Official Frenzy Rules

Last Updated June 2018

1. The League

 1A. League Name

 The Feeding Frenzy - Fantasy Football League ("the Frenzy")

 1B. Commissioner, Rules Chairman, Capologist, and League Assistant

 The Commissioner of the league is Jim White (Royal Hawaiian Opihi).  The Commissioner will be responsible for the general operation of the league, including but not limited to the daily roster moves (if any), updating the league website as necessary, monitoring for rules infractions,keep the league alerted about calendar dates, etc.  Basically duties a commish would have in the operation of any other league.  In the unlikely event of a split decision, the commissioner will have final say on all matters.

The League Capologist is Patrick Mullins (Liquid Swords).  The League Capologist will monitor the league for any rule infractions and will chair the committee in reviewing these situations. He will also monitor teams for salary cap and/or contract years infractions.  Any violations will be reported to the rules committee for a decision.  Salary Cap violations will be dealt with quickly by the rules committee.  The roster penalties for exceeding the roster and salary cap will be enforced.    During the off-season the league commissioner will notify teams of a deadline for the submission of RFA status on up to 3 free agents per team..  Teams will post their RFA selections directly to the league message boards.

The League Assistants are Mike SantaLucia (Parkwood Predators) and Dale Fauson (Colorado Scorpions).  The League Assistant will help out both the Commissioner and the League Capologist in whatever manner possible.  This may include mass e-mails, contacting specific owners, input on decisions, covering for either or, updating MFL site, etc.  The League Assistant will be the 1st resource turned to by both the Commissioner and the League Capologist when help is needed.

1C. Founding

The league was founded  in the 2000 off season by Mike SantaLucia (Parkwood Predators) and others from the Footballguys message boards with the idea for the league originally started in a thread by Frank Alonzo (Bay Area Bloodsucking Insects).  Although this is basically a free league, there is a small yearly fee per team to pay for MFL Website and PREDS Boards costs.  Expansion and Replacement teams will be required to pay the initiation fee as well.  The trophy will travel from champion to champion, with the shipping paid by the previous champ when the trophy is won by a new team. 

1D. League Time

All times referred to within this document are Eastern Time (ET), even if not marked explicitly as such. Remember this when considering deadlines, etc.

1E. Early Years Champions

2001 - A Cinderella story???  The 5th seeded Bay Area Bloodsucking Insects (11-6) won 3 straight in the playoffs including a blowout win in the 1st Frenzy Bowl over the 2nd seeded Rabid Garbage Dogs (11-5, now under new ownership and known as the Nittany Dodgers), winning by over 50 points... 93.55 to 43.20.

2002 - Upsets continued in the second year of the Frenzy, with the 3^rd seeded Jersey Toxic Waste (10-7) ripping up the league the second half of the season.  After and 0-7 start, the Waste won their last seven regular season games to win their division.  They went on to win 3 straight in the post season, including a controversial (at least according to the Predators) victory over the Parkwood Predators in Frenzy Bowl II, 116.1 to 113.9.

2003 - The 2002 off-season led to a change in the playoff format, with only 4 teams reaching the payoffs (instead of 6).  This led to the tightest playoff race in Frenzy history, with 3 teams in the East (Indiana, Parkwood and Hawaii) battling it out until the last week of the season for both the Eastern Division crown and the leagues sole Wild Card slot.  All 3 teams finished with 9-5 records, but the Royal Hawaiian Opihi emerged as the Division Champion (giving the East it's 3rd different champion in each of the Frenzy's 3 seasons) based upon their 5-1 division record.  Parkwood slipped back into the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row (the 2nd time as a Wild card) by narrowly beating out the Undead on tie-breakers.  Their reward... a Wild Card berth against the Frenzy's top seeded Brain Dead Squirrel Chasers (the only other team in Frenzy history to have made the playoffs each of the leagues 1st 3 seasons).  After 1 and gone losses the past 2 seasons, the Squirrels were hoping to finally get over the hump against the 4th seeded Predators.  Unfortunately for the Squirrels, the Predators had other things in mind as they defeated the Squirrels by just over 24 points 163.95-139.90, in the highest combined scoring playoff game in Frenzy history.   After narrowly losing to Jersey a year ago in Frenzy Bowl II by only 2.2 points, the Predators found themselves in a 2nd consecutive Frenzy Bowl appearance (the 1st team in Frenzy history to accomplish back-to-back appearances). In the other playoff game the Royal Hawaiian Opihi knocked off the Liquid Swords by ~37 points, giving the Opihi their 1st ever Frenzy playoff victory and a berth in Frenzy Bowl III against their arch-rivals and divisional foe, the Parkwood Predators.  With the disappointment of the 2002 Bowl loss fresh on their minds, the 2003 Predators would not be denied the title this time around.  A determined Predators squad clawed apart, chewed up, and spit out an Opihi squad that never knew what hit them  Parkwood broke their own record for playoff points (set against the Squirrels the week prior) in crushing the Opihi 169.65 to 89.95.  The Predators 79.7 point margin of victory was a new Frenzy Playoff record. 

2004 - Fresh off their Frenzy Bowl win just a few months earlier the Predators kicked off their 2004 campaign with a hot start, going 5-0 to begin the season before running into the team that would eventually wrench the trophy out of their hands.  In week 6, the Predators took one on the chin against the upstart 3-2 Wonder Mutts.  The Mutts (2003's celler dwellars) gained confidence with the victory over the reigning champs, using the win as a springboard to a 7-0 winning streak before they themselves hit a linchpin in their 2nd meeting against their arch-division rivals, the Liquid Swords.  The Swords ended the Mutts hot streak, and eventually stole the division title out of the Mutts hands a week later in a tie breaker based off their 5-1 division record vs. the Mutts 4-2 record (with the 2nd loss coming week 14 when destiny was in the Mutts paws).  This led to the Mutts having to face-off against the Swords for the 3rd time in 5 weeks in the opening round of the playoffs, with homefield advantage on the side of the Swords.  The Mutts gained entry into Frenzy Bowl IV when they squeaked by with a slim 5 pt victory over the Liquid Swords.  Meanwhile, the Predators were on a collusion course with perceived destiny, enroute to their 3rd straight Frenzy Bowl appearance and a shot at defending their title when they pasted the inexperienced Nittany Dodgers in a 45 pt route (a game where the Predators scored a team record 177.25 points).  Unfortunately, the overconfident Predators took the Mutts far too lightly a week later with the Frenzy Bowl Trophy on the line, and learned a lesson about all the disrespect they'd given the Central division throughout the season.  The Mutts completed a cycle from worst (2003) to FIRST (2004) as they routed the playoff weary Predators by over 40 points to win their 1st title.  Ironically, the traditionally ridiculed Central division thus became the 1st division in the Frenzy to take home the Bowl title twice.  The East and West each have 1 Frenzy Bowl win to the Centrals 2.  Well done guys!

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2. The Teams

2A. Current Franchises

The league will consist of twelve (12) teams. 

2B. Replacement Teams

If an owner chooses to leave the league or is not heard from for two consecutive weeks during the season, two days during the draft or other player signing period, or thirty days during the off season, a replacement owner will be sought.  Priority will be given to prospective owners that current owners know.  If a suitable owner cannot be found, an advertisement will be placed on the footballguys forum.  The new owner may choose a name for his squad with a geographically descriptive place and any nickname but the team will remain in the division where it currently resides.  Expansion and Replacement teams will be required to pay the $10 initiation fee as well as the $1 annual fee for the trophy expenses.  

3. The Divisions

3A. Current Divisions

The league will consist of three divisions.  Initially these divisions were based on geography but have been realigned once.  We don't expect realignment to occur again.   The divisions are as follows:

3B. Past Division Champions (Regular Season Record) and League Champions:

Feeding Frenzy Fantasy Football League

Division Winners & Frenzy Bowl Champions

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4. WebSite and Message Board:

The League Website is located on MFL site, and URL will be posted on Preds message board each new season. The league message boards are located at http://predsff.com/.

