Hi,
Spent a lot of time thinking during these last couple of days about how the league has been going over the last two months. In my mind, it has been a great season for both PBR and the league and I am looking forward to the big events coming up- playoff race, Superbowl, and the Luck Lottery.
But, there have been some issues that bothered me significantly over the past month that I feel must be addressed. In particular, some of these things are getting worse, in my mind, not better, and it seems the time to address them. To be fair, in many cases teams have simply been responding in their own best interests and that is perfectly fine with me and should be with the rest of the league. In these cases I have determined that I have been at fault for structuring the league to allow these issues to crop up and with your thinking, input, and cooperation I hope we can prevent these from impacting the league in future seasons.
The biggest cause for dissatisfaction, I feel, is the gap that exists in many of our minds over what constitutes the minimum level of effort necessary to run a team in this league. I know that my standards for myself are high and that I am genuinely insulted when another team in this league does not maintain that same standard in roster management, trade talks, free agent bidding, and so on. The problem is that I am in no position to really use this to judge how things have been going and, as not one you are the commissioner, you all are not in that position, either. I suppose the quickest way to say it is that everyone has a style of ownership and that imposing my own standards on another is ridiculous and beyond my role in this league.
So, my goals today are to share my concerns, figure out the source of the various problems, and propose some solutions. After reading, I hope everyone thinks over some things and can find a minute to provide input, whether to the league as a whole or to me directly. I am not here to point figures, make personal attacks, or generally take offense to any one style or decision made this year. Please try to keep in mind that I am looking at this more from a league-overview style and not as a fellow owner of a team in the league.
The first and most significant issue I have at the moment is that, for a league with ten teams and nine starters per team, there have been less than ninety starters, consistently, for the last few weeks. It has happened before and it will happen again and I understand that things happen that are between one and one hundred times more important than the W/R position in our lives. There is simply no explanation necessary in that scenario- just let me know something happened, I’ll make the right decision, and we all go on our merry way. However, when it happens over and over with multiple teams it is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
The first thing, I feel, is that this is almost entirely my fault. At the start of the season, I noticed the NFL had adjusted the bye week formula and made the appropriate changes to the NFFL schedule skeleton. This did not, for whatever reason, prompt me to re-think how the two additional teams on bye would impact our league but it is clear to me now that teams acting in their best interests could end up in a tough spot with the QB2 position. As teams this year have started just one quarterback from both a tanking position and a playoff chasing position, this is obviously not a simple case of teams dumping guys too soon. The conclusion is that the NFL just does not have enough QB’s for the NFFL.
The solution is fairly simple- convert QB2 into a full offensive player (OP) position. The OP is just what it sounds like- a spot for anyone in any week. In unusual fashion for our league, I propose to make this change immediately but, given that byes continue into week eleven, I suggest we start in week twelve. At the very least, I strongly suggest making the change for next year because I feel it does not impact the keeper prices and any team foolish enough to try to win with one quarterback is going to learn a very hard lesson next year. Again, entirely my fault here because of the structure but I think this adjustment goes a long way toward solving it.
The lesser issue I have is with how teams are managing their rosters. Again, a tricky issue because I want everyone to know that I understand that we all have different goals and philosophies in terms of how to win in the NFFL. I also, again, do not feel it is my position impose my own personal standards on others in this league. There is no ‘moral code’, no ‘way the game should be played’, because that kind of stuff is grade-school garbage and everyone playing in the NFFL should simply play to win, whenever that my be. However, no matter how I cut it, I do keep encountering situations that I deem entirely unacceptable and, in no attempt to single out one team, I am just going to let it all out.
First, teams that do not fill out the starting lineup should be kicked out of the league. This was the way it was for many years and the reason why all but two of you are even in this league is because everyone else was sent home. So, when I log in Monday morning and check the scores for the ‘MNF Update’, it literally just makes me feel sick to see an empty slot or players on the bye sitting in at RB.
Certainly, kicking people out is entirely ridiculous in our league because everyone has a track record of consistency and one bad day does not make a bad owner. To me, four excellent years is more than enough to vouch for each and every last one of you. However, there are plenty of options out there and with a QB2 conversion to OP the last possible obstacle should be cleared. Please do not tempt me into becoming a policeman over the next two months because taking away draft picks, auction (million) dollars, and roster spaces is just beyond my style and a waste of my time.
Second, and in some ways more insulting, is when teams simply avoid making the obvious moves to improve their teams after entering a tank mode. When a player goes on IR, I expect teams in this league to move guys to IR. It is no simpler than that. To me, each roster spot is of a very high value and I just do not understand why others in this league would not share that point of view. Anyone who wishes to explain why a player on IR is worth more in the active twenty-five man roster than a free agent not named Chad Ochocinco is free to do so but I certainly hope no one attempts to waste my time in such a manner.
In addition, the teams that just sit out the FA auction simply boggle my mind. I know that the urge exists to retain guys for keeper purposes and making the right bid is a difficult process but if a team can go eight weeks into the season without making a significant move in free agency I have to seriously question that team’s purpose for being in the league.
