Commissioner Issue
First time commish and i missed this rule and someone already took advantage of it…
So this is my first time being a commish and forgot to change the rule setting of bench players can’t be dropped once their games start and someone took advantage of it tonight. Should I allow this to go through because of my negligence? Im thinking of just keeping the setting the same this week to be fair for everyone but then changing it next week for the rest of the season so it doesn’t happen again. Give me some of your thoughts on how to handle this properly.
Yeah this. We have it in ours and every week the same guys cycle through potential RB handcuffs/backups in case someone gets injured. It’s personal/league preference whether you have it or not, but you cannot change it mid-season unless every single owner votes to say that you do. I’d just let it ride.
Don’t change the rules in the middle of the season because you don’t like them… that sucks. Everyone still has an equal playing field. If you go on to change it after you realized it didn’t benefit you specifically, I’d be looking for a different league the next year.
Totally fine to change rules mid season as long as it's a unanimous league vote, and the league is also in agreement on if it should be applied retroactively or prospectively.
I've done it exactly once because that's how rare it is for 12 people to all agree on something.
This part. Had to change our settings regarding this last year. It was voted on and passed, everyone was happy. Manager got to keep their pickup and we moved on
Yeah I agree I was just being annoying like everyone else in this thread saying “this” then adding no additional info bc the dopamine hit they get from upvotes does that much for them
I’d add an exception. I will only ever do an in season rule change if it is unanimous. I don’t care how minor or major the change is. If one owner doesn’t want the change we can bring it up in the offseason for debate.
I don’t think this is a “after you realized it didn’t benefit you specifically” situation. Sampson was not on waivers meaning anyone could have picked him up earlier, and it’s a very common rule in fantasy to have bench players locked once their games start. Yes, leave the rule change for the offseason, but don’t act like OP isn’t being genuine when he asked this question lol
He’s upset because he didn’t know he could grab sampson. Everyone had a chance to look at the rules from the start of the season but he was negligent so now he wants to change it
He likely wanted to drop someone else from the game, or was eyeing him and didn’t know his league mate could swoop him up mid game.
The rules been up since the start, nobody has complained about it, and after this innocuous move he suddenly wants to change the rules for everyone? Like you can kinda deduce what happened
What exactly did he say to make you think he’s upset at all?
Besides that, he’s probably used to playing in leagues where bench players are locked once their game starts and didn’t even notice until the move was made. Instead of instantly reacting he came to see what other people thought. That’s a good thing.
Why do you assume that instead of the more obvious answer that he saw something happen that he didn't mean to allow in Ekeler being dropped? Have you considered that this might be the first player to be dropped after they played?
Agree with this. Any change of settings mid-season needs to be unanimous (or at least have nobody objecting). Either keep it as-is, or create a poll/group chat with it and make sure nobody is opposed. Even if it's 11 for and 1 against, it shouldn't be changed.
I mean if 90%+ of the league agrees, what’s wrong with making the change? I would agree if 1/2 wanted it to stay the same… but I’d run it by the group first
I’d say only if 100% of people agree. Maybe one person drafted with the intention of utilizing that rule. In leagues that allow this, i generally drop defenses and kickers to hold more handcuffs, then stream sunday night/monday matchups. It would affect my draft strategy retroactively, which would be unfair
Dropping bench players who have played doesn’t hurt anyone’s score the guy has played he’s no use to anyone until waivers run anyway. Or in this case probably never again
Picking up players who have played is getting them before the waiver wire.
But dropping that player opens a bench spot for a possible streamer. Even if you didn’t play the benched player you could just hog streamers from other teams
It usually comes down to bench depth. This is the first year I’ve gone into the RB handcuff cycle immediately after the draft. But it was a calculated decision. We’re a keeper league where players are kept one round earlier than where the player was drafted with a one round bump for every additional year kept. Waiver adds are assigned a 6th round value so that they can provide value but don’t break the league. That’s all important context because it means that for someone to enter the RB Ferris wheel they have to be willing to give up on a keeper very early in the season. And a good keepers make or break your season in this league.