5. Rookie Draft

5A. General Information

Only rookies (players with no prior NFL experience) will be eligible to be drafted in the rookie draft. The rookie draft will begin on or about one week after the first day of the NFL college draft (see Section 5B).

5B. Rookie Draft Details

The rookie draft will be 4 rounds in a NON-SERPENTINE fashion based on the prior years ranking for each team, with the 6 teams failing to make the playoffs picking from 1-6 based on record and the 6 playoff qualifiers picking 7-12 based on their finish. 

 The Frenzy Bowl runner up will pick 11th with the winner picking 12th.  Spots 7-10 will the playoff seeding, with the worst seed picking 7th.

Rookies will have a predetermined base salary based on their position and draft slot a players is drafted in.  The base salaries are as follows:

Rd.Pk	QB	RB	WR	TE	K
1.1	400	500	350	150	150
1.2	390	490	340	145	145
1.3	380	480	330	140	140
1.4	370	470	320	135	135
1.5	360	460	310	130	130
1.6	350	450	300	125	125
1.7	340	440	290	120	120
1.8	330	430	280	110	110
1.9	320	420	270	105	105
1.10	310	410	260	100	100
1.11	300	400	250	100	100
1.12	290	390	240	100	100
2.1	280	380	230	100	100
2.2	270	370	220	100	100
2.3	260	360	210	100	100
2.4	250	350	200	100	100
2.5	240	340	190	100	100
2.6	230	330	180	100	100
2.7	220	320	170	100	100
2.8	210	310	160	100	100
2.9	200	300	150	100	100
2.10	190	290	140	100	100
2.11	180	280	130	100	100
2.12	170	270	120	100	100
3.1	160	260	110	100	100
3.2	150	250	100	100	100
3.3	140	240	100	100	100
3.4	130	230	100	100	100
3.5	120	220	100	100	100
3.6	110	210	100	100	100
3.7	100	200	100	100	100
3.8	100	190	100	100	100
3.9	100	180	100	100	100
3.10	100	170	100	100	100
3.11	100	160	100	100	100
3.12	100	150	100	100	100
4.1	100	100	100	100	100
4.2	100	100	100	100	100
4.3	100	100	100	100	100
4.4	100	100	100	100	100
4.5	100	100	100	100	100
4.6	100	100	100	100	100
4.7	100	100	100	100	100
4.8	100	100	100	100	100
4.9	100	100	100	100	100
4.10	100	100	100	100	100
4.11	100	100	100	100	100
4.12	100	100	100	100	100

In addition to these base salaries, rookies will earn bonuses based on their performance each year of their original rookie contract.  These bonuses will be based on their year end ranking among players of the same position.  Players drafted after round 1 will receive a lower bonus for equal performance.  That is, second round players receive a bonus 75% of that of a 1^st round pick, 3^rd round receive 25%, and 4^th round receive 25%.  Performance bonuses are earned on top of the standard 10% raise, not in place of it. 

The minimum raise is 10% of the previous years salary.  Any incentive bonus earned is above and beyond the standard minimum raise.

Further, each rookie will have a maximum salary that his contract can hit with incentive bonuses.  The maximum salaries will vary on position and round drafted.  When calculating for the maximum salary, the player will first be assessed his 10% annual contract increase, and then any applicable signing bonus will be applied up to the maximum salary payable according to the players position and the player was drafted in.  Once an incentive clause bumps the contract at or above the maximum salary, incentive bonuses will no longer apply, although the 10% annual contract will still apply on any remaining years of the contract.

 

 

Rookie Bonuses QBs 1st Rd 2nd Rd 3rd Rd 4th Rd #1 QB 400 300 200 100 #2 350 263 175 88 #3 300 225 150 75 #4 250 188 125 63 5-8 100 75 50 25 9-12 75 56 38 19 All others 10.00% Max Salary 1200 900 600 300 RBs 1st Rd 2nd Rd 3rd Rd 4th Rd #1 600 450 300 150 2-5 450 338 225 113 6-10 300 225 150 75 11-15 250 188 125 63 16-20 200 150 100 50 21-24 150 113 75 38 All others 10.00% Max Salary 2000 1500 1000 500 WRs 1st Rd 2nd Rd 3rd Rd 4th Rd #1 500 375 250 125 2-5 450 338 225 113 6-10 350 263 175 88 11-15 300 225 150 75 16-20 200 150 100 50 21-25 100 75 50 25 26-30 75 50 25 15 31-36 25 20 15 10 All others 10.00% Max Salary 1300 975 650 325 TEs 1st Rd 2nd Rd 3rd Rd 4th Rd #1 225 169 113 56 #2 200 150 100 50 #3 175 131 88 44 #4 150 113 75 38 5-8 100 75 50 25 9-12 50 38 25 13 All others 10.00% Max Salary 750 563 375 188

 Teams will be allowed to trade future draft picks up to 1 season in advance, therefore you can trade picks for the 2011 season in 2010, however, you could not trade picks for the 2012 season.

Teams are required to assign contract years and declare Active or Taxi squad roster assignments to rookies by the end of the off-season free-agency period which ends first Tuesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week each season.  Rookies will not count against your cap until contract years have been assigned and they have been placed on your Active Roster, Taxi Squad (TS), or Developmental Squad (DS) If placed on your Active Roster, you must have room under the cap to accommodate the player.  If a rookie is not declared active or TS/DS by the end of the free agency period, he will become a free agent available to open bidding.  Rookies may be cut during the off-season free-agency period with no cap hit, however, once they are declared active the cap penalty rules will apply.

Once the rookie draft begins, teams will have 24 hours to make a selection if the previous selection was made on Monday through Thursday, and 48 hours to make a selection if the previous pick was on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  

When you make your selection, please list your pick number 1st, followed by Position Player Name, and NFL Team in the Subject bar.

For example, The Dixie Chickens has the #1 pick, his thread subject should read:
1.1 RB Marshawn "The Beast" Lynch, SEA

Make any commentary (which is encouraged) in the message area of the thread.
Following the example above, the message commentary could read:
Pretty much everybody's consensus pick here and I NEED RB's!

Each team will be responsible for monitoring the draft THEMSELVES. We will not send out e-mail reminders telling you when you are up. 

If your time limit expires, the next team(s) in line is(are) free to make their selection(s) (with salaries set at their original draft position, not the one they moved up into). Teams that are skipped can step back in at any time, however the player they select will receive the salary for the slot they were originally slated to draft in.

Draft Picks CANNOT be waived. Remember, you can cut a rookie pick with no cap hit until first Tuesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week, so there is no reason not to make a pick.

C. Supplemental Draft

Any player drafted by the NFL (whether rookie or supplemental) must be required to be exposed to a frenzy rookie draft before being granted outright UFA. Further, the Frenzy will implement a blind Supplemental Draft on an as needed basis (i.e. whenever the NFL holds one and an offensive player is drafted).

The draft would consist of all interested teams e-mailing a 3rd party or blind source the player(s) they would like to draft, and what round & team's pick (since teams may hold others picks in the next years draft) they're willing to forego the following year to claim said player(s).

The team willing to give up the highest pick would get the player(s), and in the event of a tie (where 2 or more teams submit the same round for any player) we would go by the current years rookie draft order for the picks listed to be forfeited in exchange for the player(s) with the highest pick being the winner.

Any necessary supplemental draft would be scheduled within 3 weeks of the conclusion of the NFL's Supplemental draft for any given year.

1. If a player is selected through the supplemental draft his salary would be based on the pick that was given up for him. If pick 2.5 was the winning pick and the player is a RB his salary will be $720.

2. You can offer any pick in the following years draft as long as you own said pick and specify which pick is being used, if you hold multiple picks in a round. This is what the Texans did to get Hollings (using the Raiders pick).

