Paragon Fantasy Football. For Players. By Players.
Veni Vidi Vici Dynasty League
32 Team NFL Style Dynasty Draft League
2012 MFL League Website
Previous League Websites
2011 MFL League Website
2010 MFL League Website
SUMMARY:
- 32 teams, organized into the NFL structure, bearing NFL franchise names.
- 53 man rosters, 8 man taxi squad, IR, etc. built to mimic NFL.
- 21 starters, balanced between offensive positions and defense for realism.
- The proven, balanced Paragon PPR scoring system.
- Playoff structure that mimics the NFL.
- 2 Inaugural drafts for Veterans and Rookies.
- Annual rookie-only draft occurring soon after the NFL draft.
- Annual off season supplemental draft and blind bidding waivers.
- Sign players off opposing franchises practice squad for a price.
- In order to allow for 32 teams yet 53 players and a normal level of starters, there are two copies of each NFL player in the league although you can only own one copy of the player at any time. This adds many extra trading opportunities, strategy around drafts and an increased chance of rostering your favorite players.
- Large prize pools with 100% payouts less MFL league fees of $70/yr approx.
- Designed to last for the long haul with league parity in mind to re-balance each year so the league stays competitive.
- Extra compensatory rookie draft picks, holdover of 25% of prize money years 1-4 in order to have double prizes (Super Pool Concept) every 5 years.
- Start this league with confidence that it will be around for many years to come.
1) League Fees & Prize Money
a) The league fees will be $250 a year. 100% of year 1 fees and 50% of year 2 fees will be required when league forms.
b) Upon requesting a franchise, full payment into leaguesafe is required in full before the commissioner will grant ownership.
c) After the first season, fees will be due on March 1st each year as defined in the league calendar.
d) 100% of fees (minus cost of myfantasyleague.com) will be paid out.
e) Failure to meet the payment deadline will result in a new owner being sought.
e) Any concerns about not being able to meet the payment deadline should be communicated to the league commissioner ASAP.
f) 25% of Prize Pool. Year 1-4, will be held over to create a "Super Pool" in year 5, at which point, the prize pool will be more than double the previous year's 1-4 payouts. This creates a strong incentive for teams to build for now and for the future. It also creates another incentive for people to stay for full 5 years as they are forgoing paid money not to mention the chance at the Super Pool. This concept makes attracting new owners to the league much easier for abandoned teams. The 25% prize pool concept is ongoing meaning that in Years 6-9, 25% is held again for the Year 10 Super Pool and so on. The prize pool is estimated to be $16,000 in year 5!
g) Any team making the playoffs will automatically earn a prize. The four final teams (conference championship participants) will also earn further prizes based on their playoff results. Lastly, the team that was the highest total point scorer from weeks 1-16, regardless of their participation or standing in the playoffs, is also rewarded.
h) The following percentages for the eligible prize pool each year, less MFL league site fees, are paid out after the aggregate super pool funds (above) are withheld:
Super Bowl Winner = 30%
Super Bowl Runner Up = 15%
Conference Championship Losers = 6% x 2 teams = 12%
Playoff teams = 3% x 12 teams (8 division winners and 4 wild-card) = 36%
Highest Point Scorer = 7%
For example, to show the maximum prize possible, in year 5, a team that is a division winner, the Super Bowl winner, and the high point scorer, will win 40% of the prize pool, an expected prize of $6400. Wow! How's that for a carrot to build your team to last.
2) Teams, Divisions, and Ownership of Teams
a) The League will consist of 32 teams divided into 8 divisions with 4 teams in each division. The franchise name (i.e. Lions) and Division are locked and are per the NFL.
b) For each franchise that is awarded, the team owner will pick a team name based on but not limited to the location approximately where they live. Example: Sydney Lions, Phoenix Cardinals. This allows for individualization while still retaining the names, logos and flavor of our 32 team NFL style league.
c) The owner will have control of their home page, to personalize as they wish.
d) The commissioners will load a logo for each NFL team as well as load the team name when each team is purchased. This is for consistency of look and feel across the league.
c) The PFFL commissioners will grant ownership to the 32 most qualified GM's expressing interest in owning a franchise. It would be nice to see all of our owners return year to year and the league is therefore specifically designed to provide financial incentives for teams to stay for the initial five years, at the very least.
d) If an owner should choose not to return, the commissioner will find a replacement GM using whatever means necessary to keep the league stable. See common rules for scenarios around how this works.
e) When ownership of a franchise changes, the new GM will be given the right to "relocate" his team, within the league guidelines. I.e. Portland Steelers moves to London Steelers.
f) As per Section 9, all new team owners will utilize the Replacement Owners draft options as specified.
