A few weeks ago I burst into a short rant on Twitter about the increased positional depth in fantasy football for this upcoming 2013 NFL Season. I felt compelled to expand on the topic and I finally had a chance to write out my thoughts to share them with all the awesome fantasy footballers that visit this site. The following two tweets are what sparked an interesting discussion:

If the positional depth in fantasy of right now continues into next season, then standard league size should really move from 12 to 14.

— Kyle Wachtel (@KyleWachtel) May 14, 2025

These offenses around the league create more opportunities than ever before so I think the depth may be here for awhile.

— Kyle Wachtel (@KyleWachtel) May 14, 2025

I followed that up with why I’m advocating the change:

Added depth to 12 team leagues does increase the “luck” involved in fantasy football and diminish skill.

— Kyle Wachtel (@KyleWachtel) May 14, 2025

The presence of skill in fantasy sports is why I have grown to enjoy them so much and it’s also why fantasy sports received an exemption from the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). FanDuel does a great job of explaining the legality of playing fantasy sports for money in their FAQ under “Is FanDuel legal?”.

The newest standard starting requirements for leagues are 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 3 wide receivers, 1 tight end, 1 flex (RB/WR/TE), 1 defense / special teams, and 1 kicker. For the purpose of this article, we can forget about the DST and kicker positions. In a 12-team league, only 12 quarterbacks, 24 running backs, 36 wide receivers, 12 tight ends and 12 additional flex players start each week. To understand how low that number is, I’ve listed the players that would be considered flex or bench players according to my rankings as of June 3rd, 2013:[table “” not found /]

Please refrain from focusing on the actual rankings, but instead on the depth of the positions and quality of the players. There’s quarterbacks listed that could throw for 4000 yards and 25+ touchdowns. There’s some running backs that could total 1200+ total yards and some others that could see close to 10 touchdowns. There’s wide receivers with easy 1000 yard upside. The tight end depth doesn’t quite match up with the other positions, but there’s still a couple of them that could rack up 800 yards with a handful of touchdowns.

I’ve done a few draftmasters courtesy of MyFantasyLeague.com and afterwards I look over my roster and find myself to be quite pleased with my team. Then, I take a look at the league wide rosters and I notice there’s more than a few other teams that seem stacked as well. In fact, there’s not many teams with glaring weaknesses. Most owners were able to “have their cake and eat it too.” Granted, there’s a long way to go before the season begins, but the parity is frustrating for me. Skilled fantasy players can still strengthen their teams and separate from the pack by trading, but I expect many leagues to turn into a crapshoot this season. As a result from the parity, unpredictable variables (such as health) are poised to play a larger role this season than ever before. In order to re-infuse more skill into fantasy football, leagues will have to offset the depth and force owners to go deeper into the player pool.

The simplest way would be to increase the league size to 14 teams, which would be an easy transition redraft leagues. That would open up starting spots for 2 more quarterbacks, 4 more running backs, 6 more wide receivers, 2 more tight ends, and 2 more flex players - a fair enough amount to quell my concerns and probably the most balanced correction. For keeper and dynasty leagues, that method would create a lot of difficulties and perhaps you may have trouble finding two more reliable owners.

Another option would be to add more positions. Even by adding just a second flex, you can do wonders to offset the depth. That change would result in 12 quarterbacks, 24 running backs, 36 wide receivers, 12 tight ends, and 24 flex players. That would be enough to designate all of the above mentioned wide receivers and running backs as starters. Offsetting the quarterback depth is an issue of its own. 2-QB leagues work great for leagues with ten owners, but with only 32 starting quarterbacks, that creates too many roster problems for leagues with more members. In those cases, an offensive player (OP) position may serve best, so that owners can choose to start other positions during Bye Weeks.

Positional depth does fluctuate over time and if you want to boast a cutting-edge league that’s at the forefront of the fantasy football world, then your league can even adjust starting requirements yearly to best account for depth. Of course that’s easier said than done; you would need a league full of pliable and reasonable members to make that work.

All in all, it really doesn’t matter how you go about it, but if you want to maintain the skill involved in fantasy football, you may have to redefine “standard.”

I’ll end with some quick advice for the standard leagues as they presently stand. In auction drafts, you may be able to circumvent the depth problems and possibly use it to your advantage by spending big money on the elite players and then settling with whoever slips through the cracks. Also, although there’s a ton of TE2s, the TE position has the least depth of all. Therefore, the two potentially elite options, Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski, are made all the more valuable. The injury concerns with Gronkowski actually further inflates Graham’s value into late first round consideration when you consider value based drafting. Gronkowski’s actual value is harder to gauge, but even with the well-documented risk accounted for, his upside when on the field is good enough for him to remain the #2 tight end and worthy of a late-4th round selection.