3. The player if selected through the supplemental draft would be TS/DS eligible.

4. Players that are exposed to the supplemental draft and not selected become UFA's just like players from our regular annual draft.

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6. Rosters

6A. Active Roster Composition

Each team will have a maximum of eighteen (18) roster slots for their Active Roster. All slots need not be filled. These slots may be filled by players in any of the following positions: Quarterback (QB), Running Back or Fullback (RB), Wide Receiver (WR), Tight-End (TE), Place Kicker (K), and Defense/Special Team unit (D)--you get both units of any team on your roster. From year to year you will be able to keep any player still under contract.  Further you will be able to tender contracts to 3 players as Restricted Free Agents each year according to the RFA rules.

Each team must carry a minimum of 13 players on its Active Roster at all times during the season. Of this 13, there must be a minimum of 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1TE, 1 K, and 1 D. Any roster composition that satisfies all of the preceding requirements is acceptable.

Any acquisition that places you over the 18 man roster limit without a move to get back to 18 or below will be placed in "pending" status for no longer than 24 hours.  Teams will have a 24 hour grace period  from the time of the acquisition that places them over 18 to get back down to 18 or fewer on the roster before penalties start to kick in.

Roster penalties will be assessed for each player a team is below the minimum roster limit if a team falls below 13 players at any time during the In-Season Free Agency period (first Wednesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week  to the start of the 1st Week 17 games).  If a team is below the minimum roster limit, they will have 24 hours to get back to the limit before the penalty is assessed.

During the off-season, the time to get roster in compliance will coincide with the bidding clock - 48 hours for RFA's won. 48 hours if bid won on Sunday through Thursday - 72 hours if bid won on Friday or Saturday.

6B. Taxi Squad

Each team will be allowed a 5 player Taxi Squad for players with 0-3 years of NFL experience (Players entering their 4th NFL season are NOT eligible for the Taxi Squad ). There is no Cyber Buck cap to the Taxi Squad, but there is a 20 year contract cap. Taxi Squad cyberbuck and contract year caps will not count against a team's regular cap unless a player is activated to the active roster. Only rookies and existing taxi squad/practice squad players are eligible to be assigned to the Taxi Squad.  UFA's, RFA's and players traded for are ineligible for the Taxi Squad unless the player is a rookie or was on the trading partners Practice or Taxi Squad and meets all other Taxi Squad requirements.  ANY TS/PS PLAYERS WAIVED THEN CLAIMED ARE HEREBY ELIGIBLE FOR TS/PS DESIGNATION ON THEIR NEW TEAMS. This only applies to players claimed via waivers, with the new owners assuming their original remaining contracts.

 

 

Taxi Squad players entering their 4th season of NFL experience are considered part of the active squad as of April 1st  of the year in which they will be starting their 4th season.  They are automatically promoted to active on May 1st.  Such players can be released by that time without a cap hit. 

 

Players on the Taxi Squad can be promoted to the active roster at any time the active roster can accommodate the salary and contract years.

Players can be demoted back to the Taxi Squad as long as they remain eligible for the Taxi Squad as defined in paragraph 1 of this section, and an open roster spot remains on the Taxi Squad. Also, players demoted back to the Taxi Squad receive a bonus to their current year salary based on the number of consecutive weeks on the active roster immediately prior to their demotion at a rate of 5 cb per week active.  For the purposes of this rule, a week will be defined as passed once an NFL game has been played, However, once a player is moved to the active roster They'll earn one week's bonus whether or not they get deactivated before the upcoming Sunday game. The bonus is immediate, and the following years performance bonuses and 10% increase are on top of the bonus:

1 week - 5 cb salary increase
2 weeks - 10 cb salary increase
3 weeks - 15 cb salary increase
4 weeks - 20 cb salary increase
5 weeks - 25 cb salary increase
6 weeks - 30 cb salary increase
7 weeks - 35 cb salary increase
8 weeks - 40 cb salary increase

9 weeks - 45 cb salary increase, and so on

Multiple bonuses will be paid for multiple promotions/demotions in the same year. If a player is promoted, demoted, and promoted again, the consecutive weeks begins over again, and a second demotion will result in a second bonus being paid.

If a player is promoted to the active roster for any period of time, and subsequently cut, the team receives a full cap hit to their active roster salary cap for that player, regardless if the player was on the active roster or development squad at the time of the cut.

 

Once a team?s roster has been frozen due to failing to reach the post season, or having been eliminated from the post season, bonus weeks will no longer accrue for activated players until the following regular season begins.

6C. Practice Squad

Each team will have a Practice Squad of no more than five(5) players. There is no cyber buck, or contract cap to the Practice Squad. Practice Squad cyberbuck and contract year caps will not count against a team's regular cap unless a player is activated to the active roster.

Players on the Practice Squad can be promoted to the active roster at any time the active roster can accommodate the salary and contract years.

Players can be placed on the Practice Squad from the annual rookie draft, and only 3rd and 4th round selections are eligible for the Practice Squad. There is no limit to number of players that can be added per year to a teams practice squad. Just the five player overall limit.

Once activated from the Practice Squad to either the Taxi Squad or the Active Roster, a player may never be placed back on the Practice Squad.

A player initially assigned to the Taxi Squad or the Active Roster cannot be placed on the Practice Squad. A player must be signed to the Practice Squad by the contract assignment deadline for the respective year to retain Practice Squad eligibility.

Players may be traded from one teams Practice Squad to another team's Practice Squad as long as they are still under original contract and traded from original drafting team.

           A Practice Squad player who is cut by his original drafting team, may be picked up off waivers and placed on the claiming teams Practice Squad as long as there are years remaining on original rookie contract and room on claiming teams Practice Squad.

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6D. Starting Line Ups

             There are 4 choices of starting line ups.  They are:

                        QB,2RB,3WR,TE,K,Def

                    QB,2RB,2WR,2TE,K,Def

                     QB,RB,3WR,2TE,K,Def

                     QB,RB,4WR,TE,K,Def

           The deadline for naming starters is at the start on the first game of the week (with the exception of Thursday and Saturday games... for those weeks, only  players involved in the early game(s) need to be declared starting, you can change the rest of your lineup up until the 1st game on Sunday).

Line-ups must be submitted via the line-up submission link on each team page. Using the line-up submission pages will automatically e-mail the line-up you choose to your opponent and the commissioner.  In the event of a service outage, you can be e-mail your line-up directly to the commissioner, however try to include your opponent in the e-mail as well.  E-mail time-stamp will be used as 'proof' of timely submission.  If a team fails to submit a starting lineup by the submission deadline, the starters from the previous week will be used.  The team failing to submit a lineup will receive a warning of their failure to submit a lineup.  If a team who has already received a warning fails again at any time during the same season to timely submit a lineup, they will receive a 20 point penalty for each subsequent game they do not submit a lineup (after the first infraction), as well as a 250cb hit for each subsequent game they do not submit a lineup (after the first infraction).

6E. Player Eligibility

Players must be listed on an NFL roster at one of the positions listed under 6A. Players are eligible to score for any offensive play regardless of where they are listed in your line-up, however individual players will NOT receive points for Special Teams play.  Any points scored on ST will be credited to the D/ST position.

EXAMPLE 1: Jermaine Kerse is listed as a WR, but he can also score points on a rushing play.

EXAMPLE 2: Russell Wilson is listed as a QB, but he can also score points on a receiving play.

EXAMPLE 3: Doug Baldwin is a WR who also returns punts and kicks, he can score on any offensive play, however he will NOT earn any individual points for any Special Teams TD's since those will be credited to the Defense/Special Teams position.

There are times where a player will change positions in season, and MFL will not change accordingly. These changes could be implemented by the Commishioner based on best available information available (for example, RotoWorld depth charts)

6F. Starting Position

           Players can only be inserted into a starting line-up at a position for which they are listed on their NFL teams depth chart.

