Should you switch your dynasty league to a Superflex format?

Every year we see comments and posts from league commissioners asking for ideas on how to make their leagues more exciting and competitive. Ideas can carry wildly, but the recommendation I will always make and suggest is switching your dynasty league to a Superflex format. 

Many of you have been playing this game for years. Some have been playing it for decades. We have seen several changes in the fantasy football landscape over the years. We have witnessed leagues go from standard to PPR to even half-point PPR. We have seen leagues implement FAAB, instead of just waiver priorities based on their record. We have seen leagues add flex spots, and some leagues have removed kickers or fantasy defenses. There are always trends in the community as these tweaks begin to make waves and become the new “standard.” That is what we see with Superflex formats as well. I predict that over the next 3-4 years, this will be the default format on all of your favorite websites, and information will be more prevalent than it is now. 

Currently, Superflex scoring is viewed as more of an outlier in the mainstream thinking, as they believe that a 1QB league gives plenty of value to the quarterback position on its own. But does it, when players like Mitch Trubisky, while not a great quarterback, are on waivers? Why is it the most valuable players in the NFL are so devalued in this game we love? Superflex is there to fix that by giving not only the quarterback increased value due to positional scarcity but also more consistency in your lineup as well.  

The QB position

Why is it that the most critical position in sports is merely an afterthought in fantasy football? Read any strategy article or turn on any podcast and you will likely hear the same sentiment: wait on drafting a quarterback.

This is a strategy that I, along with countless other fantasy experts and analysts, will preach for 1QB startups. Think about the amount of strategy you put into the other positions. Are you a zero-RB drafter? Do you believe in balance early on, such as targeting an RB and WR in the first two rounds? But when it comes to quarterback, there is usually just one question: do you want to pay up for the elite talent? If the answer is no, you simply wait. So not only are we adding a new element into drafting strategies, but it also mixes up how people will draft.

In a typical league, you get a feel pretty quickly on the room you are in and their process. In a Superflex draft, how other members in your league choose to implement this change into their draft strategies creates a wide range of variance, adding a much-needed excitement into the draft. 

The reason we can wait so long is due to how deep the position is. Not only that, but it is also arguably the most consistent. By transitioning to a Superflex dynasty league, you are adding another chance to play one of the top-scoring players week-in and week-out in your lineups. Compare that scenario against that of a 1QB format where you are relying on a low floor/mid-ceiling guy who you hope will have a halfway decent return on value. 

Take a look at this list of quarterbacks and their end of season totals in fantasy football.

In the last five years, there have been just two seasons with fewer than 15 QBs scoring 250+ fantasy points. Not only does that mean that every owner in your league can have a QB scoring that amount, but it means that there are likely some QBs on the waiver that you can pick up and simply plug into your lineup. If you change this to six points per passing touchdown, 23 quarterbacks in 2019 went above the 250 point mark — nearly almost enough to fill all rosters in a 12-team league. 

To give you a little more insight, in six-point scoring, Carson Wentz was the QB10 in 2019 with a point per game average of 20.61 points. Jacoby Brissett was the QB23, but he also had a point per game average of 16.87 points.

Compare that to the rest of the NFL, and only 16 players averaged more than what the QB23 did in 2019.

Switch to Superflex dynasty

Being able to add this kind of consistency to your roster is one of the best reasons to make the switch. But it does not mean that the game gets any easier, only a bit less fluky. The cream will still rise to the top, as there is now a more pressing need to have at least two of the upper echelon quarterbacks. As we saw in the graphic I posted earlier, there are enough 250+ point quarterbacks to go around for a 1QB league, but not a Superflex league. The penalty for being outside of that group with both of your starting players puts owners at a substantial weekly disadvantage that can be as much as 50-75 points throughout the season. 

This fact is magnified even more in dynasty as all relevant players are drafted. This means that there likely won’t be an opportunity to find a weekly waiver wire pick up mid-season. You will either have them on your roster or be forced to pay a premium in a trade. 

So when breaking all of this down, we come back to some main core elements. Changing to a Superflex dynasty league adds more variety to drafts. It gives more value to the most valuable position in sports. Teams and owners become more consistent by being able to utilize the highest-scoring players in fantasy in more places. Also, the skill gap is retained if not intensified due to the need for having as many quality starting quarterbacks as you can on your rosters. 

If that doesn’t make you want to give a Superflex format a shot, I don’t know what will. 

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Tommy Garrett is a writer for PFN covering Fantasy Football. You can follow him at @TommygarrettPFN on Twitter.