2021 Bye Weeks - begin at week five and end at week 14 (1 Viewer)

[rzrback77]

Week 6 - Four - Atlanta, New Orleans, San Francisco & NY Jets

Week 7 - Six - Dallas, Minnesota, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville & LA Chargers

Week 8 - Two - Las Vegas & Baltimore

Week 9 - Four - Detroit, Washington, Tampa Bay & Seattle

Week 10 - Four - Chicago, Houston, NY Giants & Cincinnati

Week 11 - Two - Denver & LA Rams

Week 12 - Two - Kansas City & Arizona

Week 13 - Four - Cleveland, Green Bay, Tennessee & Carolina

Week 14 - Four - Indianapolis, Miami, New England & Philadelphia

 

[nittanylion]

NFL hubris is strong. Fantasy football in some way, shape or form has been carrying the NFL for maybe 2 decades. I don't care if you're obsessed with it like many of us, or just a casual Player, having the bye weeks laid out like this pretty much takes a crap on the hobby as a whole, unless you play draft-and-go best ball.

I give the NFL the finger often. Especially so, today. :finger:

 

[Stinkin Ref]

people will adjust I guess....not sure if this will actually cause a league to disappear....the diehards home leagues will adjust and the casual yahoo league guy will just roll with whatever season/playoff format yahoo/espn/whoever spits out....

 

[bro1ncos]

Wait until next year when each team has 2 byes. Trying to draft around byes is going to become a futile, and to me as trivial as trying to look at SOS solely based on last year's teams. 

 

[-OZ-]

NFL hubris is strong. Fantasy football in some way, shape or form has been carrying the NFL for maybe 2 decades. I don't care if you're obsessed with it like many of us, or just a casual Player, having the bye weeks laid out like this pretty much takes a crap on the hobby as a whole, unless you play draft-and-go best ball.

I give the NFL the finger often. Especially so, today. :finger:

Why? 

Is it simply the week 14 bye? Many leagues get by with 3 weeks of playoff games.  With week 17 no longer being a crapshoot that works. 

Is it that there's more weeks you need to account for, with fewer teams generally being off each week? Some would say that's a positive. 

Different number of teams being off each week isn't great IMO but it's not that big a deal.

At least it's better than 2016 - bye weeks 4-13 but no teams off week 12.

 

[-OZ-]

Wait until next year when each team has 2 byes. Trying to draft around byes is going to become a futile, and to me as trivial as trying to look at SOS solely based on last year's teams. 

Now this, I agree. 

I think 2 bye weeks is good for the teams and the players, so I'm in favor. But it will make drafting more of a challenge.

 

[nittanylion]

Why? 

Is it simply the week 14 bye? Many leagues get by with 3 weeks of playoff games.  With week 17 no longer being a crapshoot that works. 

Is it that there's more weeks you need to account for, with fewer teams generally being off each week? Some would say that's a positive. 

Different number of teams being off each week isn't great IMO but it's not that big a deal.

At least it's better than 2016 - bye weeks 4-13 but no teams off week 12.

Most of the National High-Stakes Contests consist of 12-Team Leagues that play an 11-game regular season, with League Playoffs in Weeks 12-13, followed by a total points Championship Bracket from weeks 14-16. Although you can auto-bid into the Championship Bracket by either placing 1st in the regular season or being the regular-season points leader, the other 2 League playoff qualifiers have to win in both  Weeks 12 and 13 to qualify for the Championship Bracket and play for the Grand Prize. Thousands of Teams in these contests, and a few thousand qualify for the Championship Bracket. Generally speaking, the primary strategy is to qualify for the League Playoffs (4 of 12 Teams), where less luck is involved and there are decent enough cash prizes to be won, and hopefully advance some unique enough Teams into the Championship Bracket to get lucky and take down some big $. I know the overwhelming majority of players don't play in National High Stakes Contests, but the Nationals are where a massive amount of money is invested and won, and based on how things usually work, things usually follow the money. I'd be hard pressed not to believe the NFL knows about these National Contests and the money involved with them (100-500k Grand Prizes, and massive $$$ overall prize pools. I'm fairly certain that without FF, the NFL wouldn't necessarily enjoy the standing it enjoys vs the other major sports, or at least the margin would be more narrow. I'm also fairly certain that I might be completely talking out of my ###. All I know for certain, is that I put a lot of money and time into these, and am fairly successful in them, and today I am highly annoyed, because late-season bye weeks are bad enough, and taking them past week 10 just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Neither does starting them in Week 4, though, and at least they held off until Week 6 this year, so there's that...but look at that spread above: 4/6/2/4/4/2/2/4/4. If there's rhyme or reason to it, I don't see it. Seems totally random to me, which strikes me as odd for a League that so meticulously plans so many things. I just wish it made more sense (to me, at least). I'm rambling now, but I'm genuinely frustrated. Rant complete.

