You Deserve Better Defensive Scoring (2023 Updated)

Introduction

What do these numbers mean to you? 0, 6, 13, 17, 21, 27, 34, 45, 100, 199, 299, 349, 399, 449, 499, 549

They're the arbitrary tiers on ESPN (and many other mainstream fantasy sites) for Points Allowed and Yards Allowed upon which D/ST scoring is based. At each tier the D/ST loses a chunk of fantasy points, resulting in a big bonus for your team at kickoff only to teeter and (usually) trend negative over the course of a 3-hour football game. If you're like me, this is terribly annoying and unfun as the dropoffs seem to occur randomly.

Having been dissatisfied with ESPN's default scoring for D/ST for several years, I set out in 2016 to create a better configuration that more closely mirrors how points are accrued for other positions. I now call it the "You Deserve Better" methodology.

By implementing YDB scoring you will be able to cheer for the D/ST in your NFL fantasy lineup just like other position players because they will score points for every good play, just like other players. They will (usually) have a linear, upward trend throughout the game instead of randomly teetering downward after that big bonus at kickoff.

I implemented YDB scoring in a dynasty league back in 2016, and the response among leaguemates has been positive, though ye be warned there is an adjustment period to reverse years of being brainwashed by those arbitrary tiers they call "standard".

Table of Contents

1. Guiding Principles
2. Vanilla Settings
3. Controversial Settings
4. Negative Mechanisms
5. TL;DR
6. Historical D/ST Rankings
7. ESPN Score Settings
8. Sleeper Score Settings
9. Yahoo Score Settings

Guiding Principles

1. D/ST should start with zero points at kickoff and trend positive throughout a game, like other positions
2. Top D/ST squads should not outperform top positional players (in fact, most folks agree they should be less valuable)
3. There should exist a tiered value for elite D/ST performance through a full season compared to good, middle, and bad defenses - again like the tiers that exist for other positions

Regardless of whether or not you agree with these guiding principles, they comprise the foundation of what we're striving to create with all the settings discussed below. While this scoring format isn't regarded as perfect, it is entirely preferential and, in many obvious ways, better than most default settings.

So now, I want to share my defensive scoring settings with you (or your commish), to implement in your league at your own discretion. There's a TLDR at the bottom for those who could care less about science and logic. We'll start with the easy stuff.

Disclaimer: Never use a single season's results as a basis for disqualifying a new scoring system!.

Vanilla Settings

These are the scoring settings you find in standard leagues, but below I outline some point value adjustments that I think are better suited for the achievement.

Defensive TDs of any kind are worth 6 points. Just like a TD for a skill player, you gotta credit the D when they directly put points on the scoreboard. Counts for INT and FR.

Punt/Kick return TDs are worth 8 points. I like to give a boost for return TDs because they are momentum shifters and won't receive a natural bonus from turnover points. And, some leagues already give value to return yards but I find that's hard to balance since nearly every return nets 5-25 yards and there are many returns every game. Running a kickoff to the 20 yard line isn't an accomplishment, but adding a 2pt bonus to a return TD compensates for the yards they must've covered to take it to the house. /rant

Turnovers are worth 2 points. Whether it's an Interception or a Fumble Recovery, it's worth 2 points. I like to split Forced Fumble and Fumble Recovery (1 point each) but you do you.

Sacks are worth 1 point. We can't make them worth 2 points (bc they're not equivalent of a turnover) so for simplicity we'll charge it as one. As a rule, just say they're worth half a turnover (in case we change our turnover points later).

Safeties are worth 4 points. Not only is it 2 points on the scoreboard, but it's also a turnover. So it's 4 points total because math.

2-PT Conversion Returns are worth 4 points. They put 2 points on the board for the team and prevent 2 points from the opposing team: a 4-point swing in theory. They can shift the momentum of a game just a much as a Safety, if not more so. These are also extremely rare, so this is a low risk setting.

Blocked Kicks are worth 3 points. Not only are they in many ways like a turnover (worth 2 points) but they're also a momentum shifter, which should hold value. "Kicks" applies to punts and field goals.

Vanilla D/ST Rankings in 2022

Using only these vanilla settings, below is how D/ST units would've ranked last year.

