[DYNASTY] Rules Question: 'Stealing' Practice Squad Players (1 Viewer)

[Illegal Pants Downfield]

Let me preface this by saying our league has a pretty complex set of rules, so I will generalize this question so its useful to as many leagues as possible.

Simplified, we are a long-running 16-team IDP salary cap dynasty league with 53-man active rosters and 5-man development/practice squad (from here I'll refer to it as the d-squad).

Any players on the 5-man d-squad in our league do not count against the salary cap, which means many franchises tend to stash some high-priced rookies/young players on their d-squads in order to keep a high salary off of their cap while the player is young and not a fantasy starter/contributor. Alot of rookie QBs and WRs/TEs tend to wind up on the d-squad because the general perception is that they often take a few years to develop. For example, guys like Aaron Rodgers and Santonio Holmes have spent seasons on the D-Squad in recent years.

Our league strives to mimic the NFL as much as possible, so in this year's annual rules review, it was suggested that we allow franchises to be able to make claims on other teams' d-squad players, similar to how NFL franchises can claim players off of other teams' practice squads.

Does anyone have a dynasty league that uses a development squad or similar? Do you have rules that allow a franchise to somehow try to claim players off other teams' development squads? How does your league handle it?

At first blush, I'm thinking of all of the possible rules & conditions that have to be written to enable this (including, but not limited to):

How are claims initiated? How do we notify the current owner that there is another franchise making a claim for one of his d-squad players? [Note]: Does MFL have built-in capabilities to handle this or does it need to be managed 'manually' by message board/email?
How much time does the player's current franchise have to claim right of first refusal (i.e. we have to allow some way for a team to keep their player)?
If the current franchise matches the offer in the initial claim attempt, can the claiming team attempt to raise again, or does the claiming team only have one shot at it? Is there a 'waiting period' in between attempts? 1 week? 2 weeks? 4 weeks? Next season? Or, does it just become an open bidding process back and forth until one team or the other decides they aren't willing to match?
If the player's current franchise decides not to match the claiming team's offer, is there any compensation (draft picks?) for losing a player off your d-squad? [FWIW: the NFL gives no compensation for teams who lose practice squad players]
Do the picks come as a sort of 'trade' from the claiming franchise, or are they 'compensatory picks', tacked on at the end of a round?
How is the level of compensation determined?
Is it based somehow on how the player was originally acquired? (i.e. if you took Aaron Rodgers in the 1st round of the rookie draft, and another team claimed him, you get a compensatory 1st round rookie pick in return; if you picked up RB Chauncey Washington as a free agent, and another team claimed him, you get a compensatory 5th round rookie pick in return)
Is it based on the salary required to acquire him? (i.e. if I put a $2MM/year claim on a player, the other franchise gets a 1st round pick as compensation; if I put a $500K claim on a player, the other franchise gets a 4th round pick).
Or, is it universal (i.e. no matter how a player was acquired or what his salary is, you receive a 3rd round pick as compensation if someone else claims him)?
If the claiming team wins the player, do they have to move him to their active roster or can they place the player on their own d-squad?
If the current owner matches the bid, and keeps the player, do they have to move him to their active roster?
My league obviously will also have to consider a long list of issues surrounding the player's salary and how that is handled throughout the claim, but as I mentioned, I want to keep the discussion applicable to more leagues than just mine...It's a rather daunting list of considerations, and that's just at first glance - I'm wondering if anyone has any existing rules that are similar that might help us to consider things we may be overlooking/close any loopholes before they become issues, etc.?

