The winners of Divisions A, B, and C (Teams 1,2, and 3 respectively) remain in their divisions; the wild card team (Team 4) won the Fantasy Bowl and remains in Division B, the Fantasy Bowl loser (Team 3) was in Division C, while the winner of Division A (Team 1) had the best record from the previous season;

The first team is drawn from Division C; that team (Team 5) is placed in Division B; all remaining eligible teams from Division C (Teams 6 and 7) are removed from the drawing;

The second team is drawn from Division B; that team (Team 8) will be placed in Division A because if the drawn team is placed in Division C, a team from Division A cannot switch divisions. All remaining eligible teams from Division B (Team 9) are removed from the drawing;

The third and final team from Division A (Team 10) will be drawn and placed in Division C; the remaining eligible teams from Division A (Teams 11 and 12) remain in that division.

Below is the new division setup based on this example; the teams that switched divisions are in bold italics:

H. If an NFL season is cancelled, and the FFL does not play any games for a given season, the following year will have a complete draft lottery with all teams being eligible for the first pick. The entirety of the draft order will be determined in reverse, with the twelfth pick being determined first, all the way to the first pick being determined last. Each team's chances will be based on the results from the last played season; the last Fantasy Bowl champion would get twelve chances, the Fantasy Bowl loser would get eleven chances, the Week 15 playoff losers would get either ten or nine chances, with the team with the better record of the two receiving ten chances, while the team with the worst record would get one chance; there would be no penalty for having the worst record. The first team selected would get the twelfth pick, the next team would get the eleventh pick, and this process would continue until there is one team remaining, and that team would get the first pick in the next draft.


6. Restricted Free Agents

A. When the FFL re-opens at the start of the new league year, teams may re-sign up to three of their RFA's (Restricted Free Agents) which are players who have zero years left on their contracts. If a team re-signs an RFA they get them for three years at double their previous salary.

B. RFA's may be re-signed from the day the league re-opens until the Sunday of the weekend following the weekend of the NFL Draft. After the deadline passes, all remaining RFA's still unsigned will become free agents and will be eligible for bidding on FFL Draft Day/Free Agency Day.

C. RFA's cannot be traded unless first re-signed as one of a team's three RFA's. As all trades go to the commissioner for his review, he'll announce the re-signing of an RFA involved in a sign-and-trade when he e-mails the entire league regarding the trade. It is not necessary to e-mail the whole league of an RFA re-signing in this instance; it will only need to be included in the notification of an accepted trade.


7. The FFL Draft/Free Agency Day

A. The FFL Draft/Free Agency Day will be held every year on the fourth Sunday in July (date is subject to change based on the commissioners' discretion). In the event the NFL does not hold a rookie draft, the FFL will likewise not hold its rookie draft, but the Free Agency portion of the day will still take place.

B. Only league members are permitted to attend the draft; no friends, family members, spouses, pets/animals, etc. are allowed. If a coach is unable to attend the draft, they may give the commissioner private instructions to draft and sign players or attempt to be on speaker phone through the phone of another coach; a coach may also appoint a representative to attend the draft on their behalf, subject to approval by the commissioner. The commissioner will announce in June whether the draft will be held at a physical location or via a video chat application; if the draft is held at a physical location, only coaches whose permanent residence is outside of a 100-mile radius of the draft location are permitted to attend the draft via a video chat application.

C. If coaches come to an agreement on a trade on draft day then it must be written out on an index card and turned into to the commissioner with both coaches agreeing on it; if the draft is held virtually, coaches can text or message the trade to the commissioner. Draft day proceedings will not stop for trade discussions to take place.

D. The FFL Draft will be the first event to take place on Draft/Free Agency Day. Upon arrival each coach will be given an index card to write their draft pick on when it comes time to select. When it comes time for a coach to select, they must write down the players name on the index card and turn it into to the commissioner; if the draft is held virtually, coaches must text their pick to the commissioner. Only players who were selected in the NFL draft that year or who played in college the previous season but are no longer college football eligible can be drafted. Once the card is turned in (or text sent), they cannot change their pick.

E. While there is no set time limit for a coach to make their pick if the group gets restless and there's a consensus that somebody is taking too long, a countdown may begin to force the coach to speed up the process.

F. Draft picks in the first two rounds may not be traded more than one season ahead; picks in the 2023 draft cannot be traded until the FFL re-opens sometime in the spring of 2022. Draft picks in the third round may not be traded ahead of the season they will be used; picks in the 2022 draft cannot be traded until the FFL re-opens earlier that same year.

