Rules

• The league consists of 14 teams.

• The league will be hosted on the Sleeper platform/app. The startup draft will include vets and rookies and will take place once all league slots have been filled and paid.

• Startup draft will be slow draft, snake-style with 3rd round reversal. To determine draft order for the startup draft, teams will be randomly selected, then teams will then decide which spot they want in the snake draft order.

• The standard league fee is $75 and will be handled through LeagueSafe to ensure no funny-business.

  • Upon startup, teams must pay a deposit for 2021 as well.

  • Future seasons require payment of a deposit for the following year. Payment must be made prior to the rookie draft bonanza.

• The league will have 14 weekly head-to-head matchups, with each team playing each other team once then playing one of the teams that finished adjacent to them in Max PF the previous season such that the team that finished 1st plays the team that finished 2nd, 3rd plays 4th, etc.

• Complete league settings may be found on the Sleeper App.

• Rivalries are one of the things that makes sports great. In order to emulate that, each team has been assigned two rivals. Of course, this shouldn't prevent rivalries from sprouting up organically over time as well, this is just a way to ensure there is a little je ne sais quoi in each team's schedule for them to look forward to. The stakes of each rivalry must be agreed upon by each team involved and will carry over by default from season to season; however, teams may establish new stakes each year if they choose to. Rivalries and the stakes involved may be found below:

• Freebirdluke vs schwiltzy - Who is Milwaukee's Best?

  • The winner is crowned Milwaukee's Best. The loser must record themselves shotgunning two cans of Milwaukee's Best within 60 minutes of each other and then must post in the chat.

• Earthgohard vs FreddyEats - Battle of Wounded ACL

  • The winner of this battle may choose any taxi squad player to promote to the losing team's active roster.

• Aesu vs. Chippsburgh - The Asia-Pacific Bowl

  • The winner can acquire one player that the loser picks up on waivers providing they can pay the loser the same amount of the winning bid. The acquisition would need to occur no later than 48 hours after the player was picked up on waivers. These terms are in place from the completion of the rivalry game in one season until the commencement of the rivalry game in the next season.

• FreddieMitchell vs Aesu - The Rocky IV Swap

  • Prior to kickoff of the first game in the week of their annual rivalry, each squad must nominate/lock in 4 players from their respective rosters (could be taxi squad or non-taxi squad). Then, the winner of the matchup has the option to swap any one of the players nominated from their team with one of the players nominated by the other team. The roster switch would be effective prior to the start of the next week. The winner may choose to forego any swap, but it does not roll over to the following season if they choose not to exercise the swap. This roster swap, depending when it occurs, supersedes any existing trade deadlines. Taxi squad players may be transferred from one taxi squad to another, but players from one team's active roster may not be transferred to the other's taxi squad.

• Demontrk1 vs scottyknu - The Defiance Bowl

  • The loser of the rivalry game must buy lunch for the winner and must wear a jersey of the winner's choosing.

• JCobb26 vs nbriceuw - The Cheesehead Challenge

  • The loser of this matchup must buy the winner a six-pack of Wisconsin's finest beer, Spotted Cow.

• Dw1515 vs NickDizzle17 - The Battle for the Bucket 

  • Winner has the option to swap rookies drafted in rounds 4-6 from the most recent draft.  If the winner has any players from the equivalent round then one of those players must be swapped in return.  If that is not possible then it can be any player, so long as within rounds 4-6.  If the winner prefers or if a player swap is not feasible per the terms above, the winner may also opt to receive $20 FAAB from loser instead of swapping players.

• Nbriceuw vs freebirdluke - The Super Expensive Steakhouse Bowl

  • The loser of this matchup must buy dinner for the winner of the matchup at the restaurant of their choice.

• Earthgohard vs edomask - The Respect Your Elder's Bowl

  • The winner gets to select a flex position for loser’s team in their rematch the following season. Their selection must be made from a group of 3 bench players (players who did not start the previous week) chosen by the loser. Players on bye the previous week do not count as bench players unless they were also on the team's bench prior to the bye week. The winner's choice must be submitted to their rival and the commissioner before the first game of the week begins. The loser must allow 24 hrs for the winner to make their selection. In the absence of 3 options from the loser, the winner may select from all their opponent's bench players.

• FreddieMitchell vs Chippsburgh - The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh Bowl

  • The loser must create a fantasy football-based horoscope reading for each zodiac sign, and must share the horoscopes with the league.

• Demontrk1 vs schwiltzy - The Matchup of the Mikes

  • The winner of this matchup between two men named Mike will get the loser's 3rd round pick. The loser will then receive the winner's 4th. These picks are prohibited from trading unless the two sides can agree to alternative stakes prior to execution of a trade. If a trade is made involving these picks without prior stated agreement, the trade will be reversed by the commissioner.

