Bench size

[ShaneDav122]

I am starting a 12 team fantasy football league at work with about half experienced players and about half relatively new to playing.
The starting lineup is QB,RB,RB,WR,WR,TE,W/T,W/R/T,DEF,K
I just don't know if I should have 5 or 6 bench spots, I want people to still be able have full enough rosters without diluting the waiver wire.

I've only played 8 and 10 team leagues so help me out


Thanks!

[Hags888]

Having 10 starters with a 12-teamer is rather unique, meaning you'll have 120 starters. This will dilute the pool for bench/FA right off the bat. But with more starters, you're going to want to have a larger bench to help get through bye weeks and injuries. The downside there is, you'll have a pretty limited free agent pool to draw from.

I've got a 12-teamer that has the standard 9 starters and only 6 bench spots (instead of the usual 7 for a 10-teamer). Having 12 extra players available for the free agent pool makes a difference, and 6 bench spots is usually plenty to get through bye weeks and injury replacements. We've also got a couple of IR spots to help with the bench too.

In terms of bench spots, I think the minimum is four (one for each QB, WR, RB, and TE). But, ideally 5 or 6 is better as it gives you a few more options, especially if you feel the need to keep a D/ST or K during a bye week. There's no right or wrong setup, but you have to take certain variables into consideration. How many free agents do I want to have available? How difficult do I want to make it for bye week and injury replacements? Do I want people to have more "lottery tickets" in the draft to stash on the bench? Etc...

[ShaneDav122]

Having 10 starters with a 12-teamer is rather unique, meaning you'll have 120 starters. This will dilute the pool for bench/FA right off the bat. But with more starters, you're going to want to have a larger bench to help get through bye weeks and injuries. The downside there is, you'll have a pretty limited free agent pool to draw from.

I've got a 12-teamer that has the standard 9 starters and only 6 bench spots (instead of the usual 7 for a 10-teamer). Having 12 extra players available for the free agent pool makes a difference, and 6 bench spots is usually plenty to get through bye weeks and injury replacements. We've also got a couple of IR spots to help with the bench too.

In terms of bench spots, I think the minimum is four (one for each QB, WR, RB, and TE). But, ideally 5 or 6 is better as it gives you a few more options, especially if you feel the need to keep a D/ST or K during a bye week. There's no right or wrong setup, but you have to take certain variables into consideration. How many free agents do I want to have available? How difficult do I want to make it for bye week and injury replacements? Do I want people to have more "lottery tickets" in the draft to stash on the bench? Etc...

Yeah, but I took a vote and the league liked having a few flex spots to keep scoring open to a few different ways. We thought it took a little more strategy. So far I've got it set to 5 bench spots with unlimited transactions for the year.

And I forgot about IR! That would probably help quite a bit with injuries