Week 12 playoffs with a NFL bye week? (1 Viewer)

[Caesar]

I am just wondering if anyone has realized that there is going to be a playoff game for this contest while NFL teams are on a bye. I am sure I am not the only one. I can't see how it will be a fair playoff game if one team has players like AJ Green, BJGE, McCoy, Spiller, Russell Wilson, or Marshawn Lynch are on a bye. I realize that byes are a part of the game, and every team deals with them in the regular season, but in the playoffs?

Is there any plans to change to a 12 week regular season?

Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

TIA

 

[David Dodds]

There are no plans to change the rules. Last year was the first year the NFL had week 11 byes. This year they added week 12 byes. Who knows what the future holds? We don't want to keep adjusting rules because of how the NFL decides to draw out their schedule. As long as they play for 17 weeks, this will likely be our format. It's a format that sold 4,080 teams in just it's 3rd year. Tinkering with something that successful just does not feel right to us at all.

We like the 11 week schedule as that is a perfectly balanced approach (playing every team once). No week is more important and the best 4 teams make the playoffs. The top scoring team and the best record automatically qualify for the Championship round as well.

That forces playoffs to weeks 12 and 13. Although we could combine those weeks (for a two week shootout), we believe most people like the head to head feel of the win and advance of fantasy football. $2,000 in league prizes are settled in weeks 12 and 13. The enormous Championship bracket (including the $250,000 first prize) will be settled in weeks 13-16 (where no bye weeks exist).

The byes do create some strategy thoughts:

- Do you load up week 12 byes (likely sacrificing a week 12 win), but possibly getting players at a discount for a run at the bigger money?

- Do you avoid players with a week 12 bye knowing that you have to win that week to get either $500 or $1500?

In the end, we feel everyone has the same set of rules. How these impact your decisions are up to you.

 

[Alex - FFPC]

The byes do create some strategy thoughts: - Do you load up week 12 byes (likely sacrificing a week 12 win), but possibly getting players at a discount for a run at the bigger money? - Do you avoid players with a week 12 bye knowing that you have to win that week to get either $500 or $1500? In the end, we feel everyone has the same set of rules. How these impact your decisions are up to you.

When the schedule was released by the NFL a couple of weeks ago, the initial reaction was "Wow, bye weeks in the league playoffs? That doesn't feel right." And the truth is, in recent memory, fantasy football owners did not need to worry about byes in the playoffs as none were scheduled by the NFL this late in the season. But, for those who remember, years ago bye weeks used to be spread out across the entire 17-week scheduled with team(s) on bye each and every week. It looks like the NFL may be looking at expanding byes into the later part of the season once again. So it's Week 12 for this season but may be Week 13 or Week 14 the year after. On the flip side, the NFL may decide to rescind the late byes and have them end in Week 10 or 11. So to change the entire format of a contest because of the NFL schedule decision simply isn't prudent and would seem more of a knee jerk reaction.

The more we started to think about it, the more we realized that while it initially seems strange to have a bye in you league playoffs, it actually adds a significant amount of strategy to an owner's draft in the Footballguys Players Championship. As David mentions in the above post, what does one do with players who have the Week 12 bye? How will their ADP be effected as a result of this? Even if you have decided to avoid drafting say an AJ Green or a Spiller, at what point would you re-consider drafting them if they begin to slide down the draft board? Will targeting and loading up on players with a Week 12 bye if they present value during the draft bye become an actual strategy for owners looking to build a powerhouse for the run at the $250,000 Grand Prize?

All these questions and more add that much more intruique to this year's FPC contest. Is it something that everyone will be confortable with? Maybe not and that's OK too. But the key point is, if you are uncomfortable with having a player on your team who has a bye in Week 12, it is completely your decision not to draft that player. The bye weeks are a known fact prior to the draft and the choices on how to act during the draft are always with the team owner. As it should be.

 

[Caesar]

Thanks for the replies David and Alex. I played in both the FFPC main event and the FBG contest last year and loved the format and 11 week regular season. I won't be able to play this year due to an impending military deployment, but I was curious as to how it was going to work this year and going forward. I will definitely be playing next year.

It does add quite a bit of strategy. I do remember the 17 week byes, but generally there was only one team on bye weeks 1-4 and 13-17. I think the NFL has pretty consistently tried to keep the bye weeks to the middle part of the season. It will be interesting to look back at the end of the season to find which strategy was most successful.

Thanks again for the insight.

 

[Rubi]

Interesting topic. I'm thinking of getting back into FF after a few years away from it. I'm thinking of diving right into the big time with FPC. Great format. I saw the week 12 byes and figure they add another level of strategy to the game. I consider that a good thing. The more variables the better,like the point and a half for tight end receptions and 5 points for a defensive safety.