My keepers are about as locked in as they can possibly be with Jefferson and Nico both in the double digit rounds. So I opted to draft with the RB Ferris wheel in mind. Drafted godwin, moved him to IR snagged Shipley for the first game of the season and I’ve had 4-5 other RBs on my team in that spot since. As soon as Godwin is ruled out I’ll be able to drop Emanuel Wilson for the next JAG handcuff that plays a game.
In order to "hog streamers" you'd need to have multiple guys on your bench who played on Thursday who you're comfortable cutting from your roster. It's not exactly replicable week to week.
But if one person in the league can stream, everyone in the league can stream. In a cash league, i dont see why you would handicap someone from streaming just because they are paying attention to health status and matchups. Everyone has equal opportunity to do so. Now of course some of us will have real life situations arise theuought the season preventing us from doing so. But thats just one of the givens when playing.
Haha fantasy is a huge hobby of mine i wont lie. I commish 8 for football, 2 for baseball, 2 for basketball, 1 soccer and soon to be 1 hockey and F1. But it 100% is a lot of work parenting 10-16 adults per league lol. But i also do like it cause I know im a good commish. I make them matchup graphics, playoff hype videos, etc.
Have you ever ran into any people having a dedicated handcuff/stash spot on their bench they constantly rotate until it hits? Like, the reason I’m not a fan of this setting is that handcuffs can be continually added and dropped until a starter is injured (Thursday night Bills and I add Ray Davis but Cook stays healthy and I drop Davis, so I add Trey Benson when the Cards play at 1 pm Sunday…rinse repeat). Seems like it increases activity but decreases actual research/strategy…instead of picking “best” handcuffs, people just continually add drop all handcuffs
We all kind of do that, but not with handcuffs, more like 4th string lottery picks. Our drafts are 18 people deep, so a lot of handcuffs get picked up. And we have 2IR spots, so most people have 1-2 stashes there already. It's not as annoying as you describe, but it's part of our game and it hasn't impacted nearly as much as I thought.
Can somebody explain to me why this even matters? If he's bench, it's not like he can start him after the game has already started anyways. Why should it matter if he drops him?
My league used to allow this but they voted to change the rule because of me lol. I dedicated a bench spot to rotating RB handcuffs throughout the week in case of an injury. If the starting RB made it through the game healthy, I would drop them and grab a handcuff for the next game. It gave me a shot at 4-5 RBs a week. If the starter did get hurt, I would already have the handcuff and not have to wait for next week’s waivers.
It shouldn’t really matter to others if someone drops a bench player, but you can definitely use the ability to drop bench players to your advantage throughout the week in several ways. Say you are having a tough time deciding who to drop for a guy you want on waivers. Come sunday, if the guy you are debating on dropping plays at 1pm, you will be able to see how he performs for that game. He does well you keep him, he doesn’t then you no longer have to worry about him going off once you drop him, and then you can pickup any player from the remaining games after the 1pm games. I love it. Adds to the strategizing, and there are others way you can use it to you advantage as well.
I run 3 different leagues (one fun rules, one 12 man free league and a 12 man paid league) all of which allow players to be dropped after they play in a week. Now so long as you don’t allow people to drop starters after they play and pick a new starter in their place it’s fine. Purely a preference rule and it doesn’t matter one way or the other imo
Any and all rule changes should happen between seasons, because these are the rules the league entered this season agreeing to. Reflecting real life where rules are voted on in the offseason.
You’ve seen something you want changed, put it to a league vote. I commish a couple leagues and try to never make unilateral decisions.
As a side note, I think locking bench players to rosters once their game starts is weak.
If you changed a setting like that unilaterally mid-season, I would bounce. That's shady. It's not a bad setting. I've played both, I think i prefer it this way.
Seems like most people think this should be allowed. What about if this was a bestball league? I am curious what the consensus on that is. I personally do not like that people can drop players that have played in bestball.
