Reference
How it works
A league is a group of managers who draft NFL players, then start the ones they think will score most each week. You play one other manager every week of the NFL season. Your team's score is whatever your starters do in their real games.
How a season goes
It starts with a live draft, where every manager builds a full roster. From there, you play one other manager each week: you choose who starts, and whatever they do in their real NFL games becomes your score. The best teams from the regular season close it out with a short playoff.
Drafts
Every league on Commish drafts either snake or auction. A snake draft has every manager pick in order, then the order reverses, back and forth, round after round. An auction draft lets every manager bid on every player from a shared budget, so nobody is ever locked out of a player, only outbid.
In a snake league you rank the draft slots you want before the room opens, and the draw gives each manager their highest-ranked slot still free. When it is your turn you are on the clock, with a countdown running. Rank players into your queue beforehand; if that clock runs out the room picks for you: your queue first, then the best player your roster needs. A draft never stalls on one manager.
Scoring
Scoring is one of a small set of presets: Standard, PPR (a full point for every catch), Half PPR (half a point for every catch), or PPR with a TE premium (an extra bonus for a catch by a tight end on top of PPR). Standard pays for yards and touchdowns and nothing for a catch. A commissioner may also hand-tune the point values, which reads as Custom scoring rather than any of the four presets.
Rosters and lineups
Every roster carries a FLEX spot a running back, receiver, or tight end can fill. A superflex league adds a second flex-like spot that also accepts a quarterback, so most managers in one start two. Everyone else on your roster sits on the bench, scoring nothing that week but still yours to start later.
Set your starters before the week's first game kicks off. That kickoff is the lineup lock for the whole week, not player by player, so nobody swaps a starter out after seeing how the early games went.
Standings and playoffs
Standings rank every team by its record first: wins, losses and ties so far this season. Some leagues also play a median game, where your score is compared to the league median that week on top of your head-to-head matchup, and the result counts as a second win, loss, or tie. Once the regular season ends, the top teams play the playoff bracket: win and you advance, lose and your season is over.
House leagues and open seats
A Commish house league is one the platform itself runs rather than a commissioner: the rules are the same in every one, and a new one opens whenever one fills, so there is always a seat to take.
Most open leagues are sit-and-go: there is no draft time on the calendar, and the room drafts on its own shortly after the last seat fills. Releasing your seat before that puts it back on the board for someone else. Every league also carries a stake tier, which describes how seriously it plays. It is a label, not an entry fee.
Reviews
Reviews on this site are ordered by when they were written and are never filtered by rating. A verified reviewer badge marks a review left by someone who has actually played here. Read what managers are saying.
What this product does not do yet
This product does not yet support a waiver wire, a trade deadline, or keeper and dynasty formats. A card or a league page never claims one of those, because a feature this product cannot deliver has no business on a page a stranger reads to decide whether to join.
Glossary
- a matchup
- Your matchup is the one other team your points are compared against this week. Whoever scores more with their starting lineup wins that week's game, and every team gets a new matchup each week of the season.
- the playoff bracket
- Once the regular season ends, the top teams in the standings play a short elimination bracket across the weeks shown here. Win your game each week to advance; lose and your season is over. Whoever wins the final week takes the league.
- a snake draft
- Every manager picks in order, then the order reverses. In a 12-team league picks run 1 to 12, then 12 to 1, and back again. It means the manager who picks last in one round picks first in the next.
- an auction draft
- Instead of taking turns, every manager can bid on every player as it comes up. Each team has a fixed budget for the whole draft, and a player joins whichever team bid the most. Nobody is locked out of a player, only outbid.
- a draft slot
- A draft slot is your position in the draft order, from slot 1 (the first pick of the draft) to the last slot. You can rank the slots you want before the draft starts. We draw managers in a random order and give each one their highest-ranked slot that is still free, so a good rank still beats pure luck without anybody being able to pick their exact spot outright.
- on the clock
- Being on the clock means it is that team's turn to draft, and a countdown is running. If the clock runs out before they pick, the room moves on for them so the draft never stalls on one team.
- your draft queue
- Your draft queue is the ranked list of players you would want if you cannot pick in person. If the clock runs out on your turn, the room picks for you: your queue first, then the best player your roster needs.
- PPR
- PPR stands for point per reception. A pass catcher earns one full point every time they catch the ball, in addition to yards and touchdowns, so reliable receivers score more than standard rules give them.
- Half PPR
- Half PPR pays half a point for every catch, on top of yards and touchdowns, rather than a full point per catch. It still rewards catches, just not as heavily as a league that pays a full point for every one.
- custom scoring
- This league's point values do not match Standard, PPR, Half PPR, or PPR with a TE premium exactly, because its commissioner adjusted at least one of them. It is not a lower-quality league, just a hand-tuned one.
- a FLEX spot
- A FLEX spot in your lineup can be filled by a running back, a wide receiver, or a tight end, whichever gives your team the most points that week. It is one extra starter without a fixed position of its own.
- a superflex spot
- A superflex spot works like a FLEX, but it also accepts a quarterback alongside running backs, receivers, and tight ends. Quarterbacks are usually worth more than any other position, so most managers in a superflex league use it to start a second one.
- the bench
- Your bench holds players on your roster who are not in a starting lineup slot this week. They score no points for you, but stay eligible to start in a future week.
- a lineup lock
- A lineup locks for the whole week the moment its first game kicks off, not player by player. Set your lineup before that kickoff, because you can't swap anyone in or out again until the following week opens.
- a record
- A record shows how many weeks a team has won, lost, and tied so far this season, written as wins-losses or wins-losses-ties. Standings rank every team in the league by that record first.
- a median game
- This league plays a median game: every week, on top of your head-to-head matchup, your score is compared to the league's median score that week. Beat the median and you get a second win added to your record; miss it and you get a second loss. Both results fold into the same wins-losses-ties record shown here, so a team can go 2-0 or 0-2 in a single week.
- a house league
- A league Commish runs. Everyone joins the same way, the rules are the same in every one, and a new one opens whenever one fills.
- a sit-and-go league
- A sit-and-go league has no draft time on the calendar. Instead, its draft starts on its own about 5 minutes after the last open seat fills, giving everyone a chance to open the room before it begins.
- releasing your seat
- Releasing your seat leaves the league right away and frees it for another manager to claim, as long as the draft has not started yet. It cannot be undone. A member league's commissioner cannot release their own seat, because this product has no way yet to hand that role to someone else.
- a stake tier
- A stake tier is a label, like Free, Friendly, Competitive, or High stakes, that describes how seriously a league plays, not an entry fee. No money changes hands in this product today.
- a verified reviewer
- This reviewer finished at least one full season on Commish.