Format: Weekly Starting Roster Lineup
We will not browbeat you into submission on this topic. This is for you to determine in a way that has value for you and your coaches. Remember, however, that it is imperative that you design your league in such a way that you receive buy-in from your coaches. Stick to an unpopular format and you run the risk of losing interest from one or more coaches. Lost interest shows up negatively within your league, and can end up in coach loss and replacement.
One note regarding the creation of your starting roster requirements: consider individual defensive players (IDP) as opposed to defensive teams. The reason is due to the fact that individual players give coaches just one more avenue towards customizing their team. And with some of the scoring possibilities, it is quite easy to produce top fantasy performers with IDP's. In the end, this creates more league diversity and creates more draft possibilities as well.
We recommend a system whereby a team starts three IDP's every given week. Whether you want to determine which positions must be started or leave them all as flex players is a choice you will have to make if you choose this method. Additionally, consider scoring carefully as many of the point producing stats will be attainable by all the defensive players (i.e. sacks). Placing too much emphasis on one stat for, say, DL's (Defensive Linemen) may make LBs (Linebackers) too point heavy.
Give some consideration to the number of "required" starting positions and know that "less" is more for many of the positions. While many leagues like to require starting two RB's each week, realize that in a twelve team league, that means twenty-four RB's must be starting. You don't need to be Albert Einstein to realize that the RB pool can become VERY thin once injuries and bye weeks begin taking their toll. Also, due to the rule of diminishing return (at least as it relates to players within their positions), it is often times difficult to get excited about starting the 24th (or greater) ranked player in a single-start positions like QB's, RB's, TE's, etc. Forcing coaches into starting substandard starting players can lead to poor performance and loss of interest.
We recommend that if you are going to require starting multiple numbers of a single position, that you only consider it with the WR position as each team usually has at least two viable players with each snap.