Fantasy Football league settings advice

[Cuda1447]

I've long wanted to do a really in depth fantasy football league. This year I'm starting it. Nothing is set in stone, but this is basically the idea and I'm looking for some feedback.


12 teams - auction dynasty.

$200 cap?
After you win a bid on a player you choose their contract length, up to 4 years. You have the option of franchising the player for a 5th year at a premium (undecided yet).

There should be a penalty for canceling a contract. I haven't decided on the penalty yet. Perhaps you cannot drop a player at all if he's under contract?

The draft the following year will be rookies and free agents.


Anyone ever participated in a league with these type of settings? How was it? What worked, what didn't?

 

[MotionMan]

Don't forget to turn off the "lockout" setting.

MotionMan

 

[chalmers]

That's way way too in depth for me.

 

[chalmers]

Plus the best part of fantasy football is the draft. You're basically making that almost irrelevant.

 

[Cuda1447]

Plus the best part of fantasy football is the draft. You're basically making that almost irrelevant.

This makes the draft more important and gives you reason to manage your team even if you fall out of contention for the current year. Plus it allows you to play year round with trades and what not. And you still have a draft every year, it's just a smaller draft.

It's not for everyone, I realize that. But a lot of people really enjoy this style.

 

[BudAshes]

No sign that football is even happening.

 

[Elbryn]

I've long wanted to do a really in depth fantasy football league. This year I'm starting it. Nothing is set in stone, but this is basically the idea and I'm looking for some feedback.


12 teams - auction dynasty.

$200 cap?
After you win a bid on a player you choose their contract length, up to 4 years. You have the option of franchising the player for a 5th year at a premium (undecided yet).

There should be a penalty for canceling a contract. I haven't decided on the penalty yet. Perhaps you cannot drop a player at all if he's under contract?

The draft the following year will be rookies and free agents.


Anyone ever participated in a league with these type of settings? How was it? What worked, what didn't?

the way you're running is going to be complex. you get 200 bucks a year for drafting? are 4 year contract flat rate bids across all years? will you allow changing contracts? ie: 4 year contract for say $100 total, $5 in year one, $15 in 2, $30 in 3 and $50 in year 4? do you base winning the auction by total value of contract or by present value?

do you get additional money for free agents? what's a max roster size? can players be put on IR? will that cost money? how many IR slots can you have?

will you have development slots or practice team slots for future growth? if you have these, need to figure out how to move back and forth. money cost? player can only go from active to developmental and never back in a given year?

are free agent/waiver wire pickups based on money bids? free agent pickups only valid for that active year or can you offer them contracts at the end of the year? do you get the edge in contract offering to free agents? ie: you pickup guy and offer him $20 contact for next year, someone else offers $21, you can match and get the contract?

this type of system only works if you have a dedicated group who's totally down with the complexity.

are you concerned with balance? someone who picks poorly intially will be stuck for at least a few years. do the folks that come in the lower half get bonus money for the next year?

 

[Cuda1447]

Good questions.

As far as contracts I was thinking do a flat fee. If you win the bid for a player, you can choose to sign him for as many years as you'd like, up to 4. I was going to have fairly deep rosters, and hadn't really concerned having an IR. With deep rosters I figured IR wouldn't really be necessary. I was going to set aside extra money for free agents and have the waiver system work as a silent bid system. Not sure how I am going to handle contracts on waiver players or releasing players and penalties for releasing them. No developmental slots, just deep rosters.

Balance is a bit of a concern, but ultimately if you pick poorly or sign high risk players to longer contracts, thats something you'll have to deal with. Not worried about the complexity. Everyone who is joining is aware of its complexity and is a fairly hardcore player.

I hadn't given any thought to allotting extra money to players finishing lower in the standings, perhaps that is a decent idea.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I hate legacy leagues. One guys gets Peyton or Brady or whoever and you're out for the next 10 years? Bullshit. The draft is half the fun.

 

[Cuda1447]

I hate legacy leagues. One guys gets Peyton or Brady or whoever and you're out for the next 10 years? Bullshit. The draft is half the fun.

lol I don't think you automatically win with peyton or brady... *shrugs* What about Rodgers? Romo? Roth? Vick? Schaub? Warner? There is so much turnover in the game. The best this year might not even be top 10 next year. Come on man...

 

[Elbryn]

Good questions.

