NFFC Rules Changes Proposed For 2021; Let's Discuss

[King of Queens]

I like things the way they are now - the only thing that I would suggest to all is expanding the roster to 22 from 20 - there are enough players - the extra 2 players would allow you to keep 1 or 2 extra at a position and maybe not spend as much on free agents, thus saving more money to last the season and not get caught short at the end going to the playoffs. This would make the draft more interesting.

To Mark’s point earlier, I would be in favor of expanding rosters to 22 spots in the final week of FAAB (week 13 in the current setup). I had a team that lost 4 RBs and another with both TEs unavailable by Week 16. No harm that I can see in adding two spots at the end, and it would help a lot for the 3 (or 4) week Championship run. But doing it too early, or all season, would water down the player pool to what I would consider an unacceptable level.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I can say that our initial internal discussions has us leaning toward a 14-week regular season and 3 weeks of the Championship Round. It gives more value to the regular season and still rewards a strong Championship Run. Plus, not knowing when the NFL will have bye weeks, it's best to avoid a possible Week 14 bye week situation during the Championship Round. Unlikely, but you never know.

We'll keep discussing the All Play possibilities, but maybe something early, in the middle and at the end for 12-team leagues makes the most sense. Not sure if we can do that, but that might spread it out a bit with no advantage to anyone either way.

We'll discuss roster sizes, but we've always been against taking an additional 12-24 players out of the free agent pool. But we'll keep an open mind on all of this. Chad's idea a couple of years ago of adding FAAB dollars in the private Championship Round leagues ($3 for points champion, $2 for runnerup, $1 for third points) has intrigued me. It would add a twist to the Championship Round and give just a little edge to the importance of the regular season. But that would just be for private leagues.

Keep the ideas coming. We're headed toward a unique 2021 season and it's best to all get on the same page to set the groundwork for a historic new season of fantasy football.

[chriseibl]

I kind of like the 4 week playoff. It would minimize the impact of teams sitting players week 17 if they have nothing much to play for. I would opt for this versus a longer regualr season.

I prefer the 4 week playoff. Prefer it to reduce luck element, especially because teams will be even more beat up at the end of a longer season which tends to lend itself to games that produce statistical anomalies.

Am curious what weeks the bye weeks would end with the 2 bye weeks. If byes were to end in week 14, that would be one argument for a shorter 3 week playoff to avoid them. If byes were to go all the way to week 15, that would be an argument for the longer playoff to spread out the negative impact of having some teams’ byes falling in the playoffs. Some teams will likely shut it down earlier as well, so prefer to not have Week 17 be too impactful.

[Coltsfan]

I kind of like the 4 week playoff. It would minimize the impact of teams sitting players week 17 if they have nothing much to play for. I would opt for this versus a longer regualr season.

I prefer the 4 week playoff. Prefer it to reduce luck element, especially because teams will be even more beat up at the end of a longer season which tends to lend itself to games that produce statistical anomalies.

Am curious what weeks the bye weeks would end with the 2 bye weeks. If byes were to end in week 14, that would be one argument for a shorter 3 week playoff to avoid them. If byes were to go all the way to week 15, that would be an argument for the longer playoff to spread out the negative impact of having some teams’ byes falling in the playoffs. Some teams will likely shut it down earlier as well, so prefer to not have Week 17 be too impactful.

I think what Chris said is the biggest reason for a 4 week playoff. I also worry about resting players the final 2 weeks. They may not completely rest them, but I could see teams with nothing to play for taking out starters at half time.

Is it possible to keep the season at 16 weeks? Just a thought. (May not be a good one..lol)


Wayne

[eliasond]

I have read through all of the previous posts and here are my thoughts on most of the discussion topics. I have tried to number them in the order in which they were initially presented.

1) I’m in favor of team kicker for all NFFC games.
2) I’m in favor of the Saturday 10pm deadline for the 2nd FAAB period of the week.
3) I’m in favor of the Wednesday and Saturday deadlines for FAAB.
4) I’m in favor of leaving the consolation prize intact in private/stand-alone leagues. It gives everyone a chance at something the second half of the season. If there were no consolation prizes, about half of the teams in the league have no chance at the playoffs by mid-season and have nothing to play for the rest of the way. To eliminate the possibility of 5th place winning more $ than 4th we can either add 4th place prize money equal to the consolation $ or send 4th place to the consolation round instead of putting them in the championship.
5) I would leave the starting lineup spots as is. Dealing with the TE spot in the draft and throughout the season is an important part of a winning strategy. And I think 1 flex is enough.
6) Leagues with 2 wins or losses each week based on H2H and top 6 bottom 6 scores – sounds like an interesting idea for a stand-alone league but I don’t think there would be enough interest for a national contest.
7) Superflex/2QB – I am not personally interested in that format. In NFFC scoring the QB’s always score so many more points than the other positions, that a 2nd QB would skew it even more.
8) 17-week season – I would probably add a 4th week to the playoffs, but it would depend on where the NFL puts the bye weeks. If there are bye weeks in Week 14, I would prefer it be a part of the regular season and not the playoffs. You could also turn the Classic into a 15-teamer with a 14-week regular season. The extra entry fee times the usual payback percentage could go to 4th place.
9) Double flex – see #5.
10) 3rd place in the OC – I could go either way here.
11) Playoff FAAB in non-overall leagues – I could get on board with it set up similar to Chad’s idea that Greg described in his post, especially if the playoffs are increased to 4 weeks.
12) Dual flex instead of 3rd WR – see #5.
13) 11th starting spot – no. Bench is already thin enough on most teams to try to come up with an 11th starter.
14) 4 pts for passing TD in Superflex leagues – if you did start superflex leagues I think that would make sense to make the points a little more equitable. Still not sure I would join one.
15) H2H tiebreaker – I agree with “Former-Army-Person” to base the H2H tiebreaker on some sort of H2H statistic.
16) All play weeks – I agree with TR’s comments to spread them out to mitigate the effect of abandoned teams on those end of season matchups but I could also get on board with BWaz’s suggestion of all the all plays at the end. Although to counter that argument it would make it very difficult to make up ground on the lead teams in the last few weeks because the top teams in the standings are usually going to get a win in the all plays, especially if 3-4 teams have given up by then.
17) 22-players on roster – I don’t see a need to do this for the entire season. I could see expanding the roster just prior to the playoffs and especially if we go to a 4-week playoff with no FAAB in the playoffs.

