The Fantasy Football League - 2008 Season

Competitors:

OFFICIAL RULES (link is for 2008; 2007 is as follows):

1.      Salary Cap Issues

1.1.   $135 M salary cap.

1.1.1.        Competitors may never be above the salary cap, and may never bid on players if they would go above the salary cap if they won that player.

1.2.    Salaries are rounded up to the nearest hundred-thousands of dollars (0.1 M), so no bidding or picking up players for increments less than 0.1 M.

1.3.    Players not listed on salary sheet start at minimum salary per position.

1.3.1.        QB: 8

1.3.2.        RB: 4

1.3.3.        WR: 4

1.3.4.        TE: 2

1.3.5.        K: 4

1.3.6.        DST: 11

1.3.7.      Coach: 4

1.4.    Always go according to latest salary reports (http://www.head2head.com/scripts/displaysalaries.cgi?game=1&originated=H2H).

1.5.    Once player is owned, his salary is fixed.

1.5.1.        Until player is dropped, then salary is reset according to latest salary.

2.      Transaction Issues

2.1.   -10 points for pickup transaction; trade transaction, injury transaction, flex transaction, and bench transactions don’t affect points.

2.1.1.        Josh Rule: Player must not play in given week and have injury status; if he plays, or has no reported injury, -10 penalty.

2.1.1.1.  For injury transactions, free drop if player does not play in week player is dropped, regardless of when injury occurred.

2.1.1.1.1.         For injury transactions during bye week, the following week is used to determine penalty or not.

2.1.2.        Bread-basket pickups: For a -30 penalty hit, competitors may pick up as many players as desired during a given week.

2.1.3.        Randy Rule: Upon an accepted trade, all competitors except those involved in the original trade have 24 hours to offer counter-trades involving the players being traded in the original accepted trade.

2.1.3.1.  If an alternative deal is reached, original trade is void, and alternative deal is executed immediately.

2.1.4.        Trade deadline is week 13 – after week 13, competitors may only trade among each other if they are within 2 ranks of each other, or within 100 points of each other.

2.1.5.        If every competitor in the league, except those involved in a trade, protest a trade, the trade is void.  However, 100% of the competitors not involved in the trade must communicate that they protest the trade, and give a valid reason why they are protesting the trade.

2.1.5.1.Valid reasons may include trading injured players for healthy players or trading players who have scored a lot of fantasy points for players who have not.

2.1.5.2.  Trade protests may ultimately be decided by contact points not involved in the trade.

2.1.6.      Attempts (emails, phone calls, etc.) will be made at contacting everyone for transactions before their deadline.  At least 50% must actually be contacted.

2.1.7.        Trade transactions must be submitted 25 hours before the first weekend game kickoff or kickoff for players playing on Thursday if those players are involved in the trade.  Pickup transactions must be submitted 1 hour before the first weekend game kickoff or kickoff for players playing on Thursday if those players are involved in the pickup.

2.1.7.1.  Free agent pickups are bid on if 2 or more people want him; players start at 75% of given salary.

2.1.7.2.  A player must be dropped before bidding on or picking up another player at the same position.

2.1.7.2.1.         Competitors losing out on bidding must pickup another player at the same position before the start of the current week’s games.

2.1.7.2.2.         If competitor A drops a player after competitor B picks up / bids on another free agent, competitor B may switch without penalty pursuing the player dropped by competitor A instead of the intended free agent before the player was dropped from competitor A’s roster.

2.1.7.2.2.1.   Competitor B would have to replace the free agent picked up / bidded on earlier in the week – standard transactions rules would apply if competitor B pursued the newly-dropped player by dropping another player on competitor B’s roster.

2.1.7.3.  Order of bidding is determined by the order of receiving interests for the player being bidded on, with the first competitor showing interest getting the first bid.  If the order of interest cannot be determined, the competitor ranked lowest in the standings gets the first bid, followed by the next lowest ranked competitor.

2.1.7.4.  In case there are 2 or more players being bidded on in a given week, order of bidding is determined by alphabetical order of the players being bidded on.

2.2.   Ruling Counsel/Contact Points are Randy, Josh, and Valerie.  Arbitrator will be James Bryant in case Ruling Counsel cannot be contacted and/or are ineligible in the case of a trade dispute with a trade involving all Ruling Counsel members.

3.      Draft Issues

3.1.    Draft is an auction style draft.

3.2.    Drafter has choice of player and position to draft during their pick, as long as they would have a valid roster if they won that player.

3.2.1.      Order of drafting is as follows:

3.2.1.1.Josh

3.2.1.2.Kortnee

3.2.1.3.John

3.2.1.4.Randy

3.2.1.5.Valerie

3.2.1.6.JamesB

3.2.1.7.Kristina

3.2.1.8.JamesM

3.2.2.        With more people will be organized as needed by the ruling counsel.

3.2.3.        Draft order is non-serpentine (once the round is over, the order of drafting is repeated, starting with the person who drafted second in the previous round).

