changes for 2015

[BillyWaz]

as stated in auction leagues and private leagues, there is zero reason not to allow Free agency to continue on through playoffs.. makes no sense whatsoever.. you can plan and plan and plan, but why are you taking the skill from the regular season (which is probably 50% or more using free agency) out of the equation once you get to the playoffs? makes zero sense. your ssentially saying..

hey, you did a great job drafting, you did an awesome job using free agency to get 1st 2nd or 3rd or 4th place, ok, now we will give the winner out of the 4 top spots 15,000.00. but hey, the rules have now changed, and you can't pick up a player.. so now try and prepare for worse case scenarios however we are now adding a luck factor into who wins 15,000.00.

that is absurd. i'll use the super auction as example:

If you want to reward top 2 or 3 teams best record and most points with most of the prize pool for weeks 1 through 13 so be it, then give a decent prize to league winner for the rest so be it.. but what Is more impressive guys.. be real. is it going 11-2 (which is what I did 2nd in points in a 14 team auction league against the best fantasy football players in the country) or is it getting lucky in a 3 week tournament against 4 other teams from weeks 14- 16 using a squad you can't change , subjected to injuries you can't do anything about ? seriously. any logical human being would see that the regular season points leader and record leader deserve more money then the winner of the 3 week tournament after free agency stops and after it turns into a luck fest. im not crying here, I did win 9500.00 .. however if your going to run these types of leagues and reward most of the money in the 3 week playoffs, it should be on a level playing field allowing the top teams to do what they did to get to that point from day one (1).. that is to work the waiver wire each week. drafting is half the battle. your eliminating a skill factor from your leagues when you stop free agency. when you start eliminating skill you may as well play in multi million dollar tournaments in daily leagues if you want a lottery. I play in these leagues because I know I have a good chance at winning .. honestly I dont' care if they leave prime time leagues alone, there are other leagues out there ,I can play who run it the way I enjoy it.. however they have to change the private league set up and free agency.

when I brought this up earlier in month the top players in the country did agree with me on this point. you can't measure changing or not changing with opinions of people who don't play in these private leagues.. not to say everyone agrees with me, but I think most would (as for primetime, I don't know and dont' care too much).

I hope greg and tom seriously consider this one change.. even if it's just for the auction leagues.

Mike Weber.

Not sure if you are including me as part of the group that agreed, but I said I "could live with it". Which means I wouldn't be in favor of it, but wouldn't quit playing if it did change.

After what Chris Eibl brought up, it makes me lean more to the side of not allowing it past week 13 in any league. Chris is exactly right, there is a strategy to spending your free agent money, blocking others, etc. For example.....if I can make you burn more money than you would like to at some point in the season, then that puts me at a serious advantage if a certain "big time" player comes along. If I can grab your often injured backup for cheap weeks before you, that puts me at an advantage as well.

Also, the consistency of free agency ending the same time for all my leagues is a breather.

Again, not a deal breaker for me, but I would prefer it stayed as is.

[BigBlueNation]

I like it the way it is...

[nails]

well i'd say probably the most respected player of them all in a lot of these leagues and country agrees :

Certainly agree with the top 4 where 4 make the playoffs being allowed to bid. Consolation is consolation. Deal with it. And if you are not sure which you will land in, that is tricky but no need to have consolation teams trying to impact the standings in any way. Have seen such stuff happen in the biggest baseball league, and it is rather pathetic. No need to go there in football. Would be an excellent rule change by the NFFC IMO. Playoff teams only allowed to bid in contained leagues.

Certainly agree with the top 4 where 4 make the playoffs being allowed to bid. Consolation is consolation. Deal with it. And if you are not sure which you will land in, that is tricky but no need to have consolation teams trying to impact the standings in any way. Have seen such stuff happen in the biggest baseball league, and it is rather pathetic. No need to go there in football. Would be an excellent rule change by the NFFC IMO. Playoff teams only allowed to bid in contained leagues.

[nails]

another top player

I play in the live auction league in Vegas every year ( no overall prize only league prizes) and I would agree with this suggestion. Also agree that it shouldn't apply to any contest with an overall national champion.

[chriseibl]

Everyone who supported the other side of the argument is both a top player and someone who frequently plays private leagues as well. I don't think it makes sense to say "the top players in the country" agree with you or to imply that anyone is using "the opinions of people who don't play in these private leagues" when everyone on this thread is accomplished and qualified to comment. Chad, who you quoted, also later stated his indifference to the issue in this thread but that's besides the point. I'm happy to go with the majority, it's not a deal breaker to me either. But I also have a preference and am not yet convinced that the majority wants the free agency change.

With you being one of the better auction players out there, you're probably more likely to benefit from the system going forward as is. Every year when I compare the rosters of the better fantasy players to the others, the better fantasy players consistently put together rosters that are far more equipped to handle injuries. The current playoff system is more likely to test that depth and reward a superior player. I think it makes the "skill factor" shine to see how your roster shapes up after 13 weeks of free agency.

While injury blow-ups can happen, it's more frequent that you'll benefit from playing a weaker player who didn't look ahead and gameplan for their Week 14-16 matchups or built zero depth on which to fall back on. These are very key elements of "skill" and strategy to me that I consistently see the best players take advantage of.

