You do not need a jargon glossary to enjoy fantasy football. But if you are new, or if you have been playing casually and want to actually follow the strategy conversations on Twitter and podcasts, here is every term you will hear this season, in plain English.
Skip running back entirely in the early rounds. Load up on WRs, take a TE if the value is there, and start attacking RB from round 7-8 onward with high-upside pass-catching backs and lottery tickets. The bet: RBs get injured at a higher rate than any other position, so the top-15 RBs are overpriced, and by mid-draft the value converges.
Zero RB has been popular for years, occasionally works spectacularly (2020, 2023), sometimes bombs (2022). The truth is it is a viable structure but not obviously better than the alternative.
Take exactly one elite RB early (typically round 1), then go WR-heavy for the next 5-6 rounds before returning to RB. Compromise between Zero RB and standard RB-heavy builds. You get one horse plus WR depth. If your one RB busts, you are in trouble. If they hit, you have a huge structural advantage.
Draft RB in rounds 1 and 2, sometimes rounds 1-3. Get two or three horses. The old-school approach. Wins when RBs stay healthy and when top-tier RBs outproduce top-tier WRs. Less popular now than 5 years ago because WR ceilings have caught up.
The rough ADP range from mid-3rd round through the end of round 6 where historically most RBs you take end up as bench pieces or busts. The theory: elite RBs (top 8-ish) hold their value, and late-round dart throws sometimes hit, but the middle band is where you spend a valuable pick on a guy who ends the season as your RB4.
Dead zone is real in the data but a bit oversold. Some RBs in that range hit every year — the trick is picking the ones with pass-catching upside and clear workload paths.
Draft the best guy on the board regardless of position. Simplest strategy. Works fine if your board is well-calibrated.
Rank players not by projected points but by the projected points above the "replacement level" starter at their position. A WR projected for 220 points might be worth more than an RB projected for 240 if the WR is scarcer at their position. Tradyr's rankings use a version of VBD baked into the composite.
Every reception is worth 1 point. Standard for most modern leagues. Boosts WRs (especially slot/possession types) and pass-catching RBs.
0.5 points per reception. Compromises between standard scoring and full PPR. Best-ball sites like Underdog use half PPR.
TEs get an extra bonus per reception (typically +0.5 for full PPR, so 1.5 per catch total). Elevates TE positional value. FFPC uses TEP. Some dynasty leagues do too. If you are in a TEP league, push your top TE tier up 6-8 spots.
A roster spot that can start QB / RB / WR / TE. In practice teams start two QBs, which massively inflates QB values. Top-12 QBs are drafted in the first 3 rounds. If you are used to 1QB leagues and jump into Superflex without adjusting, you will bomb.
The site automatically starts your highest-scoring lineup each week from your entire roster. No waiver wire, no lineup decisions after the draft. Draft is everything. Underdog, DraftKings, and Sleeper all run best ball tournaments.
Standard seasonal fantasy football. You draft in August/September, play through the NFL season, do it all again next year. Nothing carries over.
Players stay on your roster year to year. You have rookie drafts each spring, trade freely, and think about 3-year windows instead of just this season.
Dynasty format that lets you draft college players before they are eligible NFL rookies. Deep-dive stuff. Not for casual players.
The average round-and-pick a player is being drafted at across a large sample of drafts. Tradyr publishes composite ADP that blends Underdog, Drafters, DraftKings, FFPC, and live SFB16.
A dynasty value site that derives player values from a community "keep, trade, or cut" voting game. One of three sources Tradyr composites.
Dynasty value site derived from real dynasty league transactions across thousands of leagues. Anchored to real trades. One of three sources Tradyr composites.
Dynasty value site with an age-curve-heavy model that emphasizes long-term value. One of three sources Tradyr composites.
Our 0-1000 composite blending KTC + FC + DP + our internal Market Value from 300,000+ real dynasty trades. Confidence-weighted, position-normalized, age-adjusted.
Dynasty term. How competitive your team is right now vs how competitive it will be in 2-3 years. Categories: Contender, Bubble, Reset, Rebuild. Drives your trade strategy — contenders trade picks for now-players, rebuilders do the opposite.
Whether your starters at a position rank in the bottom third (need), middle (neutral), or top third (surplus) of your league. Tradyr surfaces this automatically for every team when you connect a league.
Receiving yards divided by routes run. The best single-number efficiency metric for WRs and TEs. Filters out volume noise — a receiver with 5 catches for 50 yards on 30 routes (1.67 YPRR) is less efficient than one with 3 catches for 60 yards on 15 routes (4.0 YPRR).
Combines target share and air-yards share into one metric. Measures both volume and depth of usage. A high WOPR means a team is funnelling targets deep to that receiver — the elite production recipe.
The average yards downfield a receiver is targeted. Deep threats have a high aDOT (12+). Slot possession guys have low aDOT (5-8). Predicts touchdown share and yardage per catch.
Receiving yards divided by air yards. High RACR = the WR is beating expectations by picking up yards after the catch. Low RACR = the WR is under-converting his targets.
Tradyr's 100-point composite grade for receivers. Blends opportunity (40%), efficiency (30%), separation (20%), and consistency (10%). See Receiver Score — What We Found for the model behind it.
Each week you play against one other team in your league. Highest score wins. Most common format.
Each week you play against every other team. Wins based on where you rank in weekly score. Removes the "I scored the 3rd-highest score and still lost" luck factor.
Standings are based on cumulative points over the season. Nobody plays anyone directly.
The pick at the end of a round in a snake draft, where you also pick first in the next round. E.g., picks 12 and 13 in a 12-team snake draft. Valuable because you get back-to-back picks with no one in between.
Similar to the turn but with 3rd Round Reversal (3RR) formats — pick 1 wheels around to pick 12.
Some draft formats reverse the pick order in a specific round to give middle picks a chance at back-to-back picks. Ask your commissioner if you are unsure whether your league uses this.
A trade where one side sends two players and the other sends one. Usually valuable for the side sending one (better player) because roster spots have value.
The concept that a $1 bill is worth more than 4 quarters in fantasy football. If you send 4 mid-tier players for 1 elite, the elite side is being paid a premium because you freed up 3 roster spots. Tradyr's trade calculator has a toggle for this — worth 75 points per roster spot in our default model.
What a future draft pick is worth in trade. Higher round + earlier year + stronger rookie class = higher value. Tradyr's calculator includes 2026-2028 rookie picks priced by class strength.