Commissioner Note

Last season there was discussion about making a few changes to the league.  I listened to suggestions and concerns and put together a few ideas.  Last week I send out an email to a couple of you with what I worked on and now I'm posting it for the everybody to take in. 

I've tried to come up with ideas that, above all else, encourages activity whether it's facilitating more trades (or at least trade discussions) amongst teams, more interaction with the waiver wire, more interaction during the draft, free agency, etc.  But I also don't want to reinvent the wheel and make such sweeping changes that the league is unrecognizable, this is my favorite league for a reason but adding a few new elements while keeping the foundation mostly intact was my goal.

 

Champion: Trophy + 45 warbucks + 4^th Round Pick (more on this later)

Runner-Up: 30 warbucks

Third Place: 15 warbucks

 

Thought Process: Cameron had brought up a few years ago that the Champ should receive a bigger warbuck payout for winning considering the winner of Pick 'Ems used to receive more as did the winner of Survivor.  I agree with him so I wanted to bump these up plus give the Champ a little extra as well.  This brings me to...

 

Champion: 40 warbucks + 4.01 draft pick

Runner-Up: 20 warbucks + 4.02 draft pick

Third Place: 4.03 draft pick

 

The bottom two teams would receive 1^st round byes into the Toilet Semi-Finals, with the four remaining teams playing in the Wild Card Round.

 

Thought Process: This guarantees that the two worst teams at least have a 50/50 chance to earn an extra pick with the added opportunity to earn additional resources.  This gives non-playoff teams more tools to improve without it effecting their current draft position (unlike a lottery) while also promoting more activity during a time when half the league has nothing to do.

 

This means that now 8 teams will be playing until Week 16 and 6 teams will be playing in Week 17 before we open it back up to everybody again in Week 18.

 

4.01 - Winner of Toilet Bowl

4.02 - Toilet Bowl Runner-Up

4.03 - Toilet Bowl Third Place

4.04 - League Champion

 

Thought Process: People seemed open to the idea of a shorter draft with the consensus being split between either 3 rounds or 4.  I came up with this hybrid idea.  This means that a maximum of 40 players will be drafted every summer putting potentially 20 more players back into the Free Agent market (also satisfying another issue people seemed to want).  This makes picks more valuable, especially since Free Agents can only be signed to 1 year deals.  Do you have multiple sleepers you're targeting?  Better get a discussion going to trade for an extra 3^rd rounder to get that guy locked up on a long-term deal.  Or if you're unsuccessful at closing on a deal, then you at least have the option to blind bid to get him on waivers.  Again, more activity + more assistance to the weaker teams.  These 4^th round picks will also be tradeable so if the teams that get them want to flip them for a future 3^rd or for a player or more warbucks, they have the option at their disposal.

 

BASE FRANCHISE (beginning in 2025) - The team with the winning bid on any Base Franchise Tagged player has the option of selecting the compensation that goes back to the original GM.

 

Thought Process: The way it's currently structured, the winning bid will automatically surrender their highest 1^st round pick.  This essentially eliminates half the teams from going after a Base Franchise player (who traditionally have been the best players available during the auctions).  If the winning team though has the option to send a lower pick (assuming they've got multiple picks) or a future pick rather than their current selection it'll lead to way more exciting action during the auction plus also invite the weaker teams to jump into the fray as well if they know they don't have to surrender that 1^st overall pick in the process.  Now, teams can get BOTH Bijan Robinson in the draft while also adding Davante Adams in the auction to improve at a more rapid pace - which I think will keep people more engaged if they know they're not going to be at the bottom indefinitely if they're smart with their moves.  We have this in the Capo and the auction is crazy exciting with sometimes up to 5 or 6 teams trying to bid on one guy.  Now, it's really only the best teams that can access these players unless people are willing to give up those premium draft picks.  (NOTE - the compensation will still be a 1^st round pick and it must STILL be in either the current year or the following year, no giving up a 1^st 7 years down the road or anything crazy).

 

Waivers will run daily throughout the season from Wednesday through Saturday.

Teams can pick up emergency Game Day pickups for a cost of $5 per player on Sundays and Mondays.

 

Multi-Year Contracts will remain $10 per year to cut in-season / $5 per year off-season

 

Thought Process: This one might perhaps be the most divisive, I'm not sure.  People expressed a desire to eliminate the $10 cost to cut 1 year players to help churn the bottom of their rosters but Paul had suggested that we run more waivers to make people work for those in-season roster additions.  Coupled with the extra undrafted players from August and the 1 year penalty removed, waivers can see a bit more action and interaction while also adding in an extra level of strategy.  You can get in on a guy early in the week and try to pick him up cheap for $1 but run the risk of somebody outbidding you or you can throw down a higher bid but potentially take away some of that warchest you're trying to hang on to for the auction.  And if you find yourself in a pinch where you have a guy twist his ankle on a Friday walkthrough and he's declared out early on Sunday morning, you're free to go and add a quick replacement but it'll cost you a flat $5 to do it.  But if you plan ahead for contingencies early in the week you could perhaps add that depth piece for a cheaper amount on Wednesday or Thursday.  And if you end up not needing said contingency?  Feel free to drop him the following week for nothing and only be out $1 or $2.

 

 

Thought Process: With the NFL switching to an 18 week schedule I felt that our Week 12 deadline was too early, especially given how many teams the league decides to have on byes in Week 14.  Moving up the Trade Deadline can give people an extra way to make the necessary moves they need to make to navigate the playoffs or looking ahead to the following season.  If we are going to be pushing back our off-season to March every year going forward then we're essentially looking at 3 months of not being able to make a single trade, and let's face it, making trades is fun, (plus I don't want Rich to quit, haha).

 

 

Thought Process: This one is just a little bit of extra fun.  Some years, Survivor is awesome and you can get guys competing well into the season, or other years you can have half the league eliminated after Week 1.  Let's add a second strike to Survivor and stretch it out a bit, we do this in another league and virtually everybody participates and it's great.