Changes for 2024; Part One – Defense

While people are still somewhat engaged, I thought it’d be a good time to address any changes we want to make for next year. I am open to (realistic) suggestions, which I can present moving forward, but for now, this seems to be the thing that most need to be voted on.

Team D vs. IDP

Though some of it is done in jest just to spike my blood pressure (my children thank you by the way), there has been A LOT of talk the last two years about totally dismantling the entire identity of the league and going to a more generic Team D setting. So there are some things to discuss; first if we should switch, or even eliminate defense – and how scoring would/should change.

Now if we switch to Team D, Chris and I will need to do some research and testing to figure out how the scoring would scale. But if we keep IDP, I think the scoring still needs to be tweaked. A couple years ago we devalued tackles (to the rage of the Skippers) and to put more emphasis on splash plays; Sacks, FF, INTs, etc. Now with a couple years of data, while it did do what was intended, seeing more of the league’s Defensive stars finish towards the top of scoring, with fewer LBs on bad teams you’ve never heard of dropping 300 a week, it also made IDP more boom or bust than it used to be. Greater number of 400 point games, and way too many sub-100 point games. I would recommend tweaking it again. If we keep IDP, I would like to split the difference on both Solo and Assisted Tackles, and knock off a few points on stuff like Sacks and INTs. Still emphasising splash plays, but not devaluing the tackling game so much.

Maybe something like this; along with several examples of how it would change outlooks for some players…

	Solo	Assist	Sack	TFL	INT	PD	FF	FR	DTD
2020	20	10	50	10	60	20	40	40	100
2023	15	5	70	15	70	30	50	50	100
2024	17.5	7.5	60	15	60	30	50	40	100
TJ Watt	41	17	17	16	1	18	4	3	1
2800	820	170	850	160	60	360	160	120	100
3190	615	85	1190	240	70	540	200	150	100
3125	717.5	127.5	1020	240	60	540	200	120	100
Zaire Franklin	97	63	1.5	3	0	5	2	0	0
2855	1940	630	75	30	0	100	80	0	0
2170	1455	315	105	45	0	150	100	0	0
2555	1697.5	472.5	90	45	0	150	100	0	0
Alex Anzalone	72	40	3	6	0	6	0	1	0
2210	1440	400	150	60	0	120	0	40	0
1810	1080	200	210	90	0	180	0	50	0
2050	1260	300	180	90	0	180	0	40	0
Azeez Al-Shaair	75	70	2	8	0	4	0	1	0
2280	1500	350	140	120	0	120	0	50	0
2125	1125	700	100	80	0	80	0	40	0
2237.5	1312.5	525	120	120	0	120	0	40	0
DaRon Bland	47	15	0	3	8	15	0	1	5
2440	940	150	0	30	480	300	0	40	500
2385	705	75	0	45	560	450	0	50	500
2450	822.5	112.5	0	45	480	450	0	40	500
Maxx Crosby	50	32	13.5	20	0	2	1	1	0
2315	1000	320	675	200	0	40	40	40	0
2315	750	160	945	300	0	60	50	50	0
2375	875	240	810	300	0	60	50	40	0

So as you can see on these charts (if any of you actually look at them), the proposed changes would help to avoid such frequent duds, while still rewarding the high end guy for splash plays. TJ Watt drops less than 100 points here, but is still 325 better than the 2020 scoring had him. And the flip of that, Franklin, who would have had over 2800 in 2020 despite very few splash plays, is still well below that total, while being significantly more valuable than he was in 2023. DeRon Bland and his Jesus-like 5 Def. TDs is actually MORE valuable in the 2024 system, and Maxx Crosby (who somehow scores exactly the same in 2020 and 2023 scoring) also gets a bump.

I would be open to other scoring change suggestions, and Chris would then need to approve any finalization, but let’s get an idea on where we stand before I waste any more time on this…