Everything But Kickers Bylaws

Everything But Kickers Rulebook

        1.1 League Scale

        1.2 Roster Summary

        1.3 Scoring System Breakdown

        1.4 Regular Season

1.5 Playoffs (Weeks 14-16)

        1.6 Standing Tiebreaker

        1.7 Draft Order

        1.8 Annual Franchise Cost

        1.9 League Prizes

The CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement)

        2.1 The Salary Cap

2.2 Salaries

2.3 Veteran Minimum Salaries

2.4 Contract Lengths

2.5 Contract Restructures and Signing Bonuses

2.6 Dead Money

2.7 The Rookie Draft

2.8 Extending Contracts

2.9 Franchise Tags

        2.10 Free Agent Auction

        2.11 Trading

        2.12 Blind Bidding & Free Agent Acquisition

        2.13 Injured Reserve

        2.14 Suspended Players

        2.15 Retired Players

        2.16 Off-season Roster/Cuts

Inaugural Season Activities

        3.1 Inaugural Prior Rookie Drafts

        3.2 Startup Auction

        3.3 Rookie Picks/Draft

Other

        4.1 Owner Responsibilities

4.2 Code of Conduct

4.3 Commissioner’s Sanctions

        4.4 Changes

        4.5 Abandoned Teams

4.6 New Owners/Insurance Pool

4.7 Commissioner Council

2020 COVID-19 Procedures

1.1 League Scale

Everything But Kickers is a 12-team contract dynasty league.  It is meant to be the IDP version of Owner Mode Dynasty, but almost a “lite” version that will be easier to understand and run. The league includes, but is not limited to, Taxi Squads, Injured Reserve, Salaries, Veteran Minimum Scales, Extending of Contracts, Unrestricted Free Agency, Franchise Tags, and Expanded Off-Season Roster / Cut Dates.

With 12 teams, 2 Conferences and 4 Divisions for scheduling purposes. Everything But Kickers is a standard  fantasy league size. It uses the following positions:

QB, RB, WR, TE, DL, LB, DB, HC

The active roster size will be Min: 30 Max: 40 for in season rosters, expanding to 50 with no minimum in the off-season.

Everything But Kickers will use the official NFL salary number for a given year.

After each season the Conferences will be redistributed into the following, based on the final end of the year standings from the season prior.

1.2 Roster Summary

a.) Active Roster

b.) Taxi Squad

c.) Injured Reserve / Suspended Reserve

a.) Active Roster

There are no minimum/maximum positional roster requirements for any position other than HC, which teams may only have 1 per roster..

(Other than to fill a starting lineup)

Head Coaches are part of the active roster and are played the same as any other player, with the exception that they have a minimum salary of $3.

Total of 18 starters: Any configuration that fits into the minimum and maximum number of starters per position.

For QBs, you may only have three (3) on your active roster in-season, two starters and one backup.  The rest will be kept on the Taxi Squad.

During the off-season, there are no limitations of the roster, except a max of 50 players on the active roster.  Rosters will need to meet min/max limits on a date specified, usually the week of Week 1.

This rule is so that the 10% bench points do not include a group of non-starting QBs.

Note: This setting will not be monitored on MFL so that picking up or dropping of players can still be done.  It will be monitored by the commissioner and rule breakers will be docked $5 of salary cap for the remaining season, or however the commissioner sees fit.

b.) Taxi Squad

Taxi Squad players are discounted by 50% against the salary cap.

All but three (3) QBs must be on the taxi squad, to stay within roster limitations.

In order to be Taxi Squad eligible the player must be within his first 3 seasons in the league, with the exception of QBs.

Teams have until Week 1 to place drafted rookies on the Taxi Squad in order to be eligible for penalty-free drops.

Players may be promoted to the active roster at any time.  But once they are promoted they may not be demoted again, with the exception of QBs.  QBs can still move up and down throughout the season, but once a QB is promoted he will receive a 7-day “cool down” period in which he can not be demoted again.

In order to put the player back on a Taxi Squad they must be moved off the team and re-acquired, either by being released or traded.

Head Coaches may not be placed on the Taxi Squad.

Taxi Squad players may be acquired by other teams.

In order to help ensure the Taxi Squad is used primarily as a developmental tool and not simply to extend or hide players from the active roster, other owners may attempt to claim players on your taxi squad with compensation.

This will be accomplished by the claiming team sending a trade request including the required compensation and stating it is a Taxi Squad Acquisition followed by placing a similar message in the commissioner created message board post, titled “Taxi Squad Acquisition”.  The player’s owner will have 48 hours to accept the trade offer or promote said player to their active roster.  If a player is successfully acquired, the acquiring team must place him on their active roster and the player may not be traded for the remaining of the season, QBs included.

Please follow the compensation requirements chart below:

If there is no response to the trade offer (accept or deny/promote) after 48 hours, the acquiring team may post in their message board post asking for the commissioner to force acquire the player.

It is the owner’s responsibility to post in the message board or contact the commissioner in order to force acquire a player.

Example message board post:

“The Dallas Cowboys would like to acquire Malcolm Mitchell, WR, from the New England Patriots.”

Due to relaxed MFL settings on the Taxi Squad (to allow QBs to move at will) all Taxi Squad movements will be monitored by the commissioner and any violations will be met with penalties, with increasing penalties for multiple violations.

If an offense  occurred on accident, immediately undo the offense and contact the commissioner, to avoid repercussions.

1st offense - Public Warning

2nd offense - $5 cap fine for the FOLLOWING season

3rd offense - Loss of 1st round draft pick in the upcoming draft (this year or next year, earliest pick if no first rounders)

4th offense will result of expulsion from the league with no refund, no exceptions

Example: The Philadelphia Eagles demoted Alshon Jeffery, WR, to the Taxi Squad and activated Nick Foles to the active roster.  Alshon Jeffery is not within his first 3 seasons in the league & Nick Foles cannot be promoted without a demotion of the team’s two active QBs.

c.) Injured Reserve / Suspended Reserve

In order to go onto the injured reserve the player must be designated by MFL as on IR or S.  This enables the team an additional roster spot if needed.  If/when the player’s designation is removed, it is up to the owner to return the player to the active roster.  If a player is activated in the NFL yet still in your reserve list, MFL will not let you submit a lineup.  You must activate that player.

