Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In today's mini-edition, Ian looks as the issue of how fantasy leagues can utilize the always problematic Week 17.
Question 1
Love your product. I've been playing and reading since 1995 and in my first fantasy League we play til week 17, now there are some grumbles from time to time, but it's understood. I started a new league about four years ago, with the same format, because I like the challenge put on owners to be cognizant throughout the whole year, without being able to sit on their laurels. It's a basic league with only eight teams. Can you give your opinion on the "Pro’s" for playing thru week 17? (The "Con" is thrown in my face yearly!)
Jon Schrempp (Coon Rapids, MN)
I’m not a fan of playing in Week 17. Makes no sense to me. Even when crowning a champion in Week 16, there is probably too much luck involved, with the best team probably not winning nearly enough in most leagues. I don’t want totally blow things up by incorporating that final weekend. For this past year, it would have undermined those who had the foresight to select Ezekiel Elliott. How does that make your league better? For an eight-team league, the more logical setup is to have all teams play twice, with the top 4 qualifying for the playoffs. That fits nicely into a 16-week package. If you’re set on somehow utilizing Week 17, I can offer a compromise. Every team submits a starting lineup for that final week. Those scores are then used to determine the draft order for the following season. (The team with the highest score gets first choice of draft position. The No. 2 team gets to pick from what’s left. And so on.) This would be a way to keep all eight teams invested in the league until the bitter end. Readers might weigh in with other suggestions.