Keeping Dynasty Weird: The Bull Horn Part One

From time to time, one of my favorite dynasty minds, Ryan McDowell, has written a series here at DLF called “Keeping Dynasty Weird.” This is my first expedition into this realm, but before I get into the weirdness, I need to pay my respects to the master.

Not only is Ryan an amazing dynasty mind, but he is the best commissioner I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing under, one of the few people who I consistently seek out for advice, a tremendous writer, and just one of the nicest guys you could ever get to know. Beyond these, we have some things in common in our personal lives that go beyond our love for football. It really is thanks to his influence in the dynasty community that I’m even writing this. Now, with his ego sufficiently stroked, let’s get to why you’re here.

I’ve always been a big fan of when dynasty leagues tread away from the norm. I was once the commissioner of a league that had contracts and a salary cap modeled after the NFL’s own structure. Salaries included guaranteed money, and there were restricted free agents, compensatory picks, and all that jazz. Thankfully, an amazing website called Reality Sports Online has emerged so now these leagues can be run without a slew of google docs.

I have a habit of always wanting to move onto bigger and better things. I get bored and try to come up with new ideas. I was an owner in two of Ryan’s Kitchen Sink leagues, and I started to wonder what they would look like as IDP leagues. Don’t get me wrong; I was far from bored in these leagues. My mind just started to wander. So, two years ago I began creation of what would become The Bull Horn’s constitution.

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I had a handful of things this league had to include:

-Contracts

-Full IDP

-Devys

-Auctions for all drafts except devys

-Lineups blending structure and flexibility

-RFA and UFA auctions

-Compensatory Picks

-No Playoffs or Matchups

Many of these are included in Ryan’s Kitchen Sink leagues, but there were some tweaks and additions. As I moved onward from the basic framework into building the constitution, Ryan was kind enough to allow me to use his as a template.

Contracts

A huge factor in this league is the contract cap. Each team of 65 players has a cap of 140 contract years, and this is the only thing capped. Owners must assign contracts ranging from one to four years to each player on the roster. This is a simplified version of what I had in the league I mentioned up above and directly correlates to many of Ryan’s leagues.

Full IDP

This is the biggest deviation from normalcy in this league. Each team starts 13 IDPs and 12 IOPs each week. The defensive scoring is designed to balance offensive scoring, so roster equilibrium is imperative. Defensive scoring slightly favors big plays with two point tackles, four point sacks, and six point interceptions. The offensive scoring is also a bit unique, with .5 PPR (.75 for tight ends) and .5 points per first down.

Devys

I absolutely love devy leagues, but I’m not really that good at them. Prior to setting this league up, I had never heard of an IDP league with devys. I’ve since found out about several through twitter, but this originally came as a completely new idea for me. In our startup and each following year we select 48 devy picks. The idea of seeing the top offensive and defensive college prospects getting drafted in our devy draft is incredibly exciting for me. While many of the owners in the twitter leagues I found advised against selecting IDP devys, the increased risk of taking defensive players without knowing what type of defense they will play in could really pay off or hinder some teams.

Auctions

In an effort to give all owners the best opportunities to build teams, the startup draft, rookie draft, unrestricted free agency, and restricted free agency are all done via auctions. The startup auction included $1000 for each owner to select 65 NFL players and also 48 total devy picks. Rookie draft picks are converted into auction dollars based on the order teams finished in the year prior, and they are tradeable commodities.

Lineups

Something I’ve always struggled with is whether I prefer structured or flexible lineups better. So, I decided to blend them. Out of the 25 starting positions, nine of them are flexes. Offensively, there are four flexes that can be running backs, wide receivers or tight ends. Defensively, there are five flex spots spread across three different flex categories. It really allows for owners to determine exactly how he or she wants to build a roster when one can start anywhere from four to eight wide receivers and four to six linebackers.

RFAs and UFAs

This is an area where I bit off a lot as a commissioner. The rules for determining whether or not a player is eligible to be tagged as restricted when his contract expires are all based on a player’s age. Where the NFL determines it by number of years played in the league, I will have to check each player’s age prior to designation of tags. When an owner steals an RFA through the RFA auction, there is draft compensation, as well.

Compensatory Picks

When playing in a contract league, it’s so disheartening seeing a player you couldn’t afford to keep put up huge points the next year. So, there are compensatory picks in this league. Just like the other rookie picks, these are converted into additional auction dollars. The dollar amounts aren’t game changing, but they are just enough to dull the pain, with the maximum amount for a player equaling that of a third round pick.

No Playoffs or Matchups

One of the biggest things to strike fantasy football over the last several years has been best ball leagues. This isn’t one of those. Owners still have to set lineups weekly, but this league is points only. While no specific setting is completely perfect, I really like the idea of just competing for the most points against all of the other owners. The season ends after week 16, with the top three owners having a nice payday.

Once I had the rules set, which took much longer than I would have anticipated, it was time to find quality owners. Thanks to several forums, twitter, and a couple of co-owners I know from the league in the introduction, I was able to find some very knowledgeable owners. Seriously, these guys are going to make me feel like I don’t know what I’m doing at all (I don’t).

As I type this, there are still a few teams drafting the last few players for their rosters. In part two of this short series, I’ll discuss my drafting strategy. Part three will cover the devy draft. I currently have 16 of the 48 selections, so it should be a train wreck.

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