Thoughts:
Redo divisions to make it a 14 week season, 2 week playoff, last week off.
I’m against, but not vehemently, expanding playoffs to 6 teams. Half the teams should not make the playoffs, and it just adds another game for flukiness.
Keep kickers. Makes juggling the rosters more interesting and, in the real game, kickers matter. (Shoutout to Cody Parkey).
I like a consolation bowl that actually matters so owners have more interest.
This is what our league has always been, which works out nicely to 6 divisional games plus one game each against everyone else (8). The NFL added a 17th game to the season, so the season is now 18 weeks long. Keeping 14+2 would leave two weeks off.
It occurs to me you may have just made a typo and meant 15+2 with the four 3-team divisions.
I kinda do too. Would free agent money work? Whatever’s reasonable, say $12 to the consolation bowl winner or something? $5? $20? For bidding on waivers the following season I mean.
ETA: And I also like kickers but it’s not like I love kickers. My vote is to keep both kickers and team defense but I don’t think it would ruin anything if they were voted out.
I have been against the Consolation Bowl winner getting the higher draft position from the beginning, and for me the overall parity issue is the biggest concern. Especially since more years than not the gap between the 5th and 8th place teams is probably larger than the gap between 8th and 12th.
I don’t think keeping owners interested for two weeks of playoffs is that big of a deal, but if we had to have a some sort of CB I’d prefer one just between 5th/6th and 7th/8th. Where the most a team could be pushed back is one draft spot.
I don’t have strong feelings, but now I’m leaning towards just keeping the system as it is for continuity’s sake. I play multiple leagues and sports so I’m not fantasy deprived.
I like the consolation bowl as it is, again don’t feel strongly if it’s dumped. No one has tanked in this league, it’s only been because of injuries that owners have had to field crap teams late in the year.
I’d vote to eliminate kickers, I just try to find a guy who kicks indoors or warm weather as a strategy, doesn’t take much research.
Yep. Sorry.
I think a bit more free agency money isnt much of a reward. I understand having a consolation bowl with a reward of any kind is anti-parity. I just dont think it matters much. There may be a big difference between #1 and #5 or #3 and #5, but by #5 and #8, the dart throws have already started.
I’m okay with just leaving the schedule/number of games as-is and missing the extra week. To me, this is not a big deal: we already end the season (as does practically every other fantasy football league) in week 16 even though there are 17 weeks in the NFL season, so fantasy already drops one week. Dropping two isn’t such a big deal. It preserves our current, rather elegant, division and schedule, and it allows us to cross-compare stats from different years, which, while not that important, can be fun. (I also hate how seasonal stats in the real NFL get screwed up when they add games). Another bonus is that even though most teams play hard through week 16, you occasionally get instanes where star players are rested even with 2 weeks left in the season, which screws with fantasy results. This is less likely if our season ends two weeks before the regular season ends. This is my highest preference. We’ll still get the same 16 weeks of fantasy we’ve always had, and it’s not a huge loss if we miss out on a potential extra week.
If we do change over, I’d rather add some sort of rivalry/strength of schedule game rather than redo the divisions or switch to a 6 man playoffs. Divisions aren’t that big a deal, but we’ve had them for long enough that we do have some degree of rivalry within them. I think 4 playoff teams is a good number - it makes just making the playoffs (and division wins) more meaningful. Win your division and in, and one team that gets to be a wildcard. Good with me. Ellis’ idea of 1st plays 2nd, 11th plays 12th, etc (from the previous year) is fine if we want to add a game to the current divisions.
I’m always generally mildly in favor of getting rid of kickers - I’d rather have an extra roster slot versus the mostly random results you get from kickers, and since we’re at the yahoo max (25) we’d have to drop a position to get an extra bench slot, so that’s good with me. But it’s really not a big deal at all, and in reference to what I was saying above about cross-comparing scores between seasons, keeping kickers does keep things more consistent. I do want to keep team defenses, I feel like you can play the matchups better there than you can with the kicker, but kickers are given the least thought/are the least meaningful position and mostly just add noise I think.
I’m okay with determining draft order based on points, with the logic that points are more revealing of parity than wins/losses. I know people need head to head every week to give each weekly result meaning, but I don’t think H2H measurements are really needed for any other function. But not a big deal to me.
