Offseason roster limit ideas

[Achon44]

We could go with no roster limit during the off-season. The Salary Cap will still dictate how many players you can add to your roster and you will still need to cut down by the start of the season and take any cap hits that come with those cuts.

[bonscott]

We could go with no roster limit during the off-season. The Salary Cap will still dictate how many players you can add to your roster and you will still need to cut down by the start of the season and take any cap hits that come with those cuts.

That's an interesting concept. I've seen other dynasty leagues do that in the offseason where the salary and contract cap keeps things in check and then before the season starts you have to make cuts to get under the limit (with the penalties as you mention so going way over your roster limit can really hurt you). So I could go out and have 25 players signed but by August whatever I'd need to make cuts to get to the 20 limit plus two rookies on the PR.

[yugimoto]

Another option is to just delay the start of the FA period to post the Rooke Draft. That way folks can draft their rookies and move them to the practice squad (if they want) and then know exactly how much money they have left for FA.

Otherwise I say keep it simple and everyone needs to ensure that they keep open on their rosters enough roster spots to be able to draft their rookies.

[braven112]

We could go with no roster limit during the off-season. The Salary Cap will still dictate how many players you can add to your roster and you will still need to cut down by the start of the season and take any cap hits that come with those cuts.

I kind of like that idea, it really gives teams a lot more flexibility in exchange for increased salary cap risk.

[LV Elite]

We could go with no roster limit during the off-season. The Salary Cap will still dictate how many players you can add to your roster and you will still need to cut down by the start of the season and take any cap hits that come with those cuts.

This is an interesting idea. I think I like the flexability of having the option to sign more players. Obviously if you go over the 22 player limit, that team WILL be cutting players thus taking a hit to get down to the limit. Not sure how many teams would exercise grabbing extra players, because inevitably you will have to cut a player(s), in return take a hit. Also, would we be much more cautious offering longer contracts to those players who are on the "bubble" of making the "cut". Longer contract means bigger cap hit. All in all its a choice we all would need to deal with..... anybody worried about a team hoarding players just because?

[yugimoto]

Unfortuantely I disagree with this. Not because I think owners would necessarily "horde" players - I agree the salary cap overall would prevent that - but because we would essentially be allowing owners to bid basically "on credit".

Meaning regardless of any salary cap penalties from the previous year, or salary commitment to rookies, or current roster salaries, owners can basically bid whatever they want now to get a player and then later figure out what they have to do i.e., pay later. Sure eventually that cathces up to them but not until we get close to the start of the NFL season.

Meanwhile, those owners that have been trying to manage within their salary cap plans and those that have shed players in order to make room (when they did not necessarily have to) to get ready for the FA period bascially get penalized for making moves that they may not have had to do.

Again I will go with the flow here, but I needed to express my disagreement with this approach.

Thanks.

[braven112]

If we did this we would have to set up a date that you have to be at the roster limit by. The day after the deadline would end up being a popular day to pick up players similar to the NFL preseason cuts, with lower level FA swithing teams.

So far I like the idea as it could add another fun twist to the league.

[braven112]

Unfortuantely I disagree with this. Not because I think owners would necessarily "horde" players - I agree the salary cap overall would prevent that - but because we would essentially be allowing owners to bid basically "on credit".

Meaning regardless of any salary cap penalties from the previous year, or salary commitment to rookies, or current roster salaries, owners can basically bid whatever they want now to get a player and then later figure out what they have to do i.e., pay later. Sure eventually that cathces up to them but not until we get close to the start of the NFL season.

Not sure I follow, teams would not be able to bid "on credit". The salary cap would always remain in effect, you could never be over the cap. With this idea you could be over the roster limit cap. It probably isn't very sound strategy to have put yourself into a situation where you have to drop a bunch of players to get under the roster limit though but it would be possible here.

[yugimoto]

I see ... I think I get it. When we say "roster limit" we only mean the number of players on a roster, nothing in relation to the dollars associated. My mistake ... thank you for the clarification. I obviously read more into it than what was correct

[braven112]

I see ... I think I get it. When we say "roster limit" we only mean the number of players on a roster, nothing in relation to the dollars associated. My mistake ... thank you for the clarification. I obviously read more into it than what was correct

No biggie, all the rules and rule ideas can be pretty confusing, but I think that is what makes it so much fun.

[bonesman]

They're able to do it in the NFL, I don't see what should prevent us from doing it... as long as there is cap room to pull it off and we set a reasonable date to have made the final cuts.

[bonscott]

Nice thoughts guys. It would kind of make it like the NFL in that they can have 80 guys on their roster but must get down to 53 by the start of the season.

With our salary cap I don't see too many people going over the roster limit unless they had a lot of money available and signed a bunch of cheap guys. But they will still pay for it with cap hits.

As for a date to get under 22...sometime in August. I'd say early August, say August 1st or 10th or something. This will then give all teams a chance to bid on those dropped players should they want to before the start of the season.

I like it.

[bonscott]

If this is something we're actually going to consider we better bring it up to a vote soon as FA bidding begins in less then a month.

[braven112]

For it to pass for this off season it needs to get 100% of the vote so we really need everyone to completely understand what is going on before it comes to vote. If it gets 75% then it passes for next year.

[bonscott]

Cool.