3.3.    Order of bidding is the same as the order of drafting, with the competitor ranked first having the first chance to bid on a given player.  If a competitor decides not to bid at the beginning of bidding, that competitor may re-enter the bidding at any time before the bid is closed.

3.4.    Competitors may only bid on players if they would have a valid roster if they won that player.

3.4.1.        Once a competitor has a full roster, that competitor may not pick or bid on players, unless a mercy pick is used to free up a roster spot.

3.5.    Only one player may be picked per round per competitor.

3.5.1.        The last pick of each round goes for 100% of the stated salary.

3.5.2.        The only way a competitor may select more than one player per round is by using a mercy pick, which would allow that competitor to pick up another player that round.

3.6.    3 “mercy” picks.

3.6.1.        You can drop players once at any time before season starts for free, including during draft.

3.6.1.1.  A competitor may only use one mercy pick to drop an individual player from that competitor’s roster, regardless of the number of mercy picks left.  A competitor dropping an individual player more than once will experience penalty points for each drop beyond the mercy pick drop.

3.6.2.        Competitors may drop any player during or after the draft, including restricted free agents.

3.6.3.        Competitors may use a mercy pick even during a pick, in order to bid on a player if that competitor would not be allowed to bid on that player due to roster restrictions.

3.6.4.        After 3 drops, a -10 point penalty per player dropped.

3.6.5.        For the purposes of the rules, players picked up via free agency after the draft, but before the start of the season, will be considered drafted players until the season starts.

3.7.    For competitors drafting players after the official draft, players will be chosen at 110% of their given salary.

4.      Restricted Free Agency Issues (never used, but kept for future reference)

4.1.    Each year, each competitor is allowed to “keep” one player at the same salary and position for the following year as a restricted free agent.

4.1.1.        The deadline to designate keepers for the following season is the day of the draft before the draft.

4.1.2.        The designated keepers must be communicated to all of the other competitors in the league, either directly or through the contact points, before or on the deadline date, or else that competitor forfeits all players on that competitor’s roster and keeps no players for the following season.

4.2.    Any time before the draft, competitors may bid on restricted free agents, with the highest bidder sending an offer sheet to the owner of the keeper on draft day.

4.2.1.        The deadline for bidding on keepers is the day of the draft, right before the draft starts.

4.2.2.        Bids must be sent to all competitors in the league.

4.2.3.        Competitors may only have the highest bid for one restricted free agent at a given time.

4.2.3.1.  In the case a competitor has the highest bid for more than one restricted free agent, the competitor may choose the restricted free agent most desired, with the second-highest bidders becoming the highest bidders for the other players involved.

4.2.4.        Competitors may only bid on restricted free agents if they would still have a valid roster if they kept their keeper for the following year, and would win the keeper being bidded on.

4.2.4.1.  Therefore, competitors keeping a kicker/DST for the following year are not allowed to bid on other kickers/DSTs, because if they won, and kept their keeper kicker/DST, they would have an invalid roster.  All other positions (QB, RB, WR, TE) have enough positions that competitors may keep a player from these positions and still bid on another player at these same positions, possibly ending up with two players at a same position before the draft.  Note: the only reason a competitor could keep a TE and bid on a TE is because if that competitor ended up with two TEs on a roster, one TE would be the designated TE, while the other TE would be the designated Flex player.

4.2.5.        The most number of players a competitor may have on a team before the draft is two players (one keeper and one signed restricted free agent).  Those players can be from the same position if they still result in a valid roster (2 QBs, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, and 2 TEs are allowed).

4.3.    On draft day, the owner of the keeper being bidded on has the option to pay the bidded price, or release the keeper to the highest bidder for the bidded salary.

4.3.1.        If the owner matches the salary offered by the highest bidder, the owner keeps the keeper for the matched salary.

4.3.2.        If the owner decides to release the keeper, the highest bidder adds that keeper to the highest bidder’s roster for the bidded salary, and owes the previous owner a draft pick in the upcoming draft, or a free agent pick during the season.

4.3.2.1.  Anytime during the draft, the owner losing a keeper may “steal” a drafted player from the competitor taking that owner’s keeper.

4.3.2.2.  When a player is stolen from a competitor’s roster, that player is added to the new owner’s roster at the drafted salary.

4.3.2.3.  A competitor may steal a player, even if that gives that competitor an invalid roster, by using a mercy pick, or dropping a player with penalty, during the draft in order to steal a player.

4.3.2.4.  The player to be stolen must be stolen within two rounds of being drafted; after two rounds from the time a player was chosen, that player becomes off-limits from being stolen.

