Covid IR Spots
 

Hey Guys, I was wanting to see what you all thought about implementing some covid IR spots that would allow us to place players on IR for 2 weeks and then week by week until they are back. We could discuss 1/2 or full salary allowance while in the Covid IR spot. Any other thought or suggestions? This could get weird this season.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

You mean for players out due to Covid positive tests?

Standard IR would be a fit for that, however, I can see the need to increase IR slots as there is a good possibility players will miss tie specifically because of Covid. I'd be open to adding a couple Covid-IR spots. Lets see what everyone else thinks.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

what about spots for seasonal flu?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Does seasonal flu require mandatory isolation and quarantine taking you out of commission for 2 weeks or more regardless of the degree of your seasonal flu? In that case sure, however, Covid is an entirely different beast and even healthy that test positive face isolation and quarantine.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

well the more I find out about covid the more overblown its become. and I think were overreacting to it. and me and my wife are high risk. athmas here, my wife has no immunity system, she gets infusions once a month, and even the docs told her this last week that she should be more concerned with getting the flu. so that's coming from the people seeing this day to day, doctors and nurses think weve over blown this.

of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but that's where im at on it.

but having said all that, the NFL will likely be overcautious.

we can make it unlimited IR spots then if the NFLs going to quarantine players who get it, might need the 5th string QB.
or play it by ear and increase it as we go maybe add 2-3 slots now, and with the understanding if the number of players on IR for this dramatically increases, then we would need to adjust mid season.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

fyi I was joking in my original post,
what about spots for seasonal flu?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I’m a firm no...this is why we have rosters...

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Now...you want more...let’s go all the way more with Covid...larger actual roster and more cap to go along with it...

We don’t know what is going to happen and we are making changes to just make them??? Expand it all, why just IR?!?!?!

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Was that the Ezekiel Elliot owner who asked for an expanded IR slot?!?
;)

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Chuck, yes we have rosters but are you going to cut players on your team to make room if 5-6 players get covid and have to sit out 2+ weeks? We need to be able to field teams to play each week. How do we move players up from ts/ps without being able to make room? Right now you'd have to cut players or just take a zero. Obviously, this would be temporary and not a permanent thing. I am bringing it up now so we can plan ahead instead of fumbling if/when it does happen. If no one gets covid then nothing would change and if some players do we can make room to bring players up or grab a temporary ufa.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I understood it...

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I'm thinking if you have 5-6 players on your team out with Covid, the NFL may be rethinking letting teams play...I do not see it getting to that point before NFL disbands the season.

Right now, we've had what, 2 players get tested positive? I think we can keep it in the back of our minds, and once/if season starts, and we see more players contracting it, then we can discuss further.

I would be ok with adding 1 temporary seasonal slot specifically for this to IR, and if they are playing full season, leave the weeks as they are already defined

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Several Cowboys & Texans tested positive a few days ago, as did another Bronco today. I agree with Rick and think it could be much more problematic during the season than you suspect.

Ezekiel Elliott, Several Cowboys, Texans Players Reportedly Test Positive for COVID-19: NFL Insider


Broncos' Kareem Jackson tests positive for COVID-19, says he's not surprised in spike among NFL players

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

here is what I propose, have specific COVID IR slots, well have to in general increase IR slots to accommodate the change, so lets say 3-5 spots for covid only. and once a player comes off covid IR any player you picked up to replace him has to be dropped. he was only a temp fill in. and if more than 2-3 teams hit the cap on covid IR, then we have to acknowledge well need to adjust it up if that occurs. But in that case id have to agree with Burt that likely the seasons done at that point.

so 3-5 COVID only IR slots, we'll have to track this in a thread.
so any bid on a player to replace you have to post in your bid covid replacement.
so only the teams stating its a covid replacement have to drop.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I like it. I think Covid specific spots is along the lines of what Rick was suggesting.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

well, a lot of these players went out to protest, so likely a lot more will get it soon, the more who get it the faster the immunity in the community is built up and the spread slows.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

We could stipulate 1 year contracts on Covid replacement players as well.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I think likely we should allow the drop of a covid replacement with no cap hit.
if you get 4-5 of those players, even if you put 1 year contract, your likely going to want to have the original player who was on covid IR to be your starter.
or allow the flexibility to keep the player but with one year contract.

so still track if they are covid replacement, any players picked up as covid replacement, if dropped when a player who was on covid is activated, then no cap hit. have to put in the cut thread header coivd replacement dropped. or something like that.

the only issue I see is tracking it. but if we keep a thread with covid IRs, might help.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