[BillyWaz]

Everyone who supported the other side of the argument is both a top player and someone who frequently plays private leagues as well. I don't think it makes sense to say "the top players in the country" agree with you or to imply that anyone is using "the opinions of people who don't play in these private leagues" when everyone on this thread is accomplished and qualified to comment. Chad, who you quoted, also later stated his indifference to the issue in this thread but that's besides the point. I'm happy to go with the majority, it's not a deal breaker to me either. But I also have a preference and am not yet convinced that the majority wants the free agency change.

With you being one of the better auction players out there, you're probably more likely to benefit from the system going forward as is. Every year when I compare the rosters of the better fantasy players to the others, the better fantasy players consistently put together rosters that are far more equipped to handle injuries. The current playoff system is more likely to test that depth and reward a superior player. I think it makes the "skill factor" shine to see how your roster shapes up after 13 weeks of free agency.

While injury blow-ups can happen, it's more frequent that you'll benefit from playing a weaker player who didn't look ahead and gameplan for their Week 14-16 matchups or built zero depth on which to fall back on. These are very key elements of "skill" and strategy to me that I consistently see the best players take advantage of.

This is well stated, and my sentiments exactly.

I know of one other top player (a hall of famer, I might add), that is DEFINITELY against extending the FAAB past week 13, as they feel there is a strategy in which you construct your lineup for the stretch run (I agree).

The best point of Chris' post, is that if the rule was changed, it will more likely come back to bite you in the ass. You would have a team with more money than you in week 14 who picks up a CJ Anderson type, beat you for the title, and then you will be regretting the decision. Maybe I am wrong, but because this just happened to you (and you have played auctions for years and I don't recall you bringing this up), I think your request might be a bit impulsive.

Regardless, Tom and Greg will do what most people want done. That works for me.

[BigBlueNation]

Everyone who supported the other side of the argument is both a top player and someone who frequently plays private leagues as well. I don't think it makes sense to say "the top players in the country" agree with you or to imply that anyone is using "the opinions of people who don't play in these private leagues" when everyone on this thread is accomplished and qualified to comment. Chad, who you quoted, also later stated his indifference to the issue in this thread but that's besides the point. I'm happy to go with the majority, it's not a deal breaker to me either. But I also have a preference and am not yet convinced that the majority wants the free agency change.

With you being one of the better auction players out there, you're probably more likely to benefit from the system going forward as is. Every year when I compare the rosters of the better fantasy players to the others, the better fantasy players consistently put together rosters that are far more equipped to handle injuries. The current playoff system is more likely to test that depth and reward a superior player. I think it makes the "skill factor" shine to see how your roster shapes up after 13 weeks of free agency.

While injury blow-ups can happen, it's more frequent that you'll benefit from playing a weaker player who didn't look ahead and gameplan for their Week 14-16 matchups or built zero depth on which to fall back on. These are very key elements of "skill" and strategy to me that I consistently see the best players take advantage of.

Agree totally Chris. The use or reference to other players because of their success is preposterous. If a change is to be made, it will be for the good of the game.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

Agree completely. Players can and should get discussions going and then Greg and Tom can determine what is best for the game. No way everyone will agree with the decisions they make all the time, but in the long run I think they have proven to get it right most of the time.

[nails]

I hear your arguments and respect them all..

... later all.. mike .. enjoy the offseason.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here's my thoughts on this proposed rules change and we can still discuss later:

1. I'm not opposed to having slightly different Rules for the private leagues than the national contests. Obviously in the national contests we need to make sure every owner in every league has a fair chance of competing for the overall prize pool, so Rules have to be written in that regard. For private leagues, we can certainly make changes that the vast majority of owners agree with to make the league better.

2. That being said, adding roster spots in the post-season via FAAB could cause as many problems as it solves. In the 14-team format that Mike is talking about, we've already increased roster size since 2004 from 18 players to 19 players. Then when the NFL started having six-team bye weeks we raised that total to 20 players per team, or 280 players overall. Some owners actually left the Classic format because they felt the free agent pool was too thin with the increased size in rosters. Now we're saying that 10 reserves over Weeks 14, 15 and 16 aren't enough? Finalizing that roster before Week 13 is critical for the stretch run, and I realize injuries happen after that, but every team faces the same injury possibilities.

My concern is that if we allow FAAB after Week 13, we're going to have league titles decided not because of injury replacements but because of lucky pickups when FAAB is at a minimum. Nobody knows which teams are sitting starters in Week 16 back in Week 13, but a $1 pickup before Week 16 of a meaningless player that nobody would roster beforehand could decide first place in this season-long league. Is that really how we want these titles decided?

I understand the injury concern and they can pile up in Weeks 13, 14 and 15, but I think we're trying to plug one hole in the Rules and opening up a whole bunch of other holes that could prevent the best team from winning this league. When rosters are locked after Week 13, everyone goes in with their best 20 players for the next three weeks and we don't have titles being decided on unknown players suddenly playing a role when few teams have any FAAB left. And teams shouldn't be punished for using all of their FAAB to get into the playoffs and now suddenly they are behind others in the last three weeks when all the money is decided.

Just my two cents. I'm preparing the Rules now without this addition, but I'll listen to more thoughts and we can definitely change it if the consensus is overwhelming the other way. I'm open to all thoughts and I appreciate the well-spoken thoughts so far. Thanks all and I hope this helps you see where we're coming from.