I think that's way different. OP didn't say best ball but there's no way that should be allowed in that format. Like, imagine you had Ekeler tonight. It wouldn't be fair for you to be able to drop him knowing what he did in the game and his injury to pick up someone who may outproduce him this weekend.
The whole point of bestball is that after you draft there are no transactions during the season, so what are you talking about? No one drops any players
First year commish here. I laid out a set of rules in a google doc sheet start of season and shared it. One of them stated that players lock once game starts til waivers clear.
I missed the setting that locked bench players though. Someone accidentally dropped someone that had already played. Caught it right away, placed the player back on his team and gave him 24 hrs to pick another player to swap in that was eligible since no one else bid on the player. I then fixed the setting.
Difference in out situations is we had clear rules everyone agreed to before season started. So it wasn't changing rules mid-season just fixing my error.
Will say one negative outcome I couldn't figure out how to fix was reassigning his waiver priority since he didn't swap a player in. Kind of a moot point though since it only matters in ties since we use FAB.
In your situation, you gotta let it ride if you didn't state before season started that you couldn't drop bench players after game starts.
I like the ability to drop benched guys even after their game has been played. Allows for active and tuned in managers to have a little edge. Makes watching the games a small hedge over the box score Bobbys
It’s just seems like a big deal now because it’s fresh. But this is the way. Starters are locked. Rest are just space holders. If a player is dropping 2-3 players and and adding others so players stuck in the waiver window then call that player for being a wack person. Reward being active. Weed out the lames. Otherwise league gonna die off anyways.
Damn you can drop and claim players immediately at any time? We have waivers process at noon ET starting Wednesday and once a players team plays they’re locked, bench or not
Whatever the rule is, it should stay the entire season. Otherwise this guy just got an advantage that you don't plan on offering to anyone else. Next season, vote to change the rule.
What exactly is the argument against being able to drop bench players after their game starts?
They have no effect on anyone’s matchup and they will be on the wire until after the week with all the other players whose games have started.
It’s kind of a pointless rule, honestly, especially in this context. Ekeler’s career is likely over after tonight. Why shouldn’t a team be able to drop him simply because his game already started?
People that have time to churn their bench with each slate of games, have an advantage when it comes to RB injuries. To me it makes the league much more annoying because I’m not trying to be available to pick up the best RB handcuff available for each slate of games
My leagues have always allowed you to drop bench players no matter if they’ve already played. Not too many take advantage though. I use it as part of my strategy. That’s the reason I picked up Hollywood last week. If he sucked I would have pick Rodriguez up. I don’t see a problem with it.
If you want to change it, you could charge a fee per transaction.
Let the more opportunistic managers pursue opportunities. Ridiculous to block this, roster management is part of the game. I would agree stopping this type of move after the 1pm games on Sunday start to be prudent.
Can't change mid-season, week 2 cant be any different in rules then week 12. Best thing to do is announce to the league that the rule exists and run a poll on if they want it changed the following season. It shows great communication as a commissioner and you might even find player may like to have that option and you dont have to fix it
Unless he started the player, fix it. Otherwise keep it and put up a vote in the chat on how the league wants it handled in the future for the rest of the season
This was discovered by us in a best ball scoring league 4 years ago. I addressed it with the league and said it's cheating and can't be allowed. The transaction was reversed and everyone moved on. We've established protocols to deal with offenders. For example, when I screwed it up the next year (Jamo was suspended but the lions had already played when I dropped him) I turned myself in to someone I know that was an ex judge. He "served" as the judge for our fantasy league (there's now a panel of 3 whenever something needs changing or clarification, which he is on). I admitted to the mistake, and because it was a faab league, the punishment was
1) small reduction ($25 out of $1000) in faab budget
2) small donation to charity of choice of the league mate that could have been effected by the move
3) a warning that the penalty next time will be a lot more severe/a lecture
4) obviously the transaction had already been reversed but if it hadn't that would have been part of it
Perhaps for this, reverse the transaction, and bump him down the waiver order? There's no other platform with this ridiculous loophole that I know of. They ought to fix it
as a commish of 2 leagues for 15 years, i wont change any rules during the season. the rules at the start of the year are the rules at the end of the year. wait until the end of the season and put it to a vote.
