With the Franchise Players now assigned for the 2015 Draft…some owners approached me about the seeming lack of talent because of all the franchise tags. Some wanted to limit the number of franchise tags…some just want SOMETHING done. I have an idea I have been holding off on…because If it ain’t broke…but maybe it is time…

I love the semi-dynasty format of our league…it really separates our rules from just about every other league out there (except for the ones who have stopped by and blatantly copied our rulebook). Being able to keep anyone you want from your previous year roster is supposed to make the Draft that much more important…rewarding those who pluck the diamonds in the rough before they are discovered. I don’t want to take away any opportunities to get that reward…But how much of a reward is it?

Currently any player drafted in Rounds 16-18 can essentially be on your roster for 6 years (16-13-10-7-4-1, 17-14-11-8-5-2, 18-15-12-9-6-3). But an Undrafted Free Agent (UFA)…the diamond we all missed on Draft Day…can be on your roster for 5 years (UFA, 12, 9, 6, 3). That’s only a 1 year advantage for the wise drafter.  For the 2015 Draft, 22 of the 76 Franchised players (28.9%) were UFAs…13 on their 2nd year contract…3 on their 3rd year contract…4 on their 4th year contract…and 2 Elite Players on their 5th year contract.

My proposal is stop treating UFAs as equals to the 15th round selections…and move them up to where they are maybe half as important as deep sleeper picks…so they spend only 3-4 years on a roster.  This would mean treating them as having been drafted in say Round 10…making their earliest draft position Round 7.  So the most Elite of the Elite may still be on a roster for 4 years (UFA-7-4-1)…but most would not be kept that high.

Since 2012 (as far back as I went because that was where the Top 2 were UFA Franchise Tags)…there have been an average of 14.75 UFAs kept on their 2nd year contract between the 10th and 12th Round.  We usually average half of that number (7 players) being kept onto a 3rd contract in the 7th to 9th Round (with this year being an anomaly with only 3)…and then 3 to 4 of those going on to a 4th contract in the high 4th to 6th Rounds.  Only the most Elite players cycle through the 5th contract in the 1st to 3rd Rounds.

This proposal would essentially help stop the glut of UFAs in the middle of the Draft.  Half of the players currently kept in those late middle rounds never get kept in the next tier…so their owners may never value them that high to start with.  It would also open those late middle rounds for actual draft strategy again…creating more opportunities to find those diamonds and hopefully resulting in less of them being missed before the run on Defenses and Kickers.

I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this in the Message Board and hopefully come to some sort of agreement on next year’s Rulebook before the Draft next Sunday (At Noon EST for the forgetful types).

Commish