EXAMPLE: Richard Sherman is listed as CB/WR and can be started at WR in the league. If he is listed as CB but NOT as WR, then he cannot be played at WR.

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 7. Contracts, Trades, and Cyber Bucks

 7A. General Information

 Each player on a team must be signed to a contract. Each contract will include two items: 1) The salary the player is to receive for the current season. 2) The length of the contract.

Player salaries are paid with Cyber Bucks, the official currency of the league. Contract length is measured in years, current year included. The minimum salary allowed for an individual contract is 100 CB. The minimum length for an individual contract is 1 year.

Teams must comply with two restrictions on their total contract obligations: 1) A salary cap. 2) A contract years cap. Each of these is further explained in the following sections.

7B. Salary Cap

The Active Roster Cap is 10,500 Cyber Bucks (CB's).

Each team will be limited to a salary cap of 10,500 CB's for the Active Roster.  The sum of all current year salary obligations of a team must not exceed 10,500 CB's. This cap is to remain the same each season. No CB's will be added to this amount.  If any team exceeds the salary cap through a free agency signing, trade, or other move, they will have 24 hours to make a roster move to reduce their salary obligations below the 10,500 cap.  If they do not, roster penalties will apply. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

There is no salary cap for the Taxi Squad.

There is no carryover of unused CB's from season to season. Meaning that Team A cannot spend 9,000 CB this season and use the extra 1,000 CB next season. The cap is always 10,500 CB's.

Portions of this cap are not tradable. Meaning that Team A can not include 1,000 CB of their own salary cap in a deal with Team B in order to raise Team B's cap to 11,000. Each team's cap will remain at 10,500 CB's at all times.

Any acquisition that places you over the 18 man roster limit without a move to get back to 18 or below will be placed in "pending" status for no longer than 24 hours.  Teams will have a 24 hour grace period  from the time of the acquisition that places them over 18 to get back down to 18 or fewer on the roster before penalties start to kick in.  If a move is not made within 24 hours, roster penalties will apply. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

7C. Contract Years Cap

There will be 2 types of Contract Years Caps per team, an Active Roster Cap which is 38 years (5 max/player), and a Taxi Squad Cap which is 20 years (5 max/player).

A team's contract years obligation is determined by the total number of years, including the current season, that remain on player contracts. Teams must adhere to a maximum of 38 contract years for their team, meaning that the total number of years of all player contracts must not exceed 38.

There is also a limit for the length of any individual contract. No contract can be for more than 5 years.

As with the salary cap, no team may exceed this cap at any time. Extra contract years do not carry over from season to season. Contract years may not be traded to other teams in order to increase their cap.

If a team makes an acquisition (trade or free agent signing) which places them over the contract years cap, they must release appropriate personnel to meet the cap restriction.  If a team fails to get under the contract year cap within 24 hours, roster penalties will apply. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

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7D. Player Trades

Every player traded carries his entire contract with him. This contract will be counted against the contract years and salary caps of the receiving team. Any exchange of players between teams cannot leave either team in violation of the salary or contract years caps. A team put in salary/cap jeopardy will have 24 hours to get in compliance.  If this does not happen, the commissioner will void the trade until such time as the affected teams can make room under the contract cap. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

The trading of Draft picks no more than 1 season in advance is allowed.  Further, players may be traded from Active Rosters or Taxi Squads, and may be placed on either/or by the receiving team as long as eligibility requirements are met. 

 7E. Trade Restrictions & Deadlines

Trades between teams are unlimited.  

The weekly trade deadline for any given player is 1-minute prior to the start of the involved players game on any given week. Trades take effect immediately once confirmed by all sides with the caveat that the rules committee can overturn within 24 hours if they feel the deal is grossly unfair to one side. The league can overturn the rules committee's vote with a 2/3's majority vote from the entire league. If a deal gets overturned by the rules committee within 24 hours and by chance players were inserted into starting lineups and games have been played, those results would stand but the deal would be reversed at the start of the next game week, in this event, a cap penalty equal to 20% of the involved salaries for each player involved in the deal would be assessed to the offending teams (if picks only on one of the sides a 200cb penalty will be assessed)

Players CANNOT be traded without their contract years 1st being assigned by the original team.

All players must have designated years assigned by their salaries prior to being traded.  This means any rookies and/or UFA players during the off season cannot go to a new team without specific contract years being named.  No trades involving off-season RFA players can be officially posted until the mid-August declaration deadline. 

The trading teams may discuss years to be assigned prior to the trade being announced for those players who have not had years assigned prior to the trade.

The deadline for all trades is the Wednesday prior to the week 13 games at Midnight

Trading will open up again once the Frenzy Bowl Championship game has concluded.

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 7F. Salary Cap Penalties (aka Roster Penalties)

Roster Penalties (as referenced multiple times in this document) are defined as 1st offense, 20% cap release penalty and 30 day bid moratorium on player in question, 2nd offense, 20% cap release penalty, additional 10% of salary in question (no min or max), and 30 day bid moratorium on player in question, 3rd and additional offenses, 20% cap release penalty, additional 25% of salary in question, and 30 day bid moratorium on player in question.  The rules committee will have the authority to apply the rules as appropriate. 

These penalties will apply to the following roster infractions:

-       Exceeding the 18 player roster limit

-        Exceeding the 10,500cb salary cap

-       Exceeding the 38 year salary year cap

Player in question will mean the specific player or players acquired which put the team over the cap.

If the player in question was acquired via free agency, the player will be released back into the free agency pool, and the penalties will be assessed, based on the number of previous infractions.

If a player in question which puts a team over any of the caps, was acquired via trade, the team over the cap should notify the league of the corrective action (release of particular player) during the 24 hour time limit to get in compliance.  If a team is over any of the caps after 24 hours of a trade confirmation, and corrective action has not been posted, the Rules Committee will veto the trade, send the players back to their original teams, AND impose the corresponding salary cap penalties.  The players will not be released into free agency, but the offending team(s) salary cap will be punished. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

FYI:     The Rules Committee shall have the power to dole out other penalties if by unanimous vote they deem an uncovered infraction deems such a penalty.

Below Minimum Roster Size:

A penalty of 500cb's will be assessed for each player a team is below the minimum roster limit if a team falls below 13 players at any time during the In-Season Free Agency period (first Wednesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week to the start of the 1st Week 17 games).  If a team is below the minimum roster limit, they will have 24 hours to get back to the limit before the penalty is assessed.  This penalty will also apply for teams having fewer than 3 players among TE/K/D (1 each position) (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

Releasing Players (Waivers): 

Teams my waive players in order to reduce their salary obligations and make available more CB for use in signing other players.  However, a portion of each contract is considered to be a guaranteed signing bonus.  The guaranteed signing bonus is 10% of each year of the contract.  If a player is cut, the team will be obligated to pay the remaining 10% of each year's contract value remaining, as well as an additional 10% of the current year's contract (for a total of 20% for the current year).  Example:

Hines Ward is signed to a 4 year contract in 2005 for 1000.  His four year contract looks like:

 

2005: 1000

2006: 1100

2007: 1210

2008: 1331

 

If this player is cut in 2005, his cap hit would be 565 (1000*.2 + 1100*.1 + 1210*.1 + 1331*.1).  If this player is cut year 2006, his cap hit would be 475 (1100*.2 + 1210*.1 + 1331*.1).  And so on.  Thus, it is more costly to release a player with more years remaining on their contract than a player with the same current contract value with fewer years remaining on their contract.

 

There will be a SOFT CAP period that runs from November 1 through March 31 each season.  Players released during the SOFT CAP period will have their cap penalty divided equally between the current season and the next season.  

A HARD CAP period will ensue from April 1 each season (the beginning of the next season and new contracts) through October 31 each year.  Teams will be assessed a cap penalty as described above for players released during this timespan.