G. The following chart states how much players selected in each round will have for their salaries (players drafted in the first and second rounds will have three-year contracts, while players drafted in the third round will have two-year contracts):

Round 1

1. 4 million
2. 3.5 million
3. 3.5 million
4. 3.5 million
5. 3.5 million
6. 3 million
7. 3 million
8. 3 million
9. 2.5 million
10. 2.5 million
11. 2.5 million
12. 2.5 million

Round 2

13. 2 million
14. 2 million
15. 2 million
16. 2 million
17. 2 million
18. 2 million
19. 1.5 million
20. 1.5 million
21. 1.5 million
22. 1.5 million
23. 1.5 million
24. 1.5 million

Round 3

All picks in this round (25-36) will have salaries of 1 million.

H. At the conclusion of the FFL Draft, prior to the start of the free agency portion of the day, there will be a 15-minute intermission before the Free Agency portion of the day begins.

I. A list of free agents will be compiled by the commissioner and released to the league. Each coach will have seven days after the list release to submit the names of any additional players (except for draft-eligible rookies) they would like to see bid on. Once the seven-day period ends, only players cut between then and the day before Draft/Free Agency Day will be added to the list.

J. Any player released on FFL Free Agency/Draft Day cannot be re-signed by that coach on that same day. If there's a player that a coach wants to cut and attempt to re-sign at a cheaper price then they must be cut the day prior to FFL Free Agency/Draft Day or sooner in order to be included in the free agent list. Any player signed on FFL Free Agency/Draft Day cannot be released on that same calendar day, but they can be traded on that same calendar day.

K. Free agency bidding will be done by blind auction. The free agents' names will be each written on a separate index card and entered into the drawing. The commissioner will draw the players' names at random and the auction will take place upon the commissioner opening the player up for bidding. If a coach wishes to bid on a player, they will text the commissioner the player's name (in a way as to be recognizable) and the amount they wish to bid. If a coach is not physically in attendance, and is not going to text their bids, they can submit instructions as detailed earlier in this section; if the commissioner is bidding on that coach's behalf, he will note bids for them for every player along with his own.

L. The league minimum salaries for each position are as follows:

After 8 million the pattern continues as it does above.

E. If a coach released a player and takes the penalty on that player and then later re-signs the player, the penalty for cutting them previously remains in place. If the coach then cuts the player again then a second penalty can occur.

F. A coach may release a player who makes more than 4 million dollars without penalty if one of the following is true: The player is not on an NFL roster when the first game of the first week of the NFL season kicks off; or if when the 17th week of the prior NFL season is completed the player is not on an NFL roster; or if the player has announced his retirement; or if the player dies. If the player is not on an NFL roster come week one but is signed to one prior to the coach cutting the player then the penalty will take effect. If the player is not on a roster when Week 17 of the prior NFL season is completed but is signed to one prior to the league re-opening for business the following year the coach may still cut the player without penalty within three days of the league re-opening, after that time a penalty will occur.

G. Any players released after the free agency portion but prior to the free agency waiver portion of FFL Draft/Free Agency Day and then re-signed during that season by a coach are re-assigned the contract they are released from and are not granted the one year league minimum deal that a regular free agent would receive unless that is the deal they happened to be released from.

H. A coach may not cut a player the same calendar day they are signed. They may however trade them the same calendar day they are signed. They may also cut a player they traded for the same day they are traded for.

I. A player cannot be signed to an Injured Reserve slot. A player must first be assigned a spot on the team's main roster prior to the team then placing them on Injured Reserve; they cannot be directly signed to the IR slot.

J. In instances prior to the Monday of the first week of the NFL Season if a coach signs a player and then cuts him the very next day the player will automatically become a free agent again and not be subject to the waiver wire process. In instances after the Sunday prior to the first week of the NFL Season if a coach signs a player any time between Tuesday and kickoff of the 1 PM EST Sunday games and cuts them during that same time the player will not be placed on waivers and instead will immediately become a free agent.


10. The Waiver Wire

A. If a player is released by his team, he will be placed on waivers except for instances explained in section 9-J. The player will remain on waivers for seven calendar days, starting with the calendar day the player was released.

B. When a player is put on waivers, he is put on waivers for the amount of years that were remaining on his contract and half of his previous salary. If a player is already making the league minimum or less, then he will be put on waivers for the league minimum of that player's position.

C. While the player is on waivers a coach can place a claim by emailing the commissioner. It is not necessary to email the entire league. Once a waiver claim is submitted it cannot be rescinded. The coach who released the player may not put in a claim for that player.

