What is a SuperFlex League? and what you need to know in 2021
Welcome back to another installation of the RotoHeat “What is?” series. This time we are talking about “What is a SuperFlex league?” We have already covered what Fantasy Football is, and what Dynasty Fantasy Football is in previous articles, so let us dive right in to it and answer the question, “What is a SuperFlex League?”
As you know by now thanks to the two aforementioned articles, there are a lot of different formats in Fantasy Football. The format usually differs either by having differences in scoring or by having differences in the roster setup.
Different scoring means how the stats that the football players put up on the field translates into points for your fantasy teams.
Different roster setups usually refer to how many players of a given position you need to have in your starting lineup, and more specifically, how many QBs, RBs, WRs, TEs, Kickers and Defenses you need to start.
Most leagues also play with an amount of roster slots in your starting lineup that are called FLEX slots. The FLEX slot means you can start either an RB or WR in your FLEX. Most leagues these days also allow TEs to be started in the FLEX position also.
This is where a SuperFlex, commonly referred to as just SF, takes your FLEX position to another level. In the SuperFlex, you are also allowed to start a QB. This means that you can put either a QB, RB, WR or TE in your SuperFlex position.
Fantasy Football leagues that use one or more SuperFlex positions are usually referred to as SuperFlex leagues, signaling that the league uses an SF slot in their roster setup. On top of that, a SuperFlex league can still have normal FLEX slot in their roster setup.
You will do well to learn the distinction between SuperFlex leagues and 1QB leagues, as those are two of the primary distinctions between most leagues.
What is a SuperFlex league breakdown 1: Why is a SuperFlex roster spot significant?
Now that we have answered what is a SuperFlex league and looked specifically at what makes SuperFlex leagues different from the more normal 1QB leagues, let us dive a bit deeper into why the SF slot is significant and warrants its own specific league designation.
As previously mentioned, a SuperFlex spot allows you to play a QB in the FLEX spot. You could also play an RB, a WR or a TE in the spot. However, playing a QB in your SuperFlex is usually the far superior choice. Shortly put, this is because quarterback is the position who consistently scores the most points.
Let us dive into the numbers to find out exactly how many more points the QB-position scores.
When it comes to “normal” leagues, or 1QB leagues as they are more aptly called, quarterbacks are easy to get your hands on. This is because you just need 1, and you need a lot more RBs and WRs to fill your starting lineup.
This means QBs are not very valuable because the spread in points is smaller for QBs than for both RBs and WRs. The QB position usually just generates more points because they have the ball in their hands almost every single play.
If every team in a 1QB league started one of the 12 best quarterbacks for the season, the gap between best and worst of those 12 QBs would be 109.7 points.
But in SuperFlex, the quarterbacks from rank 13 through 24, and even deeper than that, are also interesting because they can now be plugged into your lineup. The 13th best QB in 2020 was Matt Ryan. He scored 270.6 points. In full PPR scoring formats only 3 running backs and 5 wide receivers scored more points than that.
And this was the 13th best QB, who would be a fringe player in a 1QB league, but because we can play him, or any other QB, in our SuperFlex, quarterbacks are now much more important.
What is a SuperFlex League breakdown 2: The Change in Quarterback Value
With the fact that QBs score more points in mind, you can see why the position is much more important for SuperFlex leagues.
Now add to that the fact that there are only a maximum of 32 quarterbacks starting in any given week of the NFL season (even fewer when teams are on bye week). With 12 teams in a league all wanting to start a QB in their SF slot, that is 24 QBs out of a max of 32.
As a result, the value of quarterbacks goes up in a big way when we are talking about SuperFlex leagues. People will want to draft at least 2 QBs in the startup draft of the league, be it dynasty or redraft. Likely, those QBs are also taken early. In drafts for SuperFlex leagues, QBs catapult into the first round, whereas in 1QB leagues, they should not hardly ever be taken before the third round.
It is often quite likely that every team in a SuperFlex draft has at least 1 QB after 3 or 4 rounds.
So, whenever you get to play your first SuperFlex league, remember that QBs are more valuable than in your 1QB leagues and adjust accordingly.
Now you know the basics of the answer to what is a SuperFlex league and how it alters the look on quarterbacks.
Be on the lookout for our other articles in the RotoHeat “What Is” series so you will be better prepared to venture into the world of Fantasy Football.
If you like our content here at RotoHeat, I suggest checking out the RotoHeat Youtube Channel, where we have livestreams and a bunch of rookie videos amongst other content. And if you have any questions, you are always welcome to join our RotoHeat Redraft Community or RotoHeat Dynasty Community over on Facebook.
