NFFC Rules Changes Proposed For 2019; Let's Discuss

[Sabretooth]

I have a suggestion...What about a single entry main event separate from the Classic and primetime? Maybe something like a $1500 entry and the ability to compete for a big $75,000 prize for example. Obviously the league payouts would have to be a lot smaller than the the classic and primetime since I imagine the contest its self would be smaller. But it would give players a chance to compete for big money prize in a SINGLE entry tournament.

We will have news on this concept shortly. We introduced a limited-entry contest in baseball, the NFBC Dirty Dozens, which is limited to a max of 2 entries per owner and is limited to 180 teams. This is the first time we've ever offered this in the NFBC and it has a $1,000 entry fee and a $50,000 grand prize. We have since turned our attention to football and should have a fun announcement soon. Stay tuned.

I look forward to hearing what you guys have in mind for a single entry main event type contest Greg. I think a $1000 entry and $50,000 grand prize as you have said you have in baseball would be good. Maybe a little less on the league prize's and more on the grand prize would work well. I'd be happy with something like $3000 for first $1000 for second if that is what it takes to make the grand prize big.

[Greg Ambrosius]

All looks good except for the team kicker Greg. I always felt like kicker meant MORE in a draft champions than a weekly contest as it's much more predictable in the scope of 16 games than it is any given week. For me this is completely backwards. But it will save those of us who spent a lot of time working on kicker stats, kicker salaries, and team salary caps so that we could make good decision, a lot of time this year. Now we just plug in any random team......


Wayne

I know you don't like the Team Kicker rule Wayne, but as we launch the site in February and give folks confidence in drafting so early I think it makes sense for the DCs. You can still use your Kickers research and strategies for FAAB leagues and KICK ASS!! Let's see if this helps the DCs grow even more this year and take some of the frustration away from this position.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Okay, one other tweak for 2019 will involve the Defense/Special Teams position. Only one team scored more than 10 ppg last year under our scoring system and as I look at the parameters I do think the scoring needs tweaking. Here's the scoring system from last year and the count of times that teams scored at each level:

12 points for a shutout by the entire team (6 Shutouts)
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team (23 times)
4 points for allowing 8-12 points by the entire team (37 times)
2 points for allowing 13-17 points by the entire team (82 times)

That's really enough points for defensive scoring for points allowed, and as I look at this now I think the parameters are goofy. We are switching to:

12 points for a shutout by the entire team (6 Shutouts last year)
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team (23 times)
4 points for allowing 8-14 points by the entire team (would have been 66 times last year)
2 points for allowing 15-20 points by the entire team (would have been 100 times last year)
1 point for allowing 21-24 (would have been 87 times last year)

These changes would have added 239 more points to Defensive scoring last year, an average of 14.9 points per week or 1.24 ppg per team. It's not a drastic change, but holding a team to 13-14 points makes sense for 4 points and holding teams to 20 points or less is worth at least 2 points in today's offensive game. There were several teams who won giving up 21-24 points last year, so adding 1 more point there isn't so bad.

We'll take feedback on this, but we think the new parameters will reward more defenses and bring scoring up here just slightly. Thoughts?

[eliasond]

I think this is a good change, Greg. Is it too late to add 2 pts for a blocked FG, XP, or punt? Most other leagues have this, including even my local low $ leagues. I didn't take the time to look up how many total blocks there were this year, but just guessing I imagine this could add about 0.3 to 0.5 ppg or so over the course of a season to the avg DST.

[Coyote Streakers]

Great Job on the rule tweaks I love all of them! I appreciate you guys listening to the players and their voices. Agree with all the changes!

[RedRyder]

All looks good except for the team kicker Greg. I always felt like kicker meant MORE in a draft champions than a weekly contest as it's much more predictable in the scope of 16 games than it is any given week. For me this is completely backwards. But it will save those of us who spent a lot of time working on kicker stats, kicker salaries, and team salary caps so that we could make good decision, a lot of time this year. Now we just plug in any random team......


Wayne

I know you don't like the Team Kicker rule Wayne, but as we launch the site in February and give folks confidence in drafting so early I think it makes sense for the DCs. You can still use your Kickers research and strategies for FAAB leagues and KICK ASS!! Let's see if this helps the DCs grow even more this year and take some of the frustration away from this position.

