The course of human history often unfolds in unexpected ways, and historians tend to trace them back to one catalyzing event. In the case of The Great Switch to an Email Draft for 2018, that event is the following email from Lumberjacks owner Jesse Garcia, upon learning the date of the draft that had been posted for months:
Lmao, but of course. I won’t be available on Saturday. FmlSent from my Verizon LG Smartphone
FML indeed, Jesse. At any rate, being the benevolent commissioner that I am, I posited moving the draft so Jesse could attend. Then Jason Enright proposed switching to an email draft (technically he didn’t follow protocol for a rule change proposal because nobody does anymore because all is chaos and nothing matters.) Lots of people jumped on board, and I’m fine with it either way (though I do love me some live drafting action.)
And here’s a parenthetical to the parenthetical – someday we should all get together in the summer and do the auction and draft live, back to back, in person. And then have a big old party. Someone please organize this.
In order to make time for an email draft, we had to move the email auction up to Wednesday, July 25th (a.k.a my daughter’s 11th birthday – no worries, though, it’s an email auction.) The goal is to complete the auction in 14 days (last year we took 12 days) so that there’s time do the draft.
The league calendar has been updated to reflect the new hotness:
NFL Kicks Off: September 6th
At the outset, the draft timer will be set at 24 hours. It will be impossible to complete the draft on time if everyone uses the entire clock. It is set at 24 hours to accommodate literal lumberjacks like Jesse, who are in the woods without service at odd times. Best practice will be to make your pick as soon as you’re sure of it, without pointlessly winding down the clock. Some picks will take longer than others due to weird schedules, time zone differences, and/or trade negotiations, but it is my hope that others will happen pretty quickly. After a week or so we will reassess and reset the draft timer based on how many days and picks are left.
There are a couple of advantages to this new system – for one, it gives owners more time to field offers for their draft picks. It also means we’ll be participating in FANTASY FOOTBALL for the next month and a half. And it means we’ll have more time for the analysis of picks, maybe even on the Immersion Cast. It’s definitely worth a try, especially after last year’s draft debacle. If we like it, we can do it again next year. If not, we can go back to the old way.
Now, you’ll have to excuse me as I furiously research punters.
© 2018, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.
Although I did propose an offline draft, and I’m totally fine with it, could you not just increase the actual draft timer to 24 hrs? That way we can make our actual picks and we could move on right away. This has the added benefit that if someone doesn’t make their pick in 24 hours they get autopicked without mercy. Not trying to be difficult, just curious. We’d probably need email notifications of draft selections, if the site even does that.
Yes, the draft timer is set for 24 hours. But it will reset as soon as picks are made, so we can go through the draft as quickly as people draft. And yes, if you can’t make your pick in 24 hours you deserve whatever A-named corner the computer picks for you.
Is there a way for the system to let the person know it’s their turn to draft?
Yeah man. For Owners –> Franchise Setup –> Contact Info
Check on the boxes for Send Email For:
Draft Status Update
When I’m On The Clock For My Draft