 

[BassNBrew]

Most of the National High-Stakes Contests consist of 12-Team Leagues that play an 11-game regular season, with League Playoffs in Weeks 12-13, followed by a total points Championship Bracket from weeks 14-16. Although you can auto-bid into the Championship Bracket by either placing 1st in the regular season or being the regular-season points leader, the other 2 League playoff qualifiers have to win in both  Weeks 12 and 13 to qualify for the Championship Bracket and play for the Grand Prize. Thousands of Teams in these contests, and a few thousand qualify for the Championship Bracket. Generally speaking, the primary strategy is to qualify for the League Playoffs (4 of 12 Teams), where less luck is involved and there are decent enough cash prizes to be won, and hopefully advance some unique enough Teams into the Championship Bracket to get lucky and take down some big $. I know the overwhelming majority of players don't play in National High Stakes Contests, but the Nationals are where a massive amount of money is invested and won, and based on how things usually work, things usually follow the money. I'd be hard pressed not to believe the NFL knows about these National Contests and the money involved with them (100-500k Grand Prizes, and massive $$$ overall prize pools. I'm fairly certain that without FF, the NFL wouldn't necessarily enjoy the standing it enjoys vs the other major sports, or at least the margin would be more narrow. I'm also fairly certain that I might be completely talking out of my ###. All I know for certain, is that I put a lot of money and time into these, and am fairly successful in them, and today I am highly annoyed, because late-season bye weeks are bad enough, and taking them past week 10 just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Neither does starting them in Week 4, though, and at least they held off until Week 6 this year, so there's that...but look at that spread above: 4/6/2/4/4/2/2/4/4. If there's rhyme or reason to it, I don't see it. Seems totally random to me, which strikes me as odd for a League that so meticulously plans so many things. I just wish it made more sense (to me, at least). I'm rambling now, but I'm genuinely frustrated. Rant complete.

NFL announces tri-exclusive official sports betting partners

Published: Apr 15, 2021 at 04:16 PM

The National Football League today announced its first-ever U.S. sportsbook partnerships as Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings and FanDuel have reached agreements to become Official Sports Betting Partners of the NFL. As part of these multi-year agreements, all three partners will have the exclusive ability to leverage NFL marks within the sports betting category and activate around retail and online sports betting. They will also engage with fans through NFL-themed free-to-play games.

There's you're answer.  Those three care more about adding an 18th week and then 19th week then the impact on the season long contests.

From a fantasy standpoint they care about DFS.  Both FD and DK do more volume in one weekend than all the national season long contests combined.  WE used to have 4 SSLs and they took a huge nose dive once DFS became a thing.

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Took the words right out of my mouth, @BassNBrew. The NFL cares about what brings dollars first, eyeballs second, and everything else not at all.

There was a time when season-long FF was the biggest driver of eyeballs and at least a secondary driver of $$$ to the NFL. That time ended 8 or 10 years ago. Since then it's been DFS >>> season-long. In a couple years it'll be sports betting >>> DFS >>> season-long (NJ alone is expected to generate $1B+ in betting handle per month this coming NFL season).

When McKinsey or whomever put their impact assessment together for ol' Rog on adding a 17th game, I guarantee you "adverse impact on high-stakes season-long FF" didn't even rate one bullet point on one slide in the backup section of the deck. Sorry, @nittanylion, but it is what it is.