The rules are the rules. You shouldn't change them mid season. Also, why should this not be allowed? If he wasn't started, then he should be free to be dropped at any time.
It's a default setting. Don't change the rules because you don't like it. Season has already started and you didn't change the rule in time. Absolutely nothing wrong with what the guy did.
Acknowledge it - say you meant to turn off the setting but missed it in league setup. But do not change the rules mid season, it can be changed for next year
Vote to change the rule and apply it next week if there's a majority. Keep things fair and level. If not a majority, apply it next season and you probably need to ask again if it's the same teams in the league. Rule changes should always be run through the league and typically shouldn't change mid season (or in the offseason without confirmation from the league). Do not overrule the move that just happened.
, I prefer to keep the ability to drop bench players. If an early game guy is on my bench, and a later game started I have gets ruled out unexpectedly (admittedly a very specific scenario) I like the freedom to drop the early game guy that isn’t in my lineup to acquire a replacement for my unexpected OUT if one is available.
If Ekeler was on the bench I see no harm with the move since the Cleveland game hasn't started. Would be a different answer if Ekeler was in his starting lineup.
leave it for this week and then talk to the guys in the league and put it up to a vote, and only change it if it is unanimous. If not, put it to a vote again in the offseason if you want to change it and majority rules
It's fine. Nothing overly terrible about that rule. I have 1 the same and 1 without. It really promotes league engagement every Sunday that's for sure.
I think you should have went to your FF community and said what you have said here, to them, instead of posting that here as it is written totally fine and doesn’t come across as spiteful. The members will respect you and trust you more if you just be upfront and talk to them about an issue that could be exploited.
Nah just let the league know you can’t do that. Especially if it was just the one transaction. Send Ekeler back to his team and drop Sampson. Idk why leagues let you drop players that have already played. In theory someone can add drop the WHOLE waiver wire after Thursdays games just to be petty.
What you really don’t want to do is change it mid-season. That sets a horrendous precedent.
I’d also advise you to put it to a vote in the offseason and to not just force the rule change back to what you originally intended… especially after experiencing it for a year.
It's not a bad thing - just league preference. I'd say leave anything the same for the rest of this year, and change it next year if you feel that strongly about it.
Being able to drop bench players after their games have started is normal in most leagues and should be allowed. The setting I’d recommend you look at changing is the f/a setting. All available players should be on waivers so all managers have the same chance at a player.
Just leave it, some leagues are set that way and some aren’t, I like being able to drop players like that, it already sucks to lose a player but losing one on a Thursday and just have to watch them rot on your bench for a week in unnecessary.
If you made this rule change prior to the season but just didn't implement it the fantasy system, then yes it is a rule violation and you should overturn it. Explain to the guy before you make the change. Then make an announcement to the league that you forgot to implement the rule change in the system, have fixed it and reversed all transactions that violated the rule.
But there's other alternative ways of resolving this. Depends on the league type, how active the league is, etc.
Unless a rule is game breaking, I wouldn’t change it mid season. I don’t love this rule, but it’s not necessarily game breaking.
If you feel strongly about it, put it up for a vote. I would require a super majority at least, to pass it. 75%
That means 10 out of a 12 team league
8 out of a 10 team league.
I have a lot of my by-laws posted in my discord. They include details on in season rule changes if you want the reference:
Cant blame someone for playing by the rules. Change it at the end of the season unless its unanimous to change it now, but even if that's the case, it cant be applied retroactively.
You can't be changing the rules mid-season. Lots of leagues allow you to drop bench guys after they've played. It's not some egregious thing you can't live with.