3) Rosters, Starting Lineups
a) 53 players will make up a complete roster. There are no restrictions regarding the number of players by position, or minimum number of players after initial draft. The only minimum requirement of a roster is the ability to fulfill the starting lineup requirements.
b) Starting Lineups will consist of the following positions
1 QB
2 RB
3 WR
1 TE
1 RB/WR Flex
1 WR/TE Flex
1 PK
2 DE
1 DT
3 LB
2 S
2 CB
1 DL/LB/DB Flex
c) There are two copies of each player available in this league.
d) At no point may both copies reside on the same team.
e) The league software SHOULD not allow such a transaction to occur. The commissioner reserves the right to assign greater or lesser penalties at their own discretion to protect the integrity of the league, depending on the circumstances of the rule breach. These penalties are defined in the Paragon Common Rule Book. We are confident that there will never be a violation of this rule but please take appropriate care in all aspects of acquiring players. Please ask questions to the PFFL commissioners if you are unsure and advise the PFFL commissioners immediately if a rule breach has occurred.
f) Why 2 copies? In our opinion there is no other viable way to have a deep roster, 32 fantasy team league without it. By providing two copies, we can have more accurate sized rosters with appropriate amounts of talent on each roster to keep the league competitive. We understand it may seem unusual to some but since only one copy can reside on each team, we believe the benefits of the league structure and trading, far outweigh the fact that two copies exist. It also makes the drafts much more interesting.
4) Injured Reserve
a) Each team will have 10 injury reserve positions on their rosters.
b) Players declared to be on injured reserve by the official NFL injury report and Myfantasyleague. com (MFL) injury designations can fill these positions.
c) Players must remain on the injured reserve list for the remainder of the current fantasy season. The only exception to this is a scenario where a player is released from Injured Reserve and the MFL IR designation is lifted. In this case, the player cannot remain on IR. To align with what is happening in the NFL, the fantasy team owner must either activate the player or cut the player since he no longer has an IR designation. This is the only scenario where as commissioners we would allow an IR player to be activated since he is no longer eligible for IR.
d) Trading of players placed on the injured reserve list is allowed.
e) Owners can place players on injured reserve at any time during the current season. To move a player to injured reserve, the owner must use the leagues website to process the transaction.
f) Once a player is on the injured reserve list, the team may acquire a free agent to fill the empty spot on the main roster (in accordance with acquisition rules).
g) All players must be removed from IR by March 1st by either being placed on the active roster or waived by the team owner. All players not activated from IR by 1st March will be returned to the free agent pool by the commissioner.
5) Regular Season
a) The league regular season will run from weeks 1-12, teams playing each other team in their division twice while filling in the rest of the schedule with randomly selected teams via league software. Each team will play 3 doubleheaders in weeks in 3, 10 & 12, avoiding NFL bye weeks. The last week of the regular season, each team will play two division rivals. The double headers and the division rival games are intended to keep the playoff picture undecided as long as possible, to maintain maximum league interest in all games played.
b) If the NFL regular season is ever extended through a new collective bargaining agreement, additional regular weeks shall be added such that the last playoff game shall end 1 week before the end of the regular NFL season.
6) Playoffs
a) The league playoffs will take place during weeks 13-16.
b) The six postseason participants from each conference will be seeded as follows:
1. The division champion with the best record. (1sr Round Bye)
2. The division champion with the second-best record. (1st Round Bye)
3. The division champion with the third-best record.
4. The division champion with the fourth-best record.
5. The Wild Card club with the best record.
6. The Wild Card club with the second-best record.
c) Tie Breakers - In case of a tie between two or more teams for playoff seeding, the same tie breaking methods defined in the Paragon Common Rule Book will apply. Apart from our tie breaking methodology, all other aspects of our playoffs will align with the NFL playoff system.
7) Inaugural Draft
a) During the inaugural season, the initial veteran draft will commence 1 week after the rookie draft is completed.
b) Assuming the rookie draft is held before the veteran draft, both veterans and rookies that weren't drafted in this leagues rookie draft will be available in the player pool. All rookies are shown in the MFL website in the following format: Stafford, Matthew DET QB (R)
c) Each conference will have their draft order determined randomly.
d) A randomizer will then determine if the AFC or NFC picks first in year 1.
e) At this point, the two draft order lists will be merged with the winner of the AFC/NFC taking Round1Pick1 (1.01), the loser taking (1.02) and so forth until the order of all 32 teams is determined.
For example, the Cardinals initial draft position is determined through randomization to be pick 15 of 16 in the NFC. A randomizer determines that the NFC picks second to the AFC. Therefore, the 32 team draft order is built by taking the AFC#1, NFC#1, AFC#2, NFC#2 and so on until they come to the Cardinals (NFC#15), who will end up with the #30 pick in the 32 team order. This process ensures that neither conference or an individual team is at any disadvantage when building their initial rosters.
f) As per all Paragon draft leagues, 3rd Round Reversal (3RR) will be utilized. See common rules for more details.
g) All draft picks, when entered into system, will then be available for trading among all teams.
h) Despite there being two copies of every player, each player will likely show up only once in the draft list (as per the functions and capabilities of the MFL site at the time of the draft, TBD and shared prior to draft).
1) Once drafted by his first team, the player still appears (second copy of that player) in the draft list available for selection.
