Feedback on Free Agent pickups during playoffs

[Sandman62]

The difference though if we had free agents during playoffs - even just within the 12-team leagues - is that the only competition for bids would be just one or two other teams. On the surface, that may seem the same because all of them have the same chance to acquire players. However, the difference is that during the regular season, most or all of the 12 teams will compete bidding for the same players. With only a few teams left, maybe I don't want to have to drop my carefully-crafted backup bench players just to block someone who is in dire need. During the regular season, I don't have to consider that because the other 11 teams will create competition, plus we don't mind churning our roster as much in the regular season while we chase breakout players. But during playoffs, if I've backed up my TE, K, QB, and maybe even a second DST if I don't like all of my DST1's matchups, I don't want to have to break that up. So I don't really think it's the slam dunk that it may seem. As Greg said, you may just INCREASE the luck factor by doing this.

[Coltsfan]

I was not very clear Chad. In contained leagues I think there should be full free agency throughout the year and in overall leagues I think it should end after 13 weeks. Just my opinion. There probably isn't a right or wrong.

I have played very few self contained leagues at NFFC so I honestly don't know how the post season waivers are done. Everything this year was main events except for a single auction league.


Wayne


Edited to say not very clear. Geeze I can't type anymore.

[chriseibl]

I might be in the minority on this one but I oppose in the private leagues as well. The reason being there are plenty of teams in those leagues who limp into the playoffs with holes at a certain position and I'd rather they not be able to fill them so easily with minimal free agency competition, as you still have the issue of 4 teams competing for free agents as opposed to a full 12. That means every single playoff league is going to have Denard Robinson rostered and starting whereas I appreciate a little more roster diversity. Also, I don't think my playoff teams that have been starting Sproles or Powell all year deserve to have Denard Robinson this week.

That being said, if it had to be implemented, I like Chad's solution far and away the best because it minimizes the work that needs to be done and rewards high scoring teams by giving them the advantage. I definitely wouldn't complain about that.

[BLACKHAND]

If a change is made , it seems like chads idea would be the best. Another thought would be a team kicker and also to expand rosters by one after week 12 which would give you kinda 2 spots to tighten up your team.

[JETS SB]

I know this has been discussed before, but with injuries at ridiculous levels and several teams facing resting players in week 16, what are thoughts on proposing a rule change for the future, letting FAAB run through week 15 for teams in the championship rounds or in league playoffs? It is random enough in the playoffs with studs not showing up for one week and ruining hopes after 13 weeks of dominance, why not have FAAB run a couple of extra weeks? The running back situation has become comical.

I personally lost my top two RBs in week 14 (Yeldon and Blount) and backup Mccluster as well in the classic, but that's just one league. There are other leagues where I didn't lose anyone and facing teams with no running backs and/or tight ends to play. I know this idea has been knocked down in the past, but figured I would revisit it during this massacre. I went into playoffs with 5 RBs and down to 2, with one being Kyle Jurzuzyzczyc. Thoughts?

So how would you deal with a situation like we're looking at this week where two new starting RBs would be available on the free agent wire and could possibly change the outcomes of many, many leagues? Heck, it could decide the $150,000 Primetime champion this year if both players go off. Denard Robinson and Bryce Brown are likely available in most leagues (and maybe all leagues for Brown) and both should have prominent roles this week. Is it fair to allow those players to be picked up and change the outcome of the contests, even for those owners who dominated for 13 weeks and now don't have FAAB to pick up these players?

Mike talked about adding a pickup or two in the playoffs for the Championship Round teams in private leagues and we did consider that. But even adding $2 for two pickups or an additional $1 to the regular season champions' FAAB total would give big advantages to whatever teams could get these players for this week. It would seem like a "lucky" advantage to have two starting RBs suddenly fall into your lap in Week 15 after battling 11 other teams all year long for free agents and most points. Why allow such a "lucky" find like that in the Championship Round? It seems counterproductive to everything we do here.

I get the frustration of the injuries this year and no position has been ravaged more than RB. Everyone needed incredible depth to survive all of the injuries this year. And the carnage didn't just stop in the regular season; we saw more of it in Week 14. Nobody was immune from the injuries. But we want this to be a skill-based game at every angle and I'm not sure that adding free agents in Weeks 15 and 16 is the answer.

It's not that we don't listen to suggestions to improve our game. Heck, we've been accused of changing TOO MUCH. I just didn't agree that adding free agent pickups was the right move for our national contests and even in the private leagues I felt it added an unfair advantage. I'm sorry if that was misconstrued as not listening to our customers, but not every suggestion is automatically implemented.