4.3.2.5.  The competitor needing compensation may not steal a player that was kept by the competitor owing compensation or a player that was signed as a restricted free agent by the competitor owing compensation.

4.3.2.6.  If a competitor doesn’t steal a player before the start of the season, that competitor still has the right to steal a free agent selected by the competitor owing compensation during the season.

4.3.2.7.  Competitors may steal free agents any time after the start of the season, and before the end of the season.

4.3.2.8.  If a competitor doesn’t steal a player before the end of the season, that competitor loses this opportunity to steal a player from the competitor owing compensation.

5.      Roster Issues

5.1.   Each roster consists exactly of 2 QBs, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DST, 1 Flex, 1 Bench Flex, and 1 Coach.

5.1.1.        Competitors must make sure they have the exact number of players at each position, and that those players are eligible at their slotted position.

5.1.2.      The flex position/bench flex position can be filled by players who are eligible at RB, WR, and TE.

5.1.3.      Players may be moved from flex positions/bench flex positions to specific positions, or vice versa, without penalty.

5.2.    Each player may only be owned by one competitor.

5.3.    Positional eligibility determined by listings of positions on salary pages.

5.3.1.        Under most circumstances, a player will only appear at one position.

5.3.2.        Players not listed on any salary pages will be eligible at their “most-likely” position, as determined by other web sites and/or the contact points.

6.      Scoring Issues

6.1.    Detailed scoring is located on next page for each category.

6.1.1.        Individual players on defense/special teams get 6 points for TDs.

6.2.    2 score challenges per week (believing a score is incorrectly calculated for a player, you may recalculate for those players; 1 challenge per player).

6.2.1.        -10 points for a losing a challenge.

6.3.    Scoring changes from previous years:

6.3.1.      2007: Coach Position

6.3.1.1.Each coach in the NFL will have a starting salary of $1M per win from the previous NFL season, or minimum starting salary for coaches as listed earlier.

6.3.1.1.1.      If a coach transfers to a new team, has been out of the NFL for over a season, or is a new NFL coach, the coach will have a starting salary based on the new team’s performance from the previous season

6.3.1.1.2.      If the team is an expansion team in the NFL, the minimum starting salary will be used.

6.3.1.2.If an owned coach is fired during the NFL season, the competitor owning that coach will be able to pick up another coach at no penalty (injury drop); otherwise, normal transaction costs will apply.

6.3.1.3.Scoring for coaches:

6.3.1.3.1.      1 Coached Team Win = 10 fantasy points

6.3.1.3.2.      1 Underdog Coached Team Win = 5 bonus fantasy points

6.3.1.3.3.      1 fantasy point added for beating the spread

6.3.1.3.4.      1 fantasy point subtracted for losing to the spread

6.3.1.3.5.      The spread and underdog status is determined by the Bodog gaming web site (www.bodog.com).

6.3.1.3.6.      The spread will be rounded, if fractional, to benefit the underdog and be detrimental to the favorite.

6.3.2.      2007: Bench Position

6.3.2.1.No points scored by the bench player will count for the competitors overall or weekly score.

6.3.3.        2006 Scoring Changes are as follows:

6.3.4.        Field goal changes:

6.3.4.1.  0 – 29 yard field goals are worth 3 points.

6.3.4.2.  30 – 39 yard field goals are worth 4 points.

6.3.4.3.  40 – 49 yard field goals are worth 5 points.

6.3.4.4.  50 – 59 yard field goals are worth 7 points.

6.3.4.5.  60+ yard field goals are worth 9 points.

6.3.5.        Fumbles lost/interceptions are now 3 penalty points (2 penalty points in past).

6.3.6.        5 bonus points are awarded for the following accomplishments:

6.3.6.1.  300+ passing yards.

6.3.6.2.  125+ rushing yards.

6.3.6.3.  100+ receiving yards.

6.3.7.        DST scoring changes:

6.3.7.1.  3 points per fumble recovered/interception (2 points in past).

6.3.7.2.  3 points per blocked extra point.

6.3.7.3.  3 points per blocked punt/field goal.

6.3.7.4.  2 points per sack (1 point in past).

6.3.7.5.  6 points per safety (2 points in past).

6.3.7.6.  Points against changed to defensive points allowed.

6.3.7.7.  Defensive points allowed and yards allowed now have negative scoring.

6.3.8.        Scoring changes should result in higher scoring variation among players, either by rewarding highly performing units more or by penalizing poorly performing units more than in the past.  However, although weekly scoring could vary much more than in previous seasons, overall scoring should only slightly increase, if at all, from previous seasons.

FINAL RESULTS (2007):

Return to JoshShainin.com Fantasy Sports Page

Return to JoshShainin.com Home Page