For the 2019 Arena Football League (AFL) season, the league is expanding from four to six teams. Times might not be great for the AFL, but the addition of DraftKings tournaments could draw more attention to the league. Personally, I will be following the games for the first time in years.
If you’re not familiar with the AFL, you can read up on the rules here.
Week 1 Arena Football League Preview here.
NFL vs AFL
The biggest DFS related differences:
| League | AFL | NFL |
| Field Length | 50 yards | 100 yards |
| Goal Post – Width | 9 yards | 18.5 yards |
| Goal Post – Height | 15 feet | 10 feet |
| Punting | No | Yes |
So there is a smaller field, no punting, and smaller and higher up goal posts. This leads to significantly more scoring, nearly all of it passing.
Roster Construction
DraftKings calls it their ‘Classic’ format, which is actually just their Showdown format but for multiple games. That means we have 6 rosters spots, one of which is the designated captain. Both the points and salary of this player are multipled by 1.5.
You choose from QB, WR, TE, FB, and Kicker to fill the roster.
Notes and Approaches
Review the Rosters – Chances are you won’t know most of the QB’s. Set aside a few minutes per QB to do basic research. Take notes of injuries and past performance. Keeping notes will make this process much quicker each week.
Doing this at least for the QB’s is vital. The average person playing AFL DFS won’t know most players. Read here for a preview of the upcoming week’s game to get started.
Kicker – At least for week 1, all kickers are priced at $4k. Kicking uses a simple scoring system – 1 point for a point after, 3 points for a field goal.
With the high number of touchdowns per game and the smaller, higher goal posts, I would rather get another skill player with a higher ceiling. No kickers for me.
Fullbacks – similarly to the NFL, they don’t get many touches. Your only hope of hitting value by rostering one is if you get multiple touchdowns.
I do like a FB that can receive targets – giving them value from further out than the 1-yard line. They’re low-cost high-risk options to fill out a roster.
Stacking – Personally, I believe in stacking a QB with at least 1 of their teammates (excluding kickers). This has been shown as an effective strategy many times due to the correlation of these players performances. If your QB is going to hit value in the AFL, they will throw 6-7 touchdowns.
An exception to stack would be cases where the QB also gets significant rushing touchdowns, such as Arvell Nelson for Washington.
Mutliple QB’s – The showcase format also means you can run multiple QB’s in a single lineup. Given the AFL’s reliance on the passing game, I expect to be running multiple quarterbacks in most, if not all of my lineups.
Weekly previews for the DraftKings Arena Football League slates are available here.