There's no doubt that injuries were almost too much to endure this year and we'll always listen to suggestions to overcome them. But we also won't make a new rule change just for the sake of trying something new. It needs to be fully analyzed and vetted first.

Greg. I totally respect your position on this "feedback" request. I wasnt looking to make a change, just for the sake of trying something new. That would be unfair to minimize my original topic. Points are well taken that it would not work in the overall, but points were made that the private contests could benefit from this. I understand that rules aren't changed based upon one guy's suggestion... it should be completely analyzed and voted on. It is unfair to categorize my thought as me just casually throwing something out there for people to argue about.

Free agency is available throughout the playoffs in nearly every standalone league available in the marketplace. Whether we decide to think about a change or not, I will continue to put all of my money in the NFBC/NFFC games.

I still think its a good idea. But, I will let it go and hope that sometime in the future, it is opened up for more discussion.

[TR]

I know this has been discussed before, but with injuries at ridiculous levels and several teams facing resting players in week 16, what are thoughts on proposing a rule change for the future, letting FAAB run through week 15 for teams in the championship rounds or in league playoffs? It is random enough in the playoffs with studs not showing up for one week and ruining hopes after 13 weeks of dominance, why not have FAAB run a couple of extra weeks? The running back situation has become comical.

I personally lost my top two RBs in week 14 (Yeldon and Blount) and backup Mccluster as well in the classic, but that's just one league. There are other leagues where I didn't lose anyone and facing teams with no running backs and/or tight ends to play. I know this idea has been knocked down in the past, but figured I would revisit it during this massacre. I went into playoffs with 5 RBs and down to 2, with one being Kyle Jurzuzyzczyc. Thoughts?

So how would you deal with a situation like we're looking at this week where two new starting RBs would be available on the free agent wire and could possibly change the outcomes of many, many leagues? Heck, it could decide the $150,000 Primetime champion this year if both players go off. Denard Robinson and Bryce Brown are likely available in most leagues (and maybe all leagues for Brown) and both should have prominent roles this week. Is it fair to allow those players to be picked up and change the outcome of the contests, even for those owners who dominated for 13 weeks and now don't have FAAB to pick up these players?

Mike talked about adding a pickup or two in the playoffs for the Championship Round teams in private leagues and we did consider that. But even adding $2 for two pickups or an additional $1 to the regular season champions' FAAB total would give big advantages to whatever teams could get these players for this week. It would seem like a "lucky" advantage to have two starting RBs suddenly fall into your lap in Week 15 after battling 11 other teams all year long for free agents and most points. Why allow such a "lucky" find like that in the Championship Round? It seems counterproductive to everything we do here.

I get the frustration of the injuries this year and no position has been ravaged more than RB. Everyone needed incredible depth to survive all of the injuries this year. And the carnage didn't just stop in the regular season; we saw more of it in Week 14. Nobody was immune from the injuries. But we want this to be a skill-based game at every angle and I'm not sure that adding free agents in Weeks 15 and 16 is the answer.

It's not that we don't listen to suggestions to improve our game. Heck, we've been accused of changing TOO MUCH. I just didn't agree that adding free agent pickups was the right move for our national contests and even in the private leagues I felt it added an unfair advantage. I'm sorry if that was misconstrued as not listening to our customers, but not every suggestion is automatically implemented.

There's no doubt that injuries were almost too much to endure this year and we'll always listen to suggestions to overcome them. But we also won't make a new rule change just for the sake of trying something new. It needs to be fully analyzed and vetted first.

This makes sense to me Greg...no need to allow such a lucky find in the Championship Rounds.

[Coltsfan]

Sorry Chad - my last post said I was very clear. I meant to say I was not very clear. Sorry about that:) I just reread that and I thought OMG.


Wayne

[nails]

I can't imagine having free agent pick ups in the finals. I think we have a good system and I would hate to change it. Luck is always going to be a part of this game and there just isn't any way around it.


Wayne

Do you play any contained leagues or are you speaking primarily to the overall races?

As for Greg saying it is "lucky" to stumble upon Robinson this week, yes it might be. Under my proposal, everyone gets one dollar and the tiebreaker is points scored order, to ensure those that had the best season would benefit from this "luck.", While we all can benefit or not in a 20k or 10k league it just seems like too much money to not have any control over your roster whatsoever in the most important part of the season in my view. a It is another strategy to decide if a certain player is worth using your dollar on or not. Perhaps they used their buck last week on something. NFFC is in the extreme vast minority of contained leagues that do not have free agency in the playoffs. My proposal bridges the gap between those that want free agency to run through the playoffs and those that do not. I can count on two fingers how many places do not have it. Just because something is obviously the way to go in overall contests, does not mean it should be that way in contained leagues. If every place that has fantasy football contained leagues has free agency except for the NFFC and the FFWC, and they both have overall races making up the primary business, then it tells me that they are both not doing what they should be in regards to contained league free agency. It is quite arrogant to think that the vast majority of the other places have it wrong IMO.

