As commish, how would you handle? (1 Viewer)

[TheWinz]

This hasn't happened in my redraft (yet), but thought about it.  The Derrick Henry owner is mathematically eliminated, and we don't have any toilet bowl or consolation prize.  The owner is active, and I expect him to continue trying to win in weeks 14 & 15 (our playoffs start week 16).  While I applaud his effort and think it's the right thing to do, what if he dropped Henry?  Our waivers are rolling priority, so whoever happens to be #1 would be given the chance to land a guy that may be back for our fantasy playoffs/super bowl.  I am not the commish, but I am the guy with #1 waiver pick.  Personally, I don't think it's fair that an eliminated team can affect the playoff outcome, but he does have the right to try to finish the regular season strong, right?

 

[rockaction]

This hasn't happened in my redraft (yet), but thought about it.  The Derrick Henry owner is mathematically eliminated, and we don't have any toilet bowl or consolation prize.  The owner is active, and I expect him to continue trying to win in weeks 14 & 15 (our playoffs start week 16).  While I applaud his effort and think it's the right thing to do, what if he dropped Henry?  Our waivers are rolling priority, so whoever happens to be #1 would be given the chance to land a guy that may be back for our fantasy playoffs/super bowl.  I am not the commish, but I am the guy with #1 waiver pick.  Personally, I don't think it's fair that an eliminated team can affect the playoff outcome, but he does have the right to try to finish the regular season strong, right?

Yeah, he does have that right, but you hope he knows better. I'm holding a few guys in a league where I'm out of it just so this doesn't happen. I could have cut a couple guys on bye to win in Week 14, our last game, but that would leave them on the wire for the playoffs, and they're too good for that. So I held. Gotta hope that he does. 

 

[Judge Smails]

We have a guy who is out of and has Jonathan Taylor say since he’s on a bye he’s going to drop him. Better chance to win this week blah blah blah. He was told it would be voided and he’d be searching for a new league. That being said AJ Brown was dropped last week. Could be back week 15. Think there will be aggressive FAAB on him from playoff bound teams 

 

[habsfan]

If all owners in your league "play until the final whistle", then he should be able to do what he wants with Henry (if what he does is in the best interest in his team). As a commish, be very wary of confusing the outcome with the process.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

you could argue that hanging on to Henry and burning a roster spot is keeping him from picking up someone that could of help him the past few weeks and in upcoming weeks, which kind of prevents him from putting his best team/most competitive roster out there and possibly affecting the competitive balance of the league....

 

[tigerz]

This hasn't happened in my redraft (yet), but thought about it.  The Derrick Henry owner is mathematically eliminated, and we don't have any toilet bowl or consolation prize.  The owner is active, and I expect him to continue trying to win in weeks 14 & 15 (our playoffs start week 16).  While I applaud his effort and think it's the right thing to do, what if he dropped Henry?  Our waivers are rolling priority, so whoever happens to be #1 would be given the chance to land a guy that may be back for our fantasy playoffs/super bowl.  I am not the commish, but I am the guy with #1 waiver pick.  Personally, I don't think it's fair that an eliminated team can affect the playoff outcome, but he does have the right to try to finish the regular season strong, right?

As long as he's not tanking and trying to win I don't think its a problem. Its a problem if he purposely dropped starters and affected playoff teams which is why there should be an anti-tanking provision in rules. Don't think Henry dropping is an issue. Henry was dropped in mine already... You're making me wonder if I should pick him up since I'm playoff bound but I hear he doesn't come back till Week 17 earliest and even then who knows if they just wait till playoffs.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

he should be doing whatever he can to have the best roster and increase his chances of winning every game every week.....hanging on to someone that is not helping you at some point does not become worth it.....he shouldn't HAVE to hang on to a guy just so nobody else can pick him up.....heck Henry may not come at all, or he may but not be effective....TEN could find themselves on the outside looking in down the stretch so they mat think its not worth it to bring Henry back or give him a full workload.....there is no guarantee he comes back and is a huge impact guy.....owner can decide for himself and shouldn't feel any pressure to hang on to him if he doesn't want to...

