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One of the great aspects of fantasy football is the versatility that your leagues can come in. There are differences in scoring rules, roster size, and the way the draft is set up. With all the options, what are the top five types of fantasy football leagues that fans can participate in? 

5. Superflex Leagues

Superflex leagues are ones where managers have the option to start two quarterbacks. Now, I say option to differentiate superflex from regular two-quarterback leagues. The superflex position is an extra flex on league rosters that can be held by a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or tight end. 

While this does provide flexibility with the extra flex spot, it also heightens the need and value of the quarterback position, as it is one of the scarcest. You’ll often see different strategies, but the most popular involves taking a quarterback in the first and/or second round of the draft. Another great aspect of superflex leagues is that there pretty much is no ADP. Everyone has different strategies with the way they want to make up their team, which is a huge aspect of the fun.

4. Daily Fantasy Sports Leagues (DFS)

If you love drafting, you’ll love DFS. The way it typically works is you have a set amount of money to spend to make up a team consisting of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, a flex, and a defense. You get to pick and choose where you want to spend the bulk of your money and where you want to cheap out to find some underrated value.

I love leagues with a lot of strategy, and this one is full of it. Matchups come into play in a major way since these games are on a weekly basis. There is so much research that involves making a good DFS team, and there is an edge to be had to create the highest scoring team possible.

3. Guillotine Leagues

This is actually a personal favorite of mine that I had to throw in. The way it works is that each week, one team gets eliminated until there is one team left. The team with the lowest number of points each week is eliminated from the league, and all of their players are dropped to the waiver wire, making them available for the remaining teams to pick up. This process repeats each week until there are only two teams remaining. Those two teams play against each other in the final week, and the team with the highest score in that game is crowned the league champion. This means that as the league shrinks smaller and smaller and managers get caught on the chopping block, the teams left become super teams and the strategy of who to start is immensely important. 

I absolutely love this type of league where there are no matchups, and you play against the rest of the league in order to not be eliminated. One bad week doesn’t equate to a loss, rather it leads to being eliminated from the league as a whole. This provides a twist to make every single week count in order to not be eliminated.

2. Redraft Leagues

Ol’ Regular redraft leagues need to be on this list as it is by far and away the most popular and the OG of fantasy football leagues. This is the gateway league that leads to all the versatility of other fantasy football leagues. One of the most interesting aspects of redraft leagues on top of restarting the league each year is that there is a nice combination between drafting, trading, and using the waiver wire to win. This also increases the competition because everyone pretty much has the strategy of redraft leagues down pat. Since everyone understands the rules, you can focus more on negotiations, whether in the draft or in trades. Instead of trying to outsmart people from a fantasy football perspective, a little psychology can take you over the top.

1. Dynasty Leagues

Dynasty leagues are by far and away the best league to be a part of. These leagues give fans a chance to be as close to a general manager as possible. You can have a team that you keep year after year with only an addition of rookies during the offseason. Dynasty leagues involve an initial draft of veterans and then a rookie draft that follows. You can go through rebuilds, franchise changing trades, and the value of rookie picks can be all over the place, just like the real NFL Draft. It even forces you to increase your player knowledge with how deep the draft normally is. Dynasty startup drafts can be anywhere from 25 rounds to 30 or more. 

The best part of a dynasty league is the longevity. You have a single league with around the same team for as long as you want the league to exist, which would usually be five to 10 years. Since you need to consider the future, you need to make choices based on player development, age, and other long-term factors that may not be as relevant in traditional leagues.