Thanks in advance,

IPD

 

[Sigmund Bloom]

Here's our rule:

8a. TAXI SQUAD: The Taxi Squad may only consist of NFL Rookies. Each team is allowed 3 Taxi Squad slots which can only be designated prior to the NFL season. Players must be designated for the Taxi Squad no later than 5 days before the first game of the NFL season. A player may be promoted from the Taxi Squad to the Active Roster at any time, however once a player is on any teams Active Roster, they may not be demoted to the Taxi Squad again and that Taxi Squad slot is lost for the remainder of the year. During the season, ANY owner may sign a player from ANY other owners Taxi Squad by posting the request on the leagues message board and emailing the original owner concerning the steal attempt. The original owner of the player will then have 72 hours to decide if if they want to promote the player to their active roster or forefit him. The owner making the claim must provide compensation to the original owner. Compensation will be in the form of a draft pick in the next years rookie draft. equal to ONE round higher than the player was originally drafted in. If a player was drafted in the 1st round, compensation will be a 1st and 2nd round draft pick. If a player went undrafted in the rookie draft, compensation will be a 5th round pick. To make a claim you must own a pick in that round for the next rookie draft prior to the claim. If multiple picks are owned in that round then it will be at the discretion of the owner losing the player on which pick they want. A player claimed from a Taxi Squad must be placed on the new teams Active Roster. Taxi Squad players are not permitted to be traded; they must be promoted to the Active Roster to become a tradeable commodity. Commisioners discretion will be used in disputes regarding adequate time to acknowledge the steal attempt in relation to the 72 hours and personal vacation/away schedules.----------------------------------------------------

 

[BuckeyeArt]

How much time does the player's current franchise have to claim right of first refusal (i.e. we have to allow some way for a team to keep their player)?
If the current franchise matches the offer in the initial claim attempt, can the claiming team attempt to raise again, or does the claiming team only have one shot at it? Is there a 'waiting period' in between attempts? 1 week? 2 weeks? 4 weeks? Next season? Or, does it just become an open bidding process back and forth until one team or the other decides they aren't willing to match?
If the claiming team wins the player, do they have to move him to their active roster or can they place the player on their own d-squad?
If the current owner matches the bid, and keeps the player, do they have to move him to their active roster?
My league obviously will also have to consider a long list of issues surrounding the player's salary and how that is handled throughout the claim, but as I mentioned, I want to keep the discussion applicable to more leagues than just mine...

I'm not in a league like this but I'll give my suggestions.For the claiming issue, I think it's a 1 shot deal. I believe the NFL requires the player be placed on the active roster (from the practice squad) and that takes care of the above questions. Once the player is on someone's active roster, nobody else can make another claim. I would assume that once they go on an active roster, they cannot ever be placed back on the d-squad again.

As far as the time to match, it probably depends upon your salary cap structure. You would want to give the team time to make room for the larger salary.

For compensation, I'd go with it being tied to the contract size and award compensatory picks at the end of the round.

 

[Illegal Pants Downfield]

Here's our rule:

8a. TAXI SQUAD: The Taxi Squad may only consist of NFL Rookies. Each team is allowed 3 Taxi Squad slots which can only be designated prior to the NFL season. Players must be designated for the Taxi Squad no later than 5 days before the first game of the NFL season. A player may be promoted from the Taxi Squad to the Active Roster at any time, however once a player is on any teams Active Roster, they may not be demoted to the Taxi Squad again and that Taxi Squad slot is lost for the remainder of the year. During the season, ANY owner may sign a player from ANY other owners Taxi Squad by posting the request on the leagues message board and emailing the original owner concerning the steal attempt. The original owner of the player will then have 72 hours to decide if if they want to promote the player to their active roster or forefit him. The owner making the claim must provide compensation to the original owner. Compensation will be in the form of a draft pick in the next years rookie draft. equal to ONE round higher than the player was originally drafted in. If a player was drafted in the 1st round, compensation will be a 1st and 2nd round draft pick. If a player went undrafted in the rookie draft, compensation will be a 5th round pick. To make a claim you must own a pick in that round for the next rookie draft prior to the claim. If multiple picks are owned in that round then it will be at the discretion of the owner losing the player on which pick they want. A player claimed from a Taxi Squad must be placed on the new teams Active Roster. Taxi Squad players are not permitted to be traded; they must be promoted to the Active Roster to become a tradeable commodity. Commisioners discretion will be used in disputes regarding adequate time to acknowledge the steal attempt in relation to the 72 hours and personal vacation/away schedules.----------------------------------------------------