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

these sound like very different situations. in redraft i wouldn't actually have any issues with someone dropping Henry or AJ Brown. I would immediately kick the guy who drops Jonathan Taylor. i can't imagine that happening outside of public leagues, right? that sounds extreme.

a rule we put in place that helps me throughout the season in this scenario specifically is any player placed on IR can't be picked up in waiver until the IR designation is removed. same with suspensions, until the week the player is coming back. this way owners aren't penalized like Ref mentioned since we don't have an IR slot. if you have IR slots then the Henry situation is probably not an issue.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

We have a guy who is out of and has Jonathan Taylor say since he’s on a bye he’s going to drop him. Better chance to win this week blah blah blah. He was told it would be voided and he’d be searching for a new league. That being said AJ Brown was dropped last week. Could be back week 15. Think there will be aggressive FAAB on him from playoff bound teams 

things like this can happen and would be to the benefit of those who hung on to their FAAB....

 

[rockaction]

if you have IR slots then the Henry situation is probably not an issue.

Ah, that's the rub of it, huh? Good point. 

 

[rockaction]

Stinkin Ref also making good points in here. 

 

[Stinkin Ref]

these sound like very different situations. in redraft i wouldn't actually have any issues with someone dropping Henry or AJ Brown. I would immediately kick the guy who drops Jonathan Taylor. i can't imagine that happening outside of public leagues, right? that sounds extreme.

a rule we put in place that helps me throughout the season in this scenario specifically is any player placed on IR can't be picked up in waiver until the IR designation is removed. same with suspensions, until the week the player is coming back. this way owners aren't penalized like Ref mentioned since we don't have an IR slot. if you have IR slots then the Henry situation is probably not an issue.

where is the cutoff of who is droppable and who is not....and who gets to decide that...

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

where is the cutoff of who is droppable and who is not....and who gets to decide that...

i hear what you're getting at and each owner should be able to decide what's best for their own team. I totally agree with that. lol, i realize this goes against my comment about kicking an owner. I really really can't imagine any reasonable person putting JT out on the wire over a bye week this late when the whole point is to make playoffs and keep pushing beyond.

 

[Summer Wheat]

This hasn't happened in my redraft (yet), but thought about it.  The Derrick Henry owner is mathematically eliminated, and we don't have any toilet bowl or consolation prize.  The owner is active, and I expect him to continue trying to win in weeks 14 & 15 (our playoffs start week 16).  While I applaud his effort and think it's the right thing to do, what if he dropped Henry?  Our waivers are rolling priority, so whoever happens to be #1 would be given the chance to land a guy that may be back for our fantasy playoffs/super bowl.  I am not the commish, but I am the guy with #1 waiver pick.  Personally, I don't think it's fair that an eliminated team can affect the playoff outcome, but he does have the right to try to finish the regular season strong, right?

Henry is a difference maker who can won a game on his own.

We had this happend once years ago and made the player inelgible to pick up.   Bottom line in nobody cuts a productive first rd draft pick.  It will upset the balance of the leauge.  

 

[GroveDiesel]

Wouldn’t change anything this year, but what would be the downside of changing your league rules to simply make any player dropped after playoffs have begun ineligible to be picked up by anyone else?

 

[TheWinz]

Wouldn’t change anything this year, but what would be the downside of changing your league rules to simply make any player dropped after playoffs have begun ineligible to be picked up by anyone else?

In my scenario, our playoffs are only weeks 16 & 17, and the guy who would want to drop Henry would want to drop him in week 14 or 15 because Henry is of no use to him, since he can't make the playoffs anyway, and Henry isn't coming back, if at all, until week 16.

Would you be OK as an owner if rosters were frozen for any eliminated team?

 

[need2know]

His team.   He can do what what he wants.  But if he acts crazy you have a right to boot him out next year

 

[dkp993]

This hasn't happened in my redraft (yet), but thought about it.  The Derrick Henry owner is mathematically eliminated, and we don't have any toilet bowl or consolation prize.  The owner is active, and I expect him to continue trying to win in weeks 14 & 15 (our playoffs start week 16).  While I applaud his effort and think it's the right thing to do, what if he dropped Henry?  Our waivers are rolling priority, so whoever happens to be #1 would be given the chance to land a guy that may be back for our fantasy playoffs/super bowl.  I am not the commish, but I am the guy with #1 waiver pick.  Personally, I don't think it's fair that an eliminated team can affect the playoff outcome, but he does have the right to try to finish the regular season strong, right?