D. In order for a claim to be accepted it must include a name of a player that will be cut if the claim is awarded. Failure to submit a name will make the claim invalid, unless the claimed player would fill an empty slot on the roster (such as the Flex position). The name is submitted in case a coach is awarded the player and then does not cut a player to make room for them by the end of the day. The player whose name that was submitted would then be cut.

E. Upon a claim being submitted the commissioner will post the name of the team that submitted the claim on the FFL Waiver Wire Page; however, he will not discuss or tip off coaches in any way of waiver claims. If the commissioner wishes to make a waiver claim for his team, he will send the claim to a coach whose team is lower on the waiver list than the commissioner's; that coach would also be prohibited from discussing the commisioner's waiver claims with other coaches.

F. Once the waiver period has passed the team that is highest on the waiver wire list at that time that put in a claim will receive the player and if necessary has until the end of that day or until kickoff of the first game of that day to make room for that player. If a coach fails to make room for that player then the player listed as the cut player in the original waiver email submission will be cut by the commissioner.

G. Any player received from waivers cannot be cut the same day they were received from waivers. While a player on waivers can be traded the same day they are received off of waivers they must first have a spot cleared for them and be put on the team's roster prior to being traded.

H. If nobody claims a player off of waivers, then he can be signed by any team to a league minimum deal, unless the coach who cut the player re-signs him, in which case the coach must honor the player's previous contract.

I. The waiver order during the offseason is determined by the previous season's standings. During the season the waiver order resets at 12:00 AM on Tuesday with the weekends results factored in. If Monday Night Football has not finished then the waiver order will be reset at the conclusion of that game with those results counting for the entire day of Tuesday. If the end of the waiver period falls on a Tuesday, then the reset order, not the order from the day prior, will determine which team receives a player claimed from waiver.

J. Draft lottery results will not be factored into the preseason waiver order. If a team wins the lottery and they did not have the worst record in the league then while they do pick first in the draft, they do not move to the top of the waiver order list.

K. The first eight teams on the waiver order list are the eight teams that at that time would not qualify for the playoffs and is based on their records. The ninth team on the waiver order list is the team that would be the wild card at that time. The remaining three teams are the teams that are the division leaders and ranked from worst record to best record with the twelfth team being the team with the best record. During the preseason the waiver order is the eight non-playoff teams (worst record to best) followed by the two divisional playoff game losers (worst record to best) followed by the Fantasy Bowl runner up in the eleventh slot, and the Fantasy Bowl winner being in the twelfth waiver slot.


11. Trades

A. Trades can be made between teams at any time except from the Sunday 1 PM kickoff till the end of the Sunday night game and up until the Week 8 trade deadline for the season. Trades on Draft/Free Agency day cannot be made during the Free Agency portion of the day.

B. In order for a trade to take place both participants must either both state the trade to the commissioner either verbally or through email/text. A participant may request that the commissioner contact the other participant to confirm a trade at which time he is not allowed to discuss the trade with the participant but simply ask if they accept the trade he's been presented. If communication of a trade has happened through email with proof of an offer and acceptance on both parts then that may be forwarded to the league for approval. When the commissioner announces a trade he will also announce any transactions that coaches involved in the trade may make to help facilitate it; said coaches will not need to send a separate e-mail to the league as would normally be the case with player signings and cuts.

C. If an email of acceptance is forwarded to the league by the team that accepted the trade (not the one who initiated it) and the trade offer was sent more than four calendar days prior to the acceptance then the commissioner must confirm with the coach who initiated the trade that they still want to do it due to the time that passed between offer and acceptance. A coach also has the right to send an email to the coach they made the trade offer to rescinding the offer prior to it being accepted.

D. The commissioner may use his discretion in not allowing a trade to go through but will do so with extreme caution realizing the chaos that could ensue based on events of the past.

E. Players and draft picks may be traded; however, only draft picks for the current season and the one after may be traded, excepting third-round picks which can only be traded the same year they are to be used. Draft lottery chances may not be traded, but incentive clauses approved by the commissioner may be part of trades.

F. If a player is traded between the start of Week 1 and the trading deadline of that season then they may not be traded back to the team they were traded from until the following year.

G. Players with zero years left on their contract may not be traded because they are not under contract. They can be traded once re-signed as one of a team's 3 RFA re-signings.

H. If a team makes a trade and they are either put over the salary cap or over roster limits they must clear the cap or roster space that day (however not through an additional trade) or prior to the first NFL game of that day. A player acquired in the trade is eligible to be cut as part of the cap or roster clearing effort. A player to be cut can be included in the trade e-mail; however, the commissioner reserves the right to step in and take necessary actions to ensure a team is at or under the cap and meets the roster requirements.

