How do we handle players that opt out?

[braven112]

This is kind of an offshoot of this thread but here I want to specifically discuss how we handle players that opt out...

Looks like the NFL will allow players to opt out for the 2020 season. I'm not sure if that has affected anyone yet but presumable it could. In my other league I was planning on using the practice squad(taxi squad) for this, but we already use that here.

What do you guys think of allowing players that opt out to be on the practice squad? That would add money back to the team so could find a replacement. Should it still count as a year is the contract "paused" for the year.

[bocious]

Is there a way to have two separate taxi/practice squads, one for our actual practice squad players and one for the rona? If so, my inclination would be to move all the rona players to that separate taxi squad and give them all a salary of $200k or something.

[braven112]

As of now there isn't a way to do that. It's possible MFL adds an additional feature but I doubt it. We could still be creative with how we handle player salaries though regardless. We could also use the IR for this and come up with some other way to save the current salaries and still free up cap space for owners to pick up a replacement player.

[Wascawy Wabbits]

We could just wild wild west it and open the taxi squad this season for all players. Make roster transactions w/ the taxi squad easily viewable on the front page so it's easier for everyone to track each others moves with the taxi and hold each other accountable.

In some other leagues I'm in, the taxi squad is locked in season and we would have to message the commish to make a move with it. We could turn the taxi squad to be unlimited and request that certain players that get put on the COVID list be put on the taxi? It could be a pain though to not be able to manipulate your cap to make certain moves on a whim though in addition to more administration.

[Cybergeek]

I'm more inclined to treat opt out players like we did when L. Bell sat out for a season. Owners decide to keep player on active roster or not.

Second choice, treat them exactly like an injured player. Place them on IR to free up a roster spot, with full salary against the cap. No pausing of the contract.

[braven112]

I'm more inclined to treat opt out players like we did when L. Bell sat out for a season. Owners decide to keep player on active roster or not.

Second choice, treat them exactly like an injured player. Place them on IR to free up a roster spot, with full salary against the cap. No pausing of the contract.

Holdout's are different. In that scenario, NFL players are specifically not following the what the NFL wants and are choosing to not be a part of the NFL until their demands are met.

In this case the NFL has changed their rules added a new classification for these players and provided some sort of salary cap relief for teams that have players that decide to opt out. They've decided that the year will count as an accrued year. So we'll do something that follows the spirit of the NFL rule. We just need to figure out the details.

Using our existing practice squad salary rules where players on the covid opt out list would count at 50% feels like a good way to address this and we have some existing rules in place that we can follow.

[braven112]

Looks like the NFL's opt out date has passed. Here is what I'm planning on doing based off my understanding of the NFL rules. Please let know if I'm interpreting anything incorrectly from the NFL's position on this topic.

NFL wise players that opt out will be eligible to have their contracts "frozen" for the year. Teams will get salary cap relief.

We'll just do the same thing as best we can. So players that have officially opted out will be eligible for the practice/taxi squad and thus will only be counted at 50% of their salary. You'll also be able to keep whatever your contract is this season and it will carry over, as is, till next season. That means if you have a player at 2 years for 1,000,000 in 2020. He'll have the exact same contract in 2021 (no 10% bump in pay and still 2 years).

You don't have to put your player there if you don't want salary cap relief or if you don't want his salary "frozen".

From a team logistics stand point I'm hoping this will be easy but it may mean you'll need to contact me if you need to move players on or off the practice squad if you have a player on the opt out list. Other than that we should be business as usual.

The above only applies to players on the official opt out list.

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Players that end up on the COVID list throughout the season, that didn't opt out, will be treated like IR players. They will be given a (C) to denote they are on the COVID list. They'll be eligible to return when they are off the list.

Same IR rules will apply in that 100% of their salary will still count against the cap but a roster spot on the active roster is freed up.

[braven112]

Looks like MFL is now going to separate holdouts from the covid list so we'll be able to follow suit. Players on the COVID list will now be given a (C) designation and those players will be eligible for the IR. I just updated the above post to reflect that.

More details about MFL's rule here: https://www50.myfantasyleague.com/2020/ ... id&L=61298