Should WW close down when the playoffs start? (1 Viewer)

[Steeler]

I am firmly in the "DUH! Of course you leave the WW open during the playoffs" camp but there are some interesting thoughts on the other side of the debate.

If benches are big enough, then I can certainly see the argument for locking the WW and I'd be cool with that type of format.

For leagues that do leave the WW open, what do you guys think about reversing the order for the playoffs?  Instead of the WW being worst to first, it would flip to first to worst - so the best team in the regular season has the first option each week of the playoffs.  That would be a reward for the performance in the regular season - thoughts?

 

[Bronco Billy]

I really do think this answer varies depending on the type of league being run and the roster sizes.  But it’s always refreshing to see so many open minds on this subject.

We don’t allow waivers after the start of week 13 games.  Playoffs are weeks 14-16.  This is a full IDP start 20 dynasty league with 45 man rosters as well as 5 man practice squads and 1 returnable IR spot that can be accessed after week 13.

My philosophy in setting the league up was that owners were going to be put in a position that they had to manage their teams and sometimes make hard choices.  There is room for depth and handcuffs, but at some point playoff teams were going to have to shore up their rosters and get them in playoff shape.

I did not like the idea that after playing a full 19 game schedule (we do double headers on nonbye weeks so that every team plays every conference opponent twice and noncon once) that playoffs could be significantly impacted by an injury that makes an otherwise unstartable players suddenly an impact FF player available on the WW.  We spend literally years shaping our teams.  Planning, insight, and foresight is expected of the owners both for immediate and long term success of their teams.

It bit me in the backside one year when I chose to roster only 3 CBs and ended up with 2 out one game that I lost by less than 2 pts.  That was an active decision on my part because I elected on hold some young players rather than add an extra CB and it cost me.  But that was my risk evaluation and decision to make.  The highest scoring team just lost his top QB and will play without a QB this weekend because he lost his other QB earlier in the year.  He could have picked up a backup QB like Cutler available on the WW before the moratorium but elected to run the risk.  Because he has built a strong enough team, his other 19 starters might get him through to the championship.  But that was his managerial decision - he had the option and opted not to choose playoff depth.

There are also other factors, like nonplayoff teams not being able to shed likely retiring vets in favor of young flyers, which would make those vets available the following week to playoff teams, as well as playoff teams being at a disadvantage in adding flyers during the playoffs.

But to say there is absolutely no valid reason for closing the WW during playoffs, well you’ll have to excuse me if I have the temerity to disagree with your faultless logic.  Different leagues run different rules for different reasons. Try to see beyond the boundaries of your own league and stretch your imagination just a little guys.

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[strong]

But to say there is absolutely no valid reason for closing the WW during playoffs, well you’ll have to excuse me if I have the temerity to disagree with your faultless logic.  Different leagues run different rules for different reasons. Try to see beyond the boundaries of your own league and stretch your imagination just a little guys.

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this is neat.

it's really interesting to me how FF has sort of gravitated to "normal" over the last decade. any unique rules are seen as "stupid" rather than "challenging" and the solution is often to just leave the league.

personally, i prefer playing in non-cookie cutter leagues because it forces each owner to add a layer of analysis to the expert rankings they're choosing to follow.

we used to lock rosters for the playoffs in our contract auction league, but our teams weren't really deep enough and playoff teams had to sacrifice some solid youth to hold backup kickers/QBs. we've opened it up now, but i've always felt like "playoff rosters" is a fine format for deep bench, dyno type leagues. it forces the good teams gearing up for the playoffs to shed some promising players.

 

[JIMGET]

this is neat.

it's really interesting to me how FF has sort of gravitated to "normal" over the last decade. any unique rules are seen as "stupid" rather than "challenging" and the solution is often to just leave the league.

personally, i prefer playing in non-cookie cutter leagues because it forces each owner to add a layer of analysis to the expert rankings they're choosing to follow.

we used to lock rosters for the playoffs in our contract auction league, but our teams weren't really deep enough and playoff teams had to sacrifice some solid youth to hold backup kickers/QBs. we've opened it up now, but i've always felt like "playoff rosters" is a fine format for deep bench, dyno type leagues. it forces the good teams gearing up for the playoffs to shed some promising players.

Well said. No reason to lock rosters, but if that's what you do...go for it. Just never, never change the rules during the season.  Some leagues still use trade voting, which is another concept I cannot fathom...if teams are going to cheat, kick em out.

Couldn't agree more with the "cookie cutter" leagues argument.  Personally I can't stand PPR garbage...but that's my opinion.  We use "scoring distance" for our league, the longer the touchdown, the bigger the bonus.  This put's WR's and QB's on par with importance compared to RB's during the draft. 

Our league of 23 years love this scoring, but others might find it nonsense.  Love those late, long 80 yard td's that end up getting 6pts+6 bonus points, +8 points for the 80 yards....huge swings in the game, just like they are huge plays in real nfl games.

Good luck.

 

[-OZ-]

How would you feel if you're the #1 seed and the #6 seed guy picks up someone on waiver.  Big time Rb goes down and his replacement picked by #6 seed beats you on the playoffs.  Does that reward the better team all year long?  Seems ridiculous...

It's far more likely that the 6th seed simply had a player or two go off at the right time. 

Part of your concern is mitigated by larger rosters.  

 

[Mr. Know-It-All]

I'd go one step further - set up a knockout style playoff (this would be for redraft only for obvious reasons) - each round, the winning teams can drop a player from their team and pick up a player of the same position from the team they beat.  So in theory when you got to the championship round you would have a potentially stacked matchup.  Okay, I don't really like this idea - but it was actually proposed in our league.