Dynasty League Rule Changes: Points Per Carry

Jacob Feldman

The fantasy “off-season” is officially upon us now. Hopefully, this means you have already let your league commissioners know your intentions for the 2019 fantasy season. You’ve already made certain your roster is in compliance with your off-season rules, and you know if there are any deadlines approaching for league fee payments, roster changes, etc. If not, you better stop reading and go figure that out. Don’t worry, I’ll wait for you. All good now? Okay, let’s get back to it.

Now that is all dealt with, it is time to move on to your next task. Unfortunately, it is something that many league owners just don’t participate in at all. It is time to start proposing changes to your league rules and bylaws.

Having a league with well-constructed and thought our bylaws to go with a fair scoring system is one of the key factors in if a league will last for years to come or if it will quickly circle the drain and break up. Much like the NFL, leagues need to change and evolve with the times. Every league should be going through an annual evaluation period of its rules where owners can have open and honest discussions about the things that work and the things that need to be changed. What was great ten years ago when your league started might be an area of concern today.

When I first started writing for DLF almost six years ago, one of my big pushes was to “Kick the Kicker” from dynasty leagues. It took a while, but I think playing without a kicker in dynasty is now the norm. This is just one example of a change that leagues can and should be making as time goes on.

In order to help you out, I have decided to put together a little series with a few ideas for changes you should be proposing and discussing in your leagues. Before I go any further, let me be the first to say that every league is different, and it is important that you do what fits your league and what your owners find enjoyable. If you don’t like an idea or it doesn’t fit with your league’s philosophy, then, by all means, don’t bring it up. These are just some ideas I think are definitely worthy of discussion.

Previously, I tackled the idea of adding points for a first down to your league and why you might want to consider it.

TODAY’S TOPIC: POINTS PER CARRY

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In the interest of full disclosure, when I first heard of points per carry a few years ago, I was very against the idea. In fact, I went out of my way to avoid joining leagues with points per carry in the scoring and voted against the change in another league. Then I had the opportunity to join a bunch of my fellow DLF writers in doing a live start-up draft for a new league in Chicago. It had been ages since I had done a live draft, and it was too much of an opportunity to pass up! We took over a local bar, put the giant draft board on the wall, and a good time was had by all!

I know. Get to the point.

One of the rule changes the league voted on and passed during the creation of the league was 0.25 points per carry. As I said, I was originally against the rule and voted against it in this league, but I’ve come to like it over the years. It has also been gaining a lot of traction in the community as a whole, and has been one of the scoring systems featured in the Scott Fish Bowl.

Before I get too much into why I have had a change of heart on this rule, I want to take a few moments to look at a few games. I could have picked any number of teams as this kind of situation plays out all over the league, but I decided to go with Washington for this example.

Below is a chart of the running back usage and production for the first four games of the 2018 football season. I could have picked pretty much any window of time when both players were healthy and seen similar results. I also could have picked several different teams and done the same thing. Due to the unpredictable nature of touchdowns, I decided to leave them out of the chart below.

*Fantasy points calculated using the traditional 1 PPR scoring system.

screen shot 2019 02 25 at 21.27.39

During this four-game snapshot, Adrian Peterson had 13.5 percent more touches, 26 percent more yardage, a higher yardage per touch number than Chris Thompson  (Peterson – 5.64, Thompson – 5.08) and was all around the better offensive weapon for the team. However, the 1 PPR scoring system “rewarded” Peterson with only 80 percent of the points Thompson earned purely because Peterson was used more as a rusher while Thompson caught a lot of passes. I have some issues with this because Peterson was the better player for his NFL team in almost every way you can measure. He was more involved, more productive and more efficient. Yet this didn’t translate to fantasy football. This is exactly where points per carry comes in!

Before I go any further, one word of caution: I am in no way saying you make every carry worth a point. That would be massively unbalancing. When we talk about points per carry, we are talking along the lines of 0.25 or 0.2 points for each carry. That means it is 1 point for every four or five carries. Some leagues do 0.1 point per carry, but I don’t feel that is quite enough – just a little boost for those who touch the ball the most for their NFL team.

If we add in a point for every four carries to the above situation, we get much closer totals for the two running backs above. Just by making that one little change, we get Peterson with 59.8 points and Thompson with 61.75 points. If we combine this change with making it 0.5 points per reception for running backs instead of 1 point per reception, which is another change I’m in favor of making, we start seeing numbers which better reflect their contributions towards their NFL team. Peterson would now have 56.3 points while Thompson drops to 48.75 points. This means Peterson’s total fantasy points would be about 15.5 percent better than Thompson, which falls very nicely in line with his usage and production numbers. If you add in first-down scoring, it gets even better!

How does adding points per carry impact players as a whole?

It obviously benefits the running backs who get a high number of carries by adding roughly 4-5 points per week to their total. This makes your elite bellcow backs worth a little bit more. However, it also makes your two-down rushers, like Peterson, viable starters as well. This is extremely valuable in larger leagues and deeper leagues which require at least two running back starters. It gives you more options for your RB2/flex positions and increases the total number of running backs in the discussion while also placing a premium on the elite ones. One other side effect is that it adds a little something to those rushing quarterbacks who are often a little less proficient in the passing game.

Are there any downsides to points per carry?

Talking about downsides is a very relative discussion, because what one person calls a downside the next one might call a feature. The only real complaint I have heard about point per carry scoring is that it really places a premium on the elite running back. In the league I referenced at the beginning, which is a 1 PPR and 0.25 PPC league, the top receiver was 15th in overall scoring. There were six running backs ahead of him, so it does increase that disparity between elite rusher and elite receiver just a little bit more. Splitting the PPR into 0.5 for rushers and 1.0 for receivers helps keep the balance as it was a bit more. Regardless, it does make the value of the elite running back climb a bit.

Talking points to help you get the rule passed

As with any rule change, there will be people who don’t like it simply because it is a change. That means you need to be prepared with a few different arguments and approaches you can use to help get the majority of your league on board. Here are a few options for you.

  1. A decade or so ago, when PPR scoring was just starting to creep into the mainstream fantasy world, a part of the argument was rewarding players for being a part of their team’s offense. That is exactly what PPC does. It gives players some credit for being involved and used by their NFL team. After all, if they are important to their NFL team, that should count for something in fantasy.
  2. One of the best impacts of PPC scoring is for larger and/or deeper leagues. When you add in PPC scoring, it increases the depth of the running back position. By the time that you are getting into 14 and 16-team leagues with mandatory two starters at the position plus some flex players, the running back position gets really thin. With PPC scoring, you get a few more viable options since all parts of those running back committees now have a place on rosters.
  3. As was stated in the first part of the article, PPC helps to balance out the different running back roles. Without it, you can have the passing down specialist getting quite a bit fewer yards but still scoring more fantasy points as outlined in the situation at the start. That doesn’t seem right to me. After all, yards through the air and yards through the ground count the same for an NFL team. The PPC system helps even this out.

That is it for points per carry. Just keep in mind, the most I would ever advocate for is 0.25 points per carry. I think my ideal scoring for the running back position would be 0.2 points per carry with 0.5 PPR and a point for a first down. If you like the rule, give it a shot in your league. Good luck!

Next on my list, revised quarterback scoring in one quarterback leagues.

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jacob feldman