I. If a trade involving a draft pick that a coach does not have is accidentally passed through, the coach's first available first-round pick will also be given to the affected team as compensation for the acquisition of a non-existent pick. For example, if Team A trades a 2021 second-round pick to Team B, and it is found that Team A does not have that pick, then Team B will receive Team A's 2022 first-round pick if that pick is still held by Team A, otherwise, Team A's first available first-round pick will be given to Team B.

J. As part of a trade, a team can acquire a player eligible for Injured Reserve and automatically place him on IR without first clearing a main roster spot for that player.

K. For traded players to be eligible to play in the same week, the trade must be submitted no later than the day prior to the players' NFL teams' scheduled game(s). In most cases, if the player's NFL team has a game on Sunday or Monday, the trade must be submitted to the commissioner no later than Saturday for the player to be eligible to play that week. If the player is involved in the Thursday game, then the trade must be submitted no later than Wednesday for the player to be eligible to play.

12. Injured Reserve

A. Each team is given two injured reserve (IR) spots on their roster. Once a player is placed on IR, he is not eligible to return to the team's roster for the rest of the season.

B. A player can be placed on Injured Reserve if any of the following apply:

1. He has been ruled out for the season and a reputable online source (not a self-created website) states as such;

2. He has missed three full consecutive NFL games due to injury;

3. He has been placed on an NFL team's IR/out for the season list;

4. He has been placed on an NFL team's IR/designated to return list;

5. He has been placed on an NFL team's regular season NFI (non-football injury) list;

6. He has been placed on an NFL team's regular season PUP (physically unable to perform) list.

If a player has returned from one of these lists and is back playing after missing three full consecutive games, they are no longer eligible to be placed on Injured Reserve if they had not been placed there already.

C. Once a player is placed on Injured Reserve, the team will be awarded the league minimum amount for the position that player plays; this will allow coaches to be able to sign a player in place of the one that is injured. Upon the league re-opening the following season the full amount of the contract will be reapplied against the salary cap.

D. If a coach cuts a player who is on Injured Reserve, then later re-signs that player to their previous deal, the player must return to Injured Reserve, not the active roster. If this will result in more than two players on a team's Injured Reserve, one of the players already on IR will have to be cut to make room for the re-signed player.


13. The Scoring System

The FFL has adopted the following scoring system for all games during the regular season (Weeks 1-14) and the playoffs (Weeks 15-16), as well as the Pro Bowl exhibition game for Week 17:

Touchdowns

Kicking

Miscellaneous Plays

2-Point Conversions:

14. The Postseason: Playoffs, Fantasy Bowl, and Pro Bowl

A. The three division winners automatically make the playoffs along with one wild card team that has the best record among the non-division winners.

B. In the event that two teams are tied for a playoff spot whether it be for division champion, playoff seeding, or wildcard spot the tiebreakers are as follows:

1. The team with the most actual non tie victories. For example, a team with a 10-4 record would make it over a team with a 9-3-2 record;

2. The team with the most points scored for the season;

3. The team with the better head to head record when the two teams played. If the teams played twice and split the two games then the team with the better record within their division would get the tiebreaker (since they'd have to be in the same division to have played two games);

4. If the teams were not in the same division and we're this far in the tiebreakers because they tied in their one head to head matchup then we go with the winner of the previous time they played, if that game was a tie then we'd go to the previous game they played prior to that and so on and so on.

C. The #1 seed in the playoffs will be the division winner with the best record and they will play the wildcard team even if the wild card team has a better record than one of the other division winners. The other two division winners will play each other in Week 15 with the winning teams advancing to the Fantasy Bowl. If there is a tie in Week 15, the higher seed in the tied matchup will advance to the Fantasy Bowl.

D. The Fantasy Bowl will take place in Week 16 of the season. If there is a tie in the Fantasy Bowl then the two teams will play again the following week in Week 17 and the Pro Bowl exhibition game scheduled for Week 17 will be canceled. In the event of the Week 17 Fantasy Bowl teams are allowed to submit a different lineup from the one that they submitted for the initial Fantasy Bowl in Week 16.

E. If the two teams tie once again in Week 17 the Fantasy Bowl winner will be determined by which entire roster (factoring in fantasy points scored by all bench players for the two-week period) scored the most points. If the teams are still tied the team that won their previous meeting prior to the Fantasy Bowl is declared the champion, if that game is a tie we go to their previous meeting before that, if that was a tie we keep going back until we find the last time they played each other and did not tie and the team that won that game is declared the champion.