The cap penalty applies only to the Active Roster, as there is no salary cap for the Taxi Squad.

Rookies may be cut during the off-season free-agency period with no cap hit, however, once they are declared active or DS the cap penalty rules will apply.

Releasing a player relieves a team of all contract year obligations to that player. So, unlike salary obligations, teams regain all contract years which had been occupied by the released player. This means that releasing a player with 2 years left (including the current season) on his contract would give the releasing team 2 more contract years to use in signing other players.

Finally, rosters are frozen at the beginning of the week 14 games for non-playoff teams, and the minute a team is eliminated from the playoffs or wins the Frenzy Bowl, whichever comes first.  Any players acquired by playoff teams between weeks 14 and 16 may only be assigned 1 year contracts and CANNOT be declared as RFA's the following season.

The Waiver Wire

Each player waived will be placed on the waiver wire for a period of 24 hours during In Season Free Agency, and 72 hours during Off Season Free Agency.  During this period, each team will have the opportunity to claim the waived player and assume his current contract without the player reaching Free Agency.  During the appropriate waiver wire period, each interested team must post in the origional "cut thread" indicating their intention to claim said player.  At the end of the waiver wire period, the team with the highest current waiver priority (as defined later) will assume the players current contract.  The claiming team will have the standard 24 hours from the time of the claim to make room on their roster, before Roster Penalties will be enforced (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A).  In that case, the team with the second highest waiver priority will assume the players contract.  If no teams make a claim for a waiver player within the waiver period, the player is considered an Unrestricted Free Agent.

 

If the waived player is claimed, the waiving team receives a credit in the amount of 10% of the current year?s salary (the portion of the cap hit that does not pertain to the signing bonus) to their active roster salary cap.  If the claimed player is subsequently released during the length of the same contract, the waiving team will receive a cap hit of only 10% of the current years salary, as the singing bonus is to be considered paid by the original team.  If the player is claimed through the waiver wire, the second waiving team will receive the 10% cap credit, and essentially no penalty for releasing the player.

 

The waiver priority list will be maintained by the an owner assigned by commish in the Current Waiver Wire Order thread in the Frenzy Free Agency & Waiver Wire forum.  Once the initial order has been set, it will not change until a transaction is made on the waiver wire.  Once a team claims a player through the waiver process, they will be moved to the bottom of the waiver wire priority list.  The order will never be reset.  The order will only change based on transactions made through the waiver wire.  The only way to move up in the waiver wire priority list is to have teams above you in priority claim players on the waiver wire.

 

Players waived during the playoffs will be follow the waiver rules as a player who is waiver during the season. Any team may put in a claim for a players waived during the playoffs.

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7G. Expired Contracts

Contract years expire on April 30th each year at midnight.  Beginning May 1,  all players who had only one year remaining on their contracts become either Free Agents or Restricted Free Agents. Players with expired contracts can be re-signed by their original team under the terms outlined in the Restricted Free Agent rules (see Item 9C below). All other players have their contracts reduced by one year. At the same time, all teams recover any salary encumbered by players waived during the year.

EXAMPLE 1: Emmitt Smith signed for five (5) years with the Vagrants in 2002; all five years count against the 36 year contract limit *in 2002* leaving 27 years to use on other players. On April 1, 2003, Smith's contract becomes a four year contract and now counts only four years against the contract years cap. Now the Vagrants have 32 years to use on the rest of their roster.

EXAMPLE 2: The same team also signed Shannon Sharpe to a one (1) year contract in 2002. On April 1, 2002, Sharpe's contract is reduced one year ... leaving zero (0) years on the contract. Sharpe just became either a Free Agent or Restricted Free Agent (see Item 8A below).

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 7H. Salary Increases

With each new season, the salary of all returning players under contract will increase by 10%. This increase is effective May 1 each year. When calculating the increase, salaries will be rounded up to the nearest CB.  

Rookie contract salary increases will be based on the performance scale described in section 5B.

Example: Isaac Bruce has a three year contract and is paid 1850 CB the first year. His salary for each year would be:

Year 1 = 1850
Year 2 = 2035 (1850 * 1.1)
Year 3 = 2239 (2035 * 1.1 = 2238.5 rounded up)

7I. Renegotiations

No contract may be renegotiated. Players are under contract until: 1) There are no years left on the contract and it expires, or 2) The player is released by the team.

Any team desiring different contract terms with a player must release the player into free agency and re-acquire him through the free agency bidding process.

7J. Announcing Contracts

The deadline for the announcement of the length of the contracts of players picked up in free agency or the rookie draft will be first Tuesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week each year by midnight (the night before the start of the In-Season Free Agency period which begins on first Wednesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week each NFL season).  No player can be traded unless his contract years are declared BEFORE the trade is announced.

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8. Off Season Free Agent Procedure

8A. Restricted Free Agents +

Once a players contract ends, they becomes a free agent, however, teams are allowed to designate up to 3 players as Restricted Free Agents (RFA's) by tendering one of four different RFA tender offers.  Once a team tenders a bid, that player is considered part of their active roster and the tendered salary counts against the teams cap until either matched or declined at the end of the bidding.  The logic of this is as follows:

1)  A RFA tender is considered a legally binding contract...

2)  As a legally binding contract, it cannot be retracted or changed (think regular UFA period here...you can't post a bid, then take it back later)...

3)  Until an RFA player has started the bidding process, his salary is counted towards the tendering owner (the initial declaration amount).

4)  The origional owner of an RFA is not permitted to declare his intentions of keeping (matching final offer) or letting go (declining to match final offer) an RFA either before or during the bidding process of said RFA.

   The RFA  Bidding Auctions will begin on May 1st each season and end on May 31st.

Once the RFA Free Agent bidding opens on May 1st, a team CANNOT withdraw it's tender without being assessed the 20% cap penalty (note:  this would be the same penalty for cutting a player in the off-season).

RFA's cannot be traded prior to the start of in-season free agency (first Wednesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week ).  The team winning the rights to the RFA (either the tendering team if they decide to match, or the highest bidding team if the tendering team declines to match) cannot trade that player until the start of in-season free agency has begun.

Teams can tender a 1^st round, 2^nd round, 3^rd round, or 4^th round tender to each of their RFAs.  The opening bid for RFAs, based on their tender level, is as follows: 

 

RFA Tender Levels
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
QB	1200	800	400	200
RB	2000	1400	700	350
WR	2000	1400	700	350
TE	1200	800	400	200
K	400	300	200	150
D	600	450	300	225

 All RFA bids must start at or above the RFA tender price.  The team tendering the contract will always have right of 1st refusal to match any winning bid, therefore they should stay out of the bidding process entirely. If a player is not bid on before the close of the RFA period then the originating team gets him at the tender price.  Teams CANNOT bid on their own RFA's.

RFA's will be considered SOLD if a bid survives 48 hours without being increased.

Once a RFA bid is won by another franchise, the original team tendering the RFA contract will have three 3 days (72 hours) to match that offer.  If the tendering team declines to match, they will receive a compensatory pick based on the following chart: 

 

Tender Level-Points Earned for Player Lost
1st level tenders = 4 points
2nd level tenders = 3 points
3rd level tenders = 2 points
4th level tenders = 1 point

The points for all declined players, added up, will yield the following compensation picks at the end of the RFA period:

8 points = 1st round comp
4 points = 2nd round comp
2 points = 3rd round comp
1 point = 4th round comp

 

If the tendering team subsequently matches the highest offer, they receive no compensation.

The pay scale for the compensatory picks will be based on the x.12 player taken in the same round.  So a 1.13 pick would receive the same base salary as the 1.12 (depending of course on the player's position), or a 2.14 or 2.16 would both be paid the same as the 2.12, etc.