I’ve seen leagues (and we did in my main league about 7/8 yrs ago) handle this with a do not drop list.  It’s typically something like a top 50 players list or one broken down by position.  The year this came up in our league we addressed it via this and it has never been an issue since.   We don’t issue anything yearly or strictly management it (like if the 47th on the list was dropped etc) but the point was made and everyone adapted.  

 

[Gally]

Would you be OK as an owner if rosters were frozen for any eliminated team?

Is the eliminated team still playing games agai st non eliminated teams that can affect the standings and playoff seedings?  If so, you cannot freeze eliminated teams rosters or you are helping their opponents because they cannot improve their teams.

We do freeze rosters of teams that get eliminated ince the playoffs begin because they are no longer playing that season.

 

[Runnyb]

We do freeze rosters of teams that get eliminated ince the playoffs begin because they are no longer playing that season.

I don't like this, since we have a 15yr redraft league and the all time wins/losses are something that keeps owners (most) going and trying to win until the playoffs even when eliminated.

It's a solid plan though, but I would hate to lock owners down from waivers once they have been eliminated. Win every damn game imo. But your solution seems very logical.

Always tough as commish trying to figure out solutions to this problem.

Considering taking a poll to allow trades all the way until the playoffs (remove trade trade deadline completely). I get the point of the trade deadline, but like that owners still want to improve their overall long term W/Ls over the years and seems everyone would call out any owner that is abandoning their team with a lopsided trade once eliminated. We lose about 1 owner per year fwiw.

Sucks being commish and making these calls. Sucks that only 50-75% will vote in a poll.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Would not handle. We have an age requirement (srsly, adults only...we actually have an eight team league for our sons and daughters) but otherwise folks may manage their teams however they see fit.

Trades that seem lopsided in October sometimes turn out the opposite of our expectations.

• Someone offered me Chase for Adams after Week 7 (right after the 200 yard game.) It was an insta-reject for me, took around 3 or 4 nanoseconds to evaluate. But what if I was an LSU homer who owned Jefferson and thought that this years rookie was even better. They're a good 2.7-3.3 apart on a ppg basis...availability is the best ability, Adams missed a game bc of Covid. After both have had a bye, they're 12-18 total points apart. It's still a bad trade but not completely insane, right? Adams is having an OK year, WR4-5, but he's 6 points per game lower than 2020. Its probably close enough that absent any evidence of collusion I would not see any reason to void.
  
• There are drops that seem early but turn out to be prescient (Marvin Harrison circa 2007 comes to mind.)
  
• After our draft but before the opener, guy in our league dropped the LAC DST for Cordarrelle Patterson. I remember thinking "boy is that stupid - that's MIke Davis' backfield" In our league return yards are 25 = 1.00, still I didn't think he was rosterable - and neither did anyone else as he sat on the WW for 6 days after he went undrafted.
  

Anyway, their team, their choice. Not my job to be the conformity police.

 

[eighsse]

I personally don't really like the idea of expecting anything out of someone who is mathematically eliminated -- he's done, why force him to artificially "care"? If you suspected him of intentionally trying to help one specific team, that's where it crosses the line for me (i.e., he's playing competitively after elimination... but, when his best friend comes up on the schedule, suddenly he's playing his backups...).

But, my opinion on that is really not the point. I think the fewer scenarios that require judgment calls, the better. I would do whatever I could to make defined rules that prevent undesirable things from happening. I don't play in redraft leagues -- does the order of finish have any effect on the draft order next year? If the owners got to choose their snake draft slot, in the order of their finish the previous year, I would think everyone would be trying to win all year.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

i hear what you're getting at and each owner should be able to decide what's best for their own team. I totally agree with that. lol, i realize this goes against my comment about kicking an owner. I really really can't imagine any reasonable person putting JT out on the wire over a bye week this late when the whole point is to make playoffs and keep pushing beyond.

lol...I was actually trying to set you up to see how you would respond....in the scenarios above, I have no problem with dropping Henry.....but with the Taylor one I think this is why we have commish's and why they make the big bucks......the commish would need to step in as he/she has to protect the league sometimes and should not allow Taylor to be dropped....plain and simple....we have a clause that allows our commish (and a co-commish if necessary) to rule on things in the best interest of the league....I am all about not managing other owners rosters, etc....and letting people do what they want, but there may be times where a commish needs to step in and use their judgement and this would be one of those cases IMO...

to be fair, I will turn around and ask myself the same question ....well then "where is the cutoff of who is droppable and who is not....and who gets to decide that..."