That could work, I think when bidding for a Covid UFA the bidding team should indicate it is a COVID replacement if they win the bid, and then we should mark the sale as COVID. Of course if another team wins and is not using he player for Covid this wouldn't apply.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I think that could work.
Not sure how many slots we might need for this though.
Maybe start with 2 or 3... and see how the season progresses?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Hold on...are you saying anyone can bid against a COVID bid??? So you want it the same as regular bidding when we see a guy trying to replace an injury or bye week player, but if the COVID bidder wins he gets to drop the COVID replacement free...can he keep the COVID replacement if he likes him better than his original sick rostered player??? I’m just guessing here, but the same IR rules (weeks) still apply - because we don’t know what “return” to health looks like yet??? What happens when an IR player gets marked COVID because he was out clubbing while rehabbing??? Are we shortening bidding time for COVID replacements??? Aaron Rodgers gets a Covid designation on Thur - still time in our system to get new player...Aaron gets designated on Sat - well now we got issues and your backup is on a bye week...how does that play out???

I’m not sure I like all owners able to bid against a Covid replacement...that is why we are designating them Covid in the 1st place...only other Covid replacement owners should be able to bid against due to roster and time constraints...I’m not on board with willie nillie bidding in the Covid threads...I would hate Mike (pick one) bidding against my Covid replacement while they had none and just because they could...unfair...

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

AND...as IR monitor, it will be easy to follow Covid guys as long as they keep violating HIPPA laws on patient privacy...once they lock that back down, probably through a lawsuit, it will be almost impossible to track...FYI...re:Ezekiel Elliot...

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Valid points and why this is open discussion. This is coming together with input from everyone. Dale suggested players picked up for Covid would be CUT no matter what once they return, and to make the cut zero penalty. To accomplish that, we need to debate the best method for acquiring these players. Do we allow open bidding? Do we mark them specifically as Covd replacements and restrict the bidding only to teams also replacing a player for Covid? Do we consider First Come First Serve at the same cap as whatever player is being placed on IR (to prevent opening cap space being an advantage)?

I'm leaning towards First Come First Served at the replacement players salary with mandatory cut at no penalty once the player returns to active status with his NFL team. If we go this route, we could open it up all the way to gametime for any player out listed out for Covid (alleviating one of your concerns). This would ensure the most competitiveness for teams, and take away any advantages such as cap space or keeping a player.

That said, the more ideas to create a Covid emergency plan the better. Thanks for pointing out potential flaws, it's a perfect example as to why hashing this out in advance while we have time to debate and craft a stronger emergency rule is beneficial.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

The NFLPA's collective bargaining allows injuries to be declared with certain generalities (at least during the season). I'd expect it'd be well known and widely reported if a player is isolated / quarantined for Covid.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I like idea of first come first serve COVID replacement. Maybe make that available from Saturday 12AM ET to game time or Thursday 12AM to game time for those games. This way normal bidding can take place. If bidding hasn't started on a player, then it would be first come first serve for COVID replacements.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

as long as its not a player being bid on. the first come first serve. we have to still remember this is long term league, so if I like a guy and start bidding but another guy needs a covid replace, your saying he jumps the line and can take my guy I scouted?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I think we might be over thinking this, expand IR slots and do bidding as normal, meaning the time on it. if covid gets that bad and a frenzy team has 5 to 6 players on IR from covid its likely a large percentage of NFL players are on that list. I prefer simple solution. and remember were all in the same boat, unless your me then I will have ten players out from COVID and every one else will have 1 or 2, LOL.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I think Dale might be right. I see lots of problems with restricting players as being able to be bid on only as COVID replacements. I'm beginning to think we expand our IR and leave it at that.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Expand IR or first come first serve like I outlined above.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

That's not what I was saying. Just limiting time period that COVID replacement can be added on first come first serve basis so normal bidding process can take place.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I like a combination of what is being said.
If a player goes out due to Covid:
The team owner can add a temporary replacement..
1) Replacement Player's Salary = Covid player's salary
2) Replacement player must be cut immediately after the Covid player returns
3) No Penalty will be assessed for cut replacement player
4) Replacement player will be added as a First Come First Served method
a) If a player is currently in the bid process, he is NOT eligible as a replacement
b) Added thread for the replacement must be started with “COVID” in the summary line
5) Replacement player cannot be cut for a different Replacement player

However, I am also open to adding additional IR slots or just leaving everything as is. I agree with Dale that we are all in the same boat and will probably all get hit. It just a matter of who will take the bigger hit.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I like all of this as well as Pat's idea to allow Covid bid replacements as First Come First Served after our weekly bidding period on Saturdays through gametime, with the caveat that a player currently still in bidding (carried over till Tuesday) is ineligible to be a FCFS Covid replacement.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I like the FCFS idea in combination with all the other ideas brought up and summarized so well by Rick. FCFS Covid replacements from Saturdays till gametime would ensure some scrap could be picked up off the heap and started rather than putting up a definitive zero. Making the Covid replacement salary match the player out I think takes away the advantage of freeing up cap space on IR.