In the case of multiple RFAs not being matched who had received the same round tender, the player selling for the higher salary above the RFA tag baseline would receive the higher compensatory pick (starting at x.13).  So say three players were tendered 2^nd round compensatory picks, but were not matched (an RB tagged at 1600 but sold at 2000, a WR tagged at 1800 but sold for 2400, and another WR tagged at 1200 and sold at 1400).  In this example, the RB sold for 400 above the baseline, the 1^st WR sold for 600 above the baseline, and the 2^nd WR sold for 200 above the baseline.  The 1^st WR would receive the 2.13 pick, the RB would receive the 2.14, and the 2^nd WR would get 2.15.

If no other team submits a contract offer on a RFA before April 30th each year or any other predetermined RFA period deadline, the original team tendering the contract will re-acquire that player at the tender contract price. After a player is signed or re-signed, he must be placed under contract before the regular season begins.

Bidding Process

1. There is no need to enter your team name, since your user ID's automatically will list your team name and helmet next to all posts. Further the server will timestamp all posts.

2. All Initial Bids must follow the same format for the Subject Line . . .  that is:

Position, Player's Full name, NFL Team, Bid Amount

for example:  RB, LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego, 3,000

The body of the message for initial bids may be left blank, or you may add some commentary if you wish.

3. All subsequent bids must be within the same thread as the Initial bid. Please list your increased bid on the 1st line of the message. You may add commentary if you wish by skipping a line and then entering your message on the 3rd line.

continuing the Tomlinson example:
3250
Cannot let  Burt get him TOO cheap!

DO NOT make posts in bidding thread that are not bids, as this makes tracking the time of the most recent bid difficult.  Only posts that are bids on the respective players thread should be made in the thread.  Posts of commentary on the bids, or any other discussions, should be made in the League Chat forum.

4. All player's must have their OWN bidding thread.

DO NOT bid upon multiple players in 1 thread. Doing so will invalidate all bids after the initial player, further, the violating team will be prohibited upon bidding on involved players for 14 days.

5. All bids must start AT or ABOVE the tender amount.

6.Keep in mind the minimum bid increment amounts.

For bids from 100-999 the minimum bid increment is 5

For bids from 1000-1999 the minimum bid increment is 20

For bids from 2000 and up, the minimum bid increment is 50

7. Remember, RFA bidding is much different than UFA bidding. The tendering team will have the opportunity to match the winning bid, therefore do not bid too low or you could be giving a guy away to the tendering team.

8. Players will be considered SOLD if a bid is not increased within 48 hours of the last bid.

9. The tendering team will have 72 hours from the timestamp of the winning bid to match the winning bid and retain the player at the winning bid price. The match must be posted in the same thread where all the bidding occurred.

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8B. Off Season Free Agent Bidding

1.     Off-Season Free Agent biding will open on May 16th each year and close the day after the 3rd NFL Pre-Season game (for most teams) at 11:59pm.

1a.     The bidding day lasts from 12:00 AM ET until 11:59 PM ET.  Bids will be posted on the Feeding Frenzy Message Board under the Free Agency & the Waiver Wire forum.  

A player will still be considered available until he hasn't been bid on for a period of 48 hours (72 hours for bids made on Friday or Saturday).  If for any reason there is a problem with the league message board, we'll default back to a Bid Announcement system which will involve all bids being e-mailed to the entire league and summarized each night.

Please compose all threads with the following header: Position, Player, NFL Team for example RB, Ricky Williams, Miami.  Then list your bid amount and player to be released (if any) in the body of the message.  Subsequent bids can be made by just replying with an increased bid in the body of the message.

2.     Teams are expected to responsibly manage their own salary obligations. Total bids that exceed the 10,500 CB's salary cap will be permitted, as it is not likely that all bids will be winners. However, if a team should have winning bids that exceed the salary cap, punitive action will be taken. 

If a team has winning bids for more players than it has room for, the team will have 24 hours to comply with the roster and salary cap limits.  After 24 hours, if the offending team is not in compliance, roster penalties will be assessed.  (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

3.     Teams will be allowed to place single and multiple bids that exceed their remaining cap room.  However, if bids are won that result in exceed the salary cap or roster limit, the team will have 24 hours to comply with the caps, or penalties will be assessed. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

4.     Teams must also responsibly manage their 18 Active Roster slots and 5 Taxi Squad slots. Teams will not be permitted to exceed 18 players on their Active Rosters at any time. If a team has winning bids for more players than it has room for, the team will have 24 hours to make appropriate cuts to fit the new players on their rosters, or roster penalties will be assessed. (Off Season time is based on period - see section 6A)

5.     Once a bid is made, it must remain the high bid for a period of 48 hours (72 hours for Friday and Saturday bids).  If no other team makes a higher during this period, the bid is considered a "winner" and the team making the bid receives the rights to the player and is responsible for the salary bid. If a higher bid is received during this period, then a new 48 hour period for the higher bid will begin. Teams may not challenge, or raise their own bids. Basically, a bid must stand unchallenged for 48 hours to be a winner. An Example:

Preds bids 200 CB's for TE Antonio Gates on Sunday, July 20th at 10pm. The 48 hour period begins at 10 PM Sunday. Other teams will have all day Monday and most of Tuesday to make a higher bid. The bidding period will end at 10 PM Tuesday unless a higher bid is made. If no higher bid has been placed before this time, the Parkwood bid is the winner.

However, if a higher bid had been received, say on Monday, the 21st, then a new 48 hour period would be established, beginning at the time of the new bid.

6.     Bidding increments. Bidding will be subject to minimum increments of increase over previous bids. Meaning that bids must exceed the highest posted bid by a minimum amount. Highest posted bids are the bids which are posted in the draft sheets at the web site. The following increment schedule will be followed:

Highest posted bid      Minimum increment

    100-999                     5

    1000-1999                  20

    2000+                        50

Therefore, if the highest posted bid on Drew Brees is 373, a competing bid must be at least 378 in order to be accepted. If Torry Holt currently carries a 1230 CB bid, the minimum bid allowed would be 1250. And if LaDainian Tomlinson is currently at 3220, the minimum allowable bid would be 3270. Simple enough, right?

High bids will be tracked and reported on the league message board. These will serve as the official record of bidding. The message board will be updated every day and will reflect only the high bids for each player as of the end of the previous bidding day. The Bid Sheets will report the high bid amount, the team making the bid, and the status of the bid (when it will become a winner).

7. Bid amounts may NOT BE WITHDRAWN or changed.

Once a team has won the bidding for a player and it is determined that his salary will not place the team in violation of the salary cap, he is on the payroll. If he is subsequently cut, he will impact the salary cap of the team with the 20% guaranteed portion of his salary.

8.     Players may be traded to other teams, and released during Off Season Free Agency. Once a player is released (even if he was only on the roster for 1 day), however, the releasing teams cap will be penalized 20% of the released players salary for the upcoming season. Players CANNOT be traded however, until they have their contract years assigned.

9.     Off Season Free Agency will end the day after the 3rd Preseason game ends (for most NFL teams).   At that time, all active bids will be finalized. For any player with an active (not yet final) bid, the highest bid to be electronically postmarked (determined by the mail server time-stamp) prior to this time will be declared the winning bid.  In Season Free Agency will open the day after.

It is your responsibility, as owner, to meet the minimum roster requirements outlined previously,at a flexible date each year that basically commences the day after the 3rd pre-season games end (4th for the few teams that play 5)  or a 500cb penalty will be assessed (per player).

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9A. Free Agents

Any player not acquired before the Off-Season UFA deadline  becomes a Free Agent (FA). A player also becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) when his contract expires (assuming he is not tendered an RFA contract) or when he is waived by a franchise.

