Roster Balancing Procedures
In each weekly Scoresheet Football game, you'll use 1 QB,
1 TE, 2 DL, 2 LB, 2 DB, 1 K, 1 P, 1 NFL punt & kickoff return
team; and either 2 running backs and 2 wide receivers, or 1 running
back and 3 wide receivers. (That is, the last offensive spot
can be filled by either a running back or a wide
receiver.) In addition to these 15 starters, you'll draft 15
backups. These backups will be used if a regular starter is injured
or his team has a bye in the NFL, or if you trade or demote your
starter.
The way our draft program works is that in each round, when
your turn comes up, the computer goes down your ranking sheet,
giving you your highest ranked available (undrafted) player.
In addition, to make sure you get a balanced team, we have roster-balancing
rules written into the draft program. The purpose of these
roster-balancing rules is to fill your starting positions before
you receive any less important backups. (We figure you don't
want to get 8 wide receivers before you get a single running
back!) We have tried to design our roster-balancing rules
so that you can simply list players according to what you think
they are worth (a simple ranking order), and then you will get
a balanced roster. Our intent is that even if you skip (or just
skim) the following 2 pages, which describe in detail all our
roster balancing rules, the draft will occur as you'd like.
Of course, you can read the following rules in detail, and you
will (hopefully) have a more complete understanding of our draft-by-mail
system.
The way roster balancing works is: once you get a full complement
of starters at a position (this is one QB, 2 DB's, 3 WR's, etc.)
we skip over your other listed players at that position, until
we get to a player on your list that plays a position at which
you still need a starter. For example, you might think a good
TE is very important, and so you might rank 6 of them in your
top 12 choices. Once you get one TE we skip the next TEs listed
and draft your highest ranked non-TEs in subsequent rounds. However,
since you need 3 wide receivers, and 2 running backs, 2 defensive
linemen, 2 linebackers and 2 defensive backs to fill your starters,
we will NOT skip over any wide receivers you have listed until
you have drafted 3 of them, and will NOT skip over any RBs, DLs,
LBs or DBs you've listed until you have received 2 of each of
them.
You only start 15 players each week, but because in each game
you can play either 2 RBs and 2 WRs, or play 3 WRs and 1 RB,
we have you draft 2 running backs and 3 wide receivers
before we consider those positions 'filled' with potential starters.
After you have filled your starters at every one of the offensive
and defensive positions (receiving one QB, 2 RBs, 2 DLs, 2 LBs
and 2 DBs, one TE and 3 wide receivers), the computer goes back
to the top of your ranking sheet, and starts similar roster balancing
procedures for your backups. In the subsequent rounds you'll
get 1 backup at each of: QB, RB, WR, TE, DL, LB and DB. After
you have those backups, plus your starters at kicker, punter
and kick return team, you will get your one more backup at any
7 different positions in the last 7 rounds. (You only draft
13 players in this first stage - rounds 14 and on do not happen
until the second stage!)
Because some positions are generally considered 'more important' than others, there are some twists to the roster balancing rules. You do start one Punter (P), Kicker (K), and Kick Return Team (KRT) each week. But even though those players are 'starters', roster balancing will allow you to draft backups at other positions before filling your starters at P, K and KRT. If you have a player at K, P or KRT listed high on your draft list we will not skip over them to get to a player at another position, but likewise, we will not skip over players at other positions to fill your starters at kicker, punter and special teams, until you have both starters and one backup at all the other positions.
In addition, you may override the roster balancing
rules by putting a plus sign (+) next to a player. This tells
us that you want that player, even if you already have filled
the position. For instance, you might want a 2nd quarterback
before you fill all of your starters at other positions. In that
case, if you have a quarterback listed with a plus next to his
name we will let you draft that guy, even if you already have
one QB and do not have starters at all other positions. Once
you draft a player (even with a +), he does count at his position.
Also, plus signs will only override roster balancing for ONE
extra player at each position. You won't get a 2nd backup at
a position before you have all of your offensive and defensive
starters, or a 3rd backup until you have starters at all positions
(including P, K and KRT), and at least 1 backup at all of the
7 offensive and defensive positions. (If you put the plus
next to both the player number and the player's name then it
is more likely to be noticed by us, and thus be typed in!)