Plus nothing stops a team from regular UFA bidding during the week (without the Covid restrictions) if they have concerns about a player.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I could see how someone could "snag" a legit waiver wire player as a "COVID replacement" player (of course, they'd have to have a COVID player on their roster)... where the entire league might have actually wanted to bid on him for the week. So, that might be something we'd have to deal with if we continue down the "COVID replacement" path.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I was responding to cards post not yous

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

We could add a rule to the Covid replacement FCFS rule to start later in the week.
Current rules for In Season Free Agency state that weekly bidding starts Tuesday at 12:00am.
We could add a rule for Covid additions to start Thursday at 12:00am.
This would give time for everyone to start the bidding on the "players of the week" (locking the player out of the Covid Replacement position) and still gives time to cover Covid players before game time on Thursday.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Since we are spitballing I will throw this out there...

What if we "best balled" position of covid players team from unrostered Frenzy players.

We wouldn't be messing with current roster limits, salary cap or any permanent roster plans. Strictly a Covid related roster coverage band aid. Player returns and best ball option is removed. If anyone liked the covid replacement they can work them into existing free agent pick up system...

Some players the backups are rostered so best ball options are limited (Dallas, New England, and San Francisco come to mind) but as Dale said...we are all pretty much in the same boat.

Part of the appeal of best ball is IF they play the game someone will man the position. Trying to guess which back up will be cleared and be the most successful would be a frustrating experience!!!

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

interesting concept. I'd be wiling to explore it. I'm guessing it would be just for the same team. So if you have Zeke... and he's still COVID-19 positive in week one... then you could choose to go with "best ball" from the Dallas RBs who are Frenzy unrostered? Got it.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I'm open to anything that is decided, but think "Best Ball" could either provide the Covid player's owner possible advantage or defeat the purpose regarding fielding a competitive team.

Example1... Michael Thomas gets Covid, you know Brees is still airing it out, but no telling who will be his WR of the day (outside of possibly Sanders). If BB is used, that could give the Thomas owner a big advantage. Whichever WR Brees targets that day could be huge and it could be different for the 2-3 week's Thomas is sidelined - but each week the Covid owner benefits.

Example2... Rodgers goes out due to Covid, another player could step in and grab the back QB. Rodgers owner's second QB is on a bye. In this case, the Rodger's owner is back to not having a starter at QB.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

My suggestion is that the Covid best ball option be the fall back choice if traditional replacement weekly line up plan is less attractive. The best ball path isn’t going to be the only way to go. In the 2 examples is replacing Michael Thomas with the unknown receiver that blows up an unfair advantage? While it could happen isn’t it more likely that the healthy rostered starter would have scored as much if not held out. In the 2nd I can respond since I own Rodgers. My other active rostered QB has a week 5 bye. I suspect that someone else will have JLove rostered so if Rodgers was Covid held out week 5 my Covid option would be Green Bay’s unrostered 3rd qb. If someone wanted to block me by picking up that player then I would let them have him and either go after another free agent player or most likely promote Taxi QB DHaskins and pay the 5 cb per week penalty to demote him when Aaron returns.
If we went with Covid best ball as an option I could see that being an option after the weekly free agent bidding closed before NFL that week’s games started.
Again, I’m just throwing this out there as a temporary option during this Covid situation.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I think Best Ball replacement will be too complicated.

I'm good with Pat's suggestion of First Come First Served on any player not under bidding beginning Saturday through the replaced players gametime that week. I would further suggest the opening of FCFS be set at something like noon ET (to avoid giving a time advantage to either East or West Coast).

This FCFS method will exclude players involved in Thursday games, but it's better than having FCFS interfere with our weekly bidding. Further, teams who lose players in Thursday games will still have plenty of time to exercise the ability to utilize utilize standard IR and fill their open slot either with bidding on UFAs Thursday night through Friday night, and/or enough time promote TS/PS players if available to fill the open slot.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

My proposal would be basically what Rick laid out with minor modifications:

If a player goes out due to Covid:
The team owner can add a temporary replacement:
1) Replacement player will be added as a First Come First Served (FCFS) method FCFS UFA pickups will begin Saturdays at noon through the Covid players gametime that week. In weeks where there are Saturday games, FCFS will open at 10 AM ET
2) Replacement Player's Salary = Covid player's salary
3) Replacement player must be cut immediately after the Covid player returns
4) No Penalty will be assessed for cut replacement player
5) Cut replacement player will NOT be eligible for waivers
6) If a player is currently in the bid process, he is NOT eligible as a replacement
7) Added thread for the replacement must be started with “COVID” in the summary line
8) Injured COVID player must be listed in their own thread and labeled COVID
9) Replacement player cannot be cut for a different Replacement player

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I like Pred's suggestion.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I could live with this!
#2ThumbsUp

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

So how do you qualify a COVID player that needs replacing? do they have to be out with positive test, or just out due to testing happening?