2) Once drafted by his second team, the player name will disappear from the available players list.
i) Please refer to section 3 regarding penalties for rostering both copies of the same player.
j) Drafts will be slow drafts handled via the MFL league website software. Please see common rules for additional information on this regarding times/rules etc.
We have 1700 players to draft so we strongly encourage teams to utilize pre-draft lists to let the system speed up our drafting process. You'll see the commissioners setting an example by using them and once the draft moves to the middle rounds, it's a simple and fast way to draft. The beauty of this system is that every owner gets the time they require to make their decisions, when needed. All of us will have critical rounds with hard choices that we need to step back and consider our options on. It's one of the key advantages of a slow draft.
8) Rookie Draft
| paragon_nfl_draft_spreadsheet_with_compensatory_picks.xls |
Please see the attached spreadsheet, saved in Excel 2003, to see all the draft picks and how regular and compensatory picks are blended, and by various NFC and AFC teams. The spreadsheet is attached here.
a) The rookie draft will occur either July 1, or 72 hours after the last team spot is taken.
b) During the inaugural season, the rookie draft pick order will be the reverse order of the initial veteran draft.
c) The subsequent yearly rookie draft will occur approximately 2 weeks after the NFL draft.
d) The draft will run for 8 rounds.
e) During the draft, roster sizes will be temporarily increased by 8 positions to allow each team to draft their rookie class and subsequently demote them. After the draft, the roster sizes will be immediately reduced to the original 53.
f) Draft picks may be traded if the dues for that year are fully paid for.
g) To ensure teams can trade future pick years, teams are strongly encouraged to at least pay their next years dues into Leaguesafe.
h) Teams may only trade the current years, and the upcoming year's picks.
i) After each season is completed, an additional years worth of picks will therefore become available.
j) The draft will be a 32 team draft with double player availability but will be rookie only.
k) All rookies are shown in the MFL website in the following format: Stafford, Matthew DET QB (R)
l) Draft picks consist of both the regular draft picks allocated rounds 1 through 8 and compensatory picks.
m) Draft Order: Each conference will have draft order determined by league standings (using regular tie-breaks). The two teams that played in the league superbowl will always gets the last
(16th) draft position for their conferences.
n) As per the inaugural draft, the two draft orders will be merged to create a 32 team draft order. The Super Bowl winner drafts last and therefore his conference takes the second (even numbered picks) of the two spots. The Super Bowl loser would pick 31st so his conference will take the odd numbered picks.
o) After the initial first year of the league, and in all future years, Compensatory picks will be awarded to all but the top 4 teams per conference (based on tie breakers in Section 31 of Common Rule Book except for conference champion, per rules).
p) If a compensatory pick is traded before the draft, it must be reversed within 1 hour. And by that, it must be completely reversed, not just the pick traded back. The teams may then do a valid trade if they so wish. Note that it is NOT an excuse if both teams are not around to reverse the pick. Therefore, both teams should be EXTRA careful to ensure that no picks that are compensatory are including. These would be 1.01-1.08, 2.01-2.08, or 3.01-3.08. If the trade is not reversed within 1 hour, the penalty shall be that the compensatory pick is forfeited. Additionally, the other team will lose a pick in that round as well, should they have it. And if not, then they shall lose that round pick in the following year. If neither of those options are available, the commissioners will select a set of picks that they believe are equal in value, at their sole discretion.
Therefore, please DO NOT offer or accept any trade with compensatory picks in it. We understand that this rule may appear harsh, but it's critical that we not allow these kinds of trades to occur, especially as we near the draft and trading accelerates. With two teams each with a vested interest in making sure this doesn't happen, we hope to avoid this scenario.
These compensatory picks give real hope to any team, no matter how bad it may seem. In the course of only 1-2 years, teams can turn themselves into a contender with the right management. These compensatory picks are blended into the rest of the league picks in the same method as regular picks, one pick per conference.
While we understand that the above may initially cause some confusion, we believe this complexity is well worth the effort. Picks that are untradeable until the actual draft starts, ensure that worst teams that need to be competitive can't shoot themselves in the foot by trading away key picks well before their value is clear. This helps the entire league including great teams because it ensures the continuity of the league while protecting teams that do draft and trade well. It gives real and substantive hope to even the worst teams that in 1-2 seasons, with a bit of luck in the draft, they can become a competitor.
The largest problem we see with 32 team leagues is owner continuity. We believe that this rule, coupled with deposits and the year 5 prize super pool will make owners want to stay. It will also be a huge incentive to attract new owners to fill any abandoned franchises. The commissioners have agreed to the extra work and calculation each year for this comprehensive drafting system, to add this extra value to the league.
9) Replacement Owners Draft
When one team is abandoned in a given year:
a) After the new owner is awarded a franchise, he will have the opportunity to remake his team through free agency and trades during his first week in the league.
b) The replacement owner will be allowed during their first week in the league the chance to pick up as many free agents as they like. This is a one-time ability.
c) The replacement owner will use the league website add/drop functionality to make their own roster adjustments.
d) Roster limits will be enforced during these pickups so drops may need to be accompanied with free agent requests.
e) All replacement owners get this one time opportunity whenever they join whether it's in season or offseason.
f) Rookies cannot be selected prior to the rookie draft.
g) The new GM will also keep the drafting position held by the previous owner.
