Rules ideas

[Aston]

Just a couple thoughts ---

1. The 3-year FA rule is great, although I know some have had reservations. And I think other leagues don't use the rule for all of FA1.

What about keeping the rule for only the first ___ FA stages? Let's say, 8, or 9. That way the last one or two stages of FA1 are open again.

Anyone who is anyone has already been signed at that point, so the 3-year rule should have done its job by then.

2. Losing the postseason signing rule (link)?

I think this would be a great way to keep teams who don't make the playoffs engaged in the game. The first 5 stages in the offseason are uneventful. Missing the playoffs means 4 more stages before that where you have nothing really going on.

Without the rule, teams who don't make the playoffs or lose early can start adjusting their roster for the next season. The FA pool is pretty marginal at this point, anyway, and NFL teams who don't make the playoffs can do it (link).

And while teams can improve their next-year situation this way, it won't be anything game-changing, as long as they still have to work with a 53-player roster limit.

Finally, young and even not-so-young players who don't get signed at this point might get deleted and completely disappear from the game.

[Dutch]

First of all, I love the thought process here of trying to improve the league. That's awesome to see, so don't get mad at me if I disagree with your suggestions! :)

Just a couple thoughts ---

1. The 3-year FA rule is great, although I know some have had reservations. And I think other leagues don't use the rule for all of FA1.

What about keeping the rule for only the first ___ FA stages? Let's say, 8, or 9. That way the last one or two stages of FA1 are open again.

Anyone who is anyone has already been signed at that point, so the 3-year rule should have done its job by then.

I personally am not a fan of this. While I'm sure some leagues have differing rules here, FA1 vs FA2 is the easy place to switch from 3-yr deals to "no-holds-barred" deals. If other leagues use different demarks, I think that leads to confusion..

2. Losing the postseason signing rule (link)?

I think this would be a great way to keep teams who don't make the playoffs engaged in the game. The first 5 stages in the offseason are uneventful. Missing the playoffs means 4 more stages before that where you have nothing really going on.

Without the rule, teams who don't make the playoffs or lose early can start adjusting their roster for the next season. The FA pool is pretty marginal at this point, anyway, and NFL teams who don't make the playoffs can do it (link).

And while teams can improve their next-year situation this way, it won't be anything game-changing, as long as they still have to work with a 53-player roster limit.

Finally, young and even not-so-young players who don't get signed at this point might get deleted and completely disappear from the game.

The primary intent of this rule is to protect playoff teams that need to periodically shuffle their rosters for injuries. Having 22+ teams snagging FA's during the playoffs could lead to cases of playoff teams missing free agents and getting REX'ed...not something that sounds appealing. For example, say you are in the playoffs and your starting QB goes down. In FA, you try to snag the best FA QB available who happens to be some 15-yr 50/50 QB. As a contender and limited cap-space you offer $2M for one year. Your division rival that went 4-12 with $75M in cap space decides to dick you over and offer a 1 yr $10M deal. Not that those things happen, neccessarily, just that the rule was always in place for that. Because FOF MP has some serious Free Agency limitations...namely, you can't really have "plan B's" when trying to sign FA's during the season.

Now one thing that I've seen a few leagues to do contend with exactly what you are talking about (off-season doldrums)-->I have seen quite a few leagues enter an accelerated "Championship Week" where Mon-Fri are sim games. It keeps the action moving when only a few owners are left in the mix.

[Aston]

We had a pretty accelerated playoffs this year, actually, now that I think about it Brad does an awesome job of running things.

[Dutch]

Oh, well there ya go. Solved! :)

[Guest]

I think splitting the rule in FA1 would just add to the confusion. I like the 3-year rule, both from immersion and gaming perspectives, and it's pretty standard across most leagues.

The postseason rule is also to prevent those (rare) cases where a still-contending team could coerce/cajole/coordinate with another owner - 'hey, since you're going to drop your stud OL next year anyway, drop them now and I'll sign them for my playoff run'. There shouldn't be FA action apart from renegs in the playoffs, IMO.

Love the speeding-up-the-playoffs part, and Brad did a great job this season with it.

[Guest]

I think splitting the rule in FA1 would just add to the confusion. I like the 3-year rule, both from immersion and gaming perspectives, and it's pretty standard across most leagues.

Keeping it simple, if imperfect, is probably the best course.

Also, I'm all for speeding things up when owners report in and whatnot, so thanks Brad. It's been nothing but positive since you've taken over.