I HATE, HATE, HATE the TEAM KICKER!!!!!!! YUCK!!!!!!!!!!! And I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE DCs...make that past tense, LOVED

[ChiTwn]

Okay, one other tweak for 2019 will involve the Defense/Special Teams position. Only one team scored more than 10 ppg last year under our scoring system and as I look at the parameters I do think the scoring needs tweaking. Here's the scoring system from last year and the count of times that teams scored at each level:

12 points for a shutout by the entire team (6 Shutouts)
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team (23 times)
4 points for allowing 8-12 points by the entire team (37 times)
2 points for allowing 13-17 points by the entire team (82 times)

That's really enough points for defensive scoring for points allowed, and as I look at this now I think the parameters are goofy. We are switching to:

12 points for a shutout by the entire team (6 Shutouts last year)
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team (23 times)
4 points for allowing 8-14 points by the entire team (would have been 66 times last year)
2 points for allowing 15-20 points by the entire team (would have been 100 times last year)
1 point for allowing 21-24 (would have been 87 times last year)

These changes would have added 239 more points to Defensive scoring last year, an average of 14.9 points per week or 1.24 ppg per team. It's not a drastic change, but holding a team to 13-14 points makes sense for 4 points and holding teams to 20 points or less is worth at least 2 points in today's offensive game. There were several teams who won giving up 21-24 points last year, so adding 1 more point there isn't so bad.

We'll take feedback on this, but we think the new parameters will reward more defenses and bring scoring up here just slightly. Thoughts?

I definitely like this.

On another note.

Can we not punish the defenses when the same team's QB throws a pick 6? The Qb gets minus points and the def gets positive points.

So why in gods name is my defense that wasn't on the field for the play get punished with negative points? Anybody else feel this way?

[Greg Ambrosius]

All looks good except for the team kicker Greg. I always felt like kicker meant MORE in a draft champions than a weekly contest as it's much more predictable in the scope of 16 games than it is any given week. For me this is completely backwards. But it will save those of us who spent a lot of time working on kicker stats, kicker salaries, and team salary caps so that we could make good decision, a lot of time this year. Now we just plug in any random team......


Wayne

I know you don't like the Team Kicker rule Wayne, but as we launch the site in February and give folks confidence in drafting so early I think it makes sense for the DCs. You can still use your Kickers research and strategies for FAAB leagues and KICK ASS!! Let's see if this helps the DCs grow even more this year and take some of the frustration away from this position.

I HATE, HATE, HATE the TEAM KICKER!!!!!!! YUCK!!!!!!!!!!! And I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE DCs...make that past tense, LOVED

We certainly understand that Team Kicker is not going to be loved by everyone for the DCs. But let's look at some facts to understand why this is being done ONLY in this format and then discuss.

We are now opening the DCs in February and we know the Kicker position is a crapshoot in May and June, so it will really be a crapshoot before then. Team Kicker should make it easier to draft a DC team in February, March and April.

But more importantly, to back up this position you need at least 3 and maybe 4 potential kickers in the DCs if you draft early. Guess how many Kickers were drafted last year? Any idea?

FIFTY-FOUR!!!!!

That's two full rounds of drafting Kickers. In fact, during Rounds 28 to 35, there were 34 different Kickers being drafted. Only 20 kickers have an ADP in the first 27 rounds, so if this is such an important position, WHY AREN'T PEOPLE DRAFTING THEM EARLIER?

This isn't a skilled finish to the DC, it's a CRAPSHOOT to back up ONE POSITION. With Team Kicker and with staying at 35 rounds, we could have 22 more skill-position players being drafted in Rounds 28-35. Isn't that good for the game?

I'm not a fan of Team Kicker. Tom and Darik aren't fans of Team Kicker. I never thought we'd add it to any NFFC contest. I will say, I don't see us ever adding this to FAAB leagues. But in this format where you can't replace an injured kicker or can't pick up a starting kicker who came out of nowhere, this position change makes sense. And it will likely make the game better as we spend most of our early off-season prep time on the skill position players. Hope this data helps.

