Rules Committee Report: Scoring

The committee discussed a lot of stuff in this category:

1. Kickers
2. 3rd WRs or Flex RB/WR
3. Receiving Yards Scoring
4. 3rd DF or D Flex
5. D scoring

At the end of the day we added a WR/RB flex position, greatly increased receiving yard scoring and tackle scoring.  We did not remove kickers :( or add any other players to the starting roster.

There was a lot of discussion about adding a 3rd WR as part of the proposal to remove kickers.  I think that is a reflection on the depth at the WR position.  In the end there was more interest in adding a RB/WR flex position then just a 3rd WR spot to additionally acknowledge the RBBC phenomenon.  So our next task was to try to balance out 2nd tier RBs with 3rd tier WRs.  Our answer was to increased receiving yard scoring -- more in-line with rushing yard scoring -- increased the point at which bonus rushing yardage was scored.  Here are the specifics:

• FLOF teams will now start 10 players every game instead of 9: 1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR, 1 K, 2 DF, 2 DB, and either a 2nd RB or a 3rd WR.
• The first 168 yards (previously 160) receiving are now worth 1 point for every 14 yards (previously 1 per 20).  Every 7 yards above 168 are worth an additional point.
• Rushing yards are now worth 1 point for every 14 yards up to 126 (previously 98) and worth 1 point per 7 yards above 126.

We then ended up deciding to increase defensive scoring in order to retain the historical goal of a 2:1 ratio of offensive scoring to defensive scoring.  We discussed adding a 3rd DF or a DF/DB flex to the starting line-up but ended up deciding to simply increase scoring by increasing the value of tackles.  This will also keep individual defensive players in line with the value of WRs.  The specifics:

• The first 25 tackles (previously 22) are now worth 1 point per tackle (previously 1 point per 2 tackles).  Every tackle above 25 is now worth 2 points.

I expect that the total impact of this scoring will be that offensive scoring should go up about 20 points and defensive scoring should increase roughly 10 points.  These adjustments also should flatten the relative scoring of all positions in FLOF.  Below is a chart of historical scores from the last 2 years adjusted for the new scoring system compared to their values under the previous system.

scores under previous system

pos 17th | 33rd [ median ] 67th | 83rd

QB 6.2 | 11.2 [ 15.4 ] 20.3 | 26.0

RB1 3.3 | 6.2 [ 8.8 ] 12.0 | 16.6

WR1-2 1.7 | 2.8 [ 4.8 ] 8.5 | 12.4

K 4 | 6 [ 8 ] 10 | 12

DF 1.9 | 4.5 [ 6.5 ] 9.0 | 12.0

DB 2.0 | 3.5 [ 5.5 ] 8.0 | 11.5

scores under the new system

pos 17th | 33rd [ median ] 67th | 83rd

QBs 6.2 | 10.9 [ 15.3 ] 20.0 | 25.9

RB1s 6.0 | 9.0 [ 12.2 ] 15.1 | 19.5

WR1-2s 2.9 | 6.1 [ 9.6 ] 13.4 | 18.8

Ks 4 | 6 [ 8 ] 10 | 12

DFs 3.8 | 6.0 [ 9.0 ] 14.0 | 18.0

DBs 3 | 6 [ 8 ] 11 | 15

Note that there will likely be more changes coming specifically in relationship to the addition of a 10th starting position that we will discuss as part of player acquisition and roster size.

There was a big split on the committee in relation to kickers.  There were some owners who really wanted kickers to go away and there were other owners who really wanted them to stay.  I'm sure that will be a conversation that will continue and that may come up again in future years, but kickers remain for now.