FFEL
HANDBOOK
BY DANIEL J. HOEHN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Describes roster limits and use of roster
Describes team scoring and recording of it
Complete list of divisions and how schedule is setup
List of playoff qualifiers and weeks playoffs played
Complete description of how salary cap will work
Describes contracts and there use
General description of the workings of free agency and trades
Complete look at how the draft will work
Prizes and Cash payoff for winners
The Extras
All rosters will consist of NFL players (active or retired). No college players will be allowed on to a roster until they have signed with a NFL. Maximum number of players allowed on a roster is 40,which will include rookie slots and injured reserve (all players on roster will count against the salary cap). The minimum number of players allowed is 24. Following is a list of the breakdown with minimum, maximum, and starters:
Minimum Maximum Starters
QB (Quarterback) 2 3 1
RB (Running Back) 3 4 2
WR (Wide Receiver) 3 4 2
TE (Tight End) 1 2 1
K (Kicker) 1 2 1
DL (Defensive Line) 4 5 3
LB (Linebacker) 5 6 4
DB (Defensive Back) 5 6 4
*Rookie 0 3 0
*IR (Injury Reserves) 0 5 0
*Rookie slots will consist of rookies (defined by NFL.com) who will count against the salary cap but will not count against maximum position slots. Once a rookie is moved to your active roster (to one of the positions), he is no longer allowed to move back to the rookie slot. You may not go over the maximum to move a rookie to the active roster.
*The IR can only be used if the player is on the NFL Injured Reserve as defined by NFL.com
All positions will defined by NFL.com and no exceptions will made to this rule. Any player that plays more then one position will receive points only from his primary position as defined by NFL.com. This rule simply entails defensive players who play offensive and like wise with offensive to defensive.
E. DB Charles Woodson plays WR. He will only receive points that he earns on the defensive side of the ball or special teams. If QB Kordell Stewart moves to WR, he will receive any points that he accrues
If a player permanently changes positions, he must move to his new position on the roster the following season after the change has been made.
The scoring system for this league will be as follows:
OFFENSIVE
4pts -- passing TD
6pts -- receiving or running TD
1pt - - passing two point conversion
2pts -- receiving or rushing two point conversion
1pt -- every 25 yards passing (rounded down E. 213 = 200 so 8pts)
1pt -- every 10 yards receiving or rushing (rounded down)
1pt -- a reception
1pt -- 25 or more completions
-3pts -- interception
-1pts -- fumble
DEFENSIVE
6pts ? return TD
2pts -- solo tackle
1pt -- assisted tackle
3pts -- sack
3 pts -- interception
2 pts -- forced fumble
2 pts -- fumble recovery
Only starters will receive points for the week. All points will be tallied from the statistics on NFL.com.
Any disputes will resolved by the commissioner and that decision will be final.
The league will broken down into two divisions, East and West. Each division will have seven teams in it, with games being played against each team in your division plus four games against the other division. The season will total 14 games with the breakdown as such one game against each team in your division, four games against teams in your division and four games against teams in the other division.
4. PLAYOFFS
Six teams will make the playoffs, three from each division. The division winners will each reach a first round bye with the division wildcards playing each. The winners of the wildcard games will move on to play the division winners and then the winners of those games play for the League Championship. NFL weeks 15, 16, and 17 will be the weeks that our playoffs will be played. No roster additions will be allowed during the playoff period, which will entail week 15 through the Super Bowl.
The salary cap for the first season will be 80 million. Each year the cap will increase, which will be determined by teams cap usage. The cap figures that will be used will be the opening day salaries for each team in the league.
6.9 million is the amount the salary cap would increase by thus bringing it to 86.9 million.
All teams must use 75% of the salary cap each season. Each player on your roster will count against the salary cap. At no time are you allowed to exceed the salary, which means that no trades will be allowed that will cause either team to exceed the cap.