A player’s salary on injured reserve counts 20% against your team salary cap.  This number was decided upon to emulate an NFL player's base salary, while not paying the player's incentives.

If a player is suspended, they may be placed on the team's Injured Reserve list (IR). However, a player on Suspended Reserve may not be removed from the Suspended Reserve without losing the MFL designation of (S).

Players may be dropped from the Suspended Reserve with the same dead money penalties as any other player.

No message board post is required to move players to the Injured Reserve / Suspended Reserve list.

If an offense has occurred on accident, immediately undo the offense and contact the commissioner.

1st offense - Public Warning

2nd offense - $5 cap fine for the FOLLOWING season

3rd offense - Loss of 1st round draft pick in the upcoming draft (this year or next year, earliest pick if no first rounders)

4th offense will result of expulsion from the league with no refund, no exceptions

1.3 Scoring System Breakdown

See MFL page:  https://www68.myfantasyleague.com/2020/options?L=65321&O=09

Bench Points:  10% of bench points will be added to each weekly score.

1.4 Regular Season (Weeks 1-13)

Everything But Kickers will feature weekly head to head matchups from weeks 1-16.

Regular season: Weeks 1-13

Playoffs: Weeks 13-16

Each team will play their own division twice and every other team once.

Ties end as ties during regular season games.

Stat corrections will be final and games are official on Thursdays of the following week.

1.5 Playoffs (Weeks 14-16)

Playoff seeding and structure will be similar, but different, to the NFL for the winners bracket.

Winner Bracket:

The 4 Division Winners and 2 Wildcard teams will make the playoffs.  6 of 16 teams.

American Conference

1. Division winner #1
2. Division winner #2
3. Wildcard team

National Conference

1. Division winner #1
2. Division winner #2
3. Wildcard team

Round 1 – Wildcard Round (Week 14)

• #1 Seeds BYE
• #2 Seed vs #3 Seed

Round 2 – Conference Championships (Week 15)

• #1 Seeds vs remaining conference opponent

Round 3 – Super Bowl

• American Champion vs National Champion
• American Runner-up vs National Runner-up

* Third place will be determined by the highest score between the losers of each Conference Championship.  MFL does not naturally schedule a 3rd place game

1.6 Standings Tiebreaker

Standings tie breaking procedures generally follow the NFL’s, with head to head and division record being the most important.

1. Overall Winning Percentage
2. Head to Head Record
3. Conference Winning Percentage
4. Divisional Winning Percentage
5. Total Points Scored
6. All-Play Winning Percentage

1.7 Draft Order

Draft order: Draft order for non-playoffs teams (picks 1-6) will be strictly based on potential points from weeks 1-13.  Potential points will also be used to determine the order for playoff teams eliminated in the same round, with the exception of teams placing in 3rd, 2nd, or 1st.

1.8 Annual Franchise Cost

It is $40 per year to own a Franchise, plus the required MFL fees.

The MFL site requires a fee: $69.99 ($4.38/owner) if before June 10th, and $89.99 ($5.63/owner) if paid afterwards.

To maintain continuity, in an owner’s first season with the league they will be required to pay an additional 25% of annual due dues ($120/$10 per owner) that will be used as an insurance pool.  This is to allow for the commissioner to attempt to re-populate an orphaned team by offering the team at a discounted price for the first year, to be taken from the deposit from the previous owner.  Total required for an owners first season season: $40 + $10 + $4.38 MFL Fees = $54.40

If MFL offers a discounted rate for the season all extra money, after MFL payment, will be rolled into the insurance pool to help with owner replacement.

In case of league termination the remainder of the Insurance pool will be evenly distributed amongst the members of the league.

Full payment for the league will be required before major off season season activities begin, and will be shown on the league Calendar.

Trading future draft picks will require an additional full prepayment of $40 for that season.

Owners leaving the league may be afforded a refund at the commissioner’ discretion, based on the overall quality of the roster being left behind.  Trading away of future draft picks will significantly decrease the chances of getting a refund for that season’s dues, if paid early.  This normally won’t be an issue as long as the team isn’t in terrible shape.

If an owner has finished the season with negative franchise cash for two consecutive seasons they will be eliminated from the league, but they will be entitled to any refunds for any future paid seasons at the commissioner’s discretion, provided their team isn’t in horrible shape and still has most, if not all, of their future picks.

During the inaugural season only, the franchise cost will be at a discounted $20 flat rate + $10 towards the insurance pool.  $20 = $10 = $30
After the season, if it is determined that the league will not move forward all paid money will be refunded.

1.9 League Prizes

Yearly Awards and Payouts

Super Bowl Winner:  $300

Super Bowl Runner-up:  $120

3rd Place:  $40

Highest Points For (Weeks 1-13) :  $20

During the inaugural season only, the payouts will be as follows:

League Winner:  $100.01

Runner-up:  $40

3rd Place:  $20

Highest Points For (Weeks 1-13) :  $10

2.1 The Salary Cap

Everything But Kickers’s annual salary cap will be the same as the NFL’s salary cap for the given year, to the hundred thousandth dollar.

Example, the 2020 NFL salary cap is $198,200,000.  Therefore the Everything But Kickers salary cap will be $198.2 for the 2020 season.

2.2 Salaries

Player salaries are derived in four ways:

1. Auctions (Free Market Negotiation)
2. Blind Bidding
3. FCFS pickups (Veteran Minimum Scale)
4. The NFL Rookie Scale

All components of salaries are rounded to the nearest $0.10 when manual input is required.  MFL generated salaries may include the cent position.

• $0.05 being rounded up to $.10
• $0.049 being rounded down to $0.0

2.3 Veteran Minimum Scales

Minimum salaries must conform to the current NFL minimum salaries, based on seasons of experience according to the MFL website.