Stop here if you want D/ST scoring based purely on positive achievements. No one will stop here, of course, but these are the foundational scoring mechanisms for standard D/ST scoring settings, although we've adjusted some of the point values. Stopping here makes D/ST weaker than other positions, which is the popular persuasion, and one could argue that this achievement-based scoring is most similar to how skill positions are scored, which rarely produces a negative point game.

Pause and Consider Your Sweet Spot

Pause here and consider: where do you want the top defenses to rank overall? Relative to other elite positional players (250-300)? Or maybe on par with a mid-range TE (140-150)? My league(s) like their DEF nicely nerfed, so our target for this exercise is to put the No. 1 Defense around 200 points and DST12 more like 125. Spoiler!

Add Some Hot Fudge

For me, the above basic settings are too vanilla. I like to reward more defensive achievements that are commonly overlooked except in IDP leagues. However, these installments require more effort to sell to a league of change-resistant fantasy casuals, so be prepared for some pushback.

Trustworthy stats I like to include: tackles for loss, passes defended, and defensive stops. Solo tackles are not reliably tracked (Google its origins), so I don't advise using them.

Why Tackles as a stat is unreliable (Sports Illustrated, 2015)

These stats are going to be the hot fudge on our otherwise vanilla settings.

Volatile, Unconventional, and Controversial Settings

These will boost our overall points and create variance among our D/ST units, but they are much more unconventional and therefore, more controversial. These will be harder to sell to change-resistant leaguemates.

Split Fumbles Recovered (2) into Forced Fumbles (1) and Fumbles Recovered (1). I like to do this because I feel like creating opportunity should be worth a point, even if the defense doesn't come away with the ball.

Tackles For Loss are worth .5 point. Often overlooked, I regard a TFL the same as a sack but occurring on rush attempts and screen passes. They don't usually result in as many negative yards and aren't as highly praised as sacks, and at half the value of a sack TFL boosts our overall D/ST scores substantially, by ~40 points. Yikes. We'll have to dial this back later, probably (with negative points - fun stuff).

Passes Defended are worth .25 point. Also overlooked, but more reliably recorded in box scores than tackles, are passes defended. It's common (critical, even) in IDP formats, but is forgotten/almost never used for D/ST. At a meager quarter-point, this raises a top-tier high-end D/ST another ~40 points. Yikes again, but this setting is great for establishing score variance among DEF units.

Three and Out Drives are worth .5 point. Every change of possession presents an opportunity for a defense to make a stop, and that is another WIN moment that deserves some value. These occur with regularity every week, so we need to keep their value under harsh regulation. At a half-point level, D/ST receives a ~20 point boost.

Fourth-Down Stops are worth 1 point. While not actually a turnover, a stop on 4th Down is definitely a WIN for the defense, and deserves some value. At a full point, this setting boosts top D/ST a modest ~10 points.

Sidebar rant: There will always be haters who will argue that trash time 4th down attempts artificially boost D/ST. Those with better developed sense of logic know there are many instances of statistical defects that go ignored in every system. It's unavoidable and regardless of whether the game is on the line or not, a 4th Down Stop is a defensive achievement, worthy of at least a half-value turnover.

Most mainstream fantasy sites like ESPN, Yahoo, CBS won't enable a commissioner to enjoy these uncommon defensive scoring settings. Fleaflicker does (shoutout to /r/NarFFL).

Controversial D/ST Rankings in 2022

If you turn on all these unconventional settings, here are the results you would see from last year:

Whoa, there, bucko! Those point totals are wayyyyy too high! Time to throttle back down with negative mechanisms.

Negative Mechanisms

Since we don't want to be drafting D/ST in the early rounds of a snake draft, we need to bring these point totals back down to our target of 175-200 for the top performer(s). How to do it? Revisit those pesky negative tiers, of course, but with more linear consequences!

We'll apply negative points for Points Allowed and Yards Allowed to fine-tune our settings and to create more variance, but we only want to punish a defense for poor play, not average play, so it's time for research.

Avg. Yards Allowed Per Game

Here's a table showing average yards gained per team per game in recent seasons. (source)

We see the average yards gained per game over the past 4 years is ~350. So if that's an average day for a defensive unit, let's not trend negative until we're teetering around these benchmarks. Let's knock -2 points per 100 yards allowed after 300 yards allowed.

That reduces our top-tier D/ST point totals by a meager 2-5 points. Wow. If you're like me, you're surprised it's such a small change. But it proves that good defenses don't give up a heap of yards per game. Shoulda seen that coming... Let's move on for now, because we don't want to anger the horde of Yards Allowed naysayers.