Any signed player will affect the cap for the complete length of his contract. You will not simply waive a player and have his contract no longer affect the cap. The follow will show how each player will affect the cap if released:
1-3 years 10% of remaining contract will be added to each year
4-6 years 15% "
7-8 years 20% "
9+ years 25% "
1-6m, 2-6m, 3-8m, 4-8m, 5-9m, and 6-10m
At the end of the second season, Team A decides to waive him. This is how it would affect the cap:
3-800k, 4-1.2m, 5-1.35m, and 6-1.5m
This is the amount each year that would count against Team A?s cap room even though the player is no longer with the team.
This extra salary will be classified as Waived Players. It will appear at the bottom of your team rosters including all years that you have it.
All teams must be under the next season?s salaries cap by the day following the Super Bowl. Any teams not under the cap will receive a penalty depending on the serviette of the offence. The free agency period will not begin until all teams are under the next season?s cap.
E. Team A?s salary for the next will 92 million but the cap is only 87 million. Team A must release
enough players to drop below the 87m salary cap.
After the rookie draft all teams will have to follow the same procedures to sign all rookies drafted.
Contracts are how teams will acquire players. Each player on the team will have a contract that will define how much he costs against the salary cap. There is no maximum or minimum number of years that a player maybe signed for but there are rules regarding the structure of the contract. The league minimum salary will be 250k with it increasing each year by 10%.
E. Team A places a bid for Peyton Manning: 6 years 41 million
Here is the structure of the deal: 1-6m, 2-6m, 3-8m, 4-8m, 5-9m, and 6-10m
What this means is as follows: for the first year Manning will count 6m against the cap, second 6m, third 8m, and so on
The yearly salaries may not increase or decrease by more then 25% on a yearly basis. This means that you won?t be allowed to front load or back load contracts. This will also help to keep salary cap problems from arising. No illegal contracts will be accepted and the commissioner will only notify each owner once for such contracts. It is the responsibility of the owners to present valid contracts. Following is an example of an illegal contract:
Here is the structure of the deal: 1-1m, 2-2m, 3-3m, 4-4m, 5-5m, and 6-26m
The only year in this deal that is acceptable is the jump from 4 to 5 million. Here is what the limits would
be pertaining to this deal:
1 to 2 --1.25
2 to 3 -- 2.5
3 to 4 -- 3.75
4 to 5 -- 5
5 to 6 -- 6.25
Here is an example of a legal contract:
Here is the structure: 1-6m, 2-6.25m, 3-7m, 4-7.75m, 5-7m, and 6-7m
This deal is done correctly even with the rise and then the fall of the average salary. How deals are structure is completely up to individual teams as long as they stay with the 25% rule.
If player retires, contract will voided for the remaining years and current team will hold rights to that player the next two seasons after which time that player will become an Unrestricted Free Agent.
All players will be signed as free agents and/ or drafted through the rookie draft. Here is a breakdown of the different types of free agents:
Restricted Free Agent ? Player on a team for 5 or more seasons
Unrestricted Free Agent ? Player on a team for less then 5 seasons
Franchised Free Agent ? Team has placed one of their franchise tags on this Unrestricted Free Agent
This is how free agency works. When a player?s contract ends with a team, he will become one of these types of free agents. Franchising a player will be discussed later on in this section but a short explanation is make a unrestricted player become restricted. Next is the rights that team has with each player:
Restricted Free Agent ? Able to match any offer
Unrestricted Free Agent ? No rights, goes to highest bidder
Franchised Free Agent ? Team has choice, may match offer or not match and receive a draft pick
The bidding process will go as such with free agents. Each team is allowed one bid a day per a player. All bids must be placed by 10pm EST and bids must be sent to the following email: [email protected]. Only bids received at this email will be valid. At the end of each day, the highest bidder will be shown for each player. This cycle will continue until, no one bids on that player for a certain period of time. The period of time will depend on what Free Agency period it is in (Post SB pre NFL draft, post NFL draft, season).
Post SB ? 4 days
Post NFL Draft ? 3 days
Season ? 2 days
The waiting period will be from the day that the highest bid is placed until the end of the limited time.
After such time that player will become property of the highest bidder so long as that team player addition doesn?t eclipse the salary. If that happens, the next highest bidder will receive that player. Each team is allowed to rescind a bid (take it away) once per a player. You must rescind the bid no later then one day after the bid is placed otherwise that team will not be allowed to rescind the bid.