The following chart spells the amounts out:

If a player’s auction value is less than his required veteran minimum amount, the salary must be increased to the veteran minimum.

For multi year deals, the player’s salary may be set at the minimum for the year being signed.  However, if the player restructures their contract, the new contract must conform to the veteran’s minimum chart.

Example: The Oakland Raiders would like to restructure Derek Carr’s contract to give them some space in the following season.  His contract is a 5 year deal, extending to the 2022 season, which he will be a 7th year pro in that time.  His restructured contract must be above the $1.0 veterans minimum limit for the entirety of his contract.

2.4 Contract Lengths

After a player’s market value is determined at auction, owners designate contract lengths.  The contract has a maximum length based on the player’s auction value.

1 year contracts - Any player may be assigned a 1-year deal.

2 year contracts - Any player may be assigned a 2-year deal.

3 year contracts - A player’s auction value must be at least $3 to be given a 3-year deal.

4 year contracts - Drafted rookie contracts are 4 seasons; A player’s auction value must be at least $6 to be given a 4-year deal.

5 year contracts - A player’s auction value must be at least $12 to be given a 5-year deal.l.

Once a player is signed or won at auction, it is the owner’s responsibility to post in the commissioner created message board post stating how long they would like the player's contract length to be.  Owners have 72 hours from winning the bid to create said post or the contract will remain a 1-year deal, with the exception of the UFA auction.

Example post:

Subject: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Contracts

Jamies Winston - $18.2 - 5-year

Derrick Brooks - $7.3 - 4-year

Adam Humphries - $1.9 - 2-year

A player’s value may be increased to the next threshold in order for a team to sign that player to a longer term contract, but must be done on the initial contract designation post.

2.5 Contract Restructures and Signing Bonuses

Each off-season, a team may restructure/apply signing bonuses to two (2) contracts from their team

A restructure allows the owner to move up to half of the salary from the upcoming season and spread it out amongst the remaining seasons of the deal, with a bonus applied to the upcoming season that is equal to 20% of the deferred salary.

A signing bonus is when a bonus is applied to the upcoming season salary that is no greater than half of the season’s salary and then lowering an equal from the following seasons in an even amount per season.

In order to be eligible for a contract restructure/signing bonus, the player must have a minimum of 2 seasons remaining on the contract and must have a minimum of $5 per season on the contract prior to the restructure.

You cannot restructure a contract that was signed during the same off-season.  However, you may apply a signing bonus to the first season on a new contract.

Rookie contracts cannot be restructured.

In order to restructure a contract, the owner will add to the commissioner made message board post and will include the player you’d like to restructure and what you’d like the player’s contract to be for the upcoming season.  Must remain a minimum of half of the original amount.

A contract may only be restructured once.

All Contract Extensions and Franchise Tag amounts will use the base salary of contracts for determining salary price. Therefore, Contracts with Restructures & Signing Bonuses will be tracked by placing the original salary in a players “Years” column for ease of access.

Example:

George Kittle had his $12.80 contract restructured moving half of his current season’s salary over the following 3 seasons.  This gives him a salary of $6.40 in 2020 and $14.90 is all future seasons.  However, he is given a 20% bonus ($1.30 (rounded from$1.28)) in the current season to persuade the player into accepting less guaranteed money in future seasons.

Player                                 2019 Pts         Bye       Salary           Years

Kittle, George SFO TE        245.20             -          $7.70          4 ($12.80)

To apply a restructure/signing bonus, the owner will post in the commissioner created message board post stating what they would like to do and how the contract should be structured, with the math behind it.

Example post:

Subject: 2018 Off-season Restructures

The San Francisco 49ers would like to restructure George Kittle’s contract to $7.70 for the upcoming season.  He has 4 seasons remaining of a $12.80/season contract.  We are electing to move half ($6.40) of his contract to later seasons and applying a 20% bonus of said amount ($1.30) to the current season, making his contract $14.90/season for the remaining seasons.

2.6 Dead Money

Cutting a player will result in a cap penalty against the team for the remaining seasons of the contract and will remain in the contract books for the remainder of the contract’s length, according to this chart:

If released, signing bonus/restructured contracts will be treated with the player’s original salary and years remaining.

When a team cuts a player they must create a post in the Commissioner made message board post stating what player the team cut, their salary, length of the original contract, and how many seasons remain.

A player is considered to be on their current season until the MFL site is rolled over into the following season and all contracts are subtracted by a year...yes, even after the seasonal league is over.

Dead Money will be calculated to the nearest cent ($.01) due to MFL limitations.

Dead Money will be tracked from season to season by the commissioner, using the publicly available “Contract Books” tab on the MFL homepage.

In order to be released from a contract, the owner will add to the commissioner made message board post and will include the player you’d like to release.  This ensures the commissioner loads the player on the contract books.

Example post:
Subject:  Contract Extensions
Post:  The San Francisco 49ers released Marquise Goodwin from his $7.1 - 2-year contract.

2.6.1 Contract Buyouts

Teams may choose to “buyout” the salary for each remaining season on a contract, at a cost of 50%.

Example:

The Baltimore Ravens want to buy out Mark Ingram’s the remaining salary of his 3 year $12 contract contract.

3 years of $12 is $36.  50% of $36 is $18.

The Ravens would pay $18 against the current season’s salary cap, drop Ingram, and be relieved of his contract.

To request a contract buyout, the owner will post in the commissioner created message board post stating the buyout, along with the math behind it.

Teams have 24 hours to post the request before it is considered a regular drop.

Example post:
Subject: 2020 Contract Buyouts
The Baltimore Ravens would like to buyout Mark Ingram’s contract.  His contract is $12 with 3 years remaining.
3 years of $12 is $36.  Half of $36 is $18.

Teams are limited to two (2) contract buyouts per season.

2.7 The Rookie Draft

The annual rookie draft will be an email draft with 7 rounds and 12 players per round.  Rookies will be given 4-year contracts, with 1st round rookies being allowed a 5th year option.

The draft date will be voted upon, but will be roughly 2 weeks after the NFL draft.

