If you read this column regularly, you know that I support people playing fantasy football in whatever format they prefer. There's no right or wrong way to play: Big leagues, small leagues, keepers, dynasty, IDP, total points (my favorite), or anything else. It doesn't matter. If you enjoy playing that way, go for it.
Well, with one exception. You cannot ignore the NFL's adding a game to the regular season schedule. Leagues might have gotten a pass last season, but their schedule needs to be updated for 2022.
Why can't leagues just keep doing what they were doing (playoffs in week 15, championship in week 16)? Because we wait all offseason to play our game for a few months. It's already a short amount of time. If the league gifted us another week of football that matters, why would you choose to ignore it? It seems almost criminal not to add a little more fun to the schedule.
It used to be that week 17 was the dangerous week to schedule a fantasy championship game. Teams might be resting players ahead of a wildcard-round contest, so your best players might not be on the field when you need them the most. In that case, it made sense to hold the title game in week 16, when many teams were still fighting for playoff spots or byes. But with an extra game, week 17 now means something, and it's the newly-created week 18 that leagues would want to consider avoiding. So instead of weeks 15 and 16 being the playoff weeks, it can be weeks 16 and 17 with no detriment to the integrity of the competition.
That's an extra week of fantasy football that matters. Why would you discard that opportunity? You can keep teams in the playoff hunt for an extra week. You could expand the playoff format and add in extra wildcard teams. You could even copy the NBA and add a play-in game between a couple of teams for the final spot. But you simply can't pretend it doesn't exist and end your season a week early. That's poor league management and the commissioner bears responsibility for the oversight.
Now, last season might be different. It was a new development, and might not have been a priority for fantasy leagues. I was in a new league last year that was just getting set up, and it was a little more rushed than we wanted. As a result, we ended the season like most leagues would have in previous years. I didn't love it, but I was happy to see the league prosper and I put it on the list of things we want to adjust going forward. So if you used the old schedule last year, just make sure you fix it for the upcoming season. And what better time to make changes than in July, when many league managers are just starting to get back into fantasy football?
If you're a commissioner of a league using the outdated schedule, propose a change today. You can keep it simple and just add a week to the regular season, or try a different format mentioned above. If you're not the commissioner, reach out to them and see if there's a plan to accommodate the new schedule if it wasn't handled last year. But make sure you head into 2022 with a plan that ensures teams get as much fun out of the fantasy season as possible. An extra week of competition shouldn't be ignored.
Oh, and if you need more incentive to make the change: Bye weeks. The NFL now has teams off in week 14. Not only that, it's tied for the most teams off of any bye week in 2022. Six NFL teams are off in week 14, meaning the make-or-break game before the playoffs will have several fantasy teams without their best players. Indianapolis and Green Bay are among the teams resting, for example. I know it's technically fair since other players had their bye weeks earlier, but you don't want starters sitting on such an important week. If you push everything back a week, you avoid this problem and add another week of competition. Everybody wins. Except the teams that lose, of course. But they got to play another week, and that's something.
If you're in a league that's already addressed this issue last year or in the offseason, congratulations. Your commissioner is on top of things. But if not, I wanted to remind you that it's not too late. You have plenty of time to update your schedule, and even stubborn leagues that don't make a lot of changes should see the upside of enhancing the experience for everybody. Go for it.
What has your league done to accommodate the extra regular season game? Are you planning to change it this season? Anybody choose to leave things the same and like it that way? Share your thoughts below.