For players that are Restricted FA or Franchised FA, the team owning that players rights has two days to match or not. Every high bid for each day for such players must be matched or not. This is the responsibility of the teams to contact the commissioner on there decision otherwise the bid won?t be matched.
Franchised Free Agents are Unrestricted Free Agents that the team would like to hold onto. If the team doesn?t match a bid, that team will receive the pick of the bidding team corresponding to which franchise tag was used. There are three classes of franchise tags:
Grade 1 ? 1st round pick if bid not matched
Grade 2 ? 2nd round pick
Grade 3 ? 4th round pick
Only one franchise tag maybe used per season per team and the same tag may not be used in consecutive years. If a franchised players bid is not matched, teams aren?t allowed to reuse the tag for another player.
Teams must tag their franchise player before the start of free agency. After Post SB free agency has started, teams aren?t allowed to use the franchise tag until Post Draft free agency.
Free agency will not be allowed from week 15 until after the Super Bowl.
Trades will be allowed during all free agency periods as long as the salary cap isn?t exceed. Draft picks for any year can be traded. Both teams must send all trades involved to commissioner for entry. Traded players will maintain the same status of free agency as if they hadn?t been.
E. Team A trades QB Peyton Manning to Team B for 1st round pick next year. Manning is in the second year of a six year deal. When that expires, Manning will be a Restricted Free Agent same as if he hadn?t been traded.
Trading deadline will be week 10 of the season. No trades will be allowed again until the start of free agency.
8. ROOKIE DRAFT
Each year before the start of the season there will be a rookie draft. This draft will consist of only rookie players as defined by NFL.com. The draft will consist of four rounds with each team receiving a pick in each round. Records will determine the order of the draft with the worst team selecting first and the best selecting last. Each pick has slotted salary that will go with the player that is drafted in that position. Following is the breakdown
1.1 -- 3million 2.1 -- 2m 3.1 -- 1.5m 4.1 -- 1.25m
1.2 -- 2.9m 2.2 -- 1.95m 3.2 -- 1.45m 4.2 -- 1.2m
1.3 -- 2.8m 2.3 -- 1.9m 3.3 -- 1.45m 4.3 -- 1.2m
1.4 -- 2.75m 2.4 -- 1.85m 3.4 -- 1.45m 4.4 -- 1.2m
1.5 -- 2.7m 2.5 -- 1.8m 3.5 -- 1.4m 4.5 -- 1.15m
1.6 -- 2.6m 2.6 -- 1.8m 3.6 -- 1.4m 4.6 -- 1.15m
1.7 -- 2.5m 2.7 -- 1.75m 3.7 -- 1.4m 4.7 -- 1.15m
1.8 -- 2.5m 2.8 -- 1.75m 3.8 -- 1.35m 4.8 -- 1.1m
1.9 -- 2.4m 2.9 -- 1.7m 3.9 -- 1.35m 4.9 -- 1.1m
1.10 -- 2.3m 2.10 -- 1.65m 3.10 -- 1.35m 4.10 -- 1.1m
1.11 -- 2.25m 2.11 -- 1.65m 3.11 -- 1.3m 4.11 -- 1.05m
1.12 -- 2.2m 2.12 -- 1.6m 3.12 -- 1.3m 4.12 -- 1.05m
1.13 -- 2.1m 2.13 -- 1.55m 3.13 -- 1.3m 4.13 -- 1.05m
1.14 -- 2m 2.14 -- 1.5m 3.14 -- 1.25m 4.14 -- 1m
First and second round picks must be signed for 5 years at the salary listed for the entire duration of the contract. Third and fourth round picks must be signed for 3 years at the salary listed for the entire duration of the contract.
Any rookies not selected in the draft will be added to the free agent pool and become Unrestricted Free Agents.
9. BUY IN AND PAYOUT
Entry fee -- $75 (one time fee)
League dues -- $50 (per a league)
Cash Payouts
League Champ -- $250
Runner-Up -- $100
Division Winners -- $75
Wildcard Teams -- $50
Prizes will be given for Highest scoring team, Lowest scoring team, and some other undecided statistics.
10. Miscellaneous