F. A Pro Bowl exhibition game will be held in Week 17 featuring all-star teams from all three divisions competing head-to-head-to-head against each other. Each division will have players selected by the commissioner based off of input from the three coaches whose teams won each division. A full roster will be selected for each division, and the Pro Bowl will be conducted in a "best ball" format, where the highest-scoring player at each position will be inserted into the division's final lineup; if no player at a given position scores in Week 17, the lineup slots will default to the player(s) named to the all-division team. If the Fantasy Bowl in Week 16 ends in a tie, then the Pro Bowl will be canceled in order to allow a champion to be determined in Week 17.


15. Miscellaneous Items

A. The commissioner will investigate any perceived throwing of games or other conduct detrimental to the league; coaches under such investigation will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the league.

B. If there is a scoring dispute, or a coach feels a mistake may have occurred on the FFL scoreboard, they have through the Wednesday after that week's game to let the commissioner know of it and the matter will be looked into. After Wednesday has passed all rulings, correct or not, will be final.

C. The NFL.com box scores of the NFL games will be the final say on all scoring plays. For example, if NFL.com rules a player recovered a fumble for a touchdown and gives the player a "rushing touchdown" in their box score then the player will receive points for the rushing touchdown despite the wording of it being a recovered fumble due to the touchdown in the rushing column for the player.

D. If the FFL reduces the number of teams in the league, players from the contracted teams will be placed in a separate draft pool for selection by the remaining teams. If the contraction occurs prior to Draft/Free Agency Day, then the dispersal draft will take place on the same day; if the contraction occurs after Draft/Free Agency Day, then separate arrangements will be made to disperse the players from contracted teams. The preseason waiver order will apply to the dispersal draft, and teams selecting a player from a contracted team will assume that player's contract, and may be required to release a player on their current roster if necessary. Only players with at least one year remaining on their contracts would be eligible to be selected in the dispersal draft.

E. If the NFL is affected by a labor stoppage (strike or lockout) or other circumstances, then the FFL will not play games until the majority of NFL players return to the field. Replacement players will not be used by the FFL or assigned to teams to take the place of striking or locked-out players. If the labor stoppage is ongoing come FFL Draft/Free Agency Day, the commissioner will still have it take place, but after proceedings conclude, there will be a freeze on players being cut, signed, and traded until the end of the stoppage. A minimum number of FFL games will need to be played in order to hold the playoffs; this figure will be determined by the commissioner based on games already played and other applicable factors. If an NFL season is cancelled, one year will be removed from each player's FFL contracts as if that season had been played; contracts will not be extended or deferred.

F. In the event the NFL shortens a season due to various circumstances, the FFL would adjust its schedule accordingly; the Pro Bowl would be the last week of the revised NFL season, the Fantasy Bowl would be the second-to-last week, the playoffs would be the third-to last week, and the regular season would end the fourth-to-last week. The FFL would cancel games at the beginning of its schedule to accommodate the reduced NFL season; for example, if the NFL reduced their schedule to 14 games, Weeks 1-3 of the FFL season would be cancelled, and the games originally scheduled for Week 4 would mark the start of the FFL season, with the playoffs in Week 12, the Fantasy Bowl in Week 13, and the Pro Bowl in Week 14.

G. If a coach is removed or otherwise abandons their team prior to the conclusion of the season, the commissioner will take over operating the team for the duration of the season and will set the team's lineups based off of rankings from a fantasy football website of his choosing. If the commissioner operates a team that is not his own, he is prohibited from signing or cutting players, or trading with other teams on behalf of the team he is operating, nor is he allowed to "raid" players from the controlled team to be placed on his or any other team. A new coach would be installed at the start of the next season; the commissioner will likely not install a replacement during the season. If a coach decides to leave the league during the season, they may finish out the season, but if the departing coach opts not to finish the season at the announcement of their departure, the commissioner would take over the team for the duration of the season as described herein.

H. Revised copies of this rule book may be issued at any time based on circumstances that may come up that are not in here and that need to be dealt with. Likewise, the commissioner may act in response to unforseen circumstances to direct the application of this rule book to best serve the league (such as using temporary, one-season-only policies in reponse to the coronavirus pandemic during the 2020 season). In any instance of controversy or misunderstanding regarding the rules the use of common sense, questions, and discussion are encouraged, and the commissioner will issue a final verdict in the best interests of the league.