As far as contracts I was thinking do a flat fee. If you win the bid for a player, you can choose to sign him for as many years as you'd like, up to 4. I was going to have fairly deep rosters, and hadn't really concerned having an IR. With deep rosters I figured IR wouldn't really be necessary. I was going to set aside extra money for free agents and have the waiver system work as a silent bid system. Not sure how I am going to handle contracts on waiver players or releasing players and penalties for releasing them. No developmental slots, just deep rosters.

Balance is a bit of a concern, but ultimately if you pick poorly or sign high risk players to longer contracts, thats something you'll have to deal with. Not worried about the complexity. Everyone who is joining is aware of its complexity and is a fairly hardcore player.

I hadn't given any thought to allotting extra money to players finishing lower in the standings, perhaps that is a decent idea.

i guess i'm still confused, bid 200 bucks on a guy in year 1 and sign for 4 years. am i on the hook for 200 bucks next year to him again? or do i get a new 200 bucks?
i'd favor you bid a guy and you have to pay for him again the next year with a default escalator. ie: i bid $1 on desean jackson his rookie year. i opt to sign him for 4 years, this means i need to pay $1 for year 1 and add $5 each year i sign him for in those years. $1,6,11,16 for a 4 year contract. or something similar.

i wouldnt opt for a new 200 each year, otherwise i'd going to carry every guy with potential for 4 years, especially if i have a deep roster and some guys i'm going to get rid of. unless the drop penalty is significant. shoot, i could conceivably overpay on key players for 3 years banking on having an awesome window to win in year 4/5 while being competitive in year 2/3/6/7. if i didnt have to pay the guy i won money next year to keep.


release penalty is going to have to be well thought. can you sign free agents off the waiver wire for multi year contracts? when do you decide on length?

i'd almost say, if you want to go whole hog gm system, go with the yearly cap and have contracts that cost money year to year.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

lol I don't think you automatically win with peyton or brady... *shrugs* What about Rodgers? Romo? Roth? Vick? Schaub? Warner? There is so much turnover in the game. The best this year might not even be top 10 next year. Come on man...

You don't automatically win with any one player in particular but locking up guys for years who are annual top-10 picks in standard leagues is lame. And it really does take a lot out of the better parts of a season... the draft.

As for the rest of your list... who drafted Vick last year? Nobody. Warner is retired. Romo sucks. But that only goes to show that you're not to up on FF to begin with. I threw the names out as an example.

 

[Via]

Those types of leagues only work with owners who actively trade.

If your owners are a bunch of wusses that wouldn't trade a #2 WR if they don't get a #1 RB in return it'll stagnate and die.

But for creative traders who like to package players with draft picks and "future considerations" it can be fun. A headache for the commish at times, though.

Make sure your holdovers are the absolute minimum, though:

1 QB
2 RB
2-3 WR
1-2 TE
1 Def/ST
1 kicker

 

[summit]

legacy leagues should work by a round by round draft not auction. the next year team that finishes last gets no.1 pick in every round. you are allowed to keep a player but you will lose either the pick from two rounds prior or round prior and round after. lets say you drafted braylon edwards in the third round of this year's draft, you could keep him for your first round pick next year or your second and fourth round round pick next year. this is the way my buddies have done it since freshman year of college. you can trade draft picks and such.

 

[twinrider1]

In my keeper league, you can keep up to 5 players, but they count as your first draft picks. So if I keep 3 players from last year, I miss the first three rounds of the draft this year. Draft order is in inverse order of last year's finish, standard serpentine.

 

[Cuda1447]

You don't automatically win with any one player in particular but locking up guys for years who are annual top-10 picks in standard leagues is lame. And it really does take a lot out of the better parts of a season... the draft.

As for the rest of your list... who drafted Vick last year? Nobody. Warner is retired. Romo sucks. But that only goes to show that you're not to up on FF to begin with. I threw the names out as an example.

I get you don't like the idea, that's fine. Some do. And I also realize Warner is retired. I was just throwing out past seasons. Warner was thought of to be done and he performed as a top 5. You may think Romo sucks, but prior to injury and previous years he is an easy top 10 and most likely a top 5. In fact, it wouldn't be much of a stretch at all to say Romo has a decent chance at outperforming Manning this year, even though he 'sucks'. But I don't know FF *shrugs*. In any case, look at the stats yourself. The top 10 guys from year to year at EVERY position change quite dramatically. QB's are less pronounced, but it definitely still happens.