TD-Only Fantasy Football Leagues: Sleepers and Strategies

Imagine playing in a fantasy football league where you only got points when one of your players scored a TD. 

Your WR got 12 receptions and 180 yards, but 0 TDs? You get 0 points. 

Your RB caught 8 passes and rushed for 169 yards, but again, failed to score a TD? No Soup for You! 

Some backup RB you were forced into starting because your RB1 is out with the measles and your RB2 tripped in the shower after practice Friday got three goal-line carries and converted all them for a 3-3-3 line? 18 points. 

It’s conceivable that, in such a league, you could be sitting, watching the last game of the week on Monday Night, while having 4+ players in action and only needing 1.0 for the win … and still lose. 

It’s the sort of thing reserved for sadists and serial killers. 

Still, these “TD-Only” leagues do exist, and as someone who bets on Kyle Pitts's overs almost every week, I get the appeal. 

TD-Only League Strategy 

Obviously, in these TD-only scoring leagues, where scoring only occurs when a DST/RB/TE/WR scores a TD, or a QB passes for a TD, we have to adjust our strategy for this very unpredictable, but fun, format. 

Projecting opportunities can be simplified as we’re focused on one overarching goal: touchdown production. 

Additionally, there are some draft and valuation adjustments we can make thanks to the format, which can make our lives easier. 

Focus on the Red Zone

There are a lot of ways to score TDs, but since the vast majority of TDs are scored from inside the red zone (around 75% of all TDs were scored inside the 20-yard line the past couple of years), that’s where we want to focus. 

Players who get good mid-field usage, but get taken out once their team gets down near the goal line, can be heavily downgraded. Players who not only get snaps inside the red zone but are efficient with their opportunities in that area of the field become far, far more valuable. 

QB Values Rise (Dramatically)

One thing to note about TD-only leagues is that passing TDs count. While passing TDs in these leagues still count for just 4 points, since even the worst starting QBs average at least one passing TD per game, solid QB production is often vital to success in these leagues, given how up and down the scoring from the rest of your team will be.

That means no waiting on QBs until the final few rounds. In fact, drafting a QB in the first round should be commonplace in these leagues with players like Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen, who can throw or rush for multiple TDs on a week-to-week basis, in the running to be the first overall pick. 

Focus on Team Projections (and Tendencies) 

Going back to point one, while red zone usage is important, you ideally want a player who gets good red zone usage to be on a good team (or a good offense). After all, what good is a player who has a defined red zone role, but is never in the red zone because his team is so weak?

Projecting which teams are likely to produce a lot of TDs isn’t overly difficult since we have things like Vegas win totals to help guide us. Teams like the Bills, Ravens, and Eagles, who all have win totals of 11.5 or greater, can be expected to be among the leaders in TDs scored as well (barring massive injuries). 

This kind of knowledge can help you rank players accordingly and is also a good guideline to use when deciding between two equally ranked players. 

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2025 TD-Only League Sleepers: QBs

Jared Goff 

Jared Goff is going as the QB15 in best ball right now in 0.5 PPR scoring leagues. However, his value in those leagues is held down by his lack of rushing upside. In a TD-only league, Goff’s attachment to a top-eight offense in Detroit (10.5 win total) boosts his value significantly since rushing yards don’t count for points. 

Goff’s also a proven performer who has thrown for 30+ TDs in two straight seasons, whereas players going in front of him like Caleb Williams and Drake Maye have never come close to that mark. 

Anthony Richardson

Despite being one of the most inefficient QBs in the league the last two seasons (and injury prone), Richardson has still managed to average 0.66 rushing TDs per game, and 0.73 passing TDs per game, through 15 games. 

While it doesn’t sound like much, that equals out to right around 6.9 points per game in a TD-only league, which is the equivalent of a pass-first QB averaging about 1.7 passing TDs per game (or 28.9 passing TDs over the course of a season). 

Don’t forget, Richardson has been banged up in a lot of his starts, too. More than one of those 15 games played involved him not playing 4 full quarters. Obviously, there is injury risk (and Daniel Jones risk) attached to Richardson, but you’d be crazy not to go after him in this format. 

2025 TD-Only League Sleepers: RBs

JK Dobbins 

Dobbins is the exact sort of RB you want to give a boost in TD-only formats. He’s attached to a great QB/offense in Denver (9.5 win total) and has a weak starter/backfield mate in RJ Harvey, a still unproven rookie, who projects as more of a passing threat. 

Dobbins was brought in to be the inside-the-tackles hammer and likely goal line back, so with him starting strong in camp, he’s a great player to go after in the mid-rounds in these leagues. 

Jordan Mason

Mason is only going a few spots under Aaron Jones in best ball formats on Underdog right now. However, the former 49er has a distinct size advantage on Jones, whose short-down and distance (SDD) carries the Vikings would likely love to limit this season if they can. 

Regardless of how the breakdown works, Mason is attached to a solid team and offense (9.5 win total) and seems very likely to get a good chunk, if not the majority, of the SDD work. It could lead to a 2022 Jamaal Williams-like season, who scored 17 TDs for Detroit that year, working exclusively as the SDD back. 

Tank Bigsby 

Bigsby looks like the favorite to take most of the inside-the-tackles work for Jacksonville this season, and that’s been reflected already in how the Jaguars' offense has been using him in camp. 

Jacksonville’s 7.5 win total caps his upside, but Bigsby has already flashed big scoring potential, going for 7 rushing TDs last year in what was one of the league's worst offenses. 

Given the weaker division and potential for Bigsby to get all of the SDD work inside the red zone, he gets a big boost from this sort of format. 

2025 TD-Only League Sleepers: WRs

Keon Coleman 

I don’t project Coleman as having a huge breakout from a volume perspective in 2025, but the opportunity is there for him to really ball out in the TD department. 

The Bills lack elite weapons at receiver, and TE Dalton Kincaid has yet to really find his footing as a red zone target for Josh Allen. Coleman is 6’4", projects as an ideal red zone target, and won’t have to worry about losing targets to a number one WR in Khalil Shakir for at least the rest of the preseason. 

Add in the fact that the Bills project to be a top 3 offense again this year (11.5), and Coleman looks like a great sleeper to target at WR for these TD-only leagues in 2025. 

Dontayvion Wicks

Wicks has scored 9 TDs over his last two seasons with the Packers on just 78 receptions, so he’s averaging about one TD every 8.66 receptions with Jordan Love. 

There are depth chart concerns, and the fact that he can’t seem to string together good games, but the elite TD production is worth noting. As is the fact that the rest of the Packers' WRs all project as mid-field speed players, leaving Wicks as the best red zone target for Love. 

In terms of deep sleepers for this format, Wicks is the kind of WR worth gambling on in later rounds. 

2025 TD-Only League Sleepers: TEs

Cade Otton

Otton is attached to a QB in Baker Mayfield who threw for 41 TDs, and a team in the Buccaneers that projects with a 9.5 win total. That’s a good scenario for a TD-only league and makes Otton a player worth noting. 

While Otton will be in a fight for targets with the ageless Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and rookie Emeka Egbuka, his size in the red zone has led to him coming down with 4 TDs in each of the last two seasons.

That production alone put him ahead of names like Trey McBride and Travis Kelce last year, and just one TD behind the number one scorer in PPR formats, Brock Bowers.

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