21 Fantasy Football Side Bets to Run in Your League

The buy-in is fine. The trophy is fine. But the reason your league actually lasts past Week 6 is the side bets — the little weekly pots, the bragging rights, the punishments for finishing last. Here are 21 fantasy football side bets that keep a league alive from kickoff to playoffs.

Weekly side bets

1. Highest scorer of the week wins a small pot ($5–$10).
2. Lowest scorer of the week pays into the punishment pot.
3. Closest game of the week — both managers split a bonus.
4. Biggest blowout — winner takes a "margin of victory" bonus.
5. Manager of the Week. Best lineup decisions (start/sit calls) voted by the group chat.
6. Bench points pot. Whoever leaves the most points on the bench pays $5.
7. Pick'em pool. Everyone picks the winners of all NFL games, not just fantasy matchups.

Head-to-head wagers

8. Loser-buys-beer. Standard, but always works.
9. Trash-talk forfeit. Loser posts a pre-written paragraph in the group chat hyping the winner.
10. Wallpaper bet. Loser sets their phone wallpaper to the winner's face for a week.
11. Player prop bet. "My RB outscores your RB" — separate from the matchup itself.
12. Kicker bet. Whoever's kicker scores more wins $5. Ridiculous, but addictive.

Season-long pots

13. First to 1,000 points. A second prize separate from the championship.
14. Most points against. Sympathy money for the unlucky manager.
15. Best draft pick. Late-round pick with the highest end-of-season points wins a pot.
16. Worst draft pick. First-round bust pays in.
17. Survivor pool. Pick one NFL team to win each week; can't reuse. Last one standing takes the pot.
18. Toilet Bowl. A consolation bracket for non-playoff teams with its own (small) prize.

Last-place punishments

The classic. The threat of finishing last is what stops people from giving up in Week 9. Pick one before the season starts — it has to be agreed in advance or it doesn't count.

19. Last place takes the SAT and posts the score.
20. Last place spends a day at a children's amusement park, alone, and sends photos.
21. Last place gets a tattoo chosen by the league (within reason).

Keeping track of all of this

The hard part isn't the bets — it's remembering them. Most leagues lose track of side bets by Week 4 because they live in a group chat that scrolls past. A few tips:

• Write the rules in Week 0. All side bets, all punishments, all pot amounts.
• Log each bet the moment it's agreed. Not after the game.
• Settle weekly, not yearly. Small amounts are easier to chase than one big tab.

BENDS is built for exactly this — log a bet with the people involved, declare a winner, and we keep the running tally. We don't hold money; you settle with your league mates directly.