When more than one team is abandoned in a given year:
h) All replacement owners will participate in the Replacement Owners Draft.
i) If EVERY replacement owner agrees, the replacement owners draft will be canceled with all teams keeping their players and draft picks.
i) When the replacement owners draft begins, all participating owners will relinquish all players and draft picks to the free agency pool.
j) A 54 round 3RR message board draft will be used, with position determined randomly. The draft will be held using the free agency pool, with draft position determined randomly. Each team must draft 1, and only 1, set of draft picks. They may select them with one of their picks, of their choosing. By chosing a better set of draft picks early, they are forgoing a chance at drafting a better veteran player. Therefore, there will be an interesting strategy of exactly when to select a draft package. If only two teams were participating, and one selected a package with their 10th pick, the other team, for example, could wait until veteran draft pick 54 to select that set of rookie draft picks.
k) Replacement owner draft picks cannot be traded until after the replacement owner draft is complete. Compensatory picks still can not be traded until after the rookie draft begins.
l) The replacement owners draft will commence within a week of all abandoned teams in the league being filled with new owners and payment being received from those teams (as per Common Rules).
m) Please note that if necessary the scheduled annual rookie draft will be delayed until this process is complete in order to ensure that 32 active owners are able to participate in that draft.
The question might arise as to why make the Replacement Owners Draft compulsory. The key reason is that we feel this will be an important way to attract new owners if/when multiple franchises have been abandoned. If for example we are trying to find 4 new owners and one of the abandoned franchises has a super stud like Adrian Peterson, instead of the first owner snapping up that team, it will encourage all new owners to join as they will have a shot at AP.
10) Supplemental Draft
a) 1 week after the completion of the rookie draft (but not in inaugural year), the league will conduct a 5 round Supplemental Draft.
b) The supplemental draft is not compulsory.
c) The draft order is the same as the Rookie Draft order.
d) Any player eligible to play in the NFL and still available as a fantasy FA (not rostered or on a DTS) may be selected (so both NFL veterans and rookies).
e) Supplemental draft picks cannot be traded at any time or for any reason.
f) Team owners are responsible for ensuring they have enough roster space to make supplemental draft selections. In practice, this will mean dropping players to create roster space prior to the supplemental draft which will allow those waived players to be picked up by other franchises in the supplemental draft.
g) We will follow an accelerated 1 hour time clock for draft selections and strongly encourage teams to enter in any players they would like to select via the system.
h) Picks not made within the time limits imposed will be forfeited.
i) During the Supplemental Draft, the roster size will be temporarily increased by one to allow for players to be drafted and demoted to DTS if required/space permits.
j) Once your pick has been skipped/forfeited, that team owner is ineligible to make further selections in the supplemental draft.
k) The supplemental draft will not happen during the inaugural season for this league
The supplemental draft is intended to fill any rookie or main roster spots that may be available (due to retirement, injury, long-term suspension, or just the usual cuts of ineffective players).
11) Dynasty Taxi Squad Players (DTS)
a) Owners may initially designate 8 rookie players from their team to the Dynasty Taxi Squad (DTS) for development purposes, replacing any openings on the DTS with rookies they draft in future years.
b) Players on the DTS will be in addition to the 53 main roster players.
c) Players may only be placed on the DTS if they were either initially drafted in the rookie draft, or were selected in the 5 round supplemental draft and maintain DTS eligibility, or inaugural veteran draft during first year.
d) The team owner is responsible for demoting their selections to the DTS via league software within a week of the conclusion of the supplemental draft.
e) Once this date has passed, no more demotions to the DTS will be allowed until the following year's drafts begin.
f) Once a player is placed on the DTS, he can remain there for 2 seasons.
g) At the end of their 2nd NFL season, any players who based on this rule who are no longer eligible for the DTS must be placed on the team's active roster or waived. Team owners have until 1st March to do this.
h) Only a rookie in his rookie year can be placed on your DTS, not a 2nd year player who was never on any other roster previously.
i) Once a player is activated from the DTS to the active roster, he is ineligible to return to the DTS. This includes if the player is traded to another franchise or waived and subsequently picked up by another team owner.
j) Players on the DTS are not eligible to start a game until they are moved onto the active roster.
k) Traded players may be placed on the DTS if they were on the other teams DTS when the trade took place.
l) Team owners have the ability to activate DTS players from other franchises in the league to their own active roster.
m)The team owner activating/signing DTS players from opposing franchises will pay the price of 2 draft picks to the franchise losing the DTS Player; 1 draft pick from the same round the player was drafted, 1 draft pick from the round higher than the player was drafted. Example: The price for a DTS player drafted in the second round will be a 1st & 2nd round draft pick. A team that is claiming the DTS player may give up earlier round draft picks than what is technically required if they do not have the exact round of draft picks available. Example: A 4th and 5th round is required but the team doesn't have a 4th round, so it gives a 3rd and 5th round instead. As per the logic described in the above mentioned rule, it's not possible to acquire a player drafted in the 1st round via a DTS Activation Trade.
