Scott Fish Bowl 16: Draft Strategy, Rankings and ADP

The Scott Fish Bowl is one of fantasy football's most anticipated events each year. Tens of thousands of fantasy football enthusiasts and pretty much every fantasy analyst you can name will enter, but only about 5,000 will receive the coveted "#SFB16 OFFICIAL INVITE" email.

Millions (maybe billions?) of dollars will pass through fantasy football league commissioners' hands this season, but this isn't that type of tournament. The Scott Fish Bowl is all about fun, community, charity and the ultimate bragging rights. Want to compete against your favorite experts? RotoWire's Jeff Erickson, Nick Whalen, Jim Coventry, Theo Gremminger, Ian Hartitz, Jagger May, and Joe Bartel are among those who got the invite. Simply register at https://scottfishbowl.com/ for your chance to be selected - time is running out.

For this tournament, you're not going to find a cheat sheet in a magazine that will lead you to a title because each year our friend Scott Fish insists on making us adapt to a unique scoring system that you likely never experienced before and will never experience again.

For SFB16, Scott has reinvented the format with a video game-inspired scoring system that rewards explosive performances. Six-point passing touchdowns, first-down bonuses, tight end premium scoring and massive "power-up" bonuses for milestone games and big plays create a format where traditional rankings won't get you very far. Add in a completely position-flexible starting lineup featuring eight flex spots and two superflex spots, and conventional draft strategies quickly go out the window.

Scott Fish Bowl Draft Strategy

First, we have to establish which players are going to benefit the most from the scoring settings.

RotoWire's custom rankings tool allows you to build your own personalized cheat sheet for pretty much any unique set of scoring rules. These particular big play bonuses will require a little extra manual work, but the tool saves us a lot of time by setting strong baseline projections.

Mobile quarterbacks will benefit from 0.5 point per rushing first down, while higher volume passing quarterbacks will cash in on six point passing touchdowns and big game bonuses. Meanwhile, the superflex component boosts all passers.

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Wide receivers benefit most from the big play bonuses, as they only need to hit a 20-yard gain for a 10-point bonus, compared to QBs and RBs, who need to hit 40-yard plays. It's only half point per reception, so your high volume but low depth of target guys lose some value.

Tight ends get a big boost from TE Premium settings in addition to the big play bonuses.

Meanwhile, running backs have the least to gain from this scoring format with big play bonuses that even the most electric backs may only hit a couple times all season.

So what will be the winning draft strategy this year? Depends on who you ask. In addition to RotoWire's rankings tool and expert projections, we have access to 62 live SFB16 drafts' worth of data that we can leverage to build our rankings, as live drafts across the country have already begun, leading up to the online slow draft that the majority of entrants will start on July 6th. 

I think it's fair to say that this is the only tournament where you'll see AJ Brown's draft position range from sixth to 43rd or Caleb Williams picked at third overall in one draft and 65th in another. I've seen some live drafters go all-in on wide receivers, selecting them in every round in hopes of cashing on big play bonuses. I've seen others who went tight end-heavy, while most others seem to have gone with a "best available," balanced approach featuring every position.

Don't tell the NBA Jam Division, but my goal is to grab multiple top tight ends, three solid quarterbacks to ensure some stability in my lineup each week, and a bunch of wide receivers with big play potential.

Scott Fish Bowl Rankings and ADP

*ADP provided by @unnecroughness on X (as of 7/3/2026)