that is coming into his 3rd season in the NFL, then it better be for reasons beyond this made up theory.
ADP - Average Draft Position
A report that lists NFL players by the position they were drafted in fantasy football drafts on average. The source can be mock drafts or real ones. ADP is a useful draft preparation tool.
Auction League
A type of fantasy draft where owners bid on NFL players while operating under a “salary cap” that is consistent for each owner. Owners trade off introducing first bids on every player until all rosters are filled.
Bag’a Donuts
A term used to describe a player who doesn’t do much for your fantasy squad.
Basic Scoring Format
QB – 4 Pt/TD – 1 pt/25 yards passing
RB, WR, TE - 6 pt/TD - 1 pt/10 yards rushing/receiving
K – 3 pt/FG under 50 yards – 5 pt/FG 50 yards or over
Def/Sp Teams – 6 pt/TD – 1 pt/Int, Sack, fumble recovery
Beast
Used quite liberally here at the Fantasy Football Armory, it is a player that dominates or who we think is going to dominate his position. Another term for “Stud”.
Bench Players
Players which you choose not to start; you normally receive no points for their performances.
Bust
An NFL skill player that has had strong previous seasons but isn’t forecasted to do well in the upcoming seasons for any numbers of reasons including: Injury-prone, ceding reps to a RBBC or younger player behind him on the depth chart, offensive line woes, offensive coaching scheme changes, QB situation is shaky, etc.
Bye Week
It’s the week that certain NFL teams don’t play. Each team has a bye week. It helps to keep a list of these teams handy on your draft night so that you don’t draft certain positions w/ multiple bye weeks (EG – backup QBs, TEs, K, and Def/Sp Team).
Cheat Sheet
The Cheat sheet (not to be confused with our fully linked FFArmory DRAFT KIT) is an out-dated doc that owners keep on their hip during draft night. But Wifi basically rendered this document useless. Anyone still relying on a cheat sheet during their drafts are missing out on last minute updates that could potentially kill one’s draft.
Commissioner
AKA the league bitch. This is a thankless job that the most motivated person in one’s league takes on. She/He manages the website, organizes for the draft, manages disputes among the ingrate owners, and probably has control freak issues to deal with. Professional help should be sought out in most cases.
Depth Chart
A chart that outlines the starters from the 2nd and 3rd stringers on an NFL squad. It’s helpful to have this resource available/accessible so as to draft handcuffs for QBs and especially RBs.
Dog Balls
When a guy on your squad puts up a big fat zero on Sunday (or Monday… or Thursday... or Saturday)
Drop
To remove a player from your roster.
Dynasty League
A league in which you keep your entire roster from year to year. The next season a draft is held to improve your team. Usually the draft order is based on the previous year's finish. Dynasty leagues are difficult to pull off unless you have a tight group of people that are committed for the long haul.
Fantasy Football
The greatest hobby on Earth.
Fantasy Wood - sorta like an air boner - it's the result of analyzing a player or a combo of players (like a sick QB joining a sick WR, or a crazy good RB joining a team w/ a crazy good oline), and forecasting big things for said player(s).
FF
Nickname for the greatest hobby on Earth.
Flex
A spot in your starting lineup that you can use more than one type of position player; typically RB/WR/TE - although some leagues' flex spot allows for a QB (not recommended).
Flier
This basically means taking a chance on a guy – usually late in drafts or picking up a guy on the waiver-wire post-draft. Also known as “late round flier”.
Free Agent
A player who is not currently on any team's roster. If the league has a waiver system, free agents are players who have cleared waivers.
Ghostship
A team that is not being actively managed by its owner or the act of not actively managing a fantasy team.
Handcuffing
This means drafting a star player’s back-up on the same NFL team – typically RBs, but handcuffing WRs and QBs can also make sense (rarely). A WR2 could become much more valuable if the WR1 on that team goes down, etc.
IDP (Individual Defensive Player)
Rather than a team defense approach, some leagues decide to have starters for defensive linemen (DL), linebackers (LB) and defensive backs (DB). The number of starters and scoring systems for these positions vary widely.
Injured Reserve (IR)
An option in some leagues, an injured player can be sent to the IR for a certain number of weeks. The player cannot return to the active lineup and does not earn the owner any points until that number of weeks passed; however another player can be added to the team since the IR player doesn't count against the player limit. Injured Reserve is also an NFL label for players who will not play during the current season due to injury.
Keeper League
A league in which specific players can be retained from the prior season by each owner, so that their whole team does not have to be redrafted. A good keeper league makes you burn the same draft round in which the player was selected in the previous year’s draft. The number of keeper players can vary. If you retain your whole team it is called a dynasty league.
Mock Draft
A fake draft that is used to practice drafting strategy and gauge where players will be drafted in an actual fantasy football draft.
On the Couch
It’s when a player spends a season watching football on Sundays on the couch with the rest of us – mostly because of disciplinary reasons, but occasionally when a guy can’t find work because he’s such a douche that no NFL team will sign him.