n) The price for DTS players selected in the Veteran/Supplementary Draft will as if the player had been drafted in the last round of the rookie draft (so 7th and 8th pick).
o) Only the next draft's set of picks may be used for activating/signing DTS players from opposing franchises (not two drafts out, for example).
p) Activating DTS players from opposing franchises may only occur after the Dynasty Taxi Squad is closed each year and before the start of the next year's Rookie Draft. DTS activation is also closed during the trade blackout between week 12 and the end of week 16.
q) To activate DTS players from opposing franchises, the team owner must create a new message board post to the league declaring the transaction, listing the teams/player/draft picks involved, so all owners are notified. Please note that if a team owns multiple picks in the same round, they need to specify which one they are surrendering (their choice) in the message board thread. If a team that is "purchasing" the new player owns multiple picks in the appropriate rounds, that team should specify which of these picks they wish to trade away.
r) The Commissioner will execute the transaction as a trade if the picks are valid, if all league fees for the pick years are fully paid and if all roster requirements are met.
s) The DTS activation trade will be declared null and void if all of the conditions in Section 11 q & r) are not met.
t) Any rookie player acquired by a team must be demoted within 72 hours of that acquisition, or that player is no longer eligible for demotion. The exception to this is the rookie draft, during which demotions are not required until 24 hours after the conclusion of the entire draft. Furthermore, if any player is utilized in an actual lineup for a game (scoring 0+ points), that player is no longer eligible for demotion to the DTS.
12) Free Agent Waivers
a) Any player not on a roster, DTS, or IR are considered a Free Agent.
b) All free agents not selected in the league draft processes are handled by the blind bidding waiver process, utilizing blind bid waiver dollars.
c) All teams will have a Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000.
d) The Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000 can be traded.
e) The Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000 is for all FA transactions during the league year.
f) At the end of the league year, the balance of the Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000 will carry over to next season.
g) Between the end of the supplemental draft and the start of the first week 1 game, free agent acquisitions can be made every 2 weeks via the Blind Bid waiver periods as defined in the league calendar.
h) Commencing Week 1 of the NFL regular season and ending at the commencement of Week 1 games, there will be 3 waiver periods each week as defined in the league calendar.
The 1st Blind Bid Waivers period starts from the kickoff of 1pm Sunday games and will end on Wednesday.
The 2nd Blind Bid Waivers period starts on Wednesday and will end on Saturday.
The 3rd period will be on a First Come First Served (FCFS) basis. This will run from Saturday until the 1pm kickoff of Sunday games. Please refer to the league calendar for details.
There is a $1 minimum on all waiver transactions, whether through blind bidding or FCFS. Therefore, if you spend all of your budget before the end the season, you WILL NOT be able to acquire free agents. You may not be able make future roster moves even when an accidental drop has occurred. Please keep this in mind.
i) From the commencement of Week 16 games, free agent pick-ups will be suspended until after the supplemental draft.
j) The commissioner will only accept free agent acquisition requests on the forms provided on the league website.
k) The commissioner will only accept email from the owner if the league website is down.
l) Each team will be able to acquire an unlimited amount of free agents per week/year dependent on roster space limits & Blind Bid Waiver $.
m) Once the owner makes a waiver request, the owner cannot rescind or replace it with another request after the bidding deadline.
n) Free agent waiver requests are to be submitted as per the time frames specified in the league calendar.
13) Trading
a) Trading will be allowed at all times except from 1 week prior to the playoffs, until the completion of the league championship game.
b) Trading will be allowed between teams that are paid in full for the current season.
c) You may trade a player you have placed on injured reserve.
d) Trades can involve players & draft picks with owners responsible for ensuring trades do not put their teams over the roster limits.
e) To trade all your picks for one season you must have paid in full for the next two future seasons. Example: In 2010, to trade all of your 2011 draft picks you must have paid for the 2011 and
2012 seasons.
f) You may not trade in the off-season until you have paid for the upcoming year meaning that both teams must be paid up in full to complete a trade.
g) Owners are responsible for responding to trade offers from other owners taking into account the Code of Conduct & Team Ownership Responsibilities specified in the Paragon Common Rule Book.
h) Some recommendations are as follows:
You should check your trade offers every time you log onto the league website.
If the offer is not acceptable, reject it immediately. Communication is the life blood of all fantasy leagues so it's a common courtesy to explain why.
Some owners may send you repeated trade offers, but if you explain that you are not interested at all in a player, then they likely will not keep offering the same trades.
