Devy League Rules (or Devy Leagues Rule)

Ryan McDowell

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Editor’s Note: This article is a Dynasty Scouts exclusive. Remember, our Dynasty Scouts section focuses on the stars of tomorrow, with a laser focus on High School recruits and College players who look to have the talent to be future assets in dynasty leagues and have value today in devy leagues.

As many of you might have noticed if you’ve spent much time on our site or even on Twitter, the subcategory of dynasty leagues known as devy leagues continue to grow and become more and more popular. I have already mentioned my affinity for these types of leagues on more than one occasion. I’ve also mentioned how intimidated I was when the idea of joining a league such as this was first presented to me. I was not a huge college football fan and I certainly didn’t consider myself a scout of any kind, but I jumped in with both feet and haven’t regretted a minute of it.

For those of you who are not currently in a devy league, I would strongly suggest you give it a try. Whether you are a devy newcomer, or if you’re currently in league including devy players, I want to offer some rule suggestions that could be put to use in any devy league.

Just like in other dynasty leagues, there is no one right way to format a devy league. There are a variety of tweaks that can be made to add value or devalue the devy players, depending on the goal of the league. So, here are a few rules you might be able to put to use to ensure that your devy league rules.

  1. NFL Draft Eligibility

Each devy league needs a rule addressing which players can be drafted or rostered by each team. There are two simple options here. First, any college player can be drafted and rostered by an owner. Obviously, this rule has few, if any limitations regarding what class a player is considered or how long the wait may be for that player to actually enter the NFL. One benefit of this system is the flexibility provided to each owner. If someone chooses to select an incoming freshman and wait the minimum of three years for the player to enter the league, they have the choice.

Speaking of incoming freshmen…that’s another clarification that is necessary for leagues that allow for any class of player to be drafted. Should that include players who have yet to step foot on campus? Most leagues do allow for these soon to be college freshmen to be drafted, but those picks carry a lot of risk and require patience since it will be a minimum of a three year wait until they player enters the NFL.

On the flip side, some leagues require that any devy player drafted or rostered must be draft eligible for the upcoming NFL draft. This means the player must be entering their third season outside of high school graduation. While in most cases this means the player will be a college junior, there are also times the player is just a redshirt sophomore, as will be the case with a player like Jameis Winston who will play his second season on college football in 2014, yet will still be eligible for the 2015 NFL Draft. Devy owners and commissioners must do their homework in order to be aware of which players are actually eligible for their draft. While this limits owners in which players are available, it also keeps the draft stocked with talent each season, which can clearly be a benefit, especially to teams who might need a boost.

  1. Number of Devys Rostered

[inlinead]Another rule that must be defined from day one of a devy league is exactly how many players each team can roster. While there are some leagues with large devy rosters, which allow for almost unlimited spots for these prospects, the majority of devy leagues do have some confines in this area. It seems that the majority of leagues I’ve researched have a one round devy draft each year. Obviously, this means each season there are ten, twelve or fourteen new devy players being drafted and rostered, depending on the number of teams in the league. In many cases, this newly drafted devy player will simply take the place of a player who is now entering the NFL, but at times, a junior or redshirt sophomore will choose to stay in college. This situation creates another set of choices a league or commissioner must decide upon. Should owners be allowed to roster more than one devy player in this situation or is there a firm rule of one per team. Either option is accepted, as long as it’s clear to all participants.

Once this choice is made, there are other decisions that will follow. First, if teams are allowed to roster more than one devy, the use of a taxi squad comes into play. In many leagues, owners will stash their devy players on a taxi squad and the number of spots on said squad will correlate to the number of rounds used in the devy draft. In the example above, a league would have a one-man taxi squad. I’ve seen some leagues allow for some flexibility by not placing a limit on the number of devy players that can be rostered, but keeping the one-man taxi squad in place. This would mean if an owner drafts a new devy player while still owning one from a previous year, one of those players would have to be placed on the active roster. The benefit of owning multiple top prospects is balanced out by at least one of those prospects claiming a spot that could be used for a contributing NFL player in the current season.

  1. Devy Transactions

Another rule that varies greatly from league to league involves how devy players can be acquired, beyond the devy draft. There are some obvious options, but each league handles these differently. I’ve seen some leagues disallow trading involving devy players. This usually is due to the “one devy player per team” rule mentioned above. From my experience and research, most leagues allow trading of devy players just as they would with any other player.

I haven’t seen any leagues that allow devy players to be picked up via waivers, which makes sense because once drafted, the players are rarely dropped before they complete their college career.

  1. Activating Devys

If your league uses a taxi squad to hold devy players until their arrival in the NFL, you’ll need a rule addressing when and how these players should be moved to the active roster. This is another are that should be very simple and straightforward, but needs to be covered.

Each league should have a set time when devy players who are entering the NFL should be moved up to the active roster. If you’re using MyFantasyLeague.com, this could be as soon as the new leagues are created, which is usually around the Super Bowl. It could also coincide with the NFL Draft when we all find out which teams these new players will be suiting up for in the coming season. One other option is to wait until the following devy draft, which often happens in July or August, before moving players up to the active roster. For many, this may just be a formality, but it could have some impact as many owners will be forced to drop a rostered veteran in order to move their devy off the taxi squad.

  1. Devy Auction

I know as I’ve gone through each of these rules that are necessary and important for devy leagues, I referenced drafts as the initial way to acquire the players, but I’d be remiss if I left you without suggesting an auction format. I’m in several devy leagues and a couple of them are now using devy auctions in place of the traditional draft format. Those have quickly become my favorite leagues and the devy auction (along with the annual rookie auction) is a big reason why. There are many other intricacies that must be in place with a devy auction, but I’ll save that for another article.

These are the main rules you’ll need to setup and run a successful devy league.

As always, feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below or via Twitter @RyanMc23

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ryan mcdowell