League Rules

Pre-Draft Rule Amendment (2017 season):
These rules are for the Yahoo Fantasy Football League “Real Fans Keeper” (est. 2008). We are making these rules so ALL owners abide by the rules and are held accountable if they break a rule.

League Dues: Each owner is responsible to pay the their league dues (set amount) within 7 days of the Live draft.

If the total is not paid (and no special circumstances are encountered), team owner will incur $10 penalty per week, and each subsequent week the league dues are unpaid.

Note: Any additional penalties collected will be added to the champion and runner-up prizes, as see fit by the commissioner. Total amount collected from these penalties will posted on our message to be shared with all owners prior to playoffs.

Trades: Each individual trade MUST have its own post. Any “Reply” to something will not be considered. This enables the commissioner to view the posted trade(s) and verify the accuracy of information and go step by step in chronological order to complete the pre-draft board.
  • If trade involves swapping of draft picks, the actual pick number (based on the overall pick, ie. pick #43 or pick #71, not Round 4 Pick 7). Trade posted without the overall pick numbers will not be valid.
  • Each team must always have 20 picks in the draft, so keep in mind for all trades. Team rosters may have 20 or more players (pre-draft), but not more than 20 picks.
Note: Post-Draft rules will allow trading to commence until season deadline is reached

Deadline: The deadline for keepers is ALSO the deadline for trades (until the draft occurs, then trades will be open to resume). Therefore, once the deadline hits, any attempt at other trades will become null and void.

If any team owner FAIL to post their team Keepers PRIOR to deadline, the following penalties apply:
  • Post Keepers past deadline (within 24 hours):
    Pay $10 extra to keep all 6 keepers for their team (money will be added to the eventual champion for that season)
    -OR-
    Team lose a Keeper and be allowed to keep only 5 players total
  • Post Keepers past deadline (between 24 hours 1 minute to 48 hours):
    Pay $20 extra to keep all 6 keepers for their team (money will be split "$10/$10" to the eventual champion and runner-up for that season)
    -OR-
    Team lose 2 Keepers and be allowed to keep only 4 players total
  • Post Keepers more than 48 hours past deadline, but 24 hours prior to draft:
    Pay $10 per Keeper that you want
    -OR-
    All designated Keeper(s) return to "Available Players" pool for the live draft
  • Anything within 24 hours to the Live Draft time:
    Team is not allowed any Keepers – All players of that team return to the draft pool

  • No other combinations of options can be made. SIMPLE: based on amount of time that passed. Extenuating circumstances (determined by the commissioner ONLY) can waive these penalties.


Keeping Players :
Each team in the league selects six (6) keeper(s)/player(s) from their current year’s roster to carry over to next season. Once keepers have been designated by team owners, they are protected thus are not allowed to be drafted by any other team. Keepers are designated by each team’s draft position based on the exact RD he was drafted originally. For example, if you drafted a player in RD 1 and you decide to keep that player, you would use your RD 1 pick the following season to protect him.

You may keep the same player based on his original draft position for an additional 3 seasons (including the season you drafted the player). For example, if you drafted a player in RD 2 in 2013 and you intend to keep him for the maximum season allowed, you will use him as a RD 2 pick in the following seasons 2014, 2015, 2016. You will no longer have rights to that player in 2017 and beyond.

KEEPING MULTIPLE PLAYERS DRAFTED IN THE SAME ROUND
Unlike keeping players/keepers from later Rounds, in order to keep multiple 1st RD Keepers, you MUST have the available 1st RD draft selection(s). When keeping multiple players from the same round, the team is required to use succession rounds in the reverse order. For example, if you have three players drafted in the 3rd RD that you want to keep, you will use your team’s selection in Round 3, Round 2 and Round 1 to protect all three players. In this same scenario, you will not be able to keep your 2nd RD Keeper or 1st RD Keeper if you do not possess additional selections for those Rounds.

The main objective of this keeper league format is to reward teams’ ability to draft well, especially in middle to late rounds. The more “diamonds in the rough” your team drafts, the better your chances of keeping them without exhausting a high round selection. It’s easy for team to find a great player when drafting in Rounds 1 – 4. Most teams tend to find it more challenging when drafting in the middle to late rounds when all the popular and proven players are gone.

Teams are not required to designate any keepers if you do not find any of your players worth protecting. All players that are not protected or kept are then placed back into the Free Agent pool for next season’s draft


Keeping an Injured Reserved Player (IR) :
Each team is entitled to having one IR Spot. In keeping an IR player from your current roster, you must make a post to the league that you are putting a certain player on IR, then drop them. Make sure they're actually on IR first, or you lose all rights to them.

