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Cheat code for Yahoo leagues (1 Viewer)

TheWinz

Footballguy
I play in a pretty laid back 10-team redraft, but recently found a glitch in the way waivers are processed each week.  We have a continual rolling waiver priority, which means we blindly put in our weekly waiver picks, then come around 4am on Wednesday, the waivers run.  Team with highest priority gets first choice, and so on, until all players that were chosen are gone.  The folks that nobody put waiver picks in for are then turned into free agents.

The glitch is that around 30 minutes prior to waivers running, if you log on you can see all the players that owners put waiver claims in for, and all other players become free agents.  So, say you wanted a specific streaming D (like CIN for this week).  You can withdraw your waiver claim and get them for free if no other owner submits a claim.

Yes, I had a claim in for the CIN D this week, but at least one other owner did as well.  I am not dropping to the bottom of the waiver priority list just for a D for 1 week, so I will have to let someone else grab them.

 
I play in a pretty laid back 10-team redraft, but recently found a glitch in the way waivers are processed each week.  We have a continual rolling waiver priority, which means we blindly put in our weekly waiver picks, then come around 4am on Wednesday, the waivers run.  Team with highest priority gets first choice, and so on, until all players that were chosen are gone.  The folks that nobody put waiver picks in for are then turned into free agents.

The glitch is that around 30 minutes prior to waivers running, if you log on you can see all the players that owners put waiver claims in for, and all other players become free agents.  So, say you wanted a specific streaming D (like CIN for this week).  You can withdraw your waiver claim and get them for free if no other owner submits a claim.

Yes, I had a claim in for the CIN D this week, but at least one other owner did as well.  I am not dropping to the bottom of the waiver priority list just for a D for 1 week, so I will have to let someone else grab them.
Welcome to 2021 fellow night owl.

Though your comment on cinci defense seems flawed.  If you are withdrawing a claim, that would mean cinci has a claim on them, and you wouldn’t be able to distinguish whether it was yours or another team. 

 
Welcome to 2021 fellow night owl.

Though your comment on cinci defense seems flawed.  If you are withdrawing a claim, that would mean cinci has a claim on them, and you wouldn’t be able to distinguish whether it was yours or another team. 
No, I am sorry.  I withdrew my claim, THEN looked and saw they were still on waivers, meaning someone else had also submitted a claim.  Just checked and they dropped the GB D for the CIN D.  Smart, since GB faces ARI and CIN gets NYJ.

 
Perhaps things are different this year. As an insomniac, I can verify this has not been the case in previous years. Or it might be a one-time glitch.

 
Perhaps things are different this year. As an insomniac, I can verify this has not been the case in previous years. Or it might be a one-time glitch.
This has been the case in yahoo for as long as I can remember. Just did it last night/this morning and grabbed Perine at about 2:30 AM as a free agent while Alex Collins and Gainwell were still shown as locked in waivers but hadn’t officially processed yet.

 
This has been the case in yahoo for as long as I can remember. Just did it last night/this morning and grabbed Perine at about 2:30 AM as a free agent while Alex Collins and Gainwell were still shown as locked in waivers but hadn’t officially processed yet.


Yes, but I think the OP is referencing being able to see waiver claims before 2 a.m. CT, when waivers lock in and non-waiver adds switch to FA.

 
Yes, but I think the OP is referencing being able to see waiver claims before 2 a.m. CT, when waivers lock in and non-waiver adds switch to FA.
Nah. He stated it’s about 30 minutes before waivers run. I think it’s just referencing the age old trick that all of us night owls have used for as long as we can remember.