OTA
Organized Team Activities – aka voluntary mini-camps that if you don’t go to, you are sort of telling the NFL team you to bench or trade you.
Pickup
To add a player to your roster.
PPR (Points Per Reception)
In some leagues, owners earn a fantasy point for each reception their players have during the game. In these leagues, wide receivers become more valuable, as well as running backs that catch well out of the backfield.
Projections
Fantasy Football “experts” will forecast a player’s upcoming numbers for the season. It’s a dangerous business. We prefer “Rankings” w/o trying to guess how many TDs/Yards a guy will go for.
QBBC
Quarterback By Committee – Basically, instead of drafting one stud QB early, you spend multiple later rounds and play the matchups. It’s stressful! NFL teams really don’t employ a QBBC, although w/ the advance of the “Wildcat” offense, some starting QBs are losing reps to the faster “Wildcat” QBs, decreasing their value slightly.
RBBC
“Running Back by Committee” – Different than QBBC in that it is a strategy used by NFL teams to keep their star RBs fresh. It is becoming more common for NFL teams to use one RB on their roster for 1st/2nd down, a 2nd RB for passing downs and even a 3rd for goal-line/short-yardage situations. Relative to QBBC, fantasy teams can also employ this strategy if they didn’t land a gun RB on draft day. Easier to play the matchups w/ RBs than it is for QBs (or WRs).
Reps
Short for "Repetitions" - A term used to denote the # number of plays an NFL player gets to participate in at practice. "Justin Forsett was getting all of the reps in practice w/ the first team offense".
Snake Draft
Draft order is determined, eg 1-12, Each team gets 1 first round pick, but then the 12th pick overall gets the 1st pick of the 2nd round – ie the 13th pick. And 11th pick gets 14th overall, and so on. It snakes again when the 1st pick goes; she/he would get the last pick of the 2nd round and 1st of the 3rd round, and so on.
Sleeper
A player that is being undervalued in the pre/off-season leading up to fantasy drafts. ADPs are a great way to gauge sleepers, as are Mock drafts. “Sleepers” are guys that are expected to have a breakout season but are not necessarily being drafted accordingly. Landing “Sleepers” is key to consistently finishing on top in fantasy leagues.
Sophomore Slump
A term/theory that actually holds some water. A player’s 2nd year in the NFL in which he feels pressure to perform after having a solid rookie campaign. Rookies don’t have much pressure because they are newbies, but once they taste some success, they often times choke up and have a weaker follow up season. See Steve Slaton and Matt Ryan’s numbers from 2009.
Stud
A NFL player who has proved himself to be a top scoring player at his position. Another term for “Beast”.
Team Defense
Drafting an entire team's defense (rather than individual defensive players), you earn points when any player on the defense records a sack, interception, fumble recovery, safety or touchdown. Most leagues include special teams with the team defense, so if the team scores a touchdown when returning a punt or kickoff you will also earn points. Rules will vary from fantasy league to fantasy league, though.
Team Position
A lame idea that is used in some leagues in which you select a team instead of a specific player for a position. For example, if you draft the Chicago Bears QB position, you accumulate stats for that position, whether it’s the starting QB or his backup. Associated terms include “Team QB” Team RB” Team WR”, or “Team TE”.
Trade
When two or more team owners negotiate player exchanges. This is the source of most arguments within leagues in fantasy football, as everyone has their own idea of what is fair and what is not. Ideally, you set up a “Veto Process” whereby each team in the league that is NOT involved in the trade can vote to pass a trade or not. Never put all of that power in the hands of the commissioner (assuming the commish owns a team, too).
Transaction
A roster change. Some leagues have a transaction fee. Also see Cut, Pickup, and Trade
Waiver
Some leagues have players recently dropped by teams to go into a "waiver" status for one or more days. When in this status, owners cannot immediately add the player. Instead they make a waiver claim for the player. When the commissioner processes waivers, usually the team with the least wins get first claim on players, and then the team with the second least wins, etc.
Yowza
Another word for "holy crap".
YPC
Yards Per Catch/Yards Per Carry - depending on whether the context is for a WR/TE or RB
YPA
Yards Per Attempt
YPG
yards per game
TD
Touchdown
Tuddie aka Tuddy
Touchdown
POS
Piece of Shit
POC
Piece of Crap
RB1
A fantasy running back that is projected to be among the top 12 RBs in the league.
RB2
Still starter worthy – a fantasy RB that should be drafted among the top 24 RBs.
RB3
A backup fantasy RB that should be considered among the top 30-36 at his position.
QB/TE1
A fantasy QB/TE that is projected to perform among the top 10-12 at his position.
QB/TE2
A backup fantasy QB/TE that should be considered among the top 20-24 at his position.
WR1
A fantasy WR that is projected to perform among the top 10-12 in the league.
WR2
Still starter worthy, a fantasy WR that is projected to perform among the top 20-24 at his position.
WR3
Still starter worthy, a fantasy WR that is projected to perform among the top 30-36 at his position.
WR4/5/6
A WR projected to be a fantasy backup