14) Time line of Important Dates
March 1st:
Where possible, all above dates will be specified in the league calendar.
a) The rookie draft will occur either July 1, or 72 hours after the last team spot is taken.
b) During the inaugural season, the rookie draft pick order will be the reverse order of the initial veteran draft.
c) The subsequent yearly rookie draft will occur approximately 2 weeks after the NFL draft.
d) The draft will run for 8 rounds.
e) During the draft, roster sizes will be temporarily increased by 8 positions to allow each team to draft their rookie class and subsequently demote them. After the draft, the roster sizes will be immediately reduced to the original 53.
f) Draft picks may be traded if the dues for that year are fully paid for.
g) To ensure teams can trade future pick years, teams are strongly encouraged to at least pay their next years dues into Leaguesafe.
h) Teams may only trade the current years, and the upcoming year's picks.
i) After each season is completed, an additional years worth of picks will therefore become available.
j) The draft will be a 32 team draft with double player availability but will be rookie only.
k) All rookies are shown in the MFL website in the following format: Stafford, Matthew DET QB (R)
l) Draft picks consist of both the regular draft picks allocated rounds 1 through 8 and compensatory picks.
m) Draft Order: Each conference will have draft order determined by league standings (using regular tie-breaks). The two teams that played in the league superbowl will always gets the last
(16th) draft position for their conferences.
n) As per the inaugural draft, the two draft orders will be merged to create a 32 team draft order. The Super Bowl winner drafts last and therefore his conference takes the second (even numbered picks) of the two spots. The Super Bowl loser would pick 31st so his conference will take the odd numbered picks.
o) After the initial first year of the league, and in all future years, Compensatory picks will be awarded to all but the top 4 teams per conference (based on tie breakers in Section 31 of Common Rule Book except for conference champion, per rules).
- 1st Round Compensatory Picks (cannot be traded before start of draft) occur BEFORE the regular Round 1 of the draft: These picks represent (1.01, 1.02, 1.03 and 1.04 for each conference)
- 2nd Round Compensatory Picks (cannot be traded before start of draft) occur BEFORE the regular Round 2 of the draft: These picks represent (2.01, 2.02, 2.03 and 2.04 for each conference)
- 3rd Round Compensatory Picks (cannot be traded before start of draft) occur BEFORE the regular Round 3rd round of the draft: These picks represent (3.01, 3.02, 3.03 and 3.04 for each conference)
p) If a compensatory pick is traded before the draft, it must be reversed within 1 hour. And by that, it must be completely reversed, not just the pick traded back. The teams may then do a valid trade if they so wish. Note that it is NOT an excuse if both teams are not around to reverse the pick. Therefore, both teams should be EXTRA careful to ensure that no picks that are compensatory are including. These would be 1.01-1.08, 2.01-2.08, or 3.01-3.08. If the trade is not reversed within 1 hour, the penalty shall be that the compensatory pick is forfeited. Additionally, the other team will lose a pick in that round as well, should they have it. And if not, then they shall lose that round pick in the following year. If neither of those options are available, the commissioners will select a set of picks that they believe are equal in value, at their sole discretion.
Therefore, please DO NOT offer or accept any trade with compensatory picks in it. We understand that this rule may appear harsh, but it's critical that we not allow these kinds of trades to occur, especially as we near the draft and trading accelerates. With two teams each with a vested interest in making sure this doesn't happen, we hope to avoid this scenario.
These compensatory picks give real hope to any team, no matter how bad it may seem. In the course of only 1-2 years, teams can turn themselves into a contender with the right management. These compensatory picks are blended into the rest of the league picks in the same method as regular picks, one pick per conference.
While we understand that the above may initially cause some confusion, we believe this complexity is well worth the effort. Picks that are untradeable until the actual draft starts, ensure that worst teams that need to be competitive can't shoot themselves in the foot by trading away key picks well before their value is clear. This helps the entire league including great teams because it ensures the continuity of the league while protecting teams that do draft and trade well. It gives real and substantive hope to even the worst teams that in 1-2 seasons, with a bit of luck in the draft, they can become a competitor.
The largest problem we see with 32 team leagues is owner continuity. We believe that this rule, coupled with deposits and the year 5 prize super pool will make owners want to stay. It will also be a huge incentive to attract new owners to fill any abandoned franchises. The commissioners have agreed to the extra work and calculation each year for this comprehensive drafting system, to add this extra value to the league.
9) Replacement Owners Draft
When one team is abandoned in a given year:
a) After the new owner is awarded a franchise, he will have the opportunity to remake his team through free agency and trades during his first week in the league.
b) The replacement owner will be allowed during their first week in the league the chance to pick up as many free agents as they like. This is a one-time ability.
c) The replacement owner will use the league website add/drop functionality to make their own roster adjustments.
d) Roster limits will be enforced during these pickups so drops may need to be accompanied with free agent requests.
e) All replacement owners get this one time opportunity whenever they join whether it's in season or offseason.
f) Rookies cannot be selected prior to the rookie draft.
g) The new GM will also keep the drafting position held by the previous owner.