On IR meaning that Yahoo identifies that player with an IR tag, if not, it will not apply. Once you have posted your intended IR player to the league's message board, you own the right to that player until the beginning of next year's draft. Although the player is no longer on your final roster at the end of this season, as long as you post to the league, that IR player is entitled to be one of your KEEPERS for next year's roster. All draft position rules still apply to the IR player.


IR (Injured Reserve) Keepers - Pre-Draft :
You may not put any player(s) on IR prior to the season. If one of your keeper player gets injured (season-ending IR) during training camp, in order to keep that player, you must still draft him.

Prior to the live online draft, you can still submit an alternate keeper in place of your IR player but you will then loose all rights to that prior keeper that got injured. Once you release the IR player, he becomes a FA and another team will be able to draft that IR player.

For example: If a team submits Matt Forte as one of their 5 keepers, and Forte gets injured in pre-season, in order to hold the rights to this player, the team must still draft him as their keeper. If the team decides to release Forte as one of their keepers, the team can submit another alternate keeper player but Forte will now become a FA. Any other team will be able to draft Matt Forte during the draft.



Undrafted Free Agents :
If you keep an Undrafted Free Agent (UFA) from the previous year, you must give up your 16th RD pick. Players that were drafted and then cut still maintain their draft status.

If you do not have a draft pick for the correct round to give up to keep a player, you must give up the next higher draft pick. This can happened if you trade away a draft pick during pre-season or have 2 keepers that have the same draft status from the previous year.

  • Example 1: You decide to keep your draft pick in round 16 from the previous year and you also want to keep an Undrafted Free Agent (UFA). Both require that you give up your 16th round draft pick. Since you only have one 16th round selection, to keep both players, you must give up picks for rounds 16 and 15.
  • Example 2: You want to keep a player you drafted in the 3rd RD last year. You also traded away your 3rd RD for the current year pick during pre-season. To keep last year's 3rd RD pick, you must give up your 2nd RD pick this year. Since you have no 3rd round selection, to keep this player, you must exercise your 2nd RD pick to keep him.

Trades :
You may trade players and/or draft picks prior to the draft. All trades during the season will be determined by majority voting. Off Season trading is allowed. Trade will not auto-approve and teams have 5 days to protest a trade.

There will be no trade deadlines during the season. During the regular season, draft picks may NOT be traded. (This rule is to avoid the problem where teams trade away many of their future selections and then does not return to the league the next year.)

Keeper Status follows the traded player. When trading players, the players draft status (position) and keeper status (years he can be kept) is traded with the player.

TRADING KEEPERS
In the event a trade involving one team having more than one 1st RD keeper, the team may only keep 1st RD Keepers if the team possesses the same amount of 1st Round selections. For example, if you want to keep two or three 1st RD Keepers/Players, you must make sure your trade acquires the other teams 1st RD draft selection along with your 1st RD Keeper or else your team will end up with more 1st RD Keepers than 1st RD selection available.

Unlike keeping players/keepers from other Rounds, in order to keep multiple 1st RD Keepers, you MUST have the available 1st RD draft selection(s). When keeping multiple players from the same round, the team is required to use succession rounds in the reverse order. For example, if you have three players drafted in the 3rd RD that you want to keep, you will use your team’s selection in Round 3, Round 2 and Round 1 to keep all three players. In this same scenario, you will not be able to keep your 2nd RD Keeper or 1st RD Keeper if you do not possess additional selections for those Rounds.


Non-Returning Teams :
The league will resell keeper league teams to the general public for teams that do not return. Then new owner will get the old team’s current roster of players and their current draft position. If no new owner can be found and the league is willing to play with less than the full amount of teams, the rosters of the non-returning teams will be returned to the draft pool. Every team that drafted after the non-returning team will move forward in the draft order.

Scoring System :
Offense League Value
Passing Yards 25 yards per point; 1 points at 400 yards; 2 points at 500 yards
Passing Touchdowns 6
Interceptions -1
Rushing Yards 10 yards per point; 2 points at 200 yards; 4 points at 300 yards
Rushing Touchdowns 6
Reception Yards 10 yards per point; 2 points at 200 yards; 4 points at 300 yards
Reception Touchdowns 6
Return Yards 25 yards per point; 2 points at 200 yards
Return Touchdowns 6
2-Point Conversions 2
Fumbles Lost -1
Offensive Fumble Return TD 6


Kickers League Value
Field Goals 0-19 Yards 3
Field Goals 20-29 Yards 3
Field Goals 30-39 Yards 3
Field Goals 40-49 Yards 4
Field Goals 50+ Yards 5
Field Goals Missed 0-19 Yards -1
Point After Attempt Made 1
Point After Attempt Missed -1


Defensive Players League Value
Tackle Solo 1
Tackle Assist 0.25
Sack 2
Interception 2
Fumble Force 1
Fumble Recovery 2
Defensive Touchdown 6
Safety 3
Pass Defended 1
Block Kick 3