Here's the list of Kickers from 2018 NFFC and their ADPs:

1  Zuerlein, Greg LA K 166.61
2  Tucker, Justin BAL K 174.11
3  Gostkowski, Stephen NE K 174.94
4  Lutz, Wil NO K 196.99
5  Butker, Harrison KC K 197.12
6  Bryant, Matt ATL K 210.33
7  Prater, Matt DET K 214.24
8  Elliott, Jake PHI K 214.37
9  Boswell, Chris PIT K 216.55
10  Gould, Robbie SF K 218.84
11  Gano, Graham CAR K 262.95
12  Crosby, Mason GB K 267.4
13  Succop, Ryan TEN K 270.38
14  Bailey, Dan MIN K 283.29
15  Vinatieri, Adam IND K 285.21
16  McManus, Brandon DEN K 288.79
17  Carlson, Daniel OAK K 291.33
18  Lambo, Josh JAX K 301.76
19  Hopkins, Dustin WAS K 324.88
20  Fairbairn, Ka'imi HOU K 326.99
21  Sturgis, Caleb LAC K 339.75
22  Parkey, Cody CHI K 343.08
23  Janikowski, Sebastian SEA K 347.4
24  Forbath, Kai JAX K 350.69
25  Hauschka, Stephen BUF K 352.27
26  Dawson, Phil ARZ K 353.94
27  Catanzaro, Chandler CAR K 357.21
28  Gonzalez, Zane ARZ K 362.34
29  Rosas, Aldrick NYG K 368.07
30  Bullock, Randy CIN K 375.96
31  Sanders, Jason MIA K 385.55
32  Santos, Cairo TB K 389.09
33  Tavecchio, Giorgio ATL K 392.29
34  Pineiro, Eddy OAK K 396.07
35  Maher, Brett DAL K 410.24
36  Nugent, Mike OAK K 410.95
37  Aguayo, Roberto LAC K 411.89
38  Myers, Jason NYJ K 412.03
39  Walsh, Blair SEA K 414.8
40  Novak, Nick LAC K 417.5
41  Bertolet, Taylor NYJ K 418.12
42  Barth, Connor CHI K 419.17
43  Ficken, Sam LA K 419.83
44  Murray, Patrick TB K 420.15
45  Rose, Nick HOU K 420.2
46  Martin, Ross CLE K 420.52
47  Joseph, Greg CLE K 420.65
48  Moore, Trevor TB K 420.75
49  Brown, Jonathan CIN K 420.76
50  Koehn, Marshall NYG K 420.8
51  Koo, Younghoe LAC K 420.87
52  Folk, Nick TB K 420.9
53  Coons, Travis LAC K 420.91
54  McCrane, Matt PIT K 420.92

Do you like any of those last 22 kickers? Did the gamble pay off?

[Sandman62]

I was curious which teams this year would've been most impacted by the new DST scoring for Points Allowed. So I put this together. Some big jumps by the Saints and Cowboys, and that kind of makes sense, seeing they're both playoff teams and played some pretty good defense down the stretch.

https://od.lk/s/OThfMTMyODg3MDlf/2018%2 ... Review.pdf

[TR]

Okay, one other tweak for 2019 will involve the Defense/Special Teams position. Only one team scored more than 10 ppg last year under our scoring system and as I look at the parameters I do think the scoring needs tweaking. Here's the scoring system from last year and the count of times that teams scored at each level:

12 points for a shutout by the entire team (6 Shutouts)
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team (23 times)
4 points for allowing 8-12 points by the entire team (37 times)
2 points for allowing 13-17 points by the entire team (82 times)

That's really enough points for defensive scoring for points allowed, and as I look at this now I think the parameters are goofy. We are switching to:

12 points for a shutout by the entire team (6 Shutouts last year)
8 points for allowing 2-7 points by the entire team (23 times)
4 points for allowing 8-14 points by the entire team (would have been 66 times last year)
2 points for allowing 15-20 points by the entire team (would have been 100 times last year)
1 point for allowing 21-24 (would have been 87 times last year)

These changes would have added 239 more points to Defensive scoring last year, an average of 14.9 points per week or 1.24 ppg per team. It's not a drastic change, but holding a team to 13-14 points makes sense for 4 points and holding teams to 20 points or less is worth at least 2 points in today's offensive game. There were several teams who won giving up 21-24 points last year, so adding 1 more point there isn't so bad.

We'll take feedback on this, but we think the new parameters will reward more defenses and bring scoring up here just slightly. Thoughts?

I like this change and agree the old parameters were goofy. Perhaps next year, more will feel that way about full PPR for RB. As it is, there's far less strategy, which isn't a good thing imo. 1 example would be james white vs sony michel in the postseason contest..with the full PPR for RB there's such a heavy tilt towards white, almost forced to pivot away from Michel unless have multiple teams and can afford to take a flier...same with cohen vs howard and kamara vs ingram..just not as strategic when there's like a 90%-10% lopsided split as don't have to think as much, but I digress.