 

[-OZ-]

 NFL cares about what brings dollars first, eyeballs second, and everything else not at all.

 it's a business, run by a bunch of billionaires and their staff. 

If we don't like it, we should stop giving the business our money.

 

[nittanylion]

IMHO, DFS is lame. Oh, well.

 

[rzrback77]

IMHO, DFS is lame. Oh, well.

To me, there is a line between fantasy and gambling. Season long leagues and best ball can be played either for fun or for stakes among friends. DFS keeps some of the skill components, but is more toward the gambling side of the line. The gambling side seems to be where the majority of the money and interests are. It's not me, my side is more of the football knowledge and friends, both local and here on the boards.

But, I see where the interest and money is and that is definitely where the NFL is focused.

 

[BassNBrew]

IMHO, DFS is lame. Oh, well.

The huge rakes are lame.  It's a lot of fun when you're putting cash in your pocket.

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

The huge rakes are lame.  It's a lot of fun when you're putting cash in your pocket.

Quite a few popular FF / DFS podcast hosts offer links to rake-free GPPs in their show notes. I’ve always played DFS for entertainment rather than profit anyway - at least this way I don’t have to pay 15% off the top for the privilege.

 

[bro1ncos]

Quite a few popular FF / DFS podcast hosts offer links to rake-free GPPs in their show notes. I’ve always played DFS for entertainment rather than profit anyway - at least this way I don’t have to pay 15% off the top for the privilege.

Link? 

I play mainly just for the enjoyment and there is a skill finding that WR that performs for that one week. I only play dime and quarter GPPs and then some h2h for a total of usually less than $3 a week. 

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

Link? 

I play mainly just for the enjoyment and there is a skill finding that WR that performs for that one week. I only play dime and quarter GPPs and then some h2h for a total of usually less than $3 a week. 

Chris Harris, Pat Mayo, and the Numberfire podcast are three for starters, but there's 10 or more out there I've played in before. Most of 'em are usually $5 or $10 a throw single-entries. Mayo's is $15 and a 3-max IIRC though so that's not one I'll do every week.

You usually have to go to each week's show notes to grab the tournament link for that week, although Harris and maybe one or two others have standing DK "leagues" that let you pull up that week's contest from your app homepage.

 

[BassNBrew]

Link? 

I play mainly just for the enjoyment and there is a skill finding that WR that performs for that one week. I only play dime and quarter GPPs and then some h2h for a total of usually less than $3 a week. 

I was winning enough to generating a 1099 Misc from Fanduel a couple of years.  I was focusing on the tournies with tickets to the Sunday Milly that had overlay and college football when @Devin Knotts was knocking it out of the park.  One week I had won 125 entires into the the Sunday Milly.  I seem to remember the rake on GPPS increased from 12% to 18% over time and that basically eliminated the profit for me.  I'd get $100-$200 a slate in play and grind.  Grinding isn't fun when you aren't winning and I lost my edge and stopped winning on a regular basis.

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

I was winning enough to generating a 1099 Misc from Fanduel a couple of years.  I was focusing on the tournies with tickets to the Sunday Milly that had overlay and college football when @Devin Knotts was knocking it out of the park.  One week I had won 125 entires into the the Sunday Milly.  I seem to remember the rake on GPPS increased from 12% to 18% over time and that basically eliminated the profit for me.  I'd get $100-$200 a slate in play and grind.  Grinding isn't fun when you aren't winning and I lost my edge and stopped winning on a regular basis.

DFS in the 2014-15 time period was like sports betting today - once you learned some of the secrets you could net $100-200 a week in EV with low risk and minimal time commitment (mainly by filtering on guaranteed contests and selectively entering those with the greatest overlays a couple minutes before lock). My only regret at the time was not having the bankroll to take advantage of things like late-PM $267pp $1k GPPs that would go off with 2/4 seats filled.

Once the sharks perfected their algos, the free overlays basically vanished, and with a higher rake, like you said, the whole thing turned into a grind. I knew enough to know I never had an edge in the game itself, so from then on I've never played for anything but beer money.