Scott Fish Bowl 16: Pure Video Game Numbers

One of the most fun emails—fantasy or otherwise—to get any year is the invitation to play in the Scott Fish Bowl. Even though this is the sixth year that I’ve received an invite, I still wasn’t taking it for granted that I’d participate in the 16th edition of this great tournament. It’s called SFB16 for short.

Scott Fish Bowl 16 is Worldwide Fantasy Football Fun

For those who’ve never played, this is a worldwide fantasy football tournament, where last year 5,028 teams were drafted last year. While everyone plays by the same rules, all the teams are broken up into 12-team leagues. Out of all those teams, one is crowned champion.

Started by Minnesota and fantasy legend Scott Fish himself, this tournament raises funds for Fantasy Cares, which yearly makes large donations through a partnership with Toys for Tots. At the holidays, so many underserved children receive gifts through this partnership, with many people from the fantasy community actually participating in the purchase and giveaway of these gifts.

So many people from the fantasy community participate in the Scott Fish Bowl, including a good chunk of my colleagues here at Fantasy Life. Shoutout to Matthew Berry for playing in this tournament as well.

Four years ago, live drafts started to happen and that’s when the fun really took place. These are all like a family reunion, where we get together to draft, catch up, talk a little trash and even compare notes on players we’ll be drafting in our other leagues. I’ve been to the drafts in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and it’s one of the great drafting experiences possible. But before anyone can draft, we have to know the rules. And the anticipation is almost as heightened as the recent NFL Schedule release. Without all the fun team videos.

Scott Fish Bowl 16 Scoring

SFB scoring has been completely original and bordered on outrageous at times over the years. It’s been a superflex format for many years, though little tweaks have been thrown in to keep quarterbacks from filling up the first round. There was the year when TE premium was turned up so high that prime Travis Kelce went No. 1 overall in many drafts. We’ve even seen kickers—yes, kickers—get .1 for every yard of their made field goals. So for those lucky enough to draft Brandon Aubrey, one of his 60-yard bombs would be the same as a TD scored. Did I mention Scott Fish has a little mad scientist in him?

This year’s scoring and theme are a throwback to SFB9, which was a celebration of video games. So get out the Ms. Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros T-shirts for draft day, because this year is going to see some scoring. Or buy some SFB16 merch at the Fantasy Cares Shop.

“SFB9 had video game scoring, and many felt it was their favorite scoring system we have done,” Scott Fish said. “Since the theme came back, I figured a version of the thematic scoring should as well!”

One of the keys here is that any week, fantasy managers are starting 10 players (with 10 bench spots). Up to two QBs can be started any one week, but there is no requirement to start any. Starting rosters have no limit on the number of QB/RB/WR/TE started, as long as they have 10 active players. Ian is probably happy that no kickers are going to be drafted this year.

With 6 points for every touchdown—passing, running and receiving—it still appears that QBs are most valuable. Look for Josh Allen to go very early, maybe even 1.01, with this year alone our fantasy football projections have him scoring 38.6 TDs. Let’s round that up to 40 total TDs, and that’s 240 points just from TDs! Looking at Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s numbers from last season, he would have 298.8 points just from his receptions, yards and TDs. First downs and the video game bonuses haven’t been taken into account.

As you can imagine, QBs who run will be paramount. Beyond Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels, keep an eye on Drake Maye, Trevor Lawrence and Jaxson Dart. Though with the 6 points for all TDs, pocket passers with great WRs like Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff get pushed up because of their possibility to throw for 30+ TDs.

Since this is superflex (sorta), keep an eye on QBs falling later in our fantasy football rankings like Malik Willis, Baker Mayfield and Tyler Shough. Those three, and others, could be finds late in drafts.

SFB16 Draft Strategy

What will make the early rounds so interesting are the bonuses for first downs and .5 PPR scoring. The stars like JSN, Ja'Marr Chase, Jahmyr Gibbs, Bijan Robinson and Puka Nacua will all go with the QBs. And they’ll be plenty worth it. Since there is no minimum number of RBs that need to be rostered, feel free to draft plenty of WRs who see lots of targets. As of now we have 42 WRs projected to see at least 100 targets. Though the seven RBs we have projected to get 70+ targets are going to be plenty valuable.

Trey McBride, Brock Bowers and possibly Colston Loveland could be cheat codes because of the TE-premium scoring. Add an extra point for each first down and reception, which could really pile up the points. Don’t feel bad about picking a second TE from the group of Travis Kelce, Kyle Pitts and Harold Fannin to corner the TE market. Keep in mind, no trading is allowed in the Scott Fish Bowl, so don’t get any funny ideas.

Since there is no minimum number of QBs to start, I wouldn’t recommend drafting more than three, though I’d make sure to draft no less than two. Getting an elite TE like Bowers or McBride will be tempting, but we’ll have to see how the board falls. I’m at the 1.06 in my division for my draft, so that might be early to take either of them there, and they will likely be gone before I come back and pick in the second round.

I went a literal Zero-RB approach last year, where I took no RBs in the first 10 rounds. It backfired, but I blame that more on injuries than poor draft strategy. If I can’t get one of the top 7 RBs who will see plenty of targets, I may pass unless Derrick Henry, Javonte Williams or Kyren Williams fall because of the emphasis on TDs.

All the yardage bonuses may give you visions of some high point totals. Don’t think about those too much, because who can predict a player getting 100+ rushing/receiving yards several weeks beyond Robinson and Gibbs? Just enjoy it when it happens.

Other than that, have fun! With these drafts taking place in June and July, it’s really the beginning of the redraft season. Invites will keep going out in the coming weeks, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet, stay tuned. Beyond fun, donate to Fantasy Cares. It’s for a great cause, and where else can you draft and play fantasy football, then talk some trash while helping kids at the holidays? Cue the video game music and let’s have a ball!