After sleeping on it, even though Hamlet wasn’t into the idea, I think changing the consolation bowl prize from draft order to FAAB money is the way to go.
By that I mean we keep everything exactly as it is now – 14 weeks, 4-person playoffs, last 2 weeks of the NFL season not used, kickers and defenses still on the rosters – and just do the minor tweak of changing the consolation bowl to $10 FAAB. (I kind of like $10 as an amount but am not married to it.)
At this point this is my vote, and I think I feel it pretty strongly. None of the reasons for it are strong on their own, but absent strong opinion, multiple weak opinions in concert adds up:
14 game schedule doesn’t mess with league history. Admittedly a weak reason, but a reason.
I distinctly recall Peyton Manning being held out the final two weeks of a season because the Colts had already clinched home field throughout. Pretty sure Andy Reid did that at least once also, probably with the Eagles during that decade of dominance in the NFC East during the 2000s. It’s rare, but it does happen. Technically speaking it’s better to have a two week cushion. Weak reason (because it’s so rare) but it’s a reason.
6 teams is half the league. Playoffs in general should include less than half of whatever league. I hold this against the NBA and NHL and credit MLB for this in real life. (The NFL lost their credit for this when they added a playoff team last year, even though technically they’re still at 14 of 32 < 50%) So 4 teams is better than 6 for us. Another weak reason, but it is an actual reason.
No work! 12 people online is a herd of cats. Consensus will never be reached even just because of apathy, so any changes (re-alignment?!) would be a major PITA, and slow, and it’s already almost August. This is actually a pretty compelling reason.
I am feeling more and more strongly opposed to the consolation bowl winner getting better draft position. But I do want there to be an actual prize for winning it. Barring cash (strongly opposed), the only other advantage you can have is waiver priority / money.
All of that makes sense to me. I think I’m on board with your scenario as you laid it out here. And since it keeps mostly everything the same, we won’t have to do the extra work to implement the changes (figuring out the rivalry thing would have been beyond a pain, I think).
Makes sense to me.
So, are we agreed to keep the schedule as is, keep kickers, consolidation bowl gets extra FAAB and draft order by points for the 8 non play off teams?
I’m in again, sorry for the delayed response. This thread is my only reason to hit up the board.
No issues or comments on what Ellis laid out above.
Now excuse me while I go research who I’m going to select to join my cavalcade of loser 1st rounders.
Oh, one last question will be when to start the draft and final cut list.
Just to re-iterate, I think using wins for playoffs and championships and points to set draft order is messed u. We should use the same metrics for both.
Yeah and you kind of convinced me on that point.
My last roundup above pencils in draft order as being based on regular season record for non playoff teams, much like the NFL. For these purposes, making the consolation bowl is not making the playoffs. So the consolation bowl is just for free agent money.
Believe it or not, the Hall of Fame game is Thursday so we should start thinking about a cut list deadline and when we want the draft to start
Just a heads up that the dates are in the intro post:
Preseason begins: Thursday, Aug. 5th
Final roster cuts: 12:00p ET Monday, Aug. 30th
2021 Dynasty rookie draft opening day: 12:01p ET Monday, Aug. 30th
NFL opening day: Thursday, Sept. 9th
Ok, didn’t see that. Are we sure we can get the draft done in ten days? I’m more prepared than ever to draft, but sometimes trade talks drag things down.
We always used to start on Sunday of the third week of preseason, 11 days before kickoff.
Sorry guys - I’m here. What did I miss?
Hey, I’m back. Sorry it took so long, August has just completely gotten away from me.
Kickers/Defense: I’d prefer to keep both. I know Kickers are basically “random,” but I like the way it simulates a real game.
Schedule: I vote to keep things as they are now and just drop the last two weeks. I like being able to compare seasons and I like our current divisional setup too much to just get rid of it.
Consolation Bowl: I think I’m one of the biggest supporters of giving the 5th pick to the Consolation Bowl but if there’s a consensus to stop doing that, I’d be OK with it.
Draft: Early September is always busy for me, so the earlier we want to start the better in my opinion.
I think that’s it. Now to check how many of the old men on my team retired…