I have seen leagues and even think I am even in a few at ESPN where ESPN decides....(I don't like that either BTW)....but IMO the cutoff is wherever the commish decides and he/she gets to make that decision.....I am not a big fan of "league votes" etc. ....they take too much time to get up and running and too many factors come into play...have to trust your commish, if you don't there is a problem.....and there is really no reason to overthink many of these things....a wise man once said....most things are like p0rn...you know it when you see it...

 

[Stinkin Ref]

Henry is a difference maker who can won a game on his own.

We had this happend once years ago and made the player inelgible to pick up.   Bottom line in nobody cuts a productive first rd draft pick.  It will upset the balance of the leauge.  

lots wrong here IMO.... as you are making some sweeping blanket statements....the initial scenario posted actually is the best argument against a lot of what you said.....henry was a productive 1st round pick and it is very reasonable that he was dropped....(think he was in almost all of my leagues and is still sitting there)....and he may or may not come back....

you could argue by forcing someone to HAVE to keep him you are "upsetting the balance of the league"....what if he wanted to pick up ADP (at the time) or Foreman or Hilliard....you are basically saying he would HAVE to drop somebody else besides Henry in order to do that.....if you really want to start upsetting the competitive balance of the league, do what you are suggesting and start managing everybody's roster for them....

 

[yoman]

lots wrong here IMO.... as you are making some sweeping blanket statements....the initial scenario posted actually is the best argument against a lot of what you said.....henry was a productive 1st round pick and it is very reasonable that he was dropped....(think he was in almost all of my leagues and is still sitting there)....and he may or may not come back....

you could argue by forcing someone to HAVE to keep him you are "upsetting the balance of the league"....what if he wanted to pick up ADP (at the time) or Foreman or Hilliard....you are basically saying he would HAVE to drop somebody else besides Henry in order to do that.....if you really want to start upsetting the competitive balance of the league, do what you are suggesting and start managing everybody's roster for them....

I agree with your analysis. I think that the competitive balance might be shifted by him not being able to drop Henry. If you are trying to be a spoiler and you have a choice of dropping Henry or a player that is on bye to get a player that could help your current team than I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it because I have read a few reports that he might not be back until January.  When my teams are out of it I play until the whistle to try to maintain the integrity of the leagues I play in and expect the people I play with to do the same or I won't continue to play in them. 

 

[Gally]

I don't like this, since we have a 15yr redraft league and the all time wins/losses are something that keeps owners (most) going and trying to win until the playoffs even when eliminated.

It's a solid plan though, but I would hate to lock owners down from waivers once they have been eliminated. Win every damn game imo. But your solution seems very logical.

Always tough as commish trying to figure out solutions to this problem.

Considering taking a poll to allow trades all the way until the playoffs (remove trade trade deadline completely). I get the point of the trade deadline, but like that owners still want to improve their overall long term W/Ls over the years and seems everyone would call out any owner that is abandoning their team with a lopsided trade once eliminated. We lose about 1 owner per year fwiw.

Sucks being commish and making these calls. Sucks that only 50-75% will vote in a poll.

You have misunderstood what I stated.  I do not lock teams down when they have been eliminated from the playoffs.  I lock teams down once the regular season is complete and there are no more games that count for anything for that team.

They stay open during the regular season until the end.  Once the playoffs start and they are eliminated from playing in games that count for something your roster is locked.  For example, 6 teams make the playoffs.  All teams stay active for the regular season.  Once the playoff start, the 6 eliminated teams are locked because they have no more games of consequence (their season is done).  Also, once you get eliminated during the playoffs your roster gets locked because you have no more games of consequence.

If you have a toilet bowl or other games going on during the playoffs for the eliminated teams that mean something in regards to other payouts then you cannot lock their rosters.  They have to be able to compete for the payouts available to them.  

 

[Pipes]

Your league really should have a couple of injured reserve spots so he wouldn't have to cut a guy who's out like Henry.  These should be designated for players listed as out or on IR.  Too late for this year but should implement this going forward to avoid this exact scenario.

