Fantasy Football Glossary
Every term you need — dynasty formats, scoring settings, commissioner concepts, and trade vocabulary. Each entry links to the relevant tool or strategy guide.
A
- ADP
- Average Draft Position. Where a player is typically drafted across leagues. Not the same as true value — ADP reflects market consensus, which can be wrong. Use ADP to find players being drafted above or below their actual worth.
B
- Best Ball
- A draft-only format where the platform automatically starts your highest-scoring lineup after the games are played. No in-season management, waivers, or trades. Spike-week upside matters more than consistency.
- Buy Low
- Acquiring a good long-term asset while the market is temporarily too pessimistic. Common windows: recoverable injuries, slow starts with stable usage, or situation changes the market has not priced in yet.
C
- Commissioner
- The manager responsible for league settings, scheduling, rules, dues, and disputes. A good commissioner writes rules before problems happen and avoids mid-season rule changes.
- Collusion
- When two managers coordinate to benefit one team unfairly — intentionally lopsided trades, roster dumping, or side agreements. Different from a bad trade. Commissioners should use a trade calculator to evaluate whether imbalance is real before ruling.
- Consolidation Trade
- Turning multiple useful assets into one better asset. Usually helps contenders (starting lineup strength > bench depth). Can hurt rebuilding teams if they give up appreciating assets for one short-term player.
- Contender
- A team with a realistic chance to win the league this season. Contenders should value starting-lineup depth, handcuffs, and consolidation trades over distant picks.
D
- Dynasty League
- A format where managers keep most or all of their roster year to year. Player age, future picks, and long-term value matter as much as current-week production. Evaluate trades by timeline: contending now, rebuilding, or building toward a future window.
F
- FAAB
- Free Agent Acquisition Budget. Instead of waiver priority, managers bid from a season-long dollar budget. Every waiver move has an opportunity cost, so FAAB rewards judgment over luck.
H
- Half-PPR
- 0.5 fantasy points per reception. Between full PPR and standard scoring — rewards volume without inflating check-down catches as dramatically as 1.0 PPR. Most competitive dynasty leagues use half-PPR or full PPR.
I
- IDP
- Individual Defensive Player. Instead of a team defense slot, you roster individual defenders (linebackers, D-linemen, DBs). IDP value depends heavily on your league's scoring settings and position requirements.
K
- Keeper League
- Lets managers keep a limited number of players from one season to the next. Sits between redraft and full dynasty — future value matters, but rosters reset more than in dynasty.
P
- PPR
- Point Per Reception. One fantasy point for each catch. Raises the value of target-heavy WRs, pass-catching RBs, and volume TEs. In PPR, targets are currency.
R
- Rebuild
- A dynasty strategy of selling short-term production for younger players, rookie picks, and future flexibility. A good rebuild has a target contention window, not just a plan to lose.
- Redraft
- A one-season format where managers draft a new team every year. Age and future picks do not matter. The goal is to maximize current-season points and playoff upside.
- Rookie Pick
- A future draft selection for incoming rookies after the NFL Draft. In dynasty, rookie picks are tradeable assets. "1.01" = first overall pick; "2.08" = 8th pick of the second round.
S
- Sell High
- Trading a player whose current market value exceeds his likely future value. Common windows: unsustainable TD spikes, temporary injury-fill production, aging-player name value, or scheme changes not yet in the numbers.
- Standard Scoring
- No points for receptions. Values players more on yards and touchdowns — raises the importance of TD roles and big-play efficiency vs. volume formats.
- Startup Draft
- The first draft of a dynasty league that creates all initial rosters. Strategy differs from redraft: young players, elite QBs in Superflex, and future flexibility often matter more than one-year projections.
- Superflex
- A roster setting where a second flex spot can be filled by any position including QB. Because only 32 NFL starters exist, Superflex roughly doubles elite QB value and makes the position deeply scarce.
T
- Taxi Squad
- A separate stash area (usually 3–5 spots) for rookies or second-year players. Use it as a prospect pipeline, not a holding pen. Stash players with clear paths to NFL roles; cut decisively when the path closes.
- TE-Premium
- A scoring format giving tight ends extra PPR points (usually 1.5 vs. 1.0 for other positions). Raises the value of high-volume TEs and makes the position harder to ignore in dynasty.
- Tiebreaker
- The rule for separating teams with equal records. Common options: total points, head-to-head record, division record, points against. Should be written before the season starts.
- 2QB
- A format requiring two starting quarterbacks per lineup. Even stricter QB scarcity than Superflex — the second QB slot cannot be filled by another position.
V
- Veto
- A league mechanism for blocking a trade. Should be reserved for collusion or rule violations — not because other managers dislike the trade. Overused vetoes kill trade activity in a league.
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Deeper glossaries by format
The terms above are the common vocabulary. Each format has its own, and these go further:
- Fantasy Football Glossary: Every Term You Need to Know
From FAAB to Superflex to Zero RB — the fullest reference on the site, with 57 defined terms.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football Glossary: Every Term You Need to Know
ADP, taxi squad, devy, contend vs rebuild — dynasty has its own vocabulary.
- Dynasty Glossary of Terms: Key Dynasty Fantasy Football Terms Explained
A quick-reference companion to the dynasty glossary above.
- Best Ball Glossary of Terms: Key Best Ball Fantasy Football Terms Explained
Draft-only formats bring their own language: stacking, leverage, spike weeks.
- Commissioner Glossary of Terms: Key Fantasy Football Commissioner Terms Explained
The terms a commissioner needs when writing rules and settling disputes.