9B. In-Season Free Agent Acquisitions

The In-Season Free Agency period begins at 12:00am ET the same evening the Off Season UFA period ends,  and ends at the start of the 1st game in week 16 of the NFL season, however, Rosters are frozen at the beginning of the week 14 games for non-playoff teams, and the minute a team is eliminated from the playoffs or wins the Frenzy Bowl, whichever comes first.  Any players acquired by playoff teams between weeks 14 and 16 may only be assigned 1 year contracts and CANNOT be declared as RFA's the following season.

Franchises can acquire any player not currently on another team's roster via free agency. Cyber Bucks are used to bid on free agents. The bidding process is as follows:

Bidding for Free Agents will take place each week from 12:00am Tuesday until 11:59pm Saturday.  Exceptions to this schedule will occur during weeks where there are Thursday games. During these weeks, Bidding will begin at 12:00am Tuesday, and end at 11:59pm Saturday however, players involved in the Thursday game(s) cannot be bid upon from gametime Thursday until the following Tuesday at 11:59pm.  

If a player's 24 hour challenge period hasn't expired prior to 11:59pm on Saturday, bidding on that player will suspend until the following Tuesday at 12:00am when the 24 hour clock will resume.  

If a bid is made on any player between 12:00am Sunday and 11:59pm Monday the bid will be treated as if it were made on Tuesday at 12:00am and the 24 hour challenge period will not begin until that time.  Also note, that for players involved in Thursday or Saturday games, the clock will suspend at time of kickoff of their game(s) and won't resume until the following Tuesday at 12:00am.

Teams will post their bids via the  Feeding Frenzy Message Board under the Free Agency & the Waiver Wire forum.  Each bid notice must contain the following information: Team making bid (your login name will suffice), position, player to acquire, amount bid, and player to release if the bid is successful (if needed). An example: Philadelphia Freedom: QB Drew Brees, SD, 100cb's, release QB Drew Bledsoe, DAL 900cb's.

 

1.     Any NFL player is eligible.

 

2.    Just as during Off-Season Free Agency, teams are allowed to make bids which exceed their roster and salary cap.  However, if a team wins a bid that exceeds their roster and/or salary cap, they have 24 hours to comply with the limits, or roster penalties will be assessed.

 

3.     Teams are expected to responsibly manage their own salary obligations. Total bids that exceed the 10,500 CB's salary cap will be permitted, as it is not likely that all bids will be winners. However, if a team should have winning bids that exceed the salary cap, punitive action will be taken.   If a team makes an acquisition (trade or free agent signing) which places them over the salary cap, they must release appropriate personnel to meet the cap restriction within 24 hours or roster penalties will be assessed.

 

4.    When a bid is submitted, it will be subject to a 24 hour "challenge period" during which time other teams may make counter-bids. This period begins at the time of each bid or subsequent bid. The exception to this is Saturday bids. Since bidding is suspended from Saturday until Tuesday, bids made before 12pm Saturday will not be final until 12pm Tuesday.  If no higher bid is received within the challenge period, the bid is a winner and the transaction will take place.

 

5.    Teams must also responsibly manage their 18 roster slots. Teams will not be permitted to exceed 18 players at any time. Any acquisition that places you over the 18 man roster limit without a move to get back to 18 or below will be placed in "pending" status for no longer than 24 hours.  Teams will have a 24 hour grace period  from the time of the acquisition that places them over 18 to get back down to 18 or fewer on the roster before penalties start to kick in.  If a move isn't made within the 24 hour grace period the player will be released, and roster penalties will be assessed.  

 

6.    Owners will be responsible for tracking bid status.  Keep in mind, the forum board will list current bids on top and older bids towards the bottom.  Threads will be closed 24 hours after a bid is won. 

 

7.     The same bidding increments used during the auction will apply for Free Agent bids. Remember that the minimum salary is 100 CB.

 

8.    If a topic isn't covered here, the off-season rules will take precedence.

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10. Injured Reserve

Each team has a maximum of two (2) injured reserve slots. For a player to be put on IR he must be listed as Questionable, Doubtful or Out on MFL league site.  Suspended players are NOT eligible for the IR.   Any player placed on IR must remain on IR for a minimum of 4 weeks.   If after 4 weeks, and player is no longer IR eligible, he must be placed back on active squad or cut. If he still is IR qualified, he can be left on IR another 2 weeks. This will continue in 2 week increments until player is no longer IR eligible. By the start of the next rookie draft, each franchise must clear IR and have no more than sixteen players on their roster. Once a player is placed on IR, the club can pick up another player but they must go through the free agent channel as with any other pick up. 

When a player is placed on IR, 50% of their salary will count against your cap (either active or DS, depending where the player was before the IR move), teams will also receive 1 temporary "contract year".  This temporary year may be used at the discretion of the team for signing a replacement, etc. As soon as the injured player is removed from IR, the temporary year is revoked and the team must immediately return its roster to a total of 36 contract years.

The 1st available date will be a flexible date each year that basically commences the day after the 3rd pre-season games end (4th for the few teams that play 5). This will be approximately 7-10 days before the NFL regular season kicks off.

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11. League Schedule

11A. Regular Season

The Regular and Post-Season schedules are dependent on the NFL’s scheduling of byes and may vary each year based on an annual league vote.  A poll will be put up each season with poll options presented to minimize the impact of NFL byes on divisional games as much as possible.

In general the league will strive to play a 13-14 game regular season with 2 games against each divisional opponent and 1 against each non-division opponent.  Divisional games will be scheduled on non-bye weeks whenever possible, with a preference towards 3 divisional games early in the season and the other 3 as late in the season as possible with as minimal impact as possible.  Often only 2 of the division games will be able to be accommodated at the end of the season, but if the impact of byes is minimal we’ll try to get 3 division games late in the season  

Some seasons may consist of a 14 game season over 13 weeks with a double header on a non-bye week, or 14 games over 14 weeks.  A 6 team playoff is preferred with a week 16 championship, however, some seasons may consist of a 14 week schedule with a 6 team playoff from weeks 15-17, as well as a 14 week schedule with a 4 team playoff from weeks15- 16.   Other schedule formats are possible depending how the league votes from year to year.

Divisional games follow a 3 year rotational schedule. The last team in the rotation moves to 1 each season with the 1st team sliding to 2nd and 2nd team sliding to 3rd.

The annual rotation should be:
Year 1 (2016) - A, B, C
Year 2* (2018) - C, A, B
Year 3 (2019) - will be B, C, A
Year 4 (2020) - back to A, B, C and repeating the formula above each subsequent season

* an error was made on the 2017 schedule, thus the correct formula for division games will be used for 2018 and beyond

Non-divisional opponents will similarly have their schedule shifted back a week, and have their weeks reversed every other season (i.e. for 2017 we played div B 1st in the rotation, then A, whereas 2016 was div A then B, 2018 again flips the divisional weeks).

The non-division rotation is as follows:
Year 1 (2016) D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K
Year 2 (2017) K, J, E, D, G, F, I, H
Year 3 (2018) H, I, J, K, D, E, F, G
Year 4 (2019) will be G, F, I, H, K, J, E, D
Year 5 (2020) will return to D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K and repeating the formula above each subsequent season 

11B. Playoff Schedule

See Section 11A 

11C. Season Timeline :

Here are the key dates for everyone to keep in mind:

April 23rd at 11:59pm - RFA Declarations are Due

April 31st at 11:59pm - Soft Cap Period Ends

May 1st  at 12:00am - Hard Cap Period Begins & 4th year Taxi Squad members rollover to Active Squad.