Draft order for non-playoffs teams (picks 1-10) will be strictly based on potential points.  Potential points will also be used to determine the order for playoff teams eliminated in the same round.

Teams have a set amount of time to choose before they are skipped.  Teams may also choose to forgo their picks at any time.

The draft timer will be set for 12 hours, with an 8 hour “sleep” period between 11pm and 7am EST.

If a rookie is not in the MFL database yet, you may post in the message boards once you are on the clock and a commissioner will draft a placeholder for the rookie until MFL adds him.  This will be the only time unlisted players will be added by the commissioner.

The rookie deals will have a wage scale, which will be based on the 1.01 pick being 4.5% of the salary cap for the given year.  Each subsequent first round pick will be 96% of the pick prior.  Beginning with the 2.01 pick, each subsequent pick will be 97% of the pick before.  All values are rounded to the next tenth of a dollar.

Teams have 72 hours after the conclusion of the draft to make the necessary moves to sign or release their draft picks and be under the salary cap.  Afterwards the commissioner may make the necessary drops from the draft class to secure a team within standards.

If any compensatory picks are awarded, for any reason, the picks will be paid according to the player directly above when the compensatory player was drafted at.

If a team wants to enact a 5th year option, for 1st round draft picks only, they may do so any time before the start of the players 4th season under contract by creating a message board post stating what player and their salary.

Rookie contracts cannot be restructured for any reason.

2.8 Extending Contracts

In the off-season, teams may extend the contract of two (2) players by an extra 3 seasons, no more or less.  The only players eligible to extend are players with exactly 1 season left under contract.  Franchise tagged players are eligible.

Extensions will be determined by salary tiers and positional rankings.  Salary tiers are based on the 12 subsequent highest paid players at each position.  Positional rankings are what rank a player’s points scored places him in the prior season.

For a salary tier example, the top 12 running backs salaries would be the RB1 Tier, the next 12 would be in the RB2 tier, and so on and so on. A positional ranking example is the quarterback that scored the thirteenth most points the prior season would be QB13.

When the Everything But Kickers season rolls over the commissioner will post how much each salary tier is down to the 5th tier, based on the top 60 paid players at the position.

The player being extended’s highest scoring season, out of their previous two seasons, will be used to compare against the salary tiers of the current season.  The positional ranking will determine what tier the player will need to be paid to accept the extension.  Players will sign for their positional tier average, plus 10%.  Or their current salary, plus 20%, whichever is higher.

For example, a wide receiver scored 131.1 points in 2019 and 201.2 points in 2018.  His 2018 stats are higher, so they will be compared to the prior season’s player stats.  A wide receiver that scored 201.2 points would be the WR22 in positional rankings, putting him in the WR2 salary tier.  The 2019 WR2 salary tier is $8.42, plus 10% is $9.26.  (rounded to $9.30)

If a player does not have a positional ranking in the top 60 they will automatically use the +20% rule.

Superstar rule: If a player being extended has a top 3 position ranking, they will automatically want to be the highest paid at their position by $0.10, or their current salary plus 20%, whichever is higher.

In order to extend a contract, the owner will add to the commissioner made message board post and will include the player you’d like to extend and what the salary should be.

Example post:
Subject:  Contract Extensions
Post:  The Detroit Lions would like to extend Golden Tate’s contract and up his salary to $9.30.  He finished with 201.2 points in 2018, which puts him in WR2 tier.  WR2 tier is $8.42, so that plus 10% is $9.26, rounded up to $9.30.

Players may not be extended if they are on a one (1) season deal.
All extensions must follow the minimum veteran wage chart, according to the last season with the extension.

After the initial rookie draft in the initial season, players in the final year of their contract may be extended using the positional tiers after the startup auction.

2.9 Franchise Tag

To retain exclusive rights to a UFA with an expired contract you may place that player on a 1-year franchise tag.  The tag is usually calculated as an average of the top 5 salaries at a player’s position.  The calculation for the upcoming off-season is done on the first regular season game of the current season.

The tag may also be calculated at 120% of the player’s salary from the previous season, whichever is greater.

A player may be franchise tagged multiple seasons in a row.

When using a franchise tag to extend a player’s expiring contract, the franchise tag will not be able to be used again in the same off-season.

Each franchise can use one (1) franchise tag per off-season and the salary is fully guaranteed.

Franchise tags may be used to extend a player’s contract.

2.10 Free Agent Auction

The UFA Auction will be open to all unrestricted free agents, including players that were not rostered at the end of the previous season.

Bids on UFA auctions will be proxy bids, and high bids will stand for 12 hours.

A team may only (but does not have to) nominate three (3) UFAs per calendar day during the auction.  Any additional players nominated may result in a $0.1 fine against the current year’s cap per infraction.

Players won via auction need to be assigned a contract length within 72 hours of being won, or the player will default to a 1-year deal.

Players won via auction will need to be within the veteran minimum chart.  If they are not, they will be set there by the commissioner and it will still be the responsibility of the team owner to stay within the salary cap.

Releasing and trading of players will be allowed during this time to any player not signed during the current off-season.

Once a player is signed or won at auction, it is the owner’s responsibility to create a message board post (or add to a recurring post) stating how long they would like to player’s contract length to be.  Owners have 72 hours to create said post, or the contract will remain a 1-year deal.

Example post:

Subject: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Contracts

Jamies Winston - $18.2 - 5-year

Derrick Brooks - $7.3 - 4-year

Adam Humphries - $1.9 - 2-year

2.11 Trading

Trades do NOT require approval by the commissioner.

Future picks may be traded up to one (1) season in the future, provided the owner has fully paid for that season.

It is the owner’s responsibility to stay within the salary cap and any player transactions that creates a salary cap issue will be reversed, including any transactions made after the issue was caused.

The trading deadline is the kick off of week 13.  Trading will be turned back off shortly after the roll over into the following MFL season.

Due to Taxi Squad acquisition, trading will never be turned off using MFL settings.

Players without a completed contract (salary and length) may NOT be traded.  If a player is traded without a contract length applies, it will be assumed that the 1/1 seasons is the final contract.