Listen even a compromise like yours I'm all for.. I like your idea.. I think it's one step closer to bringing more and more skill to the game.. if you can eliminate luck then it's a good idea! Mike Weber.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I can't imagine having free agent pick ups in the finals. I think we have a good system and I would hate to change it. Luck is always going to be a part of this game and there just isn't any way around it.


Wayne

Do you play any contained leagues or are you speaking primarily to the overall races?

As for Greg saying it is "lucky" to stumble upon Robinson this week, yes it might be. Under my proposal, everyone gets one dollar and the tiebreaker is points scored order, to ensure those that had the best season would benefit from this "luck.", While we all can benefit or not in a 20k or 10k league it just seems like too much money to not have any control over your roster whatsoever in the most important part of the season in my view. a It is another strategy to decide if a certain player is worth using your dollar on or not. Perhaps they used their buck last week on something. NFFC is in the extreme vast minority of contained leagues that do not have free agency in the playoffs. My proposal bridges the gap between those that want free agency to run through the playoffs and those that do not. I can count on two fingers how many places do not have it. Just because something is obviously the way to go in overall contests, does not mean it should be that way in contained leagues. If every place that has fantasy football contained leagues has free agency except for the NFFC and the FFWC, and they both have overall races making up the primary business, then it tells me that they are both not doing what they should be in regards to contained league free agency. It is quite arrogant to think that the vast majority of the other places have it wrong IMO.

I don't want to play devil's advocate on this rules proposal, but let's analyze it completely first and discuss. It's a good compromise for the private leagues Chad, but let's look at it a little closer to make sure it helps the contest.

So right now in the private leagues we pay the top 2 teams cash prizes after Week 13. We also reward those teams an advantage in the Championship Round by bringing in their weekly scoring average from Weeks 1-13. It's not a large advantage for the top teams, but it's still an advantage.

Most of the prize money is in the Championship Round, so currently we have a level playing field outside of the weekly scoring average. If every team is given $1 for free agents, it sounds fair. But if the tie-breaker is total points that same team that just won the regular season money could have a HUGE advantage in the Championship Round. Could that $1 be the difference in winning the $130,000 prize because he picked up Denard Robinson for Weeks 15 and 16? I know there's no guarantee that this one pickup could be the difference maker, but it's definitely a big pickup that overshadows everything that was done in the draft and during 13 hard weeks of the season. Do we mind that the biggest move in winning $130,000 was the $1 FAAB pickup in Week 15?

It's very possible that the top team screws up his one pickup in Week 14 and someone else gets a Denard Robinson or a Bryce Brown, which becomes the difference in the race for the $130,000 or $60,000 or $30,000 league prize. But it's no longer a level playing field when a lot of money is on the line and it's definitely a big rules change, even if it is just one FAAB pickup. It could be THE winning FAAB pickup of the year.

We get accused by some (even within this thread) of not having h2h in our playoffs and giving four teams a fair shot at the top league prize. Some in the industry still like that h2h playoff format where the 4th seed can have that one lucky week and knock off the 1 seed for the top league prize. We've always prided ourselves on awarding the most money to the best teams with total points being the determining factor over 13 weeks. If we added this rules change, that wouldn't change our premise at all. But it does give a slight advantage to the top team in each Championship Round at a time when all four teams are battling for those prizes.

Just an outsider's view of the rules change idea. It's just a different way of looking at it. I'll sit back and listen.

[Cocktails and Dreams]

If that seems like it would be too big an advantage(and most years a robinson situation probably wont happen) another option is to still give everyone a buck. However, if there are multiple bids on a player, then nobody gets the player. So in this case nobody would get robinson unless the other three already used their move. It also allows everyone to have a fallback emergency plan. I believe last year Santos went into diamond with 6 wides. Ended up with 2 healthy guys by the end. Just a miserable feeling not being able to do anything about it. Maybe this would be something you would be more comfortable with as the game operator. I know I would be more comfortable as a player with this in place, and it would not create a lot of extra work which some don't want. I think either option is better than ending it week 13 in contained leagues. Almost every league out there has free agency go through the end, and I think it should be considered here at the NFFC well Your contained leagues are really great already, and that minor tweak would improve them even more IMO.