• JCobb26 vs edomask - The Benched Bowl

  • The winner gets to choose one of the loser's non-QBs they have to sit in their rivalry matchup the next year. The player must be chosen prior to kickoff of that week in the following season and submitted to the commissioner.

• NickDizzle17 vs scottyknu - The Hometown Hate Bowl - Cowboys v. Patriots Edition

  • With Nick as a Cowboys fan living in NE, and Scotty as a Patriots fan growing up in Texas, the stakes in this one are personal. The loser will be required to change their team logo to the Cowboys (Scotty) or Pats (Nick) for one month. The loser must also drop one player on their roster in order to pick up a player from either the Cowboys (Scotty) or Pats (Nick). They must hold that player for at least 1 week on their active roster.

• Dw1515 vs FreddyEats - Battle of Blackstone

  • This rivalry gets its name from the Blackstone river running through DW and Freddy's hometown. The loser of this matchup must buy lunch for the winner and the loser must wear a "I lost to..." sign of some sort to work.

• The roster will consist of 10 starters:

  • 1 starting QB

  • 1 Superflex (QB/RB/WR/TE eligible)

  • 2 starting RBs

  • 2 starting WRs

  • 1 starting TE (see below re: PPR premium)

  • 3 Flex Players (RB/WR/TE eligible)

  • No Kickers or Defenses

• 11 bench players

• The Taxi Squad (see below) will consist of 5 players

SCORING

• The league will be 0.5 PPR / 1.0 PPR for Tight Ends. For the rest of the scoring settings, please refer to the League settings page

CONDITIONAL LINEUPS

• Owners may set a lineup that is contingent on a player's likelihood of playing in the game. In each case, you may declare a starter and a backup; if the starter is a game-day inactive, your team gets the backup’s score. If the starter is active and plays at least 1 snap, they will remain in your team's lineup, even if they fail to register a single touch.

  • Conditional lineups that specify the starter and backup must be submitted to the league chat PRIOR TO any games involving either the starter or backup.

  • Both players must be on your fantasy team's roster to be involved in a conditional lineup. You can not submit a conditional lineup involving players on the waiver wire or on another player's team

  • Each team may submit as many conditional lineup requests as they would like each week

  • Example: Let's say Alexander Mattison is questionable on Sunday at noon, but does not play until Monday night. His team's manager could have declared him as a starter and Leveon Bell as his conditional backup prior to the noon game kickoff. Since Mattison did not end up playing a single snap, the commissioner would swap Leveon Bell into his starting lineup after the Monday night game was finished.

  • Gamelogs tracking the number of snaps played can be found at https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/ on each player's Game Log page. ProFootballReference will be used as the official snap count record. If you find evidence that is contrary to the site with regard to snap count, it will be taken into consideration and evaluated by the commissioner.

The IR will be expanded to 6 players permanently as of the 2022-23 season

Amended Conditional Lineup Rules

This rule is meant to accommodate the fact that our league has managers located all over the world, who cannot always be ready to make last-minute substitutions based on breaking news. Conditional lineups provide fairness and equity, regardless of team managers' location, which is a core aim of the league. Specific conditional substitution requests as described above will take precedence over any general conditional lineup substitutions per the rules below.

Rules are as follows:

• All teams can nominate up to five (5) conditional substitutes of any position by submitting them via the league chat. 

• Team managers shall nominate players in order of substitution preference. 

• Only bench players can be nominated as conditional substitutes. 

  • All conditional substitutes must be on your fantasy team's roster to be involved in a conditional lineup. You can not submit a conditional lineup involving players on the waiver wire or on another player's team

• Conditional lineups must be submitted to the league chat PRIOR TO any games involving starters or conditional substitutes for them to be eligible for substitution.

  • Once a conditional substitute commences their game, they can't be moved up or down the substitution order preferences. 

• Managers may NOT use the EDIT feature for any conditional lineups that they have submitted in Sleeper. Any changes to conditional lineups must be submitted as a new conditional lineup in the Sleeper chat. This helps ensure that no edits are being made to conditional lineups after the fact. Any conditional lineups that show as 'edited' will be considered void.

• If any players in the team's starting lineup do not play for any reason, their position will first be filled by any position-eligible SuperFlex or Flex players that are also in the starting lineup. Any starter that is active and plays at least 1 snap, will remain in your team's lineup, even if they fail to register a single touch. The conditional substitutes, provided they do end up playing that week, will fill in any open positions that remain after inactive starters are removed, provided that filling the position is a legal lineup move based on the position of the conditional substitute (ex: a RB in a Flex spot).