2.12 Blind Bidding & Free Agent Acquisition

Free agents are acquired via auction in the off-season, but they are also acquired via blind bidding during the season and in the off-season after the auction.

Bids will NOT be proxy bids.  The winning bid, during blind bidding or First Come First Serve bidding, will become the player’s salary, with a maximum salary being a 2-year veteran minimum salary.  Players acquired via blind bidding receive a 1-year contract, with the option to sign for 2 seasons.

Once acquired via in-season blind bid, a player must remain on your roster through the signing team’s next completed game.

Tuesday is the preferred day to release the player, but no actual rule stating it has to be done that day.

Blind bid ties will be won based on inverse standings criteria.

All winning bids must follow the veteran minimum wage chart.

In-season blind bidding will process Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 12am ET.

First Come First Served Waivers start at 12:15am ET on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, after BB processes.

All Free Agents will lock at 8:15pm Thursday and 1pm ET Sundays.

Off-season blind bidding will process Wednesdays until a week before the first game.

There is no off-season free agent acquisition, other than blind bidding.

2.13 Injured Reserve

Any player designated by MFL as on IR may be placed on the Injured Reserve (IR) list.  This enables the team an extra roster spot and helps on salary cap stress.

If/when the player’s designation is removed, it is up to the owner to return the player to the active roster.  MFL will not allow you to submit a lineup with an IR violation.  You must activate the player.

A player on the Injured Reserve list counts 20% against your salary cap for the time period that they are on Injured Reserve.  If activated during the season, the player’s full salary will again count towards the team’s salary cap.

2.14 Suspended Reserve

Any player designated by MFL as Suspended may be placed on the Injured Reserve list.

If/when the player’s designation is removed, it is up to the owner to return the player to the active roster.  MFL will not allow you to submit a lineup with an IR violation.  You must activate the player.

If a player is suspended they may be placed on the team's Injured Reserve list.  A Suspended Reserve player’s salary counts 20% against the team salary cap, same as injured reserve.  However, a player on Suspended Reserve may not be removed from the Suspended Reserve without losing the MFL designation of (S).

Players may be dropped from the Suspended Reserve with the same dead money penalties as any other player.

No message board post is required to move players to the Injured Reserve / Suspended Reserve list.

2.15 Retired Players

A player that retired from the NFL may be dropped from your roster with no penalties.

In order to remove any penalties, the owner will cut the player and post in a commissioner created message board post

Example post:

Subject:  Drew Brees Retirement

Body:  Drew Brees, QB, retired from the NFL.  Please remove the dead money from the New Orleans Saints.

2.16 Off-season Roster / Cuts

An off-season active roster opens to 50 active roster spots, but must be dropped to 40 before a certain date before the first game.

These additional 10 spots can be used on trades,, UFA, or rookies.

When the 40-man cut down day occurs the commissioner will create a message board post and each team will place their cuts in the post.  The post should include the player cut, their salary, length of the original contract, and how many seasons remain.

Example post:

The New York Giants have cut:

Shane Vereen, RB - $3.6 4 year contract, with 2 seasons remaining

Eli Manning, QB - $8.0 5 year contract, with 1 seasons remaining

Victor Cruz, WR, - $1.2 1 year contract, with 1 season remaining

3.1 Inaugural Season Concept

It is agreed upon by teams when entering the inaugural season of the Everything Buy Kickers that this is an experimental league that may only last one season.  The league will fold unless 8 or more of the 12 original teams do not return for further seasons.

Because of this, the price to own a franchise is a flat $20, with a $10 insurance pool fee, which is guaranteed to be refunded if the league folds.

If a team would like to purchase future seasons in order to trade picks they may, but at that point they must pay the full $44.40 fee.  This will be refunded if the league folds.

3.2 Inaugural Prior-Rookie Drafts

In addition to the startup draft, we will hold one (1) separate inaugural prior-rookie draft, covering only the 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 draft classes.  The purpose of the prior-rookie draft is to provide a more realistic market from the start of the inaugural season by having  5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd year players enter the UFA auctions over the next few seasons.

A random draft order will be emailed to the league and the draft will be a Third Round Reversal snake draft.  Only twelve (12) players from any individual draft class may be selected.  If a thirteenth player is selected, they will be dropped and the owner will receive no re-pick.

We will follow what MFL says to determine what draft class players belong to.

Immediately after the draft is concluded, the commissioner will assign contracts according to the following criteria:

-The 2016 picks will be assumed to be on their 5th year option and will be eligible to extend their contract based on the initial auction salaries.

-The 2017 picks will all be on their 4th year in their contract and teams will need to decide on their 5th year option after the startup auction, or extend their contract.

-The 2018 picks will be in their 3rd year of their contract and the 2019 picks will be in the 2nd.

-All the draft picks contracts will go off of the rookie wage charts provided in the Prior-Rookie Draft tab on the home page, according to the season the player was drafted.  The pick number will be determined by the order  the players were drafted according to their respective draft class.

The draft will be conducted via the MFL draft site.  Each pick will be available for 24 hours, after which the pick will be skipped and the draft will continue.  Once the skipped party returns they will be able to pick from the available players.

Picks may be skipped at an owner’s request..

Picks are tradable, but all traded must be for an equal amount of picks.  All owners will start with four (4) picks.

Any remaining players from those draft classes will be considered free agents and will be in the startup auction.

3.3 Startup Auction

Owners will have access to their entire remaining budget during the auction.

Minimum bids from all players is $0.5.  All bids must be in $0.1 increments.

Each team will place three (3) players up for auction at the auction start time.  Owners will not be able to bid on any player until they have made their 3 nominations.

Owners will not be able to bid until they have both made their nominations on the league’s “Auction Bid” MFL page and posted in the commissioner created “Inaugural Auction” message board post.  It is essentially your entry ticket to be allowed to participate in the bidding.

The maximum number of players that can be up for auction at any time is 50.  As soon as a player is won any team can nominate a new player to replace the recently won player.  The point is to ensure that the number of players up at auction is consistently close to, if not, 50.

