Types of Games: Pick 'Em and Salary Cap

In pick 'em, fantasy players pick who they believe will win between the two opposing teams in each of the NFL's weekly regular season contests. While some games feature the same point value for every game, others have the player rate games with confidence points in which point values are assigned to games based on the fantasy player's certainty of outcome. For example, in a confidence point game with point values of 1-15, a player might assign a 15 point value to a game if he feels sure of the outcome, but might assign a 1 point value to a game if he is unsure of the outcome. In other games, the player must pick whether or not the favored team will cover the point spread (win and scores more points over their opponent than the number of the spread) or if the underdog team will beat the spread (either defeat the opposing team or lose within less points than the spread). Usually, the point spreads are provided by the Associated Press.

Photo courtesy Yahoo
Yahoo.com’s Fantasy Sports Fantasy Football Pick ‘em game.



Here are some of the more popular pick 'em sites:

Public leagues and groups are available for anyone to join, random leagues are available for anyone to join as players are grouped at random, and private leagues and groups are available to join only by password invitation.


Yahoo Sports Pro Football
This site is free and offers basic one point pic 'em, confidence points pic 'em and spread system pic 'em.
ESPN Pigskin Pick 'em
This site is also free and offers basic one point pic 'em, confidence points pic 'em and spread system pic 'em.
Sandbox Pro Pix Football
This site has a monthly fee of $4.99 and offers confidence points pic 'em.
AOL Pro Football
This site is free and offers one point pic 'em.

Photo courtesy Sandbox
An example of fantasy football point values.



In a salary cap game, the fantasy player acts as a virtual owner with a virtual bank account to draft players whose weekly game performance translates into points. These points are awarded for categories such as touchdowns, rushing yards, field goals and sacks. Player's salaries rise and fall according to their weekly performance, and the goal of the virtual GM is to build the strongest lineup possible without exhausting his payroll or going over the number of allowed trades during a weekly period. Since more attention must be paid to variables such as injury, bye weeks, and opposing coverage, a successful salary cap team requires more maintenance and research than a pick 'em game.


Photo courtesy Sandbox
The Coach’s Clipboard Fantasy Football Salary Cap game on Sandbox.com.



Here are a few popular salary cap sites:


Yahoo Salary Cap Football
This site is free and offers a nine-man roster (one QB, two RBs, three WRs, one TE, one K, one team defense), a $100 million salary cap and no trade limits. You can have public or private groups.

Sandbox Coach's Clipboard Salary Cap Football
This site has a monthly fee of $4.99. You manage a 10-man roster (one QB, two RBs, two WRs, one TE, one K, three Defensive flex players) with a $50 million salary cap and four trades per week. You can have public or private leagues.

Sporting News Ultimate Salary Cap Football
On this site you can manage one team for $19.99 with an 11-man roster (one QB, three RBs, three WRs, one TE, one K, one Team Def), a $50 million salary cap, four trades per week. You can have public, random, or private leagues.