Posting this idea here might be like suggesting to the Monopoly crowd that the board game could be shortened less than 5-10 hours. "But hey, endurance is part of the game!" Well whatever, here it goes.
I've been thinking that I would have more fun in a FF competition if it were instead organized in team units. I'll explain.... Maybe it's because of the excessive injuries this year, but I feel tired of worrying about some non-performance factors: Whether an ankle sprain takes Fournette out mid-game. Whether Marshawn charges the ref. Whether Fitzgerald sneezed on Tuesday afternoon.
I understand that part of the spirit of fantasy is to capture individual achievment. But sometimes it's also set up to ignore pure skill: because splits, handcuffs, injuries, and team tactics all pick away at points that could otherwise come from raw skill. To me, it's equally interesting how much a team is prepared to work together, in the face of changing situations.
Anyway, here's an example of how it could have looked like:
Quarterback | Vikings | Sam Bradford | Case Keenum | Teddy Bridgewater
Running Back | Redskins | Rob Kelley | Chris Thompson | Samaje Perine
Receivers | Eagles | Nelson Agholor | Zach Ertz | Alshon Jeffery
Special teams | Chiefs | Chiefs Defense | Cairo Santos | Harrison Butker
Or another:
Quarterback | Packers | Aaron Rodgers | Brett Hundley | Joe callahan
Running Back | Titans | DeMarco Murray | Derrick Henry | Jalston Fowler
Receivers | Cardinals | Larry Fitzgerald | John Brown | J.J. Nelson
Special teams | Bills | Bills Defense | Stephen Haushcka | Dan Carpenter
So you draft/stream/trade 4 units; and each week you select e.g. 1+3+3+2 who score points. QB and kicker get backups for unforeseen events.
I know that doing this lowers the ceiling and that probably some of you just love to hate the randomness and chaos. But I like how this would move the game a little more away from dumb luck and closer to skillful selection. Side note, in some cases it would also make it easier to pick from teams you're actually a fan of and not commit to losing. Anyway, go ahead and shoot me down, call it FantasyLite, whatever; but to the entrepreneurial computer guys out there, I would for sure sign up for something like this! Anyone else?