The auction will end once the number of players has dropped to below 24 for 12 consecutive hours, at which point, the commissioners will issue a 48-hour warning.  Once the 48 is up there will be no more nominations and any non-nominated players will become free agents.

Auction timers are 24-hours, and will only be reset if there is a new high bidder.

Teams must have roster space and at least $0.5 to make a nomination.

All players won in the startup auction must have contracts assigned within three (3) days after the auction has been fully completed and the lottery balls have been drawn, whichever happens last.

All contract salaries and contract lengths must adhere to the veteran minimum salary and minimum contract charts.

Any player that is not assigned a contract or that has been given more than 2 invalid contracts will be given a 1-year deal.

It is your responsibility to read the bylaws and make sure that you understand how contracts work in the league.  The commissioner is there to help, but is not available 100% of the time.

Inaugural Rookie Draft Lottery Ball Amounts will be added as “players” to be bid upon in the startup draft.  Once the auction is over the salary used to win the Lottery Ball bids will be refunded to the teams.

It is important to remember that each pick is already slotted out on the salaries they will receive, so that should be a basic guide on valuable each of the lottery picks should be worth.

Example:

With the 14.03 pick, the Indianapolis Colts won the bid on “260 Draft Balls”.  The Colts will then receive a 26% chance at receiving the lowest draft position.

More is explained in 3.3.

3.4 Inaugural Rookie Draft

The Initial Rookie Draft will be ran EXACTLY as any other annual rookie draft will be, with the exception of that the order will be decided upon immediately following the conclusion of the Startup Auction.

The draft order will be decided by 1000 lottery balls, which will be split up and added as twelve (12)  individual “players” to be bid upon during the startup draft.  Similar to the NBA draft, “players” worth more balls have a higher chance of getting the first draft slot, and the balls will be picked using draftpicklottery.com.  The following chart is the weighted ball amounts and chances at drafting 1.01:

Lottery Ball sets are tradeable.

Immediately following the conclusion of the inaugural draft, the commissioners will enter the teams, with their corresponding “Draft Balls” into draftpicklottery.com and hold a draft, which will decide the draft positions.  The commissioner will need to input the draft order into MFL and upon the conclusion of that trading will open shortly afterwards.

A team may own multiple Lottery Ball Amounts, and, on the other side, teams do not have to bid on Lottery Ball Amounts during the startup draft.  It is not a requirement to have any draft picks in the inaugural rookie draft.

Once a team knows what picks they own they should also know the exact amount of salary cap room they need to have to draft the players.

Example:

The Indianapolis Colts won the bid on “300 Draft Balls”.

Unfortunately, after a draft was held on draftpicklottery.com, “300 Draft Balls” was selected second.  The Colts will receive the 2nd pick in each round of the Inaugural Rookie Draft.

4.1 Owner Responsibilities

Preparation is the key to short-term survival and long-term success in a dynasty league. Owners are expected to be prepared for the inaugural and annual rookie draft and to monitor NFL activities throughout the regular season and off-season, including but not limited to up-to-date knowledge of player injuries and which players and coaches have changed teams or retired.

Participation is the lifeblood of this league, even more than rivalries, free agents, statistics or drafts. Maintaining a sense of community and respect among owners is vital to the Everything But Kickers long-term survival and owners’ long-term enjoyment. 

In addition to the above, owners are also required to adhere to the following responsibilities on behalf of their teams. An owner who fails to adhere to one or more of these responsibilities will be subject to Commissioner's Sanctions:

Owners are responsible for knowing and following the rules and schedule listed in the Everything But Kickers bylaws.
Owners are responsible for responding to emails or private messages from the commissioner or other owners in a timely manner.
Owners are responsible for taking part in league votes and debates.
Owners are responsible for regularly accessing the league's MFL site.
Owners are responsible for responding to trade offers in a timely manner.
Owners are responsible for participating in all required league functions and scheduled events, whether they occur in the regular season or off-season.
Owners are responsible for submitting weekly lineups.
Owners are responsible for notifying the commissioner if they will be away for an excessive period of time so arrangements can be made to set lineups and/or manage the team during that owner’s absence.

Owners are allotted a time limit to draft, but efforts should be made to not require the full amount of time available.  Pace of play is killing baseball, lets not let it kill Everything But Kickers.

4.2 Code of Conduct

Anti-competitive conduct is defined as owners or teams engaging in conduct that prevents, reduces or otherwise negatively affects the natural competition and well-being of the league. The following anticompetitive actions are strictly prohibited, and violations of these rules shall subject an owner or owners to Commissioner's Sanctions, which may include immediate removal from the league:

Tanking: Owners are expected to use their best efforts to set their best available lineup every week of competition, even if they are well out of playoff contention. Tanking is defined as failing to submit their best available starting lineup either intentionally or through indifference. It is understood that owners may play hunches on who to start and won’t always start the player who scores the most points.
However, an owner who knowingly benches star players or obvious starting players in favor of players who are marginal, clearly injured, benched, suspended or on their bye weeks shall be subject to Commissioner's Sanctions for a first offense. A second offense shall result in that owner’s immediate removal from the league. Plus, we draft according to potential points, so there should be little reason to tank.

Anti-competitive Trades: Owners may not make trades that result in worsening their own team in order to stock another team playing a third team they want or need to lose. Owners may not make trades if they do not intend to return to the league for the next season. If an owner does not intend to return to the league, they should announce their retirement publicly and play out the season using their best efforts; the incoming replacement owner should be permitted to inherit an intact team and make their own trades and roster decisions. The commissioner may retroactively void a trade if there is clear and convincing evidence that the trade was prohibited on anti-competitive grounds that were not apparent at the time of the trade.

Collusion: Collusion is defined as two or more owners making arrangements and/or acting in concert to influence the results of league activities such as game outcomes, draft standing or player availability. Any unsportsmanlike conduct coordinated between two or more owners is considered to be collusion, as is teams trading to consolidate better players on one team and/or agreeing to share payouts by acting in concert. Owners engaging in collusion are subject to immediate removal from the league.

