To PPR, or Not to PPR?

As the Super Bowl draws near, us fantasy footballers are close to shutting down the fantasy thrusters for a good six months. A moment of silence, please...

That being said, Athlon Sports will begin to release its 2011 Fantasy Football rankings - complete with mock drafts - starting next week! Hooray!

Yes, just hours after the biggest real sporting event in the world, Athlon will begin covering the fictional season to come. As we have sat around and debated roster size, projections, scoring systems and more, one issue continues to pop-up: PPR.

The Points Per Reception league format is a constant debate amongst Athlonians. Do most people play the PPR format? Do players deserve fantasy points for making the receptions? How much should each catch cost? All good questions any solid fantasy commish will ask him- (or her) self.

But since this is my blog...

The answer is 0.5 points per reception. Does a player who catches 11 passes have a bigger impact on the game than someone who caught 2 (for the same amount of yards)? Yes, no and maybe. One would have to seriously watch a lot film to decide if Mike Wallace's two catches for 80 yards actually were more influential than Donald Driver's nine catches for 80 yards. In a perfect world, a receiver would get 0.15 for drawing a double team, an extra 0.5 for any first down catch and the full 0.5 for any pass inference pentalties drawn. How about 0.01 for making the cornerback cover you 50 yards down field tiring him out and thus rendering him less effective?

It obviously isn't a perfect system - there really isn't one. It is for you, the fantasy player, to decide. In my mind, 110 catches is much better than 50. But not 10 touchdowns better - as a full-PPR league would have you believe.

In my mind, there is a middle ground where that 0.5 points per catch falls.