That's probably a very unlikely situation, but if it were to happen, you have a tough decision to make I guess. Take your chances with a 0 in that spot or drop the guy.. its not a great situation to be in for sure, but if it were to happen, that's just the game. We can't tailor the rules to fit each and every possible scenario. It's fantasy football.
And I'm not trying to be condescending or an a-holes here, I'm just saying, the game is played a certain way. Always has been. You can tweak the scoring settings for some bonuses or something, but certain things are just concrete to me and this is definitely one of them...
Don’t change the rules. Leave it. Bring it up after the season to change it for next year. Setting the tone early that consistency is valued will pay dividends over time.
It’s a legitimate rule it’s not like anyone abused anything, I don’t see the problem haha. Dude made a good move, I personally like this setting it’s so annoying to have to hold hurt or bottom tier dudes on your bench just because they played already this week when you really need someone.
YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT BE ALLOWED TO DROP BENCH PLAYERS AFTER THEY HAVE PLAYED ! That's that rookie talk. Your team is your team. We go into the week with who we have. That's the way it's played. You DEFINITELY can't drop a guy whose not only played but is out for from-now-on !
You can't change the rules this week now that this has happened, but FIRST THING Tuesday morning I'm changing this setting and if the league doesn't like it, they're not trying to play In a real league and that's 24 years of experience talking 💯
I’ve been a commish of leagues for many years, and it’s fantasy football etiquette to NEVER change rules after the draft. I’ve been in leagues where drops aren’t allowed until Tuesdays and some that allow it immediately and fastest hands win, so it’s not totally a mistake on your part. However if you don’t like the present format change it next year, not now.
Don’t change rules mid season simple as that. You had a learning moment but changing rules during the season is a good way to get people to leave your league
You have to finish the season with it as is. Shouldn't change rules once the season starts. We all made oversights in the beginning. Make changes next year before the season starts.
I literally just asked my commish of one league, why can’t we drop players after they played if they’re not in our lineup. I was trying to drop ekeler and grab Najee that someone dropped earlier in the week. Now he’s gone, but yeah, my other two leagues, one Im comish of, you can drop them after they played if you didn’t start them. I like it that way, been that way for almost 20 years.
But anyway… Yeah, I’d just let it stay that way for the season if I were you.
Don't change it now and don't change it next week. Sorry you missed it, but that rule is now in stone for your league unless you want to try for a 100% vote to change it. But I play with the rules like this in all my leagues, and I like it just fine.
Why you dont like dropping bench players? I really would dislike if this was prohibited, as bench players are bot contributing to your score they should not be locked IMO
Imo once you draft, rules are locked regardless how bad they are. I would immediately put this up to a vote for next year whenever you get the chance. That'll also allow everyone else 1 season to have the same exact rules
I don’t mind allowing players to be dropped once the game starts. This instance it’s “abused” with a good player going out with a season ending injury, but there’s going to be 4-5 cases where someone wants to drop a TE they didn’t start on Thursday/Friday/Saturday to cover their TE1 who was surprisingly out on Sunday.
I think this is more often a good way to have the settings.
Personally I think you gotta leave it for ROS, even tho it kinda stinks. I had the same thought about Travis Hunter in IDP which seems broken, and he has played all of 2 defensive snaps so it barely even makes sense but after the draft its really too late to make changes.
I also dont think it is crazy to bring it to a vote. if the whole league is against it then it could be amended without an issue.
This happened to me last year when it was our first year on Sleeper. A Sleeper vet used it to take advantage of the CMC late scratch and pick up Mason by dropping a bench player to pick him up. I had CMC and was screwed over by the move. We had a league meeting and decided we should change the setting but let the player keep Mason.
Depending on the league… my commissioner in our league will let us vote on a mid season rule change. He wouldn’t make the changes until the day after the Monday night game. But it really comes down to how your league will take it/ if it’s free or with a buy in.
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u/ReignInFlames 1d ago
It’s kind of just a preference. Some of my leagues do and some don’t, don’t mind it either way.
I’d just leave it for the season.