Dumping: An owner who, without good reason, cuts players from their team who are obviously valuable is subject to Commissioner's Sanctions. If an owner continues to dump players after sanctions are imposed, the owner shall be removed from the league. It is understood that teams can and will drop “borderline” players from their rosters, but dropping obvious fantasy starters or large amounts of average players in an attempt to increase draft position, make players available to others by way of collusion or sabotage the integrity of the league shall not be tolerated.

An owner who’s personal conduct is deemed by the commissioner to be consistently and flagrantly disrespectful to other owners or the league is subject to Commissioner’s Sanctions. Such conduct includes but is not limited to posting chat or comments containing serious threats of violence, offensive comments regarding race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, or engaging in any kind of persistent harassment or bullying. In general, if an owner would get punched in the face by saying it to the guy sitting on the next bar stool, an owner should probably refrain from saying it here.

4.3 Commissioner’s Sanctions

If at any time an owner violates league rules or engages in conduct judged by the commissioner as detrimental to the league in any way, the commissioner has both the authority and obligation to act to protect the league and to act in it’s best interests. The commissioner may impose sanctions against an owner or team found to have violated league rules or conducted themselves in a manner detrimental to the league. The commissioner is subject to the same penalties as the rest of the league. It is expected that commissioner’s use of sanctions will be rare, appropriate to the offense, proportionate to its severity, and not undertaken lightly.

Commissioner's Sanctions include but are not limited to the following:
Public warning
Deductions from overall and divisional point totals
Retroactive cancellation of trades, with the possibility of forfeits declared for any games affected by the cancelled trade
Suspension of bidding rights for a specified period
Suspension of trading rights for a specified period
Suspension or benching of players for a specified period
Suspension of chat room privileges for a specified period
Suspension of an owner or co-owners for a specified period, with their team forfeiting all games occurring during the suspension Forced waiving of players
Loss of future draft choices
Loss of annual Franchise Tag

Loss of the right to extend contracts
Removal of an owner or co-owners from the league
Any combination of the above sanctions deemed appropriate by the commissioner.
The commissioner may impose and enforce sanctions at any time, including retroactively. The commissioner may use an owner’s past record in considering the length or severity of sanctions.

4.4 Changes

A situation may arise in which the league rules, as written, may lend themselves to harming the position or integrity of the league in a way that was unintended.  In the event of such an occurrence, the commissioners have the right to re-evaluate the league rules to determine whether applying a literal interpretation of the rule to the situation at hand would render a result that differs from the intent of that rule, and the commissioner may forego application of the rule as written in favor of the rule’s intent.  In the event the commissioner take this action, it is required to email all league owners in a timely manner to inform them of the decision and its reasoning.

In the event that a situation arises that is not covered by applicable language or direction in the league rules, the commissioners may use their own discretion to resolve the issue.  In the event a situation arises that is governed by a rule containing unintended ambiguities in its language, the commissioner may use their own discretion to resolve the issue. If either of these events occurs, the commissioner will be expected to apply his discretionary rule consistently for any significantly similar situation for the remainder of the season.

At the end of each season, the commissioner will have a 7-day period for teams to submit up to two (2) proposed rule changes each.  The rule changes will be expected to improve the league, but not to alter the integrity or the ideas that the league is founded on.  After the 7-day period is up, the commissioner will create a message board post outlining each of the proposed rule changes.  After 7 further days, the league will vote on each rule, using the MFL voting system.

In order to change a rule there must be 9 teams (75%) voting to change.  A non-vote is acted as a vote against the change.

Minor changes to the bylaws (spelling/punctuation, rewording, general errors) do not require a vote.

In the event of the cancellation of an NFL season, the Everything But Kickers season will also be cancelled and all payout money shall be carried over to the following season.

If a human error is made by the commissioner while acting within the scope of their authority and/or responsibility, all attempts shall be made to retroactively correct the error and its subsequent ramifications upon discovery or notification of the error.

4.5 Abandoned Teams

If a team has been abandoned mid-year, unless a replacement owner can be found immediately, the commissioner will set the roster using his best judgment each week. If the commissioner’s team is playing the abandoned team during any week, another team can propose a starting lineup and the commissioner will honor that.

If the abandoned team wins any money at the end of the season, those earnings will go into the next year’s prize pool.

Teams will be considered abandoned if one of the following occurs:

The Franchise Owner sends an email to the commissioner or to the league stating that they would like to retire.

An owner doesn’t log into the league website for a period of 4 weeks without communicating to the commissioners. In addition, if an owner doesn’t set their lineup for two (2) consecutive weeks without notifying the commissioner, the commissioner will issue a warning to that individual via email, if the owner doesn’t respond to this email or doesn’t set their lineup for a third week, the team will be considered abandoned and the owner will be removed from the league. Once an owner has been removed, they will not receive a refund from Leaguesafe.com and they are no longer eligible to win any prize money.

If an owner elects to leave the league, they shall forfeit any dues paid for the following:

The current fantasy football season.

Future seasons payments, if any of that team’s picks for those given years have been traded away.

Any contributions of his/her dues that may be reserved for the insurance pool.

If an owner has prepaid for a year in advance, decides to leave, and hasn’t traded any of their picks, they are entitled to a refund for that season.

4.6 New Owners / Insurance Pool

In the event a new owner is needed, the new owner will be selected based on first to pay the required league dues.

If in-season, if the new owner is replacing a team that was kicked out of the league (abandoned/sanctions) and the team’s season dues had already been paid, the orphan team may be shopped for free ($0) for the remaining current season, but only with full payment for the following season ($40).

If in-season, and the orphaned team’s previous owner received a refund, the orphaned team may be shopped for up to $20 (50%) discounted.

In-season new owners will have all dead money associated with their team dropped, for current and future seasons.

During the off-season, and based on the overall health of the orphaned team, the commissioner may waive up to $20 (50%) of the first year dues.  Money will be pulled from the insurance pool to cover this for payouts.  Teams should be shopped/advertised at full price until the commissioner decides they need to lower the price.

