You have two days left to submit your entry in the Fantasy Index Open competition, and we’ve added some players for you to choose from.
Most notably, we got some requests for Rodrigo Blankenship. At least for now, he’s the kicker for the Colts. If he can stay in the lineup for all 16 games, he could be an above-average player at that position. He’s now a choice at that position.
The Jaguars say that James Robinson will start on opening day, so we’re adding him in at running back if anybody is interested. (Anybody?) Robinson will show up later today.
Additionally, a bunch of other players have been moved around. Leonard Fournette shows with the Bucs, Adrian Peterson with Detroit and Stephen Gostkowski with the Titans. Other players have been switched from teams to free agents.
Regardless, all key players are now sitting there as options. If you’ve already filled out your 120-player entry, you can still go in and make adjustments. The final deadline comes on Thursday, at the same time Kansas City and Houston kick of the season.
The Fantasy Index Open isn’t like a regular fantasy league. There’s no draft, games or starting lineups. Instead, you rank the top 20 players at each position. Whoever compiles the best list of 120 players is the overall winner.
The champion takes home a large trophy put together by the team at Affordable Trophies. They’ve been partnering with us on this venture for the last nine years. And both the champion and the 2nd-place finisher earn spots in the Experts Poll in next year’s magazine.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a little uncertainty, so we’re adding some special rules for this season. If a team plays fewer than 16 games, its stats will be adjusted to remove that factor. If an individual player misses a couple of games because of a positive COVID-19 test, however, it will be treated no differently than a sprained ankle.
David Wilde of Mukwonago, Wis., won the 2019 Fantasy Index Open, while Mike Erickson of Riverton, Utah, took 2nd. They were the top finishers out of a field of 832.
To enter the 2020 version of the contest, log into the site and then click on “YOUR STUFF”. The contest is one of the pull-down options, under “Fantasy Index Open 2020”. Those who are already logged in can get to the contest by clicking here.
The contest is free, but to be eligible to win you must sign up on the website, providing a name and mailing address. If you were to sign up without supplying a name, you wouldn’t be eligible to win the trophy (which is huge).
Once on the website, use the drag-and-drop technology to select your 120 players in order – 20 at QB, RB, WR, TE, K and DEF. Those are your players for the duration of the 17-week regular season, so be careful about selecting players who are more likely to serve suspensions or miss games with injuries. There are no waiver moves or trades, so when a player doesn’t play, you get a zero from him that week.
Entries are due before the start of the first game of the season. That’s Thursday, September 10, at 8:20 p.m. Eastern. Once that deadline hits, all entries are locked.
When scoring the competition at the end of the year, we’ll use PPR. Players will receive 6 points for touchdowns, 4 for TD passes, 1 for every 10 run/rec yards, 1 for every 20 passing yards and 1 for each reception. Defenses receive 2 points for takeaways, 1 for sacks and 6 for every touchdown scored on a return of a takeaway or kick. Kickers get regular NFL points – 3 for field goals and 1 for PATs.
In January, we’ll score all of the picks using a complex scoring matrix that combines a player’s production against where he was ranked. Basically, the higher you rank him, the most his production counts. Suppose, for example, that Justin Tucker finishes the season with 100 points. If you ranked Tucker first, that would net you 2,500 points (25 x 100). If you ranked him second, you would receive 2,400 (24 x 100). Third would be 2,300 (23 x 100) and so on down to 20th being worth 600 points (6 x 100). We use that same approach for all 120 players ranked by each entry, with the overall high score winning the title.