• Gamelogs tracking the number of snaps played can be found at https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/ on each player's Game Log page. ProFootballReference will be used as the official snap count record. If you find evidence that is contrary to the site with regard to snap count, it will be taken into consideration and evaluated by the commissioner.

• Managers who clearly and intentionally “game” the Conditional Lineups bylaws to gain competitive advantage will have the lineup move in question reversed and will be issued a final warning. Subsequent violations will be considered grounds from removal from the league and subject to a vote for expulsion from the league.

  • An example of this is moving a previously benched player who is highly likely to be a game day inactive into a starting position after their assumed conditional substitute has scored high in an earlier game.

  • This special amendment has been introduced for fairness and equity. As such, managers shall act in a manner that abides by the general league standard for conduct.

• A total of 6 teams will qualify for the playoffs

  • Seeding for seeds 1-5, as well as standings order for 7-14, will be determined by overall record

    • If there is a tie, the primary tiebreaker is the team's record in head-to-head matchups versus the teams they are tied with.

    • The secondary tiebreaker is Points For.

  • The 6th seed will be awarded to whichever team has the most 'Points For' of the teams that have not already qualified for the playoffs

• The teams who place first and second place will receive a bye for the first week of the playoffs, Week 14. 

• The 3rd place team will be allowed to select whether to face the #5 seed or the #6 seed in the wild card round.

• The team who finishes the regular season 1st will be allowed to select their opponent in the second round from the wild card winners. The #2 seed will face the other team.

• The teams that are eliminated in the wildcard (i.e. 5th/6th place teams) will face off in a two week matchup that will help determine who gets the better 1st round rookie draft pick

• The rewards for playoff performance are as follows:

  • 1st place- $600, 1.14 in rookie draft

  • 2nd place- $225, 1.13 in rookie draft

  • 3rd place- $150, 1.12 in rookie draft

  • 4th place- $75 1.11 in rookie draft

  • 5th place- 1.09 in rookie draft or 9th choice in rookie draft bonanza (explained below)

  • 6th place- 1.10 in rookie draft or 10th choice in rookie draft bonanza (explained below)

• The remaining teams will compete in a Consolation bracket.

  • The teams that finish 7 thru 9 will be allowed to select their first round opponent from the teams that finished 11-14, beginning with the team that finished 7th. The winner of the matchup involving the 7th seed and winner of the matchup involving the 10th seed will then face off in the second round. The 8th/9th seeds will follow the same setup, with the losers of each of these matchups facing each other as well.

Consolation awards will be 

• • Winner of consolation bracket (7th place) - Compensatory selection in rookie draft 2.01

  • 8th place - Compensatory selection in rookie draft 3.01

  • 9th place - Compensatory selection in rookie draft 4.01

  • 10th place - Compensatory selection in rookie draft 5.01

  • 11th place - $20 FAAB

  • 12th place - $10 FAAB

  • 13th place - $5 FAAB

  • 14th place - Nothing

• The manager of the team that finishes last place in the regular season standings must record himself or herself performing 3 NFL combine drills of their choice. They must then post a link to the video to the league group chat. If the last place finisher does not want to or cannot participate in the last place punishment they may instead donate $25 to any Flint, Michigan charity organization (and provide receipt for proof of donation.)

ROOKIES

• The rookie dynasty draft will be a 5 round NFL-style draft with teams going in order of the rookie draft bonanza results for the first round, followed by rounds 2 thru 5 proceeding in reverse order of the regular season standings.

• The rookie draft will be a slow style draft (8 hrs. per pick) and will begin on the 2nd Saturday in May each year.

TAXI SQUAD

• Each year you may designate up to 5 players to be on your taxi squad.  Taxi squads will lock the 3rd week of the preseason. Only rookies may be added to your taxi squads. Once a player has been promoted or removed from the taxi squad, they may not be placed back on it.

  • If a player that is on one team's taxi squad is traded to another team, the player's new team then has the option to add that player to their taxi squad. Team managers must notify the commissioner within 1 week so that they can move the player to taxi.

ROOKIE DRAFT BONANZA

• The rookie draft bonanza will be used to determine the order of the first round of the rookie draft each year. It is basically a NFL Draft prediction game, which rewards players who are better at predicting which players will be drafted first in the NFL Draft.

  • It will take place beginning exactly 7 days prior to the NFL draft. 

  • Selections in the rookie draft bonanza will be ordered in reverse regular season standings order and are limited to the teams that do not make the playoffs, with the exception of the teams who lose in the wild card round, who will receive the 9th and 10th selections per the playoff rules above. Players will have 8 hrs to make their selections; the clock will pause overnight.

