In all the years I've been playing fantasy football, one thing has always bothered me. Every other sport - baseball, basketball, even hockey for pity's sake - has prominent fantasy formats that makes some effort to incorporate all the elements of the game. When you're assembling a roto baseball team, you're picking pitchers and hitters (and, if you want defense to be a factor, Scoresheet requires you to pay attention to glove work). Assists, blocks and free throw ability matter as much as raw points in a basketball fantasy league. And your roto hockey team probably features forwards and defensemen who rack up PIMs and plus/minus along with their goals and assists, with your goalies' save percentage being as important as their wins.
Not so fantasy football. In the vast majority of leagues out there, one half of the game gets completely ignored. You draft quarterbacks and running backs, but not cornerbacks. Sure, you probably have a team defense that gets you some points, but they are such a low priority you probably selected yours right before your kicker. Even if you're in an IDP league, the defensive players are really just tokens. You only need to roster a few of them, and even the best defenders will only score points comparable to, say, a middle of the pack wide receiver. Each week you're selecting from an array of offensive options (which RB do I start? Who should I use at my flex spot?), and then plugging in maybe one defensive lineman, one linebacker and one defensive back. If you have a truly elite defender at a spot, maybe then you worry about his bye week, but most of the time you just cut your IDP players loose and pick up someone else when you need to.
I understand why, historically, this was the case. Individual defensive stats were hard to come by, so it just didn't make sense to try and incorporate them into the game. But it's 2014, man, and those days are gone. Other than laziness and inertia, there's just no reason why defensive players shouldn't be featured just as prominently in your fantasy plans as offensive skill players.
Enter 7-on-7 fantasy football.
Roster construction
In 7-on-7, you have 15 starting spots in your lineup each week: on offense, you start 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, and 1 Offensive Flex (RB/WR/TE). On defense, you start 2 DLs, 2 LBs, 2 DBs, and 1 Defensive Flex (DL/LB/DB). The 15th player is the obligatory kicker. You also have seven bench spots, resulting in a 22 round draft.
Having defensive players equal in number to offensive players is only half of the equation, though. Scoring is also a little bit different: Offensive players score their normal 1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving, 1 point per 25 yards passing, 6 points for a rushing/receiving TD, and 3 for a passing TD. (Nope, no PPR.) Defensive players, however, score 1 point for a tackle or tackle assist, 5 points for a sack, 5 points for an INT, 3 point for a forced fumble, and 3 points for a pass defended, as well as the usual 6 pts/2 pts for a TD or safety.
The result of these changes is that it suddenly becomes a viable strategy to focus on defense rather than offense to win your league. For instance, Matt Forte would have racked up 253 points last year in this scoring system, a career season that has him pegged as a first round pick heading into 2014 in traditional formats. Bucs linebacker Lavonte David, who put himself in the conversation as the first IDP player off the board after his big 2013? 7-on-7 scoring would have rewarded David's season with 243 points, just about on par with Forte. Top DLs like JJ Watt (165.5 points) and Robert Quinn (182 points), or DBs like Earl Thomas (153 points), are right there with the likes of Jordy Nelson (173 points) and Vincent Jackson (156 points) in 2013 scoring.
A format that requires you to start as many defensive players as offensive players, and that allows those defensive players to score points comparable to their counterparts on the other side of the ball, suddenly opens up a lot of strategic doors. No longer are your options limited to whether to go RB or WR heavy with your first couple of picks, or whether to wait on a QB. Now, it's an entirely viable strategy to invest heavily in defense. Imagine a draft where the owner in the ninth slot goes LB-WR-LB with his first three picks, or grabs a few offensive stars early then spends the middle rounds building up a stout D.
7-on-7 isn't intended to replace existing formats, of course. It's just one more option in the fantasy universe. But if, like me, you're tired of seeing half the game dismissed as almost irrelevant, it's an option that redresses that oversight.
Real NFL teams can win championships with nasty defenses and good-enough offenses. Why shouldn't fantasy football teams be able to attempt the same thing?