When more than one team is abandoned in a given year:
h) All replacement owners will participate in the Replacement Owners Draft.
i) If EVERY replacement owner agrees, the replacement owners draft will be canceled with all teams keeping their players and draft picks.
i) When the replacement owners draft begins, all participating owners will relinquish all players and draft picks to the free agency pool.
j) A 54 round 3RR message board draft will be used, with position determined randomly. The draft will be held using the free agency pool, with draft position determined randomly. Each team must draft 1, and only 1, set of draft picks. They may select them with one of their picks, of their choosing. By chosing a better set of draft picks early, they are forgoing a chance at drafting a better veteran player. Therefore, there will be an interesting strategy of exactly when to select a draft package. If only two teams were participating, and one selected a package with their 10th pick, the other team, for example, could wait until veteran draft pick 54 to select that set of rookie draft picks.
k) Replacement owner draft picks cannot be traded until after the replacement owner draft is complete. Compensatory picks still can not be traded until after the rookie draft begins.
l) The replacement owners draft will commence within a week of all abandoned teams in the league being filled with new owners and payment being received from those teams (as per Common Rules).
m) Please note that if necessary the scheduled annual rookie draft will be delayed until this process is complete in order to ensure that 32 active owners are able to participate in that draft.
The question might arise as to why make the Replacement Owners Draft compulsory. The key reason is that we feel this will be an important way to attract new owners if/when multiple franchises have been abandoned. If for example we are trying to find 4 new owners and one of the abandoned franchises has a super stud like Adrian Peterson, instead of the first owner snapping up that team, it will encourage all new owners to join as they will have a shot at AP.
10) Supplemental Draft
a) 1 week after the completion of the rookie draft (but not in inaugural year), the league will conduct a 5 round Supplemental Draft.
b) The supplemental draft is not compulsory.
c) The draft order is the same as the Rookie Draft order.
d) Any player eligible to play in the NFL and still available as a fantasy FA (not rostered or on a DTS) may be selected (so both NFL veterans and rookies).
e) Supplemental draft picks cannot be traded at any time or for any reason.
f) Team owners are responsible for ensuring they have enough roster space to make supplemental draft selections. In practice, this will mean dropping players to create roster space prior to the supplemental draft which will allow those waived players to be picked up by other franchises in the supplemental draft.
g) We will follow an accelerated 1 hour time clock for draft selections and strongly encourage teams to enter in any players they would like to select via the system.
h) Picks not made within the time limits imposed will be forfeited.
i) During the Supplemental Draft, the roster size will be temporarily increased by one to allow for players to be drafted and demoted to DTS if required/space permits.
j) Once your pick has been skipped/forfeited, that team owner is ineligible to make further selections in the supplemental draft.
k) The supplemental draft will not happen during the inaugural season for this league
The supplemental draft is intended to fill any rookie or main roster spots that may be available (due to retirement, injury, long-term suspension, or just the usual cuts of ineffective players).
11) Dynasty Taxi Squad Players (DTS)
a) Owners may initially designate 8 rookie players from their team to the Dynasty Taxi Squad (DTS) for development purposes, replacing any openings on the DTS with rookies they draft in future years.
b) Players on the DTS will be in addition to the 53 main roster players.
c) Players may only be placed on the DTS if they were either initially drafted in the rookie draft, or were selected in the 5 round supplemental draft and maintain DTS eligibility, or inaugural veteran draft during first year.
d) The team owner is responsible for demoting their selections to the DTS via league software within a week of the conclusion of the supplemental draft.
e) Once this date has passed, no more demotions to the DTS will be allowed until the following year's drafts begin.
f) Once a player is placed on the DTS, he can remain there for 2 seasons.
g) At the end of their 2nd NFL season, any players who based on this rule who are no longer eligible for the DTS must be placed on the team's active roster or waived. Team owners have until 1st March to do this.
h) Only a rookie in his rookie year can be placed on your DTS, not a 2nd year player who was never on any other roster previously.
i) Once a player is activated from the DTS to the active roster, he is ineligible to return to the DTS. This includes if the player is traded to another franchise or waived and subsequently picked up by another team owner.
j) Players on the DTS are not eligible to start a game until they are moved onto the active roster.
k) Traded players may be placed on the DTS if they were on the other teams DTS when the trade took place.
l) Team owners have the ability to activate DTS players from other franchises in the league to their own active roster.
m)The team owner activating/signing DTS players from opposing franchises will pay the price of 2 draft picks to the franchise losing the DTS Player; 1 draft pick from the same round the player was drafted, 1 draft pick from the round higher than the player was drafted. Example: The price for a DTS player drafted in the second round will be a 1st & 2nd round draft pick. A team that is claiming the DTS player may give up earlier round draft picks than what is technically required if they do not have the exact round of draft picks available. Example: A 4th and 5th round is required but the team doesn't have a 4th round, so it gives a 3rd and 5th round instead. As per the logic described in the above mentioned rule, it's not possible to acquire a player drafted in the 1st round via a DTS Activation Trade.
n) The price for DTS players selected in the Veteran/Supplementary Draft will as if the player had been drafted in the last round of the rookie draft (so 7th and 8th pick).
o) Only the next draft's set of picks may be used for activating/signing DTS players from opposing franchises (not two drafts out, for example).
p) Activating DTS players from opposing franchises may only occur after the Dynasty Taxi Squad is closed each year and before the start of the next year's Rookie Draft. DTS activation is also closed during the trade blackout between week 12 and the end of week 16.