    • Any exchange of first round draft picks will be reflected in the rookie draft bonanza selection order as well. In other words, by trading your first round pick you also relinquish the opportunity to make the corresponding selection in the rookie draft bonanza.

  • Players will go in order predicting which players they think will be drafted first in the real NFL draft. Then, rookie draft picks will be awarded based on the order in which teams have their players drafted in the real NFL draft. 

  • These predictions do not directly affect dynasty rosters in any way, except in determination of rookie draft pick order.

  • Example: The player who finishes last in the regular season standings receives the first pick in the rookie draft bonanza. In 2020, they would have likely predicted Joe Burrow to be the 1st pick in the NFL draft. Since they would have been correct, they would then have been awarded the 1st pick in the rookie draft. 

    • Below is what the bonanza would have looked like had each team used Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft to make their predictions:

• The trade deadline is the end of the regular season.

  • Trades may be made in principle after the trade deadline has passed. Such trades must be posted in the league chat. Once accepted by both parties, these trades are considered binding and may not be waived prior to taking effect at the end of the season.

• Trades will not be vetoed except in cases of clear or documented collusion. A trade that is viewed as uneven to you personally is not means for vetoing. 

• You may trade away future draft picks; however, if you are trading away picks for future seasons, you must pay the league entrance fee for each of those seasons. If you have not paid the fees within 48 hours of the trade or prior to the next game involving the traded players, whichever is sooner, then the commissioner will veto the trade.

CONDITIONAL TRADING

• Trades may be made conditionally based on season results for a particular player. For example, A team may trade a player under the conditions of their final season ranking or season statistic.  i.e. If Marlon Mack finishes between RB1-RB12, team A trades their 2021 1st round rookie pick, if he finishes RB13 or lower team A trades their 2021 2nd round rookie pick.

  • The team trading the conditional picks must trade the highest possible conditional pick to the other team at the time of the trade. The team trading the conditional pick may trade the lower picks, but if doing so means they can no longer meet the agreed upon conditions at the end of the conditional period, the other team keeps the highest possible pick. 

    • This means in the above example, team A may still freely trade their 2021 2nd round pick, but then if Marlon Mack finished as RB47, they are still on the hook for the 2021 1st round pick since they are unable to meet the obligation of the 2021 2nd round pick.

    • Other picks may not be substituted for the picks originally specified in the conditional pick, meaning you cannot swap a lower or higher pick in the same round as a substitute.

    • The team receiving the conditional draft pick may trade the pick(s) to another team, and the conditions will follow the pick. Meaning in the above example, team B may trade the conditional 1st round pick they received from team A, but the pick is still at risk of becoming a 2nd round pick depending on Marlon Mack's season finish.

• Draft Picks may also be traded as protected picks for up to one year in advance. 

  • For example, let's say Team A trades a 2021 1st round Top-5 protected pick to Team B with a year of protection.  There are two possible outcomes:

    • If Team A's pick is in the Top-5 in 2021, they keep the pick. Once the protection lapses, the pick must be traded regardless of draft position in 2022. 

    • If Team A's pick is not in the Top-5 in 2021, they must trade their 1st round pick to Team B once the draft order has been established.

  • Protections may be made contingent upon draft position or rookie draft bonanza position. It is up to the two parties who agree to the trade to determine the conditions of the protections. It may be preferable in most cases to set the protections based on bonanza position to prevent one team from purposefully throwing the bonanza to distort the draft position given to the other team.

  • Protections can be made to whatever pick range both sides agree upon, it does not have to be limited to the Top-5.

  • The team trading the protected pick must pay their league fees for each year in which the protected pick may potentially take place.

• Each team will receive a waiver budget of 200 dollars at the beginning of each offseason

• Each player on waivers will be subject to a blind auction and whichever team bids the most auction dollars for that player will receive them, as long as the waiver transaction is legal within their roster.

• The waiver period is 1 day from the last game of the week, which means waivers will typically clear end of day Tuesday.

• Waiver dollars remaining at the end of the fantasy playoffs (after Week 16) will not carry over to the following season. Each team's FAAB budget will be reset to $200 following the completion of the fantasy playoffs.

• Each team will be allowed 2 Injured Reserve spots. Players whose designation is Out, Suspended, Did Not Report, or Not Available may be moved to the Injured Reserve spot.

• • Teams may submit rule proposals at any point on the Rule Proposals page. They are then responsible for pitching the rule proposal after the season. Rule proposals will be voted on in up to two stages, two weeks prior to the NFL draft and managers will be given 3 days to vote in each stage. 