May 1st at 12:00am - RFA Bidding Opens

May 31st at 11:59pm - RFA Bidding Closes

June 1st at 12:00am - Rookie Draft Begins

June 30th at 12:00am - this date will also be somewhat flexible in that as it would not open until the 1st Monday after the rookie draft has been completed - Opening of the UFA period

The first Tuesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week at 12:00am - this will be a flexible date each year that basically commences the day after the 3rd pre-season games end (4th for the few teams that play 5). This will be approximately 7-10 days before the NFL regular season kicks off - Injured Reserve Opens

The first Tuesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week at 11:59pm - this will be a flexible date each year that basically commences the day after the 3rd pre-season games end (4th for the few teams that play 5). This will be approximately 7-10 days before the NFL regular season kicks off -  Off-Season Free Agency ENDS and RFA/UFA/Rookie Declarations are due

The first Wednesday following the last game 3rd NFL pre-season week 12:00am (flexible date to be the day after contracts and DS are declared) - opening of In-Season Free Agency

October 31st at 11:59pm - Hard Cap Period Ends

November 1st at 12:00am - Soft Cap Period Begins

Beginning of Week 15 Games Off-Season Free Agency Ends

Tuesday after Week 15 games Post Season Free Agency Begins

Beginning of Week 17 Games Post-Season Free Agency Ends

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12. Playoffs

12A. Qualifying

See Section 11A for further clarifcation

A total of six (6) teams will qualify for the playoffs.

          Setup would be:
Regular Season = 14 games in 13 NFL Weeks.
Playoffs - 3 division winners, 3 wildcards (Top 2 records +  Team with best All-Play Record not in Playoffs - in case of tie, tie-breaker will be highest overall Power Ranking- no division cap)
Week 14 - 6 teams, #1 and #2 get a bye week.
Week 15 - 4 teams
Week 16 - Championship game
 

12B. Seeding

Teams will be seeded as follows:

1.    Division Champion with the best overall record (1st round bye)
2.    Division Champion with the second best overall record (1st round bye)
3.    Division Champion with the third best overall record
4.    Wild Card team (best record of non Divisional Winners)

5.   Wild Card Team (2nd best record of non Divisional Winners)

6.   Wild Card Team (Team with best All-Play Record not in Playoffs - in case of tie, tie-breaker will be highest overall Power Ranking)

12C. Qualifying/Seeding Tie-Breaker

 The Leagues tie-breaking system for play-off qualification and seeding is as follows:

1.    Head-to-head record
2.    Division Record (between teams from the same division)
3.    Total Overall Points
4.    Coin Toss

12D. Playoff Ties (Game Day)

Tie games during the play-off rounds will be determined by home-field advantage. The team with the highest seed is given the home field and will be awarded the win in case of a tie.

12E. Playoff Schedule

First Round: The #3 seed will host #6 seed. #4 seed will host #5 seed. Seed #1 and #2 will get a bye.

Second Round: #1 seed hosts lowest seed winner from round 1 games. #2 seed hosts highest seed winner from round 1 games.

Championship: The winners of the first round games will meet each other for the League Championship.

12F. Home Field Advantage

The higher seed in the 1st two rounds of the playoffs will have 7 points added to their score as a home field advantage.  There will be no home field advantage in the championship game since that is considered to take place at a neutral site.

12G. Post Season Free Agency

Post season free agency will work slightly differently that in season free agency.  As there are three weeks of playoffs, there are three separate weeks of post season free agency. 

The first week will be from the Tuesday, 12:00 am after the final regular season games.  The only teams eligible to bid on free agents at that time will be the six playoff teams (as described previously).  All bidding on any players opened after that Tuesday will end the following Saturday at 11:59 PM.  The final bid immediately previous to the deadline will be the winning bid.  The player in question will be placed on the winning teams roster with a 1 year contract only.  The winning team must comply with the usual salary cap, roster cap, and roster year requirements, and the standard penalties will apply for noncompliance.

The second week of post season free agency will begin Tuesday 12:00 am after the first round of playoffs.  The only teams eligible to bid on free agents at that time are the two winners from the previous week.  Again, the bid deadline is 11:59 pm the following Saturday, and the final bid for each player is the winning bid.  The player in question will be assigned a one year contract only. The winning team must comply with the usual salary cap, roster cap, and roster year requirements, and the standard penalties will apply for noncompliance.

Also note, that for either of the above two post season situations; for players involved in Saturday games, the clock will expire the evening prior to their game(s) at 11:59pm on Friday.  

NOTE: All free agents signed in the post season will be assigned a one year contract only.  Also, these players CANNOT be tendered as RFAs the following spring.

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13. Results & Scoring

13A. Scoring System

13B. Weekly Results

Weekly results will be compiled by the commissioner and posted to the league website on Tuesday afternoon.

13C. Game-Day Ties

Ties are allowed... in the event of a playoff tie the higher seeded team will be given the win.

13D. Disputes

Owners should notify the commissioner of any scoring errors immediately upon the error being discovered. The commissioner will resolve any disputes in scoring. Any discrepancies which are not drawn to the commissioner's attention by the following weekend will stand as is.

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14. Rule Changes & Enforcement

14A. Rules Committee

In order to maintain a reasonable sense of order we need to adhere to the constructs set up by the league rules. This Rules Committee has been formed to assist the Commissioner in the general operation of the league. They have been given the authority to penalize owners and/or teams that do not adhere to the accepted rules of the league. These penalties may come in the form of fines (cyber bucks), draft picks, and/or other sanctions as deemed necessary.

14B. Committee Composition

The Rules Committee will consist of two (2) league owners appointed by the Commissioner prior to each season and the Commissioner himself. Each member of the committee will be asked to serve a minimum of two (2) years. In the event an issue involves a member of the committee, that member will be temporarily replaced by an alternate chosen by the Commissioner until such time as the issue is resolved.

14C. Current Committee

 The current members of the Rules Committee are as follows:

Rules Chairmen and League Capologist - Patrick Mullins (Liquid Swords)

Commissioner - Jim White (Royal Hawaiian Opihi)

League Assistant -  Dale Fauson and Mike SantaLucia

14D. Rules Interpretation/Oversight 

The Rules Committee will also interpret rules and make necessary adjustments to the existing rules as needed.

In the event a rule is unclear or a situation not covered, the Commissioner will review both past precedence (if applicable) and what he believes to be the intent of the rules (using any and all resources available to him) to make a final decision.

If a member of the rules committee is involved in a rule violation, then he will recuse himself from deliberations.

14E. Major Rules Changes

After installment of the final version of the league rules, major changes to the rules can only be made through a league-wide vote. Any member club can propose a change to the rules by calling for a vote from the entire league during the off-season ONLY. Simply write up something that can be answered with a yes or no, and if a majority of clubs vote yes, the rules will be changed accordingly. Any rules changes after the start of the draft through the conclusion of the season must be agreed upon by the entire league unanimously.  In the event of a tie in any rule vote, the rules committee will hold a separate vote, with majority rule breaking the tie.

The Off-Season officially STARTS May 1 of the new season and ENDS the first Tuesday after the week 3 Pre-Season games each season.

Beginning May 1 each season, rules changes can be voted on and enacted by simple majority vote for the current season and thereafter.  For voting polls with 3 or more options that end without a majority vote, the option(s) with the fewest votes will be dropped and a run-off poll will occur until there is a majority of one of the remaining options. 

Beginning with the start of the rookie draft each season (usually June 1 each year) through the end of the official league year, rules changes require a unanimous vote to be enacted in the current season, however, a majority vote during this time will implement a rule change for the following season.  Any poll that starts in the month of May will only require majority vote for the current season, even if the final vote tally isn't completed in the month of May.  Run-Off votes related to a poll that was opened in May will also only require a simple majority vote for the current season, even if the run-off is opened after May 31. 

14F. Expulsion

In the event it becomes necessary, the Rules Committee may expel a franchise owner from the league. Any decision to expel an owner requires an unanimous vote of all three (3) Committee members. Such action must be justified, usually due to prolonged absence, malfeasance, and/or repeated rules infractions. While the Commissioner cannot expel an owner alone, he may suggest that the committee make such a move. The Commissioner may also veto the Rules Committee's decision to expel any owner.

Questions about these rules should be addressed to the Rules Committee.

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