And I will add a topic of my own.

18) Guillotine Leagues – these are fun, but it’s too easy to have a really good team and get knocked out by 1 bad week. For that reason I will only play the cheaper ones under the current format. My suggestion is to model them a little bit like your cutline playoff format. Every team carries their current season-to-date average points into the next week and you add the new week’s points to determine who is eliminated. This way there is some advantage to having a good team all year long but there is still the thrill of the week-to-week guillotine elimination format. Then to take it a step further it would also be fun to make it a true guillotine all the way to the end – no 3 or 4-week playoffs – just keep knocking out 1 team each week until there is 1 left. But only make this switch to eliminate the “playoffs” if teams carry their season-to-date scoring average forward each week until the end. If eliminating the “playoffs” is too radical a change, at least let teams carry their season scoring avg into the 3 or 4-week playoffs like most of the stand-alone leagues do.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I'll go on record in saying that I don't see us eliminating Weeks 17 and 18 next year. That would be lopping off too many weeks. I just don't see NFL head coaches resting players in Weeks 17 and 18 if they then have a first round bye and trying to pick up where they left off four weeks later with the first team players. I might be wrong, but I think Week 17 is still going to be important in 2021 and beyond, but we'll see.

With that in mind, it comes down to two options:

1) New 14-game regular season in the NFFC with 3 weeks of Championship Round playoffs; or

2) Same 13-game regular season in the NFFC with 4 weeks of Championship Round playoffs. The additional week might help if teams do sit players later in the year, but if byes extend into Week 14 it's not fair to start the Championship Round then.

I look forward to feedback on this subject and we'll come to a conclusion before we launch the site right after the Super Bowl.

Personally, I think the longer regular season would be good for our customers and good for the contests, but I'm just unsure of the bye weeks (would the NFL extend them out to Week 14?) and if players sit in Week 17. If the Championship Round started in Week 14 and there were still byes, that wouldn't be fair to qualifying teams. The bye weeks likely won't be announced until the NFL schedule is announced in April, so this makes it tough. Let's keep the discussion going, come up with a fair solution for 2021 and then continue to evaluate the situation for future years after 2021. We'll do our best to get it right because a 17-game, 18-week season is here to stay. Thanks all.

[chriseibl]

I'll go on record in saying that I don't see us eliminating Weeks 17 and 18 next year. That would be lopping off too many weeks. I just don't see NFL head coaches resting players in Weeks 17 and 18 if they then have a first round bye and trying to pick up where they left off four weeks later with the first team players. I might be wrong, but I think Week 17 is still going to be important in 2021 and beyond, but we'll see.

With that in mind, it comes down to two options:

1) New 14-game regular season in the NFFC with 3 weeks of Championship Round playoffs; or

2) Same 13-game regular season in the NFFC with 4 weeks of Championship Round playoffs. The additional week might help if teams do sit players later in the year, but if byes extend into Week 14 it's not fair to start the Championship Round then.

I look forward to feedback on this subject and we'll come to a conclusion before we launch the site right after the Super Bowl.

Personally, I think the longer regular season would be good for our customers and good for the contests, but I'm just unsure of the bye weeks (would the NFL extend them out to Week 14?) and if players sit in Week 17. If the Championship Round started in Week 14 and there were still byes, that wouldn't be fair to qualifying teams. The bye weeks likely won't be announced until the NFL schedule is announced in April, so this makes it tough. Let's keep the discussion going, come up with a fair solution for 2021 and then continue to evaluate the situation for future years after 2021. We'll do our best to get it right because a 17-game, 18-week season is here to stay. Thanks all.

The other factor to consider is "What if byes go all the way into Week 15?" If they do, that would be an argument for a 4-week playoff, to minimize their impact if it turns out that byes are impossible to avoid in either playoff scenario.

I agree if byes went to exactly Week 14 (and NOT Week 15), that would be an argument for a 3-week playoff. This is probably the only scenario where I'd prefer a 3-week playoff.

Would otherwise prefer a 4-week playoff in all instances. I do like Wayne's suggesting of lopping off Weeks 17 and 18 and had considered making it in my earlier post, but figured that would be unlikely to gain appeal w/ the majority.

[Don Draper]

4 weeks without faab moves could prove very challenging

[Greg Ambrosius]

4 weeks without faab moves could prove very challenging

Agreed. You'd have to do something with roster size if you went with four weeks of playoffs and that's not easy. A lot of moving parts in this discussion.

[Don Draper]

If folks want the regular season to carry more weight in the playoffs, one option I’d consider:

Teams carry 2X their weekly scoring average from the first 13 weeks of competition into the playoffs, instead of the current 1X