    • Rule changes must be approved by at least 8 of the 14 league members. Rules with multiple options will first be subject to ranked choice voting to narrow down to the top two options, where 'no change' will be one of the options.

    • Exception: Any changes to starting lineup spots, scoring, league payout structure, or rookie draft picks must be approved by at least 11 of the 14 league members. This is intended to help control major changes to the competitive structure of the league.

• While we encourage active participation in trades, communication, etc. I understand people lead busy lives. Plus, if you like your team, you don’t need to constantly be trading or making claims. I won't hound you if you don't really post in the chat or anything like that. However, as a courtesy, the league will be much more successful and fun if you do your best to at least respond to direct communication from other managers in a timely manner.

LEAVING THE LEAGUE VOLUNTARILY

• 1. If a manager decides to leave on their own during the offseason, they will be reimbursed their $75 deposit as long as they haven't traded away any future draft picks. The start of the league season begins with the Rookie Draft Bonanza, so any dues paid for that year will be locked in once the Rookie Draft Bonanza has kicked off. In the event the manager has traded away future draft picks, the $75 future buy-in will not be reimbursed. However, the commissioner will make every effort to find a new manager willing to cover the extra deposit paid by the previous team manager. If the leaving manager finds a replacement owner, the new owner must be approved by the commissioner to ensure they are a good fit for the league.

GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL

• There are multiple conditions that will considered grounds for removal:

  1. If a manager fails to pay their league fees by the annual due date, the manager may be subject for removal. The commissioner will try to make contact with the at fault owner to secure a payment immediately. 

     • If a manager cannot be contacted or is unable to pay their annual league fee, they will be removed from the league and a replacement manager will be found (all efforts will be made to find a manager willing to pay next years league fee to reimburse the original manager).

  2. If a manager fails to attend the rookie draft for two consecutive seasons. 

     • For the purposes of these rules, attending a draft means actively making draft pick selections and not timing out.

  3. If a manager fails to submit an active starting lineup more than three weeks in any given season. 

     • For the purposes of these rules, failing to submit an active starting lineup includes, but is not limited to, the following: starting a player who is on a bye week, starting a player who is out for the year with an injury, or failing to submit a full lineup. Starting a player who is "questionable" or who has a nagging injury is not a failure to start an active lineup. This is really meant to cover players on bye and those that obviously can't play due to a serious injury.

  4. If a manager is proven to be colluding with another owner in the efforts of improving one team to the detriment of another team. 

     • If a manager suspects another owner of collusion, they must register their complaint privately via email or via DM to the commissioner as soon as possible. Once 2 team managers have registered the same complaint, or one owner has irrefutable evidence, there will be a league vote to determine if the manager(s) were involved in collusion. This vote will require a majority of the teams not involved in the alleged collusion to agree to remove the team(s).

     • If there is an obvious scenario or if a manager(s) admits to collusion, the manager(s) involved will be immediately removed from the league.

• • The commissioner will notify the league members that a manager has committed grounds for removal and, in cases where it is applicable, the commissioner will provide a poll for league members to vote for removal. Managers will have 7 days to vote.

    • If a manager is removed from the league, a replacement will be immediately sought for entry into the league. The owner who has been removed will not be eligible for a refund of their league fees and this amount will be used for the new owner's league fees. All team activity will be suspended during this time and the commissioner will set that team's lineup using the highest ADP players on that owner's roster from the latest weekly fantasy rankings available on fantasypros.com.

  • In the event that 3 or more teams need to be replaced, a dispersal draft will take place. All of the players and picks from the 3+ orphaned teams will be available in the 3+ team dispersal draft. Existing teams are not able to forfeit their teams to participate in the dispersal draft. A random draw will take place to determine the draft order (serpentine), and the 3+ owners will then begin a mini draft to select their teams. Rookie picks will also be available during the draft (ex: you can select an available rookie pick instead of a roster player during the dispersal draft) however all teams need to abide by the standard roster requirements.

• • In instances where the rules are unclear, the first resort will be to poll league members on how to best proceed (with the exception of the teams directly affected by the unclear rules.) However, the commissioner reserves the right to interpret and decide how to best proceed if a league poll is not a feasible solution, with consideration to feedback from the league members. The goal will be to operate as transparently as possible and to meet the common sense intent of the players in the league and reasonable person's interpretation of the rules. (i.e. we don't want accidental mistakes or simple misunderstandings to ruin the league. I want this to be a very competitive league, but want everyone to also have fun.) The last thing I want is to be viewed as a dictator, so I will go to great lengths to avoid needing to make decisions authoritatively.