Sidebar rant: In the Reddit comments there is always debate about how Yards Allowed is the worst metric ever because some D's are designed to bend but not break, and allowing yards doesn't lose a game, only allowing points. I get it, I enjoy watching Bend, Don't Break defenses at work. So if you want to leave this out, just leave it out. The data shows that the top defenses are pretty stingy all around, no matter what. But in my opinion, when Pat Mahomes puts up a 500-yard passing game, the opposing team should be docked some points for letting him do it, so a small negative value for Yards Allowed seems appropriate.

Avg. Points Allowed Per Game

Now we'll do the same calculation for Points Allowed. Here's our tables:

• Offensive points per team per game (source)
• Special teams points per team per game (source)

NFL teams score an average of ~22 offensive + special teams points per game (this excludes defensive touchdowns). So for our purpose, let's subtract 2 points for every 5 points allowed (that's 0.4 per point allowed) after 20. We won't apply any negatives until 20 points are allowed, since that's an average game. It's important to distinguish Offensive + Special Teams Points because pick sixes shouldn't count against your defense (ESPN only figured this out in 2017).

At -2pts per 5 PA after 20 PA, our top defenses are reduced by ~40 points. That's not nearly enough, so let's make it more severe: -2 per 5 PA after 10 PA, now they're reduced by ~60 points. That puts our D/ST squads right where we want them.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2022

Disclaimer: Defense was up in 2022, holding NFL offenses to their lowest points scored since 2017. As a result, fantasy points for D/ST units are 15-30 points higher than usual from top to bottom, and that was true for standard scoring as well (see below comparison).

Note: The skill position equivalents seen below are for 0.5PPR.

Now come on... that's a pretty good looking list, compared to what you know from your standard D/ST scoring leagues! Except now you get to root for your defense on Sundays and know that your team's projection is not going to fall off tiered cliffs as your DEF lets its +10 kickoff bonus slip slowly away.

If it's me, I will make the Yards Allowed more severe to decrease these totals even further, because again - my league likes weak D. But you do you... pick and choose from these settings based on what your league rallies behind - only the most engaged/obsessed owners will want to rock the boat with D/ST scoring changes.

Summary

What we've ended up with is a reasonably strong group of D/ST units with similar variance among top 5/top 10 as other positions have. And, when kickoff happens you won't see an inflated projection because of an immediate 10-point bonus to your D/ST. Cheer for defensive playmakers the same you would offensive playmakers, because your D/ST performance is grounded in defensive success, not failure.

TL;DR

TL;DR Enable D/ST to score points like other positions: starting at zero and trending positive throughout a game, instead of starting with 10 and teetering, while also rewarding defenses for real achievements that are often overlooked.

Scoring Settings

Basic settings:

• +8 points per Kick/Punt Return TD
• +6 points per Defensive TD
• +4 points per Safety and Conversion Return
• +3 points per Blocked Kick (FGs and Punts)
• +2 points per Turnover (INTs and FRs)
• +1 point per Sack

Unconventional settings:

• +0.5 point per Tackle For Loss
• +0.25 point per Pass Defended
• +0.5 point per Three and Out Drive
• +1 point per 4th Down Stop

Negative mechanisms:

Adjust to buff/nerf overall scores to suit your league's preferences.

• -2 points per 5 Points Allowed* beyond 10 (-0.4 per point)
• -2 points per 100 Yards Allowed beyond 300 (-0.02 per yard)

*Offense and Special Teams only

D/ST Rankings Archive

Here's some historical end-of-season rankings based on the above scoring settings for defense.

Disclaimer: Never use a single season's results as a basis for disqualifying a new scoring system!.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2022

Note: Defense was up in 2022, holding NFL offenses to their lowest points scored since 2017. As a result, fantasy points for D/ST units are 15-30 points higher than usual from top to bottom, and that was true for standard scoring as well.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2021

Final D/ST Rankings in 2020

Note: In 2020, offense took over the NFL with record highs (at least in the past 10 years) in yards gained and points scored. By effect, fantasy points for D/ST units were 22% lower than usual and worth monitoring in future years in case adjustments to scoring settings need to be made.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2019

Note: In 2019, the Patriots had a run of games against the Dolphins, Jets, Bills, Redskins, Giants, Jets, and Browns. Over these 6 weeks, they allowed only 46 total Offensive + Special Teams points scored while compiling 30 Sacks, 24 Turnovers, and 168 total fantasy points. So yeah... they had a really good fantasy season as a result.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2018

Note: In 2018, the Bears had a phenomenal season (thanks Khalil Mack!), compared to the rest of the league which was below average, defensively speaking.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2017

Note: 2017 was a really strong year, defensively speaking. Across the NFL, points and yards allowed were down, and the Jags D was crazy good.