q) To activate DTS players from opposing franchises, the team owner must create a new message board post to the league declaring the transaction, listing the teams/player/draft picks involved, so all owners are notified. Please note that if a team owns multiple picks in the same round, they need to specify which one they are surrendering (their choice) in the message board thread. If a team that is "purchasing" the new player owns multiple picks in the appropriate rounds, that team should specify which of these picks they wish to trade away.
r) The Commissioner will execute the transaction as a trade if the picks are valid, if all league fees for the pick years are fully paid and if all roster requirements are met.
s) The DTS activation trade will be declared null and void if all of the conditions in Section 11 q & r) are not met.
t) Any rookie player acquired by a team must be demoted within 72 hours of that acquisition, or that player is no longer eligible for demotion. The exception to this is the rookie draft, during which demotions are not required until 24 hours after the conclusion of the entire draft. Furthermore, if any player is utilized in an actual lineup for a game (scoring 0+ points), that player is no longer eligible for demotion to the DTS.
12) Free Agent Waivers
a) Any player not on a roster, DTS, or IR are considered a Free Agent.
b) All free agents not selected in the league draft processes are handled by the blind bidding waiver process, utilizing blind bid waiver dollars.
c) All teams will have a Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000.
d) The Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000 can be traded.
e) The Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000 is for all FA transactions during the league year.
f) At the end of the league year, the balance of the Blind Bid Waiver Dollar budget of $1000 will carry over to next season.
g) Between the end of the supplemental draft and the start of the first week 1 game, free agent acquisitions can be made every 2 weeks via the Blind Bid waiver periods as defined in the league calendar.
h) Commencing Week 1 of the NFL regular season and ending at the commencement of Week 1 games, there will be 3 waiver periods each week as defined in the league calendar.
The 1st Blind Bid Waivers period starts from the kickoff of 1pm Sunday games and will end on Wednesday.
The 2nd Blind Bid Waivers period starts on Wednesday and will end on Saturday.
The 3rd period will be on a First Come First Served (FCFS) basis. This will run from Saturday until the 1pm kickoff of Sunday games. Please refer to the league calendar for details.
There is a $1 minimum on all waiver transactions, whether through blind bidding or FCFS. Therefore, if you spend all of your budget before the end the season, you WILL NOT be able to acquire free agents. You may not be able make future roster moves even when an accidental drop has occurred. Please keep this in mind.
i) From the commencement of Week 16 games, free agent pick-ups will be suspended until after the supplemental draft.
j) The commissioner will only accept free agent acquisition requests on the forms provided on the league website.
k) The commissioner will only accept email from the owner if the league website is down.
l) Each team will be able to acquire an unlimited amount of free agents per week/year dependent on roster space limits & Blind Bid Waiver $.
m) Once the owner makes a waiver request, the owner cannot rescind or replace it with another request after the bidding deadline.
n) Free agent waiver requests are to be submitted as per the time frames specified in the league calendar.
13) Trading
a) Trading will be allowed at all times except from 1 week prior to the playoffs, until the completion of the league championship game.
b) Trading will be allowed between teams that are paid in full for the current season.
c) You may trade a player you have placed on injured reserve.
d) Trades can involve players & draft picks with owners responsible for ensuring trades do not put their teams over the roster limits.
e) To trade all your picks for one season you must have paid in full for the next two future seasons. Example: In 2010, to trade all of your 2011 draft picks you must have paid for the 2011 and
2012 seasons.
f) You may not trade in the off-season until you have paid for the upcoming year meaning that both teams must be paid up in full to complete a trade.
g) Owners are responsible for responding to trade offers from other owners taking into account the Code of Conduct & Team Ownership Responsibilities specified in the Paragon Common Rule Book.
h) Some recommendations are as follows:
You should check your trade offers every time you log onto the league website.
If the offer is not acceptable, reject it immediately. Communication is the life blood of all fantasy leagues so it's a common courtesy to explain why.
Some owners may send you repeated trade offers, but if you explain that you are not interested at all in a player, then they likely will not keep offering the same trades.
14) Time line of Important Dates
March 1st:
- New fantasy season/year begins.
- Deadline for teams to pay the following year's dues. (Failure to pay by this date will result in having your franchise being placed on the orphan list.)
- Players on Injured Reserve are moved back to their team's active roster or waived
- NFL Draft
- Rookie Draft
- Supplementary Draft
- Free Agent Blind Bidding Waivers commence.
- Dynasty Taxi Squad is closed
- (Inaugural Season Only) - Rookie Draft begins
- (Inaugural Season Only) - Veteran (Initial) Draft begins
- Trading/DTS Activation deadline
- Playoffs Begin.
- League Super Bowl (championship)
- Free Agent Waivers end.
- Current fantasy season ends.
- Trading/DTS Activation recommences
- After NFL Week 16 to March 1st.
- March 1st to NFL Week 1
- NFL Week 1 - NFL Week 16.
Where possible, all above dates will be specified in the league calendar.
