Scott Engel is in his 13th year as the official Fantasy Football writer and analyst for Seahawks.com. He is an inaugural member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association's Hall of Fame. Scott is a four-time FSWA award winner and a 13-time nominee. You can find more of his fantasy football analysis and fantasy football rankings at RotoBaller.com.

The month of July truly signals the approach of the new fantasy football season. All across the country and even abroad, avid NFL fans begin to formulate their plans for upcoming league drafts. As the Seahawks ready for training camp later this month, fantasy leaguers are starting to study more and catch up on player news and offseason movement. They also may mull over what types of leagues to play in this year, and how to attack their 2024 drafts to successfully defend a league championship or to fare better than last season.

As we open the 2024 fantasy football season on Seahawks.com, our weekly article series kicks off with the map to settling in for your annual draft day.

Fantasy Football Draft Prep: The 2024 Playbook

Finding Or Adjusting Your Fantasy Football League

A good portion of you reading this article will already be readying to return to existing leagues for the 2024 NFL schedule. Others will be looking to add more leagues to play in, to expand the options for more excitement, or to get a fresh start. Some will be seeking new ways to play the game.

The most familiar method of forming a new league is to organize a new one among friends, co-workers, or family, or a mixture of all of those types of people. Once you have identified a good group of potential players, you can create a league online. Also, consider an in-person draft or one that includes a Zoom session to accompany the draft. The fun factor gets elevated when everyone is welcomed into a communal environment, and nothing beats a live, in-person draft complete with food and lively banter in that regard.

Those who are looking for new leagues can always join one online, no matter the level of experience of a player. Newcomers can join an online public league at sites such as NFL.com, while more experienced competitors can hook on with higher-stakes leagues such as the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) or Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC).

If you are returning to the same league this season, there are always changes to consider in the scoring or roster formats, even if the alterations are minor. League members can suggest to the league manager/commissioner potential changes to roster setups or scoring categories that will further enhance the playing experience for the 2024 campaign. You can also review suggestions from the past season that may have been raised, and the time to reiterate them is in advance of the upcoming annual draft.

There are unique types of leagues and formats that some may not be familiar with yet, or have participated in, that will only make fantasy football more enjoyable. In the next section, I feature other ways to play, whether you want to revise the structure of a current league or are looking for a new and challenging way to compete.

NFL Fantasy Football: Try These League Formats

Most fantasy leaguers are familiar with the widely accepted format of a one quarterback, two running backs, two to three wide receivers, one tight end, and a flex player roster setup. The most familiar scoring methods feature one or a half-point per reception.

Want to broaden your fantasy horizons this year? Here are some exciting types of formats that will demand a more formidable test of your skills. You should be able to join these sorts of leagues on many online fantasy football platforms or try to coax your existing league mates to change the structure of the current league.

Superflex Leagues: This is the fastest-growing type of league, in which you can start not one, but two flex players, and QBs are eligible for the second flex position, whereas RBs, WRs, and TEs are only eligible for the first flex spot. Because QBs usually score more fantasy points than any other players most of the time, the Superflex league essentially becomes a two-QB format.

QBs become much more important to draft in the early rounds and you could see them dominate the first round. I personally prefer to draft my two QBs in the first four rounds or so in Superflex leagues, and a third QB is a must later in the draft for bye week and injury purposes.

Best Ball Leagues: At this time of year, many experienced fantasy players are already competing in Best Ball leagues, which is essentially a "draft and forget it" type of format. You simply draft a team, and then sit back and watch the results roll in throughout the the 2024 NFL schedule. There are no roster moves such as start/sit decisions, and no waiver adds or trades.

Every week during the season, the league site optimizes your lineup based on the highest scorers. For instance, if Geno Smith and Brock Purdy are your QBs, and Smith outscores Purdy in a given week, then Smith's points count towards your weekly totals. The highest-scoring players at all other positions are then counted toward your team's output to determine the weekly score. The team with the most overall points at the end of the season is the league champion.

Best Ball leagues are very appealing because you can draft as many times as desired without having to be concerned about managing too many teams. Plus, drafting multiple teams is much like participating in several fantasy football mock drafts, except in Best Ball leagues, the results actually count while serving as "practice reps" for your seasonal league drafts.

Keeper And Dynasty Leagues: In these formats, you carry over players from one season to the next. Keeper leagues require you to often choose one to three players, for instance, to hold onto from last season. In some keeper leagues, you will have to surrender a draft pick based on the original round the player was drafted in, or the pick penalty will be escalated per round every year. This type of format changes the annual draft approach, with an extra focus on longer-term production.

If your existing league elects to change to the keeper format, be sure to execute a new draft. You cannot base keeper picks on the previous season when a one-year approach was used during last year's draft.

Dynasty leagues are the ultimate general manager/head coach hybrid experience. In the first year, you draft a full roster, and then the bulk of that roster is carried over from one season to the next. You will participate in annual rookie drafts, and also deal with roster cutdown dates. The dynasty format is the closest thing to acting as John Schneider and Mike Macdonald from the fantasy perspective.

Other Fun Formats: Individual Defender Leagues feature defensive linemen, linebackers, and defensive backs in the starting lineup rather than a team defense. Points are awarded in categories such as tackles, sacks, interceptions and passes defensed. Devon Witherspoon is a top 10 IDP defensive back.

TE Premium Scoring leagues will award 1.5 points per reception to a TE, as one example, boosting the draft stock of players at the thinnest position in fantasy football. … Some leagues now include two head-to-head matchups per week. … "Eliminator" leagues are becoming more popular. The lowest-scoring team is eliminated every week, and all of their players are put into the free agent pool. Teams are eliminated every week until only one is remaining as the season champion.

Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet Tips

Most fantasy football information sites have cheat sheets as a staple option, and on sites such as RotoBaller.com and FantasyPros, you can use a cheat sheet generator to generate a custom cheat sheet based on your league's setup. Savvy fantasy players may be comfortable compiling their won cheat sheets, and consulting player projections is an essential task. NFL.com even has fantasy football podcasts that break down the latest players to highlight on cheat sheets.

Other Ways To Get Ready For Draft Day

Mock drafting is a must, and we will simply remind you to do the exercise as often as possible. Some sites even have Mock Draft Simulators, which allow you to draft from one slot against simulated league opponents in just a few minutes.

Experienced fantasy players always consult Average Draft Position (ADP) reports and examine updated NFL depth charts. … Many fantasy league platforms and apps incorporate player news feeds, so set your notifications accordingly. … NFL and fantasy football magazines still exist. Grab one of each to catch up on the latest offseason news and gain some additional insights.

I have already drafted Jaxon Smith-Njigba in one of my early experts leagues. I was very happy to land him in the eighth round. If you do the same this year, consider representing the Seahawks you draft by purchasing a jersey or player shirt in the Seahawks.com Pro Shop. Start checking out the merchandise now so you can be ready to get the gear after drafting a Seahawk.

For more fantasy football analysis from Scott Engel, visit his writer page at RotoBaller.com during the 2024 fantasy football preseason.