How is this for the start of a framework.

1) End of regular season - Roster limits are lifted (other then PR of course)

2) During off season there are no roster limits but every team must still be under their salary and contract cap as well as sign their rookies and so forth. Nothing changes there.

3) August 10th (or pick a date) roster limits are once again imposed. By this date all teams over 20 active players must cut enough players to once again have 20 or less, plus up to 2 rookies on the PR.

Analysis: This rule doesn't give any one team an advantage over the other but allows everyone a bit of flexibility in terms of roster space to sign rookies, trade and so forth. If a team chooses to go over 20 then they will incur all penalties to drop said player. This may also give teams with late round rookies a chance to see if they even make their NFL teams or not and if not the rookie can be dropped instead of them having to have dropped a veteran earlier in the season to make room. This also simulates even more what an NFL GM goes thru in the pre-season in terms of having to cut players to get under the roster limit.

[braven112]

3) August 10th (or pick a date) roster limits are once again imposed. By this date all teams over 20 active players must cut enough players to once again have 20 or less, plus up to 2 rookies on the PR.

I'd like to see a date later in the off season that corresponds with an NFL preseason cut date to allow teams to get a feel for players during the preseason and account for any season ending injuries that may occur during that time. The date should also allow time for these dropped players to be added to another teams roster. Perhaps a week or two before the regular season??

[bonesman]

3) August 10th (or pick a date) roster limits are once again imposed. By this date all teams over 20 active players must cut enough players to once again have 20 or less, plus up to 2 rookies on the PR.

I'd like to see a date later in the off season that corresponds with an NFL preseason cut date to allow teams to get a feel for players during the preseason and account for any season ending injuries that may occur during that time. The date should also allow time for these dropped players to be added to another teams roster. Perhaps a week or two before the regular season??

September 1st is when they cut down to 53. The 74 man cut is 8-28, if I'm not mistaken.

[bonscott]

Yep, sounds good. I would think we'd want to do it as close to the NFL date but before Labor Day (as that is just 4 days before the first game).

I'd say one week before Labor day weekend which would be about 2 weeks before the season starts. So this year that would be around the 24th.

Then that gives all teams 2 weeks to bid on any of those guys before the start of the season.

[Achon44]

Yep, sounds good. I would think we'd want to do it as close to the NFL date but before Labor Day (as that is just 4 days before the first game).

I'd say one week before Labor day weekend which would be about 2 weeks before the season starts. So this year that would be around the 24th.

Then that gives all teams 2 weeks to bid on any of those guys before the start of the season.

Yes, I would think no less than 2 weeks.

[bonscott]

So what are we doing with this one? Put it to a vote or more idea discussion?

[braven112]

So what are we doing with this one? Put it to a vote or more idea discussion?

We can put it up to vote, if you want to come up with the phrasing I'll post it tomorrow.

[bonscott]

Ok, here is my attempt. Please reword as needed.

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Proposal: Lift the roster limits in the offseason starting the week after the last game of the fantasy season. Roster limits reinstated the Saturday before Labor Day each season (August 21st in 2008). August 21st, 2008 is then "cut down day" to get back under the roster limits (just like the NFL has cuts in the preseason) and teams will of course take any salary cap hits and penalties for doing so. Any players cut are immediately available to all teams via the FA offseason auction.

If a team fails to get under the roster limit by the deadline the Commish will automatically drop players from their roster starting from the most recent addition and working back until the team is under the limit. Commish: Feel free to come up with something better but I figured we need a rule of punishment if a team doesn't comply.

Explanation: Roster limits currently are maximum of 20 players plus 2 PR (rookies only). The proposal is to lift that maximum amount in the offseason (PR stays at 2 at all times). Salary and contract caps still apply. So teams that go over the limit will take salary cap hits when they have to cut down to the roster limits in the preseason.

Discussion thread: http://dynastytheleague.com/phpBB3/view ... p?f=5&t=61

What prompted the discussion: It all started with a conversation of what to technically do on the web site since it won't allow us to draft rookies directly to the practice squad, thus making the commish temporarily lift the roster requirements during the rookie draft and then cut it back. Then a suggestion came why don't we just lift roster requirements all together in the offseason so not only does the rookie draft issue go away but also gives teams a lot more flexibility in terms of trades and FA moves. In all cases the salary and contract cap will be strictly enforced and any team that decides to sign more players will have to take cap hits on cut down day . Many dynasty leagues do this as a way to even more simulate what an NFL GM really goes thru.

Please join the discussion thread to ask questions before voting if you don't understand the proposal because even 1 no vote will cause it to fail for this season.

[Achon44]

I believe August 21st in 2008 is a Thursday.

[bonscott]

Yep, you are correct. August 23rd would be the date. Fat fingered that one.

[yugimoto]

Hi - I have a request.

I would like additional clarification added to the write-up that specifically states that even though a franchise could exceed the roster limit restriction, they will not be able to add players if it would cause them to exceed the salary cap limit. This was a misunderstanding I had in the referenced thread which would have made me vote no.

Right now the current write-up makes reference to penalites associated at the time of the cut-down date in August, but I am under the impression that during the free agent period we will not be able to add players to our rosters if it would cause us to exceed our salary cap.

Before I vote I want to make sure I have a clear understanding.

Thanks.