Strategy: The 6 Point Passing Touchdown

It wasn’t really my intention to write about this topic, but we’ve been getting plenty of questions about this scoring format and I wanted to make sure I had a concrete answer to give. Though, I do prefer wood a bit more. (That’s what she said.) Plus, if a reader asks about this type of format, all I have to do is link them this post. It’s always nice to answer things back in hyperlinks, because blue is a great color, you get a free underline, and you can interact with them! You only get one out of those three when paying $54.00 to go see the Blue Man Group. What. A. Steal. Regardless, we’re here to talk about how a 6 Point Passing Touchdown affects the scoring of your Quarterbacks, and how that changes where they sit in the rankings, and furthermore, how you should react in the draft based off of all this information. So let’s get this party started.

So, let’s first examine how this changes a quarterback’s fantasy production. I’m just going to pull out a random player, let’s say… Carson Palmer, from my 2014 Fantasy Football Projections.

So that’s what I have projected for him for 2014. That line right there is good for 217.74 fantasy points when assigning 4 points to a passing touchdown. When you raise that point total to 6 per touchdown, he then produces 265.74 fantasy points. That’s essentially a 22% in positive value change. Or, in layman terms, since all these numbers are making me dizzy, we have basically turned Carson Palmer into something almost as valuable as Nick Foles in 4 points for touchdown leagues. 22% is a big number, but women don’t care how big they are, it’s only how you use it (I swear), so let’s do this breakdown for all quarterbacks I have projections for, and we’ll sort them by how much percentage increase there is in value with the 6 point format.

So, wow. I bet that’s the only quarterback list that will have Andy Dalton ranked at the top. And I think there’s an explanation for this. Based on highest percentage gainers, you have both guys who could potentially throw for less yards than the others, but still get a decent number of touchdowns while doing so. Furthermore, it’s an interesting snapshot of which QB’s you should target in a format like this. While I wouldn’t want anyone to build their draft around Dalton or the likes of Brian Hoyer, we definitely see Drew Brees is the best option in the top tiers, and Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, and Jay Cutler represent great options that you can wait on.

Here’s the list in order of the most fantasy points produced in the 6 point format:

What can we take away from this in drafting? Well, surely there’s an increase in QB value across the board. But I’m not sure if it’s a substantial change. At first glance, you see the points that the position can put up, and your first instinct is to assume, well, I gotta grab me some of that. But upon further review, QB’s already put up big fantasy numbers. In fact, you won’t find a top RB/WR/TE that can outscore most Tier 1 QB’s, and even in PPR formats, Jamaal Charles and Calvin Johnson are the only ones that can get in the general area. The reason we still wait on the QB position is because you just need one player. There are usually 12 teams in a fantasy league, and 32 NFL starting quarterbacks to choose from. Well, 31-and-a-half if Mark Sanchez somehow becomes a starter. Also, add into the fact that this type of scoring has a “rising tide lifts all boats” affect, well, I’m not so sure there should be any change in your drafting strategy.

This year seems to be one deep in quarterbacks, and I’m still comfortable taking one later in the draft. But from what I’ve learned, at least we know how the scoring affects each player, and which player thrives in this system. Or I hope. I at least learned some more math which I can promptly forget, so there’s that I suppose.