When fantasy football was invented, there’s no way anyone could’ve imagined the variety of league options that would ultimately emerge. One such format is known as a Campus to Canton fantasy football league. What are Campus to Canton leagues, and how do they work?
What are Campus to Canton fantasy football leagues?
Campus to Canton leagues are the final evaluation of dynasty fantasy football. They are the ultimate test of a manager’s ability to predict player performance. Not only do you have to predict NFL player performance, but you also have to predict college player performance as well.
A Campus to Canton league is essentially two leagues in one. You have your traditional dynasty league with NFL players. Those players put up stats, accumulate points, and a winner is crowned.
You also have the college side of it. However, rather than merely drafting college players to sit on a taxi squad, you have an entire college fantasy football team. Your players will put up stats and accumulate points while in college, and a winner of that side of your league will be crowned.
In traditional dynasty leagues, you will have a rookie draft every offseason to place the relevant incoming rookies on fantasy rosters. In Campus to Canton leagues, your annual draft will consist of unrostered college players. For your NFL roster, the players on your campus team become part of your NFL team once they are drafted into the NFL. Your commissioner could also opt for a supplemental rookie draft of players that weren’t on campus rosters.
How do Campus to Canton leagues differ from Devy leagues?
The primary difference is in the college fantasy football side. Since there’s an entire other league for you to compete in, it’s not as simple as drafting players who you project to have very productive NFL careers. If you care about the campus side of your Campus to Canton league, you need those players to produce while in college.
This is where the challenge really comes from. As we all know, the vast majority of college football players don’t make it to the NFL. Out of the roughly 224 players drafted each year, an extremely small portion of them go on to be fantasy-relevant.
At the same time, many of these players who never make it to the NFL level are tremendously productive at college. Consider your dominant small school players or FCS studs (if your league even includes FCS players). Some of these players are more productive in college than your top NFL prospects.
Therein lies the difficulty of Campus to Canton leagues. How do you balance rostering players that will help you win the college side of things with players that will go on to have successful NFL careers for the NFL side of things?
Should you play in a Campus to Canton league?
Much like everything in fantasy football, my answer is always the same: if you find it fun. Ultimately, this game is about fun. Yes, we all want to compete, and we all want to win, but if you’re not having fun, why play?
Campus to Canton leagues may not be for you. Succeeding in this format requires knowledge of college football on par with your knowledge of the NFL.
Keeping up with college is far more difficult because rosters change so drastically every year. You need to be committed. And with Campus to Canton leagues, you will need to know incoming college freshmen. This often requires an ability to scout high school players. Yeah, it gets deep. These leagues are not for the casual fantasy gamer.
If the prospect of finding that high school senior who will go on to become an NFL Hall of Famer appeals to you, then this format is right up your alley. Take your dynasty leagues to the next level with a Campus to Canton fantasy football league!