Thanks, Bloom - our taxi squad is open to non-rookies as well, which makes the compensation plan a little different. I like that the acquiring team is required to move him to the active roster. I like the "commissioner's discretion" line, as that was one of the things my league brought up when we were discussing: "If I know Joe's going to be on vacation for the week, I can steal his whole taxi squad without him having a chance to keep them".

 

[Illegal Pants Downfield]

How much time does the player's current franchise have to claim right of first refusal (i.e. we have to allow some way for a team to keep their player)?
If the current franchise matches the offer in the initial claim attempt, can the claiming team attempt to raise again, or does the claiming team only have one shot at it? Is there a 'waiting period' in between attempts? 1 week? 2 weeks? 4 weeks? Next season? Or, does it just become an open bidding process back and forth until one team or the other decides they aren't willing to match?
If the claiming team wins the player, do they have to move him to their active roster or can they place the player on their own d-squad?
If the current owner matches the bid, and keeps the player, do they have to move him to their active roster?
My league obviously will also have to consider a long list of issues surrounding the player's salary and how that is handled throughout the claim, but as I mentioned, I want to keep the discussion applicable to more leagues than just mine...

I'm not in a league like this but I'll give my suggestions.For the claiming issue, I think it's a 1 shot deal. I believe the NFL requires the player be placed on the active roster (from the practice squad) and that takes care of the above questions. Once the player is on someone's active roster, nobody else can make another claim. I would assume that once they go on an active roster, they cannot ever be placed back on the d-squad again.

As far as the time to match, it probably depends upon your salary cap structure. You would want to give the team time to make room for the larger salary.

For compensation, I'd go with it being tied to the contract size and award compensatory picks at the end of the round.

Thanks, Buckeye - unfortunately, our cap structure is set up such that there is a payday on August 15, and all players are considered having been paid their entire salary & bonus as of that day. Any in-season free agent pickups are also considered paid for the season at the time they are acquired. This is an aspect of our league which will be a struggle as far as implementing taxi squad 'steals': after pay day, cap room is a finite resource. There is literally no way to "free up" cap space. Which means, if a franchise gets too close to the cap, you could strategically offer on one of his taxi squad players, knowing that there's no way for him to beat your offer. So, for our league, I'm thinking it's likely that a "challenger" would be forced to move the claimed player to his active roster, whereas if the original owner matches a challenger's offer, the original owner would be able to keep the player on his taxi squad (thus avoiding any cap implications, until the following offseason).

In that regard, it's hard to match some things that the NFL does, since their players are paid on a per-game basis, where my league is essentially paid up front on a per-season basis.

 

[Illegal Pants Downfield]

Bump for the morning crowd - any other examples of how your league handles these?

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Pasquino]

Here's the rule we have in one of my contract leagues:

E. Development Squad (In season)Each Team may designate up to 4 players to be assigned to their Developmental Squad. Only rookies may be placed on the developments squad, though once named to the development squad a player may remain on the development squad for up to three years. Players on the development squad do not count toward the 28 player roster limit and they are not assigned a contract. They are also ineligible to be named in the starting lineup in any given week. To activate a player from the development squad the owner must announce the activation on the message board stating the contract that is to be assigned to the player. The player will then count against the 28 man roster limit and the 80 year contract cap. Once a player has been assigned a contract, they are not eligible to be assigned back to the development squad. The deadline to make any DS move is the FA Acquisition deadline (Week 13), and the deadline for a DS steal is the Trade/Steal deadline (Week 12) (Off season)Each Team may designate any amount of rookies to be assigned to their Developmental Squad during the offseason. However, each team must cut down the number of Developmental Squad players to 4 by the offseason cut-down date. Developmental Squad Performance* Dev Squad players carried into the offseason will only be allowed to stay on the development squad for the next season if their scoring performance during the season is below the following guidelines (qualification by Performance) QB: Ranked no higher than 33rd among QBso RB: Ranked no higher than 49th among RBso WR/TE: Ranked no higher than 65th among WR/TEso K: Ranked no higher than 33rd among PKso DL: Ranked no higher than 49th among DLso LB: Ranked no higher than 49th among LBso DB: Ranked no higher than 49th among DBs* Regardless of their performance, players may not stay on the Dev Squad longer than three years under any circumstances. Who Is Considered A Rookie?Each Team may designate players to their Dev Squad only if they are listed on NFL.com as a rookie. It does not matter if they have any playing experience or not.F. Steal ruleAn owner may attempt to steal a development squad player from another team. To initiate a steal the owner must announce their intentions to steal the player by posting a notice on the league message board. The player’s current owner must then either activate the development player by signing them to a contract in which case they will retain the player, or else the player will become the property of the stealing owner and the stealing owner must compensate the original owner with a draft pick in relation to when the player was originally selected per the rules below.The following rules cover "stealing" a player from another Owner's Dev Squad:1. Stealing Owner gives up draft pick one round higher than player was originally drafted. For example :...To acquire a 1st rounder, compensation would be a first and a second....To acquire a 3rd rounder, compensation would be a second....To acquire a rookie free agent, compensation would be a fifth.2. Draft picks that can be used in a steal are any tradable picks. (ie. 2017 draft picks become available to trade when the 2016 season is officially over, Feb.1.)3. In the event that the stealing owner had traded away the compensatory pick, the cost would default to one round higher. If no picks of one round higher are available, the cost would escalate to the next highest round where the stealing Owner's still has available picks in the next Draft. This compensation would be determined and locked in at the time the "steal" attempt was announced.4. If the stealing Owner has multiple picks available in the round designated as the compensation round for the "steal", the Owner being stolen from will choose which of the stealing Owner's picks in that round he will take as payment for the steal. Locking in the compensation in this manner simplifies record keeping and makes the system much more flexible, eliminating the need to deal with "frozen" picks or to wait until the season is over to sort out who gets which picks based on the final standings.5. If the stealing Owner does not have sufficient picks available in the next LHL Draft to pay for the player he is attempting to steal, the steal attempt will be disallowed.6. When a steal is announced, it will be posted publicly on the Conference Room message board. During the season and playoffs, the Owner being stolen from will have 3 calendar days to respond to the steal attempt by either promoting the player in question to his active roster and signing him to a contract or by releasing the player to join the stealing Owner's team and collecting compensation from the stealing Owner as stated above. During the offseason, the Owner being stolen from will have 7 calendar days to respond to the steal attempt. During a successful steal during the offseason, the stealing owner must sign the player in question within 7 calendar days.7. If an Owner surrenders a Dev Squad player to a steal attempt, he may re-use that slot on his Dev Squad immediately.8. No "steals" will be allowed after the Trade/Steal deadline (currently week 12). No other Developmental Squad moves will be allowed after the FA Acquisition deadline (currently week 13) until after Contract Rollover Day.

 

[DropKick]

With 53 man rosters, why do you need a developmental squad?

 

[beto]

All rookies get drafted onto a development squad and receive a salary based on their round drafted.

Before the season the other owners are allowed to try to steal d-squad players from the prior year. If the owner chooses not to protect the player, that player then goes up for bid, starting at the salary given for the round they were drafted in. If you lose a player, the owner that steals the player must pay a draft pick equivalent to the round the player was drafted.

 

[Illegal Pants Downfield]

With 53 man rosters, why do you need a developmental squad?

To develop players under salary exemption...not sure what roster size has to do with it.