Off-season acquired new owners will receive a 72-hour period to cut any player with three (3) or less years remaining on their contract without any dead money.  They will also have their dead money dropped, for current and future seasons.  This allows teams to make the team their own without damaging the integrity of the league.

However, any new owners will be required to pay their full one-time-payment share of the insurance pool ($10) and the MFL dues ($4.38) for the upcoming season.

4.7 Commissioner Council

Due to the complexity and time commitment required to maintain this league, a league council will be formed to help the commissioner take care of league duties.  The commissioner will have overview/responsibility over the entire league, while the council will monitor teams from the opposite conference, as to prevent self interest decisions and/or collusion.

The league shall be governed by a commissioner and council (“Commissioner Council”). The purpose of the council is to disburse commissioner duties, should the commissioner require, and help make decisions, in order to prevent any league dictatorship issues.

The League Council will consist of the following 3 positions:

Commissioner (1)

Casey

Council (2)

(Inaugural Season – In the first season, the commissioner will post a thread on the message board looking for individuals who are interested in becoming part of the League Council. There will be an application posted from Google Forms, and positions will be awarded to the 2 most qualified individuals who have experience in Dynasty leagues. The league council will be selected by the commissioner during the inaugural season, and positions will be given based on experience.  The Council shall be chosen before the Initial Auction to make sure the council is in opposite conferences.)

In the event of a council member leaving the league or stepping down from their position, the remaining council members shall elect a new council member through a unanimous (2/2) vote.

All council members shall be subject to the same penalties and Commissioner's Sanctions as the rest of the league.

2020 COVID-19 Procedures

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL is allowing players to “opt out” of the 2020 season.  Doing so essentially freezes their contracts and they will receive a small stipend in return.   MyFantasyLeague.com is showing these players with a (H) designation on the player’s name.

The NFL has enacted a COVID-19 List, which acts as a Injured Reserve for the period of time that a player has tested positive for the virus or been exposed.  Players will be placed on the list for a minimum of 3-weeks, but it is open-ended in length.  MyFantasyLeague.com is showing these players with an (I) designation on the player’s name.

Furthermore, as of August 3, 2020, the NFL has given no indication that there will be any sort of shortened season, but I have drafted a basic plan in case it does happen.

However, Everything But Kickers has made the following emergency changes to cope with the changes the NFL has announced, along with procedures if there is a shortened season.

1. Teams will have unlimited Injured Reserve spots, and only players designated with a(n) (H), (C) or (I) can be placed there.
2. Players designated with a(n) (H) or (C) cannot be added from free agency, either by add/drop or waivers.
3. Teams that have “Opt Out” players under contract have two choices.

1. Post in the “2020 COVID-19 Player Opt Outs” messageboard post that you would like to shut down said player for the 2020 season, place the player on IR, and receive a salary cap credit for the player’s salary.  The player’s contract year will not be exhausted and the player is not tradable for the 2020 season.
2. Place the player on IR, at full IR price.  The player’s contract year will be exhausted, however, the player’s rights are tradable.

4. As usual, all efforts should be made to play with a full starting lineup.  However, with the possibility of player’s being placed on the COVID-19 list at a moment’s notice, exceptions to sanctions can/will be made if there is not ample time to change out the player.  A team that started a player on the COVID-19 list still may not swap with a healthy player once said player’s game has started.
5. Shortened Season Playoffs Scenarios (Will all be based on the assumption that there is no games played after the decision to shorten the season is made)

1. 16 Games - Business as usual.
2. 13-15 Games - Playoff games will be scheduled as normal, but the outcomes will be based on the competing team’s “All-Play Record.”  Any playoff games/weeks that are held and finalized before the cancellation are final.  1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Regular Season Highest Points will pay out as normal.  Divisions will be redistributed as normal.
3. 7-12 Games - Standings will follow the current standings format, with the exception of “All-Play Record” will move into the #3 position in the standings tiebreaker.  Playoff teams will be calculated in the same way as normal, with the 4 division winners and 2 wildcard teams.  Playoff games will be scheduled as normal, but the outcomes will be based on the competing team’s “All-Play Record.”  1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Regular Season Highest Points will pay out as normal. Divisions will be redistributed as normal.
4. 6 Games or Under - MFL counts 7 weeks of games as a season and therefore makes the $69.99 we paid for the league non-refundable.  Therefore, if there are 6 NFL weeks or under, the 2020 EBK season standings (PF, PP, and record) and league fees will be rolled into the 2021 season.  No playoffs or payouts will be held.  Divisions will not be redistributed after the season.

6.  Shortened Season Rookie Draft Order Scenarios

1. 16 Games - Business as usual.
2. 7-15 Games - Teams will follow the usual draft order scenarios, with potential points determining the order for non-playoff teams.  Playoff teams will use the Shortened Season Playoff Scenario for 13-15 Games as the base for determining the outcomes of each round of playoffs.  Potential Points are still the tie-breaker for teams eliminated in the same round.
3. 3-6 Games - Teams will be ranked with two categories, All-Play Record and Potential Points.  Those two rankings will be averaged together to determine the draft order.  If there is a tie, the tie-breaker will be the All-Play Record.
4. 1-2 Games - Teams will be ranked with two categories, All-Play Record and Potential Points.  Potential points will be counted twice.  Those three rankings will be averaged together to determine the draft order.  If there is a tie, the tie-breaker will be the All-Play Record.
5. 0 Games - Lottery Draft with the same amount of balls and ball sets. A FantasyPros.com league Projected Standings will be pulled on the week of league cancellation and used to determine the amount of lottery balls given to each team, with the worst projected team receiving the biggest ball set, and so forth.  (Fantasy site is up for debate and can be voted upon).

7.  Shortened Season Rookie Contract Scenarios

1. 7-16 Games - All contracts will exhaust one year, per usual, with the exception of the opt-out players that teams elected to freeze.
2. 1-6 Games - Teams may elect to exhaust one year from all contracts on their team or exhaust none, with the exception of opt-out players that teams elected to freeze. A 5% credit will be applied to the 2021 salary cap.
3. 0 Games - No contracts will exhaust a season.  A 10% credit will be applied to the 2021 salary cap.