And will there be a timeframe to get replacement?
If a player is covid, and will be out unknown time frame, can I pick up a player this way two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, etc. from the time he goes out?

What if the covid player is already on IR with a different injury? Can I pick up a player this way stating covid reason?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

IMO any player out for isolation/quarantine for either being positive or exposed to the virus. For example, the Clemson Tigers have 23 players from the football team in isolation due to testing positive, and close contacts of these players such as roommate have been asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. I have to think the NFL will have some sort of tag for impacted players, they may not call it COVID because of HIPAA, though with the collective bargaining agreement, they will have to indicate when a player is going to be out, and I'm sure the media will be quick to grasp the likely suspects.

Also whatever replacement you pickup would be for the duration the Covid player is out. A player already on IR would not be relevant as you are not replacing someone on your active roster. Same goes for the TS or PS.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

What about dropping COVID replacement for Player A after week 1 and adding a different replacement player for Player A for week 2/week 3/etc. to play matchups and not have to worry about replacement player bye if it happens to be on week 2?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Rick's proposal excluded that option so I went with the flow when I put in my suggestions integrating your FCFS option. It's something we can discuss. If there's enough support for it, I'm sure it can be worked in, though IMO these players would still be limited to Saturday FCFS pickups.

I'm sure there's other scenarios we haven't envisioned thus far as well, such as what if the replacement player gets hurt, or contract's COVID himself, etc. All of this is why addressing this now is better than later. If Covid doesn't rear it's ugly head nothing will be impacted, but if it does, at least we have a plan to try and keep competitive balance.

BTW, going back to best ball, one way we could integrate that if FCFS doesn't fly, would be t0 best ball players out for Covid based on the teams active roster and giving the highest points from a player that wasn't started within the skill position options for any valid lineup.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Actually, I (David) summarized this a few days ago and did include cutting a replacement player for a different player. See #9. States that you cannot drop and add replacement players.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Yeah. I would have issue with not being able to drop a replacement player to replace with another each week (Saturday). What if that player gets injured, or is diagnosed with COVID after you pick them up and before their game that week, or if they are on bye the following week, etc?

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

So are you saying your team wants an advantage for having a Covid identified player??? Being able to rotate players in and out of your roster as you see fit isn’t a fair use of Covid situation...I say this because there wasn’t a mention of penalties accrued or salary hits for constant cuts...please, feel free to explain more...if you just want freedom to drop a Covid replacement - well that and other moves should follow standard cap penalties...imo...hell, I might even force you to drop your original Covid player as a cap penalty too...thus may be getting out of hand...maybe...

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

So if you cut a Covid player, do they immediately become available for FCFS? What about normal cuts on Fridays or Saturdays... Do they go through normal waivers? If yes to both, who is going to keep track of that? I don't MFL can handle it both ways.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

No waivers for Covid replacement players. Straight back to the pool of players.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Sorry David. I originally said it was you with the summary, and then saw Rick started the thread and confused myself and changed my reference to him!

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Settle down, Chuck. Just a conversation with legit questions and potential scenarios. So what happens when you get COVID replacement on Saturday and then come later that day or Sunday morning that replacement tests positive for COVID? Do you just suck it up and take a potential goose egg? What about byes for replacements? I think it's worth discussing, not just dismissing. Everyone would be in the same boat. There's no one team having an advantage over another.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

I think your already at a loss if you are missing a player(s) due to covid. If we wait until Saturday to pick up a player, and all the "good" players are being bid on, there is not much of an advantage. It's not like you would get to pick through the best available players prior to regular free agent bidding. You are just trying to recover a some points and not take a zero.

We are all in this to have fun. It's not like we have big $$$ on the line. We should try to keep it as competitive and fair as possible while still having FUN.

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

:goodpost::agree:

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Due to this being a unique situation, we could make this simple…

Open all non-rostered (non-active bid) players as possible replacements. If you have a player out due to Covid, add a note in the Comments for your lineup regarding the replacement:
– COVID PLAYER: POS, Players Name, TEAM
– REPLACEMENT: POS, Players Name, TEAM

The replacement players will need to be declared after Saturday mid-night (after free agency bidding stops for the week)
Thursday and Saturday players will not be eligible.

This might mean that an NFL player could be playing on multiple teams that week, but this is a unique situation and as Rick stated, this is all for fun – so let’s keep it simple..

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

If we are waiting until that late in the week to do Covid replacements then I don’t think Covid is the problem on that particular player, but I guess it could at some point...I’m just not down with giving even more breaks on the replacements with no Covid and no penalties ie bye week consideration...
I’m calm...chive on...lol (saw it on a shirt)

Re: Covid IR Spots
 

Pretty sure MFL cannot handle that.