 

[Stinkin Ref]

Your league really should have a couple of injured reserve spots so he wouldn't have to cut a guy who's out like Henry.  These should be designated for players listed as out or on IR.  Too late for this year but should implement this going forward to avoid this exact scenario.

I am kind of on the fence with the whole IR thing...part of me thinks its kind of ok....part of me likes the fact that if you don't have it, you make owners make some tough roster decisions.....IR kinda bails an owner out from a tough roster decision....roster size is a factor I guess.....but in deeper leagues I prefer no IR....

 

[Gally]

I am kind of on the fence with the whole IR thing...part of me thinks its kind of ok....part of me likes the fact that if you don't have it, you make owners make some tough roster decisions.....IR kinda bails an owner out from a tough roster decision....roster size is kind of a factor I guess.....but in deeper leagues I prefer no IR....

I don't mind IR spots however they must be just that.  You must make it so no lineup changes or waiver pickups if a guy is in the IR spot and no longer on IR.  The biggest issue with having IR spots is when people abuse them by stashing guys on there and keeping them there when they are no longer on IR or out.  As long as you can put up the restrictions where they have to move them if they aren't on IR/Out then it's fine and makes for roster decisions that can hurt.  

 

[RenegadeRoy]

I don't mind IR spots however they must be just that.  You must make it so no lineup changes or waiver pickups if a guy is in the IR spot and no longer on IR.  The biggest issue with having IR spots is when people abuse them by stashing guys on there and keeping them there when they are no longer on IR or out.  As long as you can put up the restrictions where they have to move them if they aren't on IR/Out then it's fine and makes for roster decisions that can hurt.  

IR is important IMO. It helps keep afloat teams who would otherwise be torpedoed by an injury that might not be season long,  and also prevents enriching a team that might be able to sacrifice a bench spot for an IR guy. Doubly so in dynasty/keeper.

But there does need to be a lock on the roster if that player comes off IR/loses their O designation. I know this is possible in Yahoo: if a player is in your IR slot and loses that designation, you can't make any roster moves until that's rectified (player is moved to bench).

 

[skinsrule05]

Henry is a difference maker who can won a game on his own.

We had this happend once years ago and made the player inelgible to pick up.   Bottom line in nobody cuts a productive first rd draft pick.  It will upset the balance of the leauge.  

I am in a fight for the last playoff spot this week. I would love it if the guy I’m playing fielded a worse team because he wasn’t allowed to to drop Henry. I’m sure the guy who also wants the last playoff spot would be pissed that I get a cake walk in. 
 

You can’t make teams hold players. There are so many scenarios that this would hurt the competitive balance. 

 

[Summer Wheat]

I am in a fight for the last playoff spot this week. I would love it if the guy I’m playing fielded a worse team because he wasn’t allowed to to drop Henry. I’m sure the guy who also wants the last playoff spot would be pissed that I get a cake walk in. 
 

You can’t make teams hold players. There are so many scenarios that this would hurt the competitive balance. 

The case I was making in our one league years ago a team not in playoff hunt cut a star player on purpose as his brothers team had the first pick on the WW. A player no team would ever cut.  The commish just stated you can cut that player and add a FA but cut player will not be elgible for "any" team to pick up. 

 

[Gally]

The case I was making in our one league years ago a team not in playoff hunt cut a star player on purpose as his brothers team had the first pick on the WW. A player no team would ever cut.  The commish just stated you can cut that player and add a FA but cut player will not be elgible for "any" team to pick up. 

And that is a specific situation that had obvious collusion implications.  The Commish did his job and made it right.  There are always these types of things that prop up and a good Commish will take care of them.  It also could lead to said team being booted for just being a bad owner depending on how this all transpired.  

 

[Summer Wheat]

And that is a specific situation that had obvious collusion implications.  The Commish did his job and made it right.  There are always these types of things that prop up and a good Commish will take care of them.  It also could lead to said team being booted for just being a bad owner depending on how this all transpired.  

We booted both him and his brother next year as they tried to make lopsided trades as well when one team was out of it.

 

[BigRedNole]

We have anti-DBag rules in our league. A father/son group had teams in our league a year ago. They played each other the last week before the playoffs. The son was eliminated and his dad just had to win. He started all players out or not starting .Because of that the DBag rule kicked in. His dad had to play his son's team as Best Ball. He lost and both quit. They were getting bounced anyway.

 

[ghostguy123]

No IR spots??