 
Very shrewd observation by the OP and I noticed the same thing with regard to FAAB bidding.   However, it only seems to be a 10-minute window (2:00am -2:10am CT) where I can see what players have the waiver claim and can edit my submitted FAAB bids that beat the 2am CT deadline.   It doesn't do much good for obvious pickups that you really want.   However, if you're not completely sold on *Gainwell* due to his limited timeframe as the starter, you can use this strategy to see if there are any enticing unclaimed guys that you would rather have for free, rather than paying up for *Gainwell*.   So yes, you can bump your *Gainwell* bid way down and go scoop the free player after processing completes (seems to be 2:10 am CT this season), assuming you beat any other night owls in your league.   Or you can crank up your *Gainwell* bid in those 10 minutes if you don't see any intriguing freebies.

This past week, I felt like I needed to bid something on Watson to compete for him.   However, if I didn't feel the need to bid, I would have been able to see that he and Rhamondre Stevenson were free / unclaimed.   Those guys at $0 FAAB seem like a fair price compared to shelling out the 25%-40% for Gainwell (if you don't need the Lions matchup week 8).

 
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This issue has been around for at least the last couple of decades.

It's also hard to "exploit" because the Waiver/date indicator shows up next to their name after just having a waiver claim submitted on them AT ALL during the time they were on waivers, even if the claim is withdrawn.

At least that's how it was several years ago when I last tested it.

It's easy to verify. Next Monday, after everyone locks when MNF starts, go find someone that no one would ever logically put a bid in on, like a practice squad player or long snapper listed as TE, like James Winchester. Put in a min bid, then withdraw it. When you wake up on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to check waivers, he should have the "W (Nov 3)" indicator next to his name, until the system fully processes waivers. This also would obviously come into play if people had multiple contingent bids dropping the same guy, and they don't actually pick up one of their lower priorities because they won a higher priority guy.

Maybe they changed the part where anyone with even cancelled claims gets the waiver tag, but last night at 2:01 Central, the list was a mix of guys still on waivers and free agents who hadn't had claims out in on them, so the overall "bug/feature" is still around.

 
This also would obviously come into play if people had multiple contingent bids dropping the same guy, and they don't actually pick up one of their lower priorities because they won a higher priority guy.


This is the big one that I see as far as guys in my 2:00-2:10am CT window that have the 'W' designation but ultimately don't get assigned when the processing is completed.   If you have a very active league that's thorough about contingency claims, then there's really not much to exploit since anyone worth a damn will generally have the 'W' tag even if they don't make it to someone's roster.   

In my case, there are plenty of teams that have checked out on their Tuesday waiver claims at this point in the season.   Hence, this is a very worthwhile trick to get a player that I might like for free.   With that said, I have to admit that it's not every week that I have the motivation to stay up until 2am to pan for free gold on the waiver wire.   At the end of the day, these freebies are guys that I didn't like enough to put a waiver claim on before the deadline and felt that there was a chance that nobody else would. 

 
At the end of the day, these freebies are guys that I didn't like enough to put a waiver claim on before the deadline and felt that there was a chance that nobody else would.
I hear ya.  I think this Yahoo "glitch" is best suited for streaming kickers and defenses.  As you said, anyone worth a damn should have a waiver claim, but not many owners want to move to the bottom of the waiver priority list just to improve their K or D a smidge.

 
I hear ya.  I think this Yahoo "glitch" is best suited for streaming kickers and defenses.  As you said, anyone worth a damn should have a waiver claim, but not many owners want to move to the bottom of the waiver priority list just to improve their K or D a smidge.
It’s certainly more valuable in short bench leagues. (5 bench players) I used it just last night. I was dropping OJ Howard for someone. Needed running back depth. 

Collins, Perine, Gainwell available. I actually really don’t need to start any of them this week and Perine is my favorite lottery ticket out of the bunch, but I’m the 6th waiver and I’d love to hold that and advance to a higher waiver.

Waiting till the wee hours and Perine is sitting there as a free agent so picked him up. Gainwell and Collins both picked up off waivers and I got first dibs on Perine. If for some reason 2-3 of them were all available I could have had my choice. 

Although slight, it’s definitely an advantage if you utilize it. 

 

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