Quick answerThis glossary defines 45+ common fantasy football terms in plain language, covering scoring formats, draft concepts, roster mechanics, and analytics vocabulary. Each entry gives a concise one-to-three-sentence definition so you can quickly look up anything from ADP and PPR to VBD, handcuffs, streaming, and dynasty leagues.
A
- ADP (Average Draft Position)
- The average slot at which a player is drafted across many leagues. ADP is a market consensus you can use to gauge value and spot reaches or falls in your own draft.
- Auction draft
- A draft format where every manager has an equal budget and bids on players, so any player is available if you are willing to spend enough. It rewards budgeting and nomination strategy over draft-slot position.
B
- Boom/bust
- A player with a wide range of weekly outcomes who can win you a week or sink your lineup. Boom/bust players carry high ceilings and low floors.
- Bye week
- The week an NFL team does not play, meaning its players score zero. Managers plan rosters so too many starters do not share the same bye.
- Buy low
- Trading for a talented player whose value has temporarily dropped, betting that their underlying role makes a rebound likely.
C
- Ceiling
- A player's realistic best-case weekly outcome. High-ceiling players are valuable when you need a big score to win.
- Commissioner
- The league member who manages settings, approves trades where required, and resolves disputes. Sometimes called the commish.
D
- Dynasty league
- A league where you keep your entire roster from year to year and draft only incoming rookies. Dynasty rewards long-term roster building and player age awareness.
- DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports)
- Contests where you draft a new salary-capped lineup for a single slate of games rather than managing a season-long team.
F
- FAAB (Free Agent Acquisition Budget)
- A fixed, season-long budget each manager uses to bid on waiver players, with the highest bid winning. FAAB replaces a simple priority order with dollar auctions.
- Flex
- A roster spot that can be filled by more than one position, typically running back, wide receiver, or tight end. Superflex additionally allows a quarterback.
- Floor
- A player's realistic worst-case weekly outcome. High-floor players are safer options when you only need to protect a lead.
H
- Half-PPR
- A scoring format that awards half a point per reception, sitting between standard scoring and full PPR. It moderately boosts pass-catchers.
- Handcuff
- The backup to a starting running back who would inherit the workload if the starter is hurt. Handcuffing your own star protects that investment.
- Hero-RB
- A draft build that takes one elite running back early, then loads up on wide receivers before returning to running back depth later.
I
- IDP (Individual Defensive Player)
- A format that scores individual defenders, such as linebackers and defensive backs, instead of, or in addition to, a team defense unit.
- IR (Injured Reserve) slot
- A roster spot for injured players that does not count against your active roster limit, letting you stash a hurt player without dropping useful depth.
K
- Keeper league
- A league where you retain a small number of players each year, often at a draft-pick cost, while drafting the rest of your roster fresh. It blends redraft and dynasty elements.
P
- PPR (Points Per Reception)
- A scoring format that awards a point for each catch, boosting the value of high-volume pass-catchers. Full PPR gives one point per reception.
- Positional scarcity
- The idea that elite production is harder to find at some positions than others, which raises the draft value of the scarce positions.
- Points against
- The total points a team's opponents have scored, sometimes used as a tiebreaker or as a matchup indicator for streaming.
R
- Redraft league
- The standard format where every roster is disbanded after the season and rebuilt from scratch in a new draft each year.
- Replacement level
- The production of a freely available waiver-wire player at a position. It is the baseline that value-based drafting measures players against.
- Robust-RB
- A draft build that spends multiple early picks on running backs to lock in a deep, dependable backfield before other positions.
S
- Sell high
- Trading away a player while their value is inflated by production their role cannot sustain, capturing value before it regresses.
- Snake draft
- A draft where the pick order reverses each round, so the last picker in one round picks first in the next. It balances the advantage of early picks.
- Standard scoring
- A format with no points for receptions, so touchdowns and yardage drive scoring and running backs gain relative value.
- Streaming
- Rotating short-term waiver pickups into a roster spot based on weekly matchups, most common at defense, kicker, tight end, and superflex quarterback.
- Superflex
- A flex roster spot that can also start a quarterback, which most managers do because quarterbacks out-score other positions, sharply raising QB value.
- Stash
- Adding a currently low-value player, such as a handcuff or injured talent, in anticipation of future value rather than immediate use.
T
- Target share
- The percentage of a team's pass targets that go to a specific player. A high, stable target share signals reliable pass-catching volume.
- Taxi squad
- A developmental roster area in some dynasty leagues for stashing young players, usually rookies, without using an active roster spot.
- Touchdown regression
- The tendency for unusually high or low touchdown rates to move back toward normal over time, a key signal for buy-low and sell-high decisions.
- Trade deadline
- The date after which trades are no longer allowed for the season, forcing managers to finalize roster moves before the fantasy playoffs.
V
- VBD (Value-Based Drafting)
- A method that ranks players by their projected points above a replacement-level baseline at their position, letting you compare positions on one scale.
- Vulture
- A player, often a goal-line back, who steals touchdowns or usage from a teammate, capping that teammate's fantasy ceiling.
W
- Waiver wire
- The pool of unowned players available to add, governed by either a priority order or a FAAB budget depending on league settings.
- Waiver priority
- A ranked order that determines which manager wins a contested waiver claim, typically resetting the claiming team to the back of the line.
Z
- Zero-RB
- A draft build that passes on running backs early to stack elite receivers, then attacks running back value later and on the waiver wire.