* THIS RULE HAS PASSED *
Hey everyone,
Last year we had a practice squad. You might want to check out the rules we had for this before you continue.
I liked the idea, but it turned out to be a huge hassle to keep up with, because basically teams kept moving guys on and off the practice squad in order to field a starting lineup each week. There were all sorts of rules in place about not putting a guy on the squad twice and I had to update it each week, and figure out which moves were “non-moves” (like when a guy was added and removed in a matter of minutes, which was clearly just to shuffle guys around, especially with the IR statuses being in flux.)
However, as someone who earned a couple of draft picks by losing guys off the practice squad, I’m in favor of keeping it. But let’s make it simpler.
Proposal
Teams can add up to 5 players to their practice squad. I don’t really care much about what kind of players these are (how old or young, etc) because there won’t be as much movement.
Instead of being able to do so every week, there will be precisely three times that the practice squad can be messed with:
- Teams can assign up to 5 players to the practice squad prior to kickoff of week one. Those players will be locked in until the next practice squad date. They can not be promoted, nor can any additional players be added to the practice squad (even if slots are open) until the next practice squad date.
- Promotion/Claim Date #1 will be held the Monday after week 7. At that time, team owners can decide to promote players to their active roster and/or demote active roster players to the practice squad. Also, teams can make claims for players on other practice squads. Claims will be awarded on the Wednesday before week 8, and the claiming team can start them in week 8 if they want (unless of course the owning team decides to promote the player to his own active roster.)
- Promotion/Claim Date #2 will be held on the Monday after week 14. The same timetable will be in effect: teams can make claims from Monday through Wednesday, and players will move on the new teams (or active rosters of their current teams) on Wednesday night. The claim window will be this way to accommodate the Thursday night games.
So, teams will have to be careful when initially assigning players to the practice squad. If you put some guy on the squad and he is lighting it up, you’ll just have to take it in the face until week 7 when you can promote him. Also, I like the idea of the week 14 date as well, so that teams can “call up” young talent for the playoffs.
Of course, only a few players were ever actually claimed last season, and I assume this season will proceed in very much the same way. However, we won’t have the weekly nonsense with the practice squad, which I like immensely.
I understand, though,that we need some roster flexibility when we are trying to submit lineups and guys are listed as “probable” even though you know they will not play. To that end, I submit that we amend the roster rules to say that we must have a minimum roster size of 30 and a maximum roster size of 35. Teams can choose to go over 30 players or not to…they are all subject to the $350 salary cap and practice squad players count against the cap.
So, theoretically, you could have 40 players on your team: 35 on the active roster and 5 on the practice squad (and maybe even more if you have guys on IR.) However, the $350 cap will probably discourage teams from getting carried away with roster sizes. Personally, I’d probably go with something like 32-33 active roster players and maybe 2-3 practice squad fliers.
Now, one of the best reasons to have a practice squad, in my view, is to get compensated if someone signs a guy off of your team. With an eye to a possibly shorter draft in the future, here is the compensation model that I propose:
- If you sign a player with a salary of $1 to $2.99, then you must forfeit a 5th round pick as compensation.
- If you sign a player with a salary of $3 to $5.99, then you must forfeit a 4th round pick as compensation.
- If you sign a player with a salary of $6 to $8.99, then you must forfeit a third round pick as compensation.
- If you sign a player with a salary of $9 to $11.99, then you must forfeit a second round pick as compensation.
- If you sign a player with a salary of $12 or more, then you must forfeit a first round pick as compensation.
I think that we could use the same mechanism for claiming players or indicating promotions as before…by using a Practice Squad topic on the league message board. It’s just that we’ll post in it 3 times instead of weekly.
Please comment if you want to modify this in any way. I’m okay with that, as long as the gist of simplifying this is still in tact.
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.© 2012, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.
I really like the idea of modifying the practice squad rules to simplify things. And on the face of it, I like the idea of getting compensated for someone raiding my rosters (which happened last year).
I’m also of a mind to keep it simple, ditch the practice squad altogether, and have rosters of 30-40 players. If you want one of my guys, offer a draft pick in trade. If I want to start a scrub that suddenly gets hot (say, D. Murray or L. Robinson), start his ass.
The two examples are perfect, actually.
The good: Murray is a roster stash for the first 6 weeks, but goes ape in week 7. So I promote him from the practice squad and ride him as he pours in almost 70% of his season total between weeks 8 and 14. In week 14 he’s hurt, so I can put him back on the PS heading into the post-season. Solid.
The bad: feel like the Robinson is one injury away from stardom, but that injury hasn’t happened. Come week 7, he’s scored a total of 20 points, so I put him on the practice squad. Then I watch in horror as he proceeds to put up 115 points between weeks 8 and 14 – about 80% of his season total. By the time the next FA window opens, my season is over.
I’m interested to see what others think.
I don’t really see a reason the practice squad exists. Last year it was treated as a set of complex roster positions. Under Josh’s proposal it is still just extra roster spots with a few extra rules. How many successful raids happened last year, 4 o 5? As Adam says, those could simply be done as a trade instead.
Now if practice squad players did not count against the salary cap or provided another benefit while stashed away, it might be worth looking at, but for now, just expand the rosters if you think we need more players. A flexible roster size of between 30-35 players would be very simple.
I sort of agree with Tom. I mean, I’m going to vote “Yes” so that we do something, but I’m not necessarily endorsing your exact proposal.
Agreed. I’ll vote “yes”, but I think that the flexible roster proposal is the better way to go.
I’ll echo the above.. the practice squad was mostly annoying. I mostly voted yes so that we get the bigger roster size (which is needed), and while this model is better than before i’m also not opposed to ditching it all together.
I’m glad this has passed…but what is the new rule?
Ha, it’s tough to say! A lot of yes votes from people not really voting yes. It seems like most people just voted yes because of the larger roster. So, I would say that we pass the rule as written.
Then everyone gets 35 roster spots instead of 30, which gives you the flexibility you need. And those people who found the taxi squad annoying, of course, do not have to use it at all.
I was intrigued by Tom’s proposal about having taxi squad salaries not count against the cap, but there isn’t a mechanism in the league software to do that. I think we’d have to input it as a salary adjustment, which would be even more work than what we dealt with last year.
Yeah, I like that. You’ve already built in the flexible 30-35 man roster, so the extra 5 practice squads are for those of us who simply cannot lay off the Dane Sanzenbachers of the world.
My vote was “Yes” to do something, but I’m basically okay removing the practice squad altogether. It will be a lot less work for you.
My hope is that people use the trade block more, and actually update it more than once a year and actually respond to trade offers. Just a simple reply that says “Hey, I got your offer and I’m thinking”
It actually will be a lot less work. Because now there’s no rule about putting a player on the practice squad more than once…there’s no way to really circumvent it because if you promote a guy, then he’s stuck on your active roster for 7 weeks.
I have been updating the rules, with changes in red.
People who want to use it will, and those who don’t want to use it will not. My goal of making it less cumbersome has been achieved.