Glossary of Fantasy Football Terms

ADP or Average Draft Position - A report that lists where players are being picked in fantasy drafts. This gives you an idea of where players should be expected to go come draft day.

Auction - A bidding system used in place of a standard draft. Teams bid on players until their roster is filled.

Bench Players - Players that aren't in the starting lineup.

Best Ball - A league format in which the starting lineup of a team is automatically built using the highest scoring players of the week to yield the best possible score for the team.

Blind Bidding - A transaction system used in many leagues to safeguard against cheating. Teams submit bids on players without knowing the bids from other teams. After all bids are submitted, the highest bidder gets the player.

Bust - A term used to describe a player that doesn't live up to expectations, performs below his projections.

Bye Week - Every team in the NFL has one week off during the regular season. This is considered their bye week. Cheat Sheet - A quick reference guide of rankings to use during fantasy drafts, an abbreviated version of a bigger list of information.

Depth Chart - A listing of players by team, broken out by position and rank on the team.

DFS or Daily Fantasy Sports - A fantasy sports league or contest that lasts a single day or single weekend in the case of football.

Draft - Fantasy owners take turns selecting players for their team.

Draft Guide - A useful tool for fantasy owners, providing all sorts of information (rankings, articles, depth charts, etc.) to get ready for the fantasy football season.

Dynasty League - A league format in which team owners retain their entire roster from season to season.

FAAB or Free Agent Acquisition Budget - Teams are given a fix budget to spend on free agents during the season. Teams bid on players through a blind bidding process. The team with the highest bid is awarded that player to their roster.

Fantasy General Manager/Owner - The person in charge of a fantasy football team, making all the moves - drafting, trading, dropping, setting lineups, etc.

Fantasy League - A group of owners competing against each other in hopes of finishing as the champion.

Flex - A starting lineup spot that may be filled with a player from a group of positions, typically limited to running back, wide receiver, or tight end.

Free Agent - A player not owned by any other team and available to pickup after clearing waivers.

Handcuff - The primary backup for a star player. A strategy is to roster a handcuff to protect your roster should a player injured or suspended.

Head-to-Head - Playing an opponent every week in a fantasy game with the highest scoring lineup declared the game winner.

IDP or Individual Defensive Players - Instead of using a team defense, fantasy owners draft defensive position players, defensive lineman, linebackers, defensive backs.

Injury Report - NFL teams release a report every week during the season detailing injuries and probability of the player playing.

Keeper - A player that is kept on a fantasy team's roster from the previous season by the same owner.

Keeper League - Team owners may keep a small subset of their roster from season to season. The remaining roster spots are filled by a draft each season.

Lineup - Owners set their starters every week before the NFL games start.

Mock Draft - A practice draft done to help project where players are being taken.

Pick - The slotted draft position for a team.

Playoffs - Conducted after the regular season to determine the league champion.

PPR or Point-Per-Reception - A fantasy point is awarded for each reception a player makes regardless of the other scoring.

Re-draft League - Team rosters are not maintained season to season. Teams draft entirely new rosters each season.

Roster - The complete list of players on a team.

Salary Cap - The highest amount of money a team can spend while filling out their roster. A team can't exceed the cap number.

Scoring Rules - A set of rules that defines the ways your league can score points.

Serpentine or Snake Draft - A draft order in which the first pick in the first round drafts last in the second round. The last pick in the first round drafts first in the second round and so on.

Slate - The set of games that form the basis of a fantasy contest. Usually in references to a DFS contest.

Sleeper - A player that might not be on the radar of many fantasy owners and could exceed expectations.

Stacking - The practice of putting multiple players from the same team on your roster. It is normally done to take advantage of favorable matchups in DFS.

SuperFlex - League format that allows teams to start a quarterback in one of the flex spots in the lineup.

Total Points - A league format in which teams accumulate fantasy points for their starting the duration of the season. The league winners is the team with the most points scored for the season.

Trade - When two or more teams swap players.

Transaction - Any roster move (i.e. drop player, pickup player or make a trade).

Waive - To release a player from your roster.

Waivers - A player that was recently dropped by a team will go to waivers in some leagues. This gives everyone a fair shot at acquiring the released player. Normally, the team with the worst record in the league has first waiver priority to add a released player.