Instead of listing a player on your ranking sheet, you
can also list a position with a plus (+). This tells us to
try drafting any of the players that you've ranked above
that point as an extra player at that position. That is, it's
the same as relisting everyone you've already ranked at that
position, except this time with a plus after all of their names.
For instance, let's say you rank 25 RB's in your top 70 players,
and then put "RB+" in the 71st slot. As soon as you
get 2 RBs (filling your starters at RB), we'll skip over the
other RB's you've listed and instead give you players from other
positions that you do not yet have all your starters at. Then
when we get down to your "RB+", we'll see if any of
your RB's ranked above that point are still available. If so,
you'll get the top one as your 3rd RB. If not, we'll ignore the
"RB+" and keep going down your list. (So putting RB+
does not automatically give you a running back at that
spot no matter what - it just means we have now added a plus
to all the RBs on your list above that spot, meaning if one is
still available you can now get him as an extra RB.)
In addition to all the above roster balancing (getting pretty
complicated, eh?), we have a couple of special rule cases. It
has been pointed out to us in years past that many owners would
like to get a 2nd QB before filling all of their other starters.
So, we have the program automatically add a plus to all the
QBs on your list once the 10th round of the draft is reached.
Adding this plus to QBs means that starting with the 10th round
the program will not skip over your listed QBs to get to other
players farther down your list (though once you get a 2nd QB
you will not get a third QB until after you have all of your
offensive and defensive starters.) This 'automatic plus' is taken
off once you get all of your offensive and defensive starters,
since at that point you can draft a backup QB without the plus.
Finally, for the first round of the second stage, roster balancing
is not used at all. In the first round of the second stage, when
it is your pick, you will get the top listed available player
on your second stage list, whether you are 'filled' at that position
or not.
It is possible to have a player that you did not put on your ranking sheet assigned to your team if you do not list enough players at each position. The order in which players are assigned by default is simply the total number of points earned last season. (This is the order of the players in our draft packet.) To avoid this possibility, your ranking sheet should include players from many different positions. For example, even if you put down "QB+" you will still get at most 2 quarterbacks in the first stage - there is no reason to list more than 24 quarterbacks on your ranking sheet in a 12-team league. (12 teams with 2 QB's each only totals 24.) In fact, listing 18 or so QB's is probably plenty even if you want two QB's this stage; other owners will either list different quarterbacks, or may stick to our roster balancing and get every starting position filled before drafting backups. (On the other hand, to make sure of getting at least 1 QB you may need to list more than 12, since some other owners may use "+"s to get 2 QB's each.) A suggested first stage draft list should contain at least: 18 QB's; 15 or so RB's; 25 or so WR's; 8 to 10 TE's; 10 to 15 DL's; 10 to 15 LB's; 10 to 15 DB's; and maybe a few K's, P's, and kick return teams. Your list should use some combination of these to total 120 players - the exact numbers of players listed should depend somewhat on how often you use the "+" option (if you use it at all.)
You do NOT need to group players by position on your ranking sheet; our roster balancing in the draft will give you a balanced team. And please note that kick return teams are to be listed just like individual players for drafting purposes. On your ranking list, please specify them by number and NFL team.
*FREE AGENTS: In addition to this pre-season draft, each week (except that there is NO free agent draft during the playoffs) we'll hold a free agent draft for those teams who've submitted a new depth chart/free agent draft list that week. Teams will pick in reverse order of the standings, and each will receive 1 new player. (Teams that chose not to submit a new depth chart that week will just be skipped over for that week's free agent draft.) Each week's free agent draft is held before that week's games are played - so that you can use the free agent that week if necessary. Since you will all be tied at 0-0 going into the first games, the team that drafted last in the very first round of the draft (team 12 in a 12 team league) will get to pick first in the first week's free agent draft.
How We Draft Player Lists Explanation How a Game is Played Roster Balancing Procedures Other Rules Sample Depth Chart Ranking Sheet (first of a 2-stage draft) Complete Draft/Rules packet in PDF Current Scoresheet Football Player List Scoresheet Football Team Order Form Scoresheet Home Scoresheet Football introductory information
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