starting players on a bye (1 Viewer)

[abricru]

I tried to use the search function but surprisingly couldn't find this particular problem in the forums. The closest one mainly received sarcastic joke replies.

I've been in this dynasty league 7 years. This year I have a shot of making the playoffs. My main competition has been fortunate enough to face a few teams who started multiple players on a bye, essentially giving him a few free wins.

Our rules state that starting players on a bye is not allowed, but they don't specify any penalty for the infraction. When I asked, the commissioner said if someone forgets to submit a line up the lineup from last week is used. This often results in bye players being started but I guess that's better than nothing. Sometimes people just do it on their own. No one else in the league seems to care.

I think it is pretty important. Number one criteria for playoffs is overall winning percentage and top two teams get a bye.

What kind of penalty, if any, do you have in your leagues? Am I making a big deal over nothing,? I would not want to lose (or win) my championship because someone didn't set his lineup. Thanks.

 

[jeaton6]

This is a big deal and shouldn't be tolerated. We've had it happen several times in multiple leagues this year.

League one: rule is at end of year if you are not a playoff team you get points added to your total equal to highest score of week in which you started incomplete lineup (we use total points for non-playoff teams to determine draft order). Playoff teams don't get penalty (but this will need to be changed during offseason). Second offense is boot from the league.

League two: We noticed commissioner started PK on bye week 8. We called him on it since bylaws says tanking not acceptable and grounds for removal. He said honest mistake and offered to take a penalty (3rd rounder) which we accepted. He then did same thing week 9 and is AWOL. So, we are booting him. We will be drafting new, more explicit tanking rules on offseason. First offense is going to be lose one draft spot. If at year end you wee to be 1.1 you drop to 1.2,2.2, etc. Second offense you drop to last pick in each round. Third offense boot.

Lots of different ways of addressing this but don't let anyone tell you it's not a big deal. It is anticompetitive and helps some and hurts others. Recommend getting comprehensive rules around what is and isn't acceptable.

Good luck.

 

[Brunell4MVP]

It's a rule in your league so there should be a penalty specified.

No rule in mine. I've done it twice this year. We only carry 14 players and I didn't want to cut anyone. So I started players that were on a bye. I'm 6-3 and won both of the weeks I did it. Maybe bad planning on my part, but when we only carry 14 players and we start 9 it is tough to avoid.

 

[jeaton6]

It's a rule in your league so there should be a penalty specified.

No rule in mine. I've done it twice this year. We only carry 14 players and I didn't want to cut anyone. So I started players that were on a bye. I'm 6-3 and won both of the weeks I did it. Maybe bad planning on my part, but when we only carry 14 players and we start 9 it is tough to avoid.

This I get because it's not dynasty and it's extremely short bench league, sometimes with these settings it can't be avoided. In dynasty you tend to have much deeper benches and people oftentimes will try to take advantage of no tanking/poor tanking rules in order to improve their draft pick next year.

 

[abricru]

we have 28 roster spots in this League.

 

[jeaton6]

Has this been going on for years? If it has been accepted practice and no one has ever said anything or cared it's going to be tough to make change now.

 

[Jerry Curl]

If they cant set their lineups or follow rules they shoudnt be playing. It is worthy of removal instantly in any league I am in.

 

[Raback]

IMO playing someone who is on bye is only acceptable when there are really short benches or limits on the number of waiver moves.

 

[SameSongNDance]

In the footballguys players championship, where playoffs start next week, my only shot to get in is if the dude in 4th loses (and I win obviously) but he is playing against someone who has brady, lafell and garcon in their line-up and flacco, julio and marshall on their bench. I understand that the dude who isn't fielding a complete team is out of playoff contention but this really skews the competitiveness in the league. This is the first time I've encountered this and it's pretty ####ty haha.

 

[blake]

No rule in mine. I've done it twice this year. We only carry 14 players and I didn't want to cut anyone. So I started players that were on a bye. I'm 6-3 and won both of the weeks I did it. Maybe bad planning on my part, but when we only carry 14 players and we start 9 it is tough to avoid.

Short bench keeper leaguer here. There is a rule in my league about it but it only applies to obviously inactive owners. I'm the commissioner, so if I see it, I talk to the owner about it. It happened with one team in a previous week and with another team this week and in both instances, like you, they were just overloaded with bye weeks and didn't want to release anyone. Very active owners, so I chalk that up to strategy.Edit to add: in a league where there is a larger bench, there really is no excuse and it should absolutely be grounds for removal of ownership at least after the second time. No questions asked. Setting a lineup is the bare minimum you can do.

 

[Zow]

In the footballguys players championship, where playoffs start next week, my only shot to get in is if the dude in 4th loses (and I win obviously) but he is playing against someone who has brady, lafell and garcon in their line-up and flacco, julio and marshall on their bench. I understand that the dude who isn't fielding a complete team is out of playoff contention but this really skews the competitiveness in the league. This is the first time I've encountered this and it's pretty ####ty haha.

That's pretty messed up. I'd contact the commissioner and see if he can at least fill the guy's lineup.

 

[SameSongNDance]

In the footballguys players championship, where playoffs start next week, my only shot to get in is if the dude in 4th loses (and I win obviously) but he is playing against someone who has brady, lafell and garcon in their line-up and flacco, julio and marshall on their bench. I understand that the dude who isn't fielding a complete team is out of playoff contention but this really skews the competitiveness in the league. This is the first time I've encountered this and it's pretty ####ty haha.

That's pretty messed up. I'd contact the commissioner and see if he can at least fill the guy's lineup.

There is no commissioner since this is essentially a 7,000 person tournament broken down into 12 man sub leagues. Intra-league playoffs are weeks 11-12 and then if you can advance to the next stage. It's a pain in the ### but I contacted the site's owner and he essentially said he couldn't do anything. I understand that nothing is going to be done since there's nothing written about it anywhere in the rules but I just now realized how often this probably comes up. Plus, it can lead to collusion. It's just negligence on myffpc.com's part.

 

[jandyt]

In my dynasty league if that's a ongoing problem your going to be out of the league. There is no rule though not allowing because with 16 teams there are times someone doesn't have a QB to play and if your in the playoff fight you may overpay for poor vet as a one week starter but in many cases you will just take the hit and play a Bye week QB or a backup QB.

 

[Jack White]

There is a guy in my league starting Cunningham, Dunbar and Antone at RB, and M Floyd SD (bye week).

He didn't make a single FAAB bid and has not responded to trade offers.

I hate what this does to competitive balance.

 

[ConnSKINS26]

Find a new league. This one sucks. If this has happened multiple times AND no one cares...get out.

 

[Wooderson]

Automatic lose in my league. It's part of the game and makes it fun because it encourages more trades when you have to drop or trade a player of value.

Plus I don't like that some teams get an unfair advantage of not playing other teams with a full starting lineup.

 

[wickster33]

No longer a problem in my league (2 keepers). Commissioner docks the offender his 3rd round pick next season for an infraction. 2nd infraction costs additional picks