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Ask the Experts

What is your favorite playoff fantasy football format?

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What is your favorite playoff fantasy football format?

L'ROY ANTHONY HALE

My ideal format for a fantasy league (season-long or playoffs) would be to combine the elements of daily fantasy sports (DFS) with a total points competition. Each participant creates a lineup each week using the DFS salary cap format and there is a weekly prize pool for the best lineups. There would also be a season-long (or playoffs-long) competition where there is a prize pool for the participants with the most total points. I have the software capabilities to do this type of league and (for the first time) will be putting together a private league for this year's NFL playoffs and will have a private league next year for the regular season.

Hale is the founder of the Fantasy Maxam family of websites, Fantasy Gives, Fantasy First and Fantasy Football for Females, a charitable organization that utilizes fantasy sports to support non-profit groups. For the first time ever, Fantasy Gives will turn fantasy football in to a national fundraiser where participants can win thousands of dollars in weekly prizes while supporting their favorite charity.

IAN ALLAN

I’m not a huge fan of the playoff contests. At this time of year, I like to let the fantasy stuff slide to the background a little and focus more on the actual NFL teams. Who’s going to win the thing? Which players look like they might be better (or worse) in 2016? That kind of thing. I like fantasy competition that involves rosters, head-to-head competition, starting lineups and whatnot. Blending fantasy into the NFL postseason, the more practical competition is to get a group together divide up the talent, and see who can amass the most overall points. It’s OK, I guess, but just not in the same league as the regular fantasy football product.

Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at www.fantasyindex.com.

SAM HENDRICKS

Love the idea of a salary cap playoff-but sounds like hard work for the commish especially if it changes every week of playoffs. I am the commissioner in my local league and I run a playoff contest that is similar to other high stakes contests. Each owner can pick only 1 player per playoff team. So if you pick Tom Brady from the Pats you CANNOT also have Rob Gronkowski. We usually use 10 roster spots so two playoff teams will not have players on your roster. I also change the rules in the playoff contest to "try out" rule changes for next year. So if we are thinking about going to a 1.5 PPR for TE-I use it in the playoff contest. No two rosters can be the same. So the first one with a QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, TE, 2 Flex, K and Def has that roster for the duration and no other owner can have the exact same lineup. They can change one position and have a totally different roster. The roster is for the entire playoffs and Super Bowl and...players that make it to the Super Bowl get double points in that game. Again very similar to another high stakes contest but I change the scoring rules every year to reflect possible rule changes the competition committee are considering so everyone gets a feel for them and can give some good feedback. I will be playing in the Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC) Main Event in 2016. Hope to see everyone in Vegas in September for the the live draft! Happy New Year!

Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 20-plus year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.

ALAN SATTERLEE

I love playing in playoff leagues and we've done it for years in my long-time personal league. We have a normal serpentine draft based on random draft order. The key is that eight teams is the optimal number -- that way in theory, every team has a starting quarterback, kicker, defense in weeks one and two of the playoffs.

Satterlee is a co-owner and senior writer for Dynasty Football Warehouse. DFW is comprehensive site covering dynasty, redraft, IDP and Daily formats. DFW has a large writing crew with many people from the DFW community contributing to the insights and discussion. Alan is also the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast.

DAVID DOREY

I play in several types but my favorite is when you pick a team in Week 18 and then ride it as far as it goes with all players getting credit for points.

Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.

ANDY RICHARDSON

I like the salary cap leagues where you pick your entire roster before the playoffs start. Lots of different strategies, and you are rewarded for picking NFL winners and losers accurately. I suspect I will be doing one of those this year, as soon as I decide who will be playing in Super Bowl 50 I guess.

Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.

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