The reason why this last thing bothers me is because of the impact it has on the other nine owners. One way this impact occurs is by diluting the schedule. Each off-season, I spend a considerable amount of time trying to make the schedule as balanced as humanely possible without compromising the integrity of a random process but when teams just stop adding players after Tighe makes his now-annual ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ draft selection I might as well just ask Yahoo to churn out their rubbish schedule and punt any interesting concepts like divisions, rivalries, and the week one Super Bowl rematch.
There is also the issue of tanking, not something that truly concerns me, and the problems that ensue when one team creates the illusion of trying to lose a game by just refusing to bid on their injured starter’s backup or on the most recent nobody that scored ten fantasy points. These dollars disappear at season’s end so what, exactly, is anyone waiting for?
The final point that ties this whole issue together is that there is a very strong sense of value in having a spot in the NFFL that just does not seem to appreciated in how some of these spots are treated. When people like Tim Wiseman, who I think would be a wonderful owner for our league if given a second chance, or my brother Sean, who once drafted a team in this league as a midnight fill-in, ask me if they can get a franchise, it is hard to say, ‘Sorry, we are all set with ten guys who sometimes care, sometimes don’t.’ It kills me that some people want into the league twice as much as it seems that some want to stay in it.
What do I think is the source of this problem? I am going to start right where the blame should, with me, because I believe the behavior that bothers me is just an exaggerated response to our rule structure. In looking over the these annoyances I have started to think over our lottery system and how it makes improvement an unnecessary idea for those unlucky teams that are injury-hit, simply mis-drafted, or just suffered from bad luck and are now out of the race. After all, lose, and be rewarded, or win, enjoy for two seconds, and be punished? Easy choice. I think more competition is a good solution for almost any problem of lethargy so here is what I have cooked up for you guys to think over.
First, we flatten the lottery. At this point, we start at ten chances and work our way down by league place to one chance for the Super Bowl winner. My idea is to separate the league into three sections: no playoffs, playoffs, champion. The champion retains his one chance. The playoff teams earn three chances, the average of what they currently earn. The remaining forty-five of fifty-five chances are divided somewhat evenly among the rest.
The wrinkle I want to add is to have a tournament for those six out of the playoffs from weeks 15 to 17. Divided evenly, each team could receive seven chances for the first round with the winner of the tournament receiving three. The tournament could be stacked a little more and each team could receive six chances, double of each of the playoff teams, with nine available in some format through the tournament. Keep in mind that each chance is about 2% for the #1 pick so winning three additional chances is far from insignificant. This is a brand-new idea, a ‘fetus’ as Malinn once described Lee, and therefore I am looking for input from any and all.
Second? There is none. By using this tournament, teams can be free to tank at the cost of potentially missing out on improving draft position. Teams would also be much more likely to bid on free agents in-season, preventing some of those early over-spenders from ‘getting out of jail’ by not having a proper bidding process. And there is tremendous value in having the lottery playoffs to look forward to for those bad-luck teams, much more so than previously existed with the cute but perhaps irrelevant League Cup.
In short, the issue that I have at the moment is that it seems teams take a long-view to the season and ignore the idea of trying to assemble the best possible lineup each week. With just this one adjustment, teams will need a functional roster at season’s end whether they make the playoffs or not. At this point, if you still want to tank it, if you still want to sit around and wait for next year, be my guest and pick fifth.
Now, just to wrap up, I nor anyone else should have any issue with the trades that have happened of late, unless the other guy was drunk and you were driving. Teams looking to win now get this year’s guy, teams that are out of the race get next year’s guys. Problems with that type of thinking are out of line, in my opinion. That is life in the NFFL and until my good friend, Commissioner Goodell, overturns the Palmer trade to Oakland I will refrain from taking a similar stance in this league. The issue, again, from my end is the lack of interest in filling in some of those holes this year, whether literally in the starting lineup sense or more broadly in terms of not buying free agents, not using the IR, not communicating with the league, and so on. Please weigh in with your thoughts.
A couple of final clean up points, some ideas for further simplification of the NFFL Rulebook…
-A set number of fantasy points per dollar for keepers (Thirty points per $1?). No need to confuse everyone with a new number each year and my quick research shows that thirty is about the number, each year.
-Eliminate the PUP list. Just one more annoyance for me and if the player is good enough to stash we have twenty-five spots waiting to be utilized.
-A re-think of the League Cup. It was a fun experiment but it may have run the course. Any ideas? If this lottery tournament gets off the ground it is probably redundant. My favorite idea is the ‘Rookie Cup’ where the participation is limited to those players selected in rookie drafts.
Please also feel free to add input regarding any specific rules or ideas that need simplifying. The time is now, to be honest, because I think we are reaching the point as a league where major changes are going to be harder and harder to realistically deal with.
Thanks for reading, all. As you read, please remember that I have what I could call ‘the toughest job in fantasy football’- finding a way to improve this particular league. It would not be that way without the strength of ownership that has remained intact over five years and it certainly will not remain that way if things start to slip and slide toward a public-league mentality.
Keep me updated on how you react to some of my comments.
Tim
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