This marks the 16th year of the Scott Fish Bowl—a massive fantasy tournament with over 5,000 teams that has come to mark the unofficial start of draft season.
This writer has been in all of them.
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My relationship with Mr. Fish (hehe, he hates that) actually pre-dates the SFB by some time. We "met" on a message board at a fantasy site that is long gone in the days before people hurled obscenities at one another on Twitter. Started Fantasy Football Oasis ("Your Oasis of Fantasy Knowledge") together. Broke bread at a Texas Roadhouse in Arizona in 2010 while he complained about the heat (relate, can ya?).
Scott isn't a colleague. Or a friend. He's family.
After 20 years, Scott has become an FSWA Hall of Famer and one of the most universally beloved people in the industry. I have become, well, me. But it's in no way a stretch to say that I wouldn't be a professional writer were it not for Scott's friendship and help.
So, next time you read a column of mine and shake your head, blame Scott. He unleashed my idiocy upon an unsuspecting populace like Patrick Dempsey in Outbreak.
I'm the Motaba monkey--of dumb.
What started out as a chance to try out this kooky new scoring system called "superflex" (No lie. That was wild stuff back in the day) has become a fantasy phenomenon. There is merchandise (that you see all over the place at the Fantasy Football Expo). A buttload of money (which is an actual unit of measurement, so there) is raised for charity. There's a weekend-long Pod-A-Thon celebrating it. Live drafts from coast to coast and in seven other countries, from Australia to Brazil.
It's rather a big deal—and boy oh boy do I suck at it.
Now, not every year has been a catastrophe—I've gotten as far as Semifinals week (I think). But my injury "luck" in the Scott Fish Bowl has been so consistently atrocious that I legitimately tweet out my draft picks so y'all know who to avoid.
But in 15 years, I have to have learned something about success in SFB, even if only accidentally.
Like I ever impart any knowledge intentionally anyway.
Know the Scoring
On some level, the constantly-evolving and ever-changing scoring in Scott Fish Bowl may be the fault of the late, great Jim Day. It reminds me of him.
"Fantasy Taz" was one of the first analysts who Scott and I got to know after we started FFO. He was welcoming. A sounding board for a pair of people with no earthly idea what we were doing. And if there was one thing Taz just could not abide, it was Plain Jane scoring.
He's the reason why Deathmatch has bonus scoring (HA! Beat you to that one, Fish! Take THAT!). Why the IDP scoring in the King's Classic Dick Butkus Division is so convoluted its creator barely understands it.
And let me tell you, Jim is smiling down on this—guaranteed.
For starters, there is the "Ultraflex" lineup—a term that would have made Taz giddy. There are 10 weekly starters. Two can be quarterbacks. But they don't have to be. Want to start 10 wide receivers? Go nuts.
This year, all touchdowns are worth six points. Yardage is fairly standard—25 yards a point passing and 10 yards a point for rushing or receiving. PPR has dropped to .5 points, and there is another .5 points awarded for first downs. Unless, that is, you're a tight end—then it's 1.5 PPR and an extra point for those first downs.
Then there are the bonuses. Oh boy, the bonuses.
Gain 100 total yards (not just rushing, kids), and it's 10 extra points. Ditto for 300 passing yards. Jack that up to 200 total yards or 400 passing yards, and it's 10 more. Passing or rushing plays of 40-plus yards or 20(!)-plus receiving yards? Ten tasty fantasy points.
There has been a change to the draft, too—third-round reversal is gone, much to the chagrin of folks who picked a draft slot assuming it would still be there. Full disclosure—with the advantage of hindsight here, I'd have taken a higher draft slot in 2026, although being in the middle, the lack of 3RR doesn't affect my team much.
But that's the thing with the SFB. Assumptions will kill you quicker than a diseased monkey.
Be Flexible
There is no shortage of Scott Fish Bowl strategy articles and podcasts out there. Analysts are certain that they have unlocked this year's mysteries and know the build that will lead managers to SFB glory. Those builds all have merit.
But if ever there was a league where the best plan is no plan, SFB16 is it.
This a Value-Based-Drafters utopia. Or dystopia. Maybe a little of both. Positional scarcity has all but evaporated. It's just a matter of targeting the players you believe will score the most points—period. Yes, the bonuses muddy the waters a bit. But here's the thing.
Chasing bonuses is generally a bad idea. The Venn Diagram of the players most likely to consistently bonus (or come close) and the elite guys at a position is a circle. Sure, there are others who appear to have higher bonus potential. But many of those are also going to be high-variance. Feast or famine.
Some of those players are fine. A roster full will make for an interesting season.
There are also sources of ADP data for the Scott Fish Bowl, whether it's the live drafts that already happened or the online ones once they kick off. Kudos to the good folks who compile that data. But fantasy managers should do themselves a favor. Pull up that data. Print it out. And then set it on fire.
There are 417 different 12-team "Divisions" in this year's SFB—and the overwhelming majority will all start at once. The "Ultraflex" format leads fantasy managers to build rosters in innumerable ways. The variance in drafts from division to division is staggering—a guy who doesn't make it out of Round 1 in one division could last until Round 3 in another.
There ain't no "Average" in the SFB, y'all—because Fish is diabolical.
In all the best ways.
If you want a player. Draft that player. Don't wait because he might make it back.
Position Notes
Now for a few notes on each position—just in case I haven't completely ruined your chances of winning SFB16.
Quarterbacks
There was a time when the NFL's most mobile quarterbacks flew off the board in the SFB, but not only has Fish taken some of the "Super" out of the "Superflex" spots, but in this scoring, the passing bonuses have pushed good-old-fashioned pocket passers back into the spotlight. Josh Allen of the Bills was the highest-scoring signal-caller in this format last year, but Matthew Stafford of the Rams and Dak Prescott of the Cowboys also cracked the top 10 overall.
The NFL's top-two passers in 2025. Weird.
Target: Jared Goff, Detroit
It's going to be very interesting to see when and in what order quarterbacks get taken once drafts start en masse. But Goff was a top-five quarterback and a top-15 player overall last year in this scoring. The combination of floor and upside is intriguing—especially if he drops outside the first 3-4 rounds.