16 man league

[Knoell]

Hello,

I am having an issue with my NFL website league in which we have expanded to 16 teams, but some team owners are complaining that good players will be too rare. Which I can understand, so I decided to limit the bench positions from 6 to 3, and reduce the WR starting positions from 3 to 2. I also decided to eliminate whole team defenses and add IDP players.

So I have the following questions:
What is a good setup for a 16 team league?
Are the decisions I have made so far the best possible ones?
What is a good scoring setup for the IDP players (Defensive Tackle, Defensive Back, and Linebacker)?

Any other input would be great as I may have a riot on my hands soon I think.....

[murphysxm]

I actually enjoy formats with more teams, I think it rewards owners that draft better and takes a lot of the luck out of the mix. I think moving to IDP may be challenging with 16 teams though. Unless you have guys that have done it before, that is a lot of IDP players being drafted. I also wonder how you will make it through bye weeks with only 3 players on your bench. Just my two cents. As far as set up, 16 teams lends itself to having two divisions, top 4 from each advance.

[shawngee03]

i am in a 20 team league, and we realized after year 1 that you need more bench spots for bigger leagues, not less. there are a lot of injuries and less starters, so its fun to stock up on bench guys you think will produce down the line.

with smaller leagues, its just plug and play from FA when a guy goes down. but big leagues, its nice to have a big bench to have fillers on your roster, as yes your roster will be thin from day 1. also this will induce more trading as teh season goes on, a sthe FA pool will be empty

we tried IDPs and didnt like it. they end up scoring a lot more than your RBs and WRs, and just dominate the matchup. basically whoever's IDPs do better wins. i like to watch the ball, not teh defense. and it seemed that IDPs were more random from week to week after you get past teh first couple in each position

[squirly8]

I'm in 16 men league for years, 4 leagues per year too.

We start QB; 2RB; 3WR; TE; K, DEF with 6BN players. You need 6 players on the bench cause of so many injuries to your RB and to deal with the Bye weeks.
We don't use IDP players, or at least, only one.
You just have to be wise, make trades so you can Manage a good team. There are 32 teams in the NFL, no way you cannot find enough starters.

[LSUby50]

i would suggest maybe having 3 WR/TE slots instead of 3 WR and 1 TE. Then you can use either a TE or WR for the 3 spots. Better than dropping it to 2 WRs imo.

Also, big leagues are much more fun and more fair imo. Better fantasy players have a better chance to win as opposed to smaller 8-10 team leagues where the best team only wins about 50% of the time.

[bigmck]

I was in a 16 team league last year that had just one bench spot. It was a lot of fun so I am starting the same league myself this year. It really makes for some strategy when the off weeks start. You don't have to have a big bench in a 16 team league.