Fantasy Roster Requirements (1 Viewer)

[Uruk-Hai]

My 12 team redraft league has pretty strict roster requirements. You must walk out of the draft with the following: 2QB, 2RB, 4WR, 2TE, 2K, 2D, plus two more at any position. We then start 1QB, 1RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1K, 1D, plus two flex players (any positions, but with caps). So we start 9 out of 16 roster spots, leaving a bench of seven players.

There's a bit of a groundswell to open up our rosters this season. Most benches in any given week would have three of the seven non-starters being a TE, K, & a D - leaving 4 non-starters from among QB, RB, & WR (although there were several times where owners flexed a 2nd D & at least once where a 2nd K was flexed ). Some think that is too tight for a bench & have floated the idea out of relaxing those restrictions.

Some pros I see in our current (strict) system:

1. Keeps the value of the "off" positions higher, as we currently have to roster two at each spot. That increases draft strategy - wait too long & you've got the 22nd & 24th ranked D on your roster (they score well in our system).

2. Very active waiver wire. Since (unlike many leagues) 20,000 RBs don't get drafted, there are actually serviceable players available during the season.

3. Roster management is crucial. You can't just stash a bunch of guys, figuring that at least one will emerge. and you'd better be out front on picking up emerging players like Gado in 2005.

Some cons with a strict roster:

1. Too active a waiver wire. It's probably easier to recover from bad drafting in our league than it is in many others. We also have very few trades in our league. Part of this is just the makeup of many of our owners, but also I believe our roster limits have a lot to do with it.

2. It's doesn't allow a true "build your team anyway you want" method of drafting, although our starting requirements balance this out somewhat.

Anyway, I've gotten a few suggestions from my fellow owners on this. Our options as I see them:

1. Leave it alone

2. Increase roster size to, say, 18 & leave everything else the same.

3. Open the roster so that an owner just has to be able to fill a starting l/u.

4. Leave the restrictions in place during the draft, but open the roster after a certain week of the season.

I'm not looking for advice here, nor do I just want a count of who does what - otherwise I'd have started a poll in the AC forum. What I'd really like is to get a dialogue started on what people here do & they reasons why - what you like about "open" vs "closed" rosters, the dangers in each - that sort of thing.

 

[The Commish]

We just opened our rosters starting lineups up from 8 - 10. We don't have restrictions on how many players can be on one's bench. If you want to keep 10 kickers, that's your choice. I don't understand the bench restrictions personally. We drafted 18 players and started 8 but we don't have an IR, so that's why we had so many bench players. The reason we changed it is because teams with good players were having to choose between really good players. It had become a guessing game and that's not what we wanted, so we upped the number of starters. We'll see how it goes this year.

 

[Buddy Ball 2K3]

We allow owners to draft any 16 players they choose however they must start one of the 3 following offenses:

Proset

1 QB - 2 RB - 2 WR - 1 TE - 1 K - 1 DEF

Run n' Gun

1 QB - 1 RB - 4 WR - 1 K - 1 DEF

Wishbone

1 QB - 3RB - 1 WR - 1 TE - 1 K - 1 DEF

Now by offereing the wide open range of rosters and starting offenses it allows for even more strategy in our league. It also allows teams to draft for different styles of teams as well. It also promotes alot of trading, which everyone in our league enjoys doing.

What is interesting is that each offfense has won its share of championships and none of them seem to be the stand out offense. However the best teams are the teams that can float between two of the three choices.

 

[sinatravolta]

I would open up your rosters. Teams having to carry a 2nd K is just silly. In general it means less strategy. There should be a benefit to having one really good TE and not really needing another (except in your bye week) and same goes for D's. I generally like to draft 2 D's later on, but there should be a benefit to teams that have one very good one and therefore don't have to carry a 2nd one most of the season. In general in most leagues, TEs, K's and D's tend to go later in the draft, and I think forcing everyone to carry two of each does not make them more valuable - it makes them less so. Because while it's minor, it is valuable to be able to stash an extra RB or WR on your roster because you took e.g. Gates and decided not to worry about having a backup TE.

I don't think it's necessary, but if you want to keep more players on the WW, cut the roster to 15 players, but don't have requirements for the bench.

Slightly off-topic, but I think your 2 flex positions at ANY position also hurts strategy. With that much freedom of who to play, drafting starts to lose any positional strategy and becomes more about who will score the most, regardless of position which in my opinion makes things easier. Not trying to turn your league into the same thing everyone else does - but I think forced starting positions = more strategy while forced bench positions = less strategy.

 

[valhallan]

We have strict roster requirements, but use a flex bench spot.

You must always have:

3-4 QBs (start 2)

4-5 RBs (start 2)

5-6 WRs (start 3)

1-2 TEs (start 1)

1-2 Ks (start 1)

and 2 D/ST (start 1)

We have 17 roster spots, so everyone ends up having the minimum at every position +1 at any position other than D. So, if you're in a QB crunch you can use that flex bench spot at QB or if your TE is on bye you can grab a fill-in for that week. It seems to maintain a healthy, but not loaded, waiver wire and give owners the chance to bury guys on their roster as long as their willing to use their flex spot on that position.

 

[Fantasy_Freak]

I'm in a 16 team league and we have a required draft by position. The requirement is, 2 QB, 3 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, 2 K, 2 D, and 2 extra players of your choice. The first week of the draft the requirement is disbanded and we are allowed to have 18 players on our roster. The thought process being that guys want to ensure that not one owner goes and drafts 16 qb's. Personally I think the requirements are rediculous. I always try to come up with ideas (most of which come off this board) to improve our league. One such instance is every year someone claims another owner is intentiaonally tanking to improve their draft position the following year. I presented a rule change so that we no longer reward losing. Unfortunately, the commissioner and a very few others have labeled me as a problem owner. So going forward I have vowed to no longer rock the boat.

Our starters consist of 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 D, 2 Flex (any position).