Fantasy Football: Glossary

Don't know how to play fantasy football. Below is a glossary of the most common terms used in fantasy football, along with some of our own. If you’re a newbie, or not, get yourself familiar with the following terms to avoid looking like an amateur in your league.

QB- Quarterback
RB- Running back
WR-Wide Receiver
TE- Tight End
K-Kicker
IDP-Individual Defensive Player

ADP Average Draft Position – A list to give you an idea where you should draft players.
Assisted Tackle- When a player only gets partial credit for a tackle.
Basic Scoring- A very simple fantasy football league that only rewards players for touchdowns, field goals and extra points. Usually for beginners
Bench Player- A player that’s on your team, but not in your starting lineup.
Blind Bidding- A process in auctions leagues where teams bid on players without the other fantasy owners knowing the amount.
Bust- A player that’s highly rated that performs poorly.
Bye Week- A player who’s team doesn’t play that week. Every NFL team has one bye week.
Cheat Sheet- A list of players that are ranked to help prepare fantasy football owners for their league draft.
Commissioner/Commish- El Presidente. The President. Every league assigns someone to set up the league, handle squabbles, collect the money and run the everyday operations for their particular fantasy league.
Cut/drop- An action when a fantasy football owner releases a player from his team.
Depth Chart- A list of players on a team ranked by position: Starter, second, third and so on.
Draft- When all league owners get together before the start of a season and pick players to fill their rosters.
Draft Guide- Compiled stats, news, injury lists etc that is used to determine the fantasy value of NFL players.
Draft Pick- When a fantasy football owner selects a player in a league draft.
Fantasy Football- A game played with a group of people that accumulate NFL players by position. Fantasy teams then play other teams in a head to head format and accumulate points based on player’s actual performance in NFL games.
Fantasy League- A collection of fantasy football teams.
Fantasy Risks- A player with potential that presents a risk due to injury issues etc.

FF- Abbreviation for fantasy football.
Flex position- A position in your weekly lineup that allows you to pick a receiver, tight end or a running back. It usually looks something like this: WR/RB or WR/TE.
Fools Gold- A Pigskinusa term for a player that is overrated.
Gamble- Taking a chance on a player. Pretty much same as a fantasy risk.
Ghost Ship- When an owner of a team doesn’t pay attention to his/hers team and eventually totally ignores the team altogether letting it float aimlessly out to sea. Early signs of this are; not updating bye weeks and leaving injured players in their starting lineup. When an owner that falls into this category it’s a must to banish them for life without any chance of parole.
Handcuff- When a fantasy owner drafts a stud player and also drafts his backup as an insurance policy.

Head to Head- The most common type of fantasy football league. This is when teams within there league play against each other with the high scorer winning for that week.
High Point - Refers to a league that the team with the most accumulated points over the length of the season in crowned champion.
Homer A fantasy player that tends to draft, or pick up only his/hers players on their favorite teams.
Injury Prone A player that tends to get injured often.
Injury Report- A list of players that are currently injured and their status.
IR- Abbreviation for injured reserve. Some leagues allow you to put injured players on injured reserve and fill their spots with other players on their roster.
Live Draft- When fantasy football owners get together in person to draft their teams.
Mock Draft- Not a real draft. Usually a publication or website predicting where certain players will be picked in a draft format.
Newbie/Rookie- A team owner who has never played fantasy football.
Online Draft- When your leagues draft in done online. Usually using your own draft software or through a free fantasy service like Yahoo.
Owner/General manger- The person who drafts his/her team of players and manages it on a weekly basis.

Performance Scoring- A scoring system that gives points for pretty much everything a player does during the course of a real NFL game.
Pickup- When a fantasy owner adds a player that is a free agent.
Playoffs- The games that the leagues best teams play at the season to determine a champion.
Projections- Ranking of NFL players perceived fantasy value.
QBBC- Quarter Back By Committee.
RBBC-Running Back By Committee.
Reach- When a fantasy owner drafts a player higher then their projected to go.
Roster- The collection of players on a fantasy football team.
Round- When every team pick once is one round. Then the process is repeated; round 2, round 3 etc.
Scoring system - When the league commissioner sets the amount of points to be awarded for each position; touchdowns, field goals, rushing yards etc.
Serpentine draft or snake draft- When the draft order is randomly picked or drawn for the first round, and then reverses itself in the second, third round and so forth.
Sleeper- A lesser known player who an owner thinks is going to have a good year.
Starting lineup- The players on a team that a fantasy owner starts that week.
Team defense- When the entire defense is awarded points for results in a game; not the individual players.
Tier- A way of ranking fantasy players by position and by their perceived skill level.
Trade- When a player or players in sent to another team in exchange for the same.
Trade Deadline- Trades are allowed up to a predetermined date, set by the league commissioner.
Transaction- A transaction is anything that results in a roster change: Trades, pickup etc.
Vulture- A fantasy football term for a running back that is called to score touchdowns inside the red zone.
Waive- The action taken to release a player from your team.
Waiver priority- A team that has first rights to a player.
Waiver Wire- When released players are put out to pasture for other teams to pickup. There is usually a waiting period before the players can be added, usually the worst teams in the league have top priority.
Watch list- A way of tracking players that are not currently on any teams roster.

Fantasy Sleepers
Fantasy Football Home
Fantasy Player Rankings
Fantasy Risk Wide Receivers
Fantasy Risks Runningbacks
Fantasy Risks Tight Ends
NFL Football Team Schedules
Fantasy Risks Quarterbacks
Fantasy Football Team Names