Fantasy football glossary
The words fantasy managers use, and the ones this site uses, in plain English. Where a term has its own guide, the definition links to it.
Some of these terms are standard across every platform. A few, such as bench tax and trade receipt, are Shoulda Started's own names for numbers we calculate; they are marked so you know they will not mean anything in your league chat until you explain them. Where an example number helps, it comes from the league behind the sample report.
A to F
- ADP (average draft position)
- Where a player is taken on average across many drafts. Useful for knowing when a player is likely to be gone; it says nothing about how many points he will score.
- All-play record
- Your record if you had played every other team every week instead of one opponent. It removes the luck of who you happened to face. See all-play record.
- Bench tax (Shoulda Started term)
- The points your best possible lineup would have scored minus the points your actual lineup scored, using only players on your roster that week. In the sample league the average team paid 14.4 points of bench tax a week. See lineup efficiency and bench tax.
- Best ball
- A league where nobody sets a lineup. Each week the platform counts your highest-scoring players in every slot automatically. See best ball vs managed.
- Bye week
- The one week each NFL team does not play. Its players score zero that week, so you need someone else in that slot. See bye weeks and injuries.
- Dynasty
- A league where teams keep their whole roster from season to season and add rookies through a yearly rookie draft. See dynasty vs redraft.
- Expected wins
- How many games your weekly scores would have won against an average opponent, worked out from your all-play record. The gap between expected wins and real wins is a measure of schedule luck.
- FAAB (free agent acquisition budget)
- A season-long budget for blind waiver bids; the highest bid wins the player. The sample league gave every team $100. See FAAB bidding basics and, for whether the spending paid off, FAAB return.
- FLEX
- A starting slot that takes a running back, receiver or tight end. Sleeper also has narrower flex slots, such as receiver-or-tight-end only. See FLEX and SUPERFLEX.
- Fleeced (Shoulda Started verdict)
- A trade receipt verdict for a trade one side won by a wide margin in points started, both in points and as a share. See trade receipts.
- Free agent
- A player on no roster who has cleared waivers. On Sleeper a free agent can be added straight away at no cost, until the next waiver period puts newly dropped players on waivers again.
H to P
- Handcuff
- The backup to one of your own starters, usually a running back, held so that an injury to the starter does not leave you without his team's carries. A handcuff is insurance: most weeks he scores little, and his value appears only if the starter gets hurt.
- IR (injured reserve)
- Extra roster spots for injured players. Your league settings decide which injury designations qualify. Players on IR cannot be started.
- Keeper league
- A league that redrafts each year but lets every team keep a few players, often at a price.
- Lineup efficiency (Shoulda Started term)
- Your actual points as a share of your best possible lineup's points. The sample league's average team-week was 88% efficient.
- Lock
- The moment a player can no longer be moved in or out of your lineup. On Sleeper each player normally locks at the kickoff of his own game.
- Median scoring
- An optional extra game each week against the league's median score: finish in the top half and you get a second win. See median scoring leagues.
- Optimal lineup
- The highest-scoring legal lineup you could have set from your roster that week, known only after the games. It is the yardstick for bench tax.
- Points for and points against
- The total points your lineups scored over the season, and the total your opponents scored against you. Many leagues use points for to break ties in the standings.
- PPR, half PPR and standard
- Points per reception: full PPR gives 1 point per catch, half PPR gives 0.5 and standard gives none. See how Sleeper scoring works.
Q to Z
- NFL injury designations shown next to a player's name. Out means he will not play, Doubtful usually means the same, and Questionable could go either way until inactives are announced.
- Redraft
- A league that clears every roster after the season and drafts from scratch each year.
- Rookie draft
- The yearly draft in a dynasty league where teams pick from the new class of NFL rookies. Future picks can be traded if the league allows it.
- Schedule luck
- Real wins minus expected wins: how much your record was helped or hurt by who you happened to play. See schedule luck.
- Schedule swap
- Your scores replayed against another team's schedule, to show what your record would have been with their opponents.
- Stack
- Starting a quarterback together with one of his own receivers, so a big passing day counts twice. It raises your ceiling and your risk at the same time.
- Streaming
- Picking up a player for a single week's matchup and dropping him after, most often a defense or kicker.
- SUPERFLEX
- A flex slot that can also take a quarterback. Because quarterbacks score the most, it makes them much more valuable.
- Taxi squad
- Extra roster spots in dynasty leagues for young players, who cannot be started from there.
- Trade deadline
- The last week trades are allowed. The sample league's was week 12.
- Trade receipt (Shoulda Started term)
- Our report on a finished trade: the points each side actually started from the players it received. See trade receipts and, for judging a trade before you accept it, judging a trade without charts.
- Trade review and veto
- An optional waiting period after a trade is accepted, during which other managers can vote to block it. The commissioner sets how long it lasts and how many votes a veto needs.
- Waivers and waiver order
- A period, usually after a player is dropped, during which teams put in claims instead of adding him instantly. Claims are decided by FAAB bids or by waiver order, which can reset each week or roll, sending each successful claimer to the back of the line.
What it cannot tell you
- Leagues change terms and rules freely. Your league chat may use a word differently, and your settings decide how any rule works in practice.
- Short definitions leave out the edge cases. The linked guides explain each number in full, including where it can mislead.
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