Final D/ST Rankings in 2016

Final D/ST Rankings in 2015

Note: In this year, negative mechanisms were set to -2 per 8 points allowed after 10, and -2 per 100 yards allowed after 400. As a result, these scores are 25-35 points higher.

Improved ESPN Scoring Settings

Last updated July 2023

I've been getting a bunch of questions about how to implement You Deserve Better defensive scoring on other fantasy sites, so here are some app-specific instructions for making changes on ESPN.

Personally, I hate ESPN because I think they have neglected their fantasy football website for too long and you should all switch to another site, but I digress...

Unchanged Settings on ESPN

• +1 per Sack (half a turnover)
• +2 per Turnover
• +6 per Defensive Return TD

Easy Improvements on ESPN

• +4 per Safety (ESPN default = 2)
• +8 per Punt/Kickoff Return TD (ESPN default = 6)
• +4 per 2pt Conversion Return (ESPN default = 2)
• +3 per Blocked Punt/PAT/FG (ESPN default = 2 and yes it sucks you can't exclude PATs)

Controversial Settings on ESPN

• +0.5 per Tackle For Loss (called "Stuff" on ESPN)
• +0.25 per Pass Defensed

Negative Mechanisms on ESPN

• Delete all bonuses for Yards Allowed and Points Allowed
• Add -1 point for each of ESPN's predefined tiers, starting at 350 Yards Allowed
• Add -1 point for each of ESPN's predefined tiers, starting at 14 Points Allowed

Setting Modifications on ESPN

Note: You have to click into each setting and adjust the value. If you just use the up/down arrows without actually focusing the value inputs, your changes will not save. ESPN: The Worldwide Leader in Bad UX

Improved Sleeper Scoring Settings

Last updated July 2023

The primary change to Sleeper settings is to adjust the tiers of bonuses for Points Allowed and add a small negative fraction for every point allowed.

With these settings I looked back through the final rankings since 2019 and you can expect the DST1 to be roughly equivalent to a mid-range RB2 (~170pts, non-PPR) and DST12 roughly similar to an RB4 (~100pts, non-PPR), which is a good target for most leagues.

Setting Modifications on Sleeper

Notes about Sleeper Scoring

By default, Sleeper excludes Yards Allowed so add in those negative values too unless you want to stick to the mode of thought that defense shouldn't be punished for giving up yards. If you do that, be sure to adjust the negative values for points allowed to be a bit harsher to compensate.

Steer clear of the Points Per Yard Allowed setting, because there isn't a way to set a minimum threshold and it's silly to penalize a DST for giving up 150 yards because that literally always happens.

Improved Yahoo Scoring Settings

Last updated in 2020

After many requests to provide some guidance on implementing You Deserve Better scoring format on Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football, here we go.

Setting Modifications on Yahoo

Just like Sleeper, Yahoo has excluded Yards Allowed by default. Interesting... maybe in a few years that will be the prevalent methodology.

Just like Sleeper and ESPN, Yahoo uses tiers for Points Allowed, and Yahoo has fewer tiers in bigger chunks, so we'll need to reconfigure those and it's going to feel a bit cliff-like. But... we can only do what Yahoo scoring allows us to do.

There's a random Extra Point Returned setting, but considering that almost never happens, we'll just turn it off (see below).

Other Yahoo scoring settings that can be turned on (as seen below) include Tackles For Loss, 4th Down Stops, and Three And Outs.

What they don't have is Forced Fumbles, Passes Defended or 2PT Return. The latter doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, and we can compensate for lack of Passes Defended by boosting Interceptions to 3pts. That's kind of a lazy, easy fix since an INT is an achievement in the same realm as a PD.

Yahoo settings that need to be adjusted (see below) include Safeties and Blocked Kicks.

Everything else is pretty straight forward with Yahoo.

Improved Yahoo Scoring Settings