Taxi Squad change

[Burt the Butcher]

I would like to throw it out there for discussion, about the idea of increasing the Taxi Squad by 1 slot. Seems each year, we are always up against deciding on one of two players, who have not had time to really show their stuff, and end up cutting players who later develop. Either that or cut the draft by a round, and use 3rd round picks for PS. 3 players a year drafted, you maybe move one to active immediately if they are RB who will be starting, and then the rest you want to mellow a couple years. But you run out of slots after two years.

[Burt the Butcher]

and would also have to increase the years to account for added slot

[Bounty Hunter]

I like the idea of a 3 round draft and keeping the slots/years the same. This gives more time for players to develop and allows for more players (undrafted rookies) to be available via FA.

[Royal Hawaiian Opihi]

I'd be up for adding an additional slot to the TS...
AND for eliminating the only-one-PS-spot-per-year rule... we were worried that teams would forgo 3rd round picks to "stockpile" 4th rounders who'd be PS eligible. However, I think adding a 6th TS spot + dropping the one player/year rule would work well in tandem.

But that's from a guy who actually puts a lot of time into prepping for the rookie draft. So I feel invested in the guys I draft.

[Preds]

I think the system is working exactly as it was intended to and there is no reason to make any changes.

[Bounty Hunter]

bump

Can't believe no one else has any thoughts on this. It's really ok to disagree with Mike, 3 of us already broke the ice on that.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by bounty hunter

bump

can't believe no one else has any thoughts on this. It's really ok to disagree with mike, 3 of us already broke the ice on that.

blasphemy!

[Burt the Butcher]

Originally Posted by Preds

blasphemy!

[Liquid Swords]

I think it's fine the way it is...and the undrafted rookies make great UFA fights when they break out.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Liquid Swords

I think it's fine the way it is...and the undrafted rookies make great UFA fights when they break out.

Same with the unproductive rooks released off our Taxi Squads after 2-3 years who surprisingly breakout in years 4 or 5.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Burt the Butcher

Also a

;)

[Royal Hawaiian Opihi]

Yep. For those who don't put much research into drafting, sticking with what we've got is indeed the best plan.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Royal Hawaiian Opihi

Yep. For those who don't put much research into drafting, sticking with what we've got is indeed the best plan.

Pastor Jim slinging mud!

Just where has all that draft research gotten you in recent years besides an epic last place finish 2 seasons ago?

;)

[Burt the Butcher]

Originally Posted by Preds

Same with the unproductive rooks released off our Taxi Squads after 2-3 years who surprisingly breakout in years 4 or 5.

I guess if the goal is to devalue draft picks, then yes, this is working just fine.

3 picks a year on TS, you run out in 2nd year, unless you can move up at least 2 of your picks to active in year 1. So those 3rd round picks, not really worth doing the research on, since you will pretty much have to let them go after 2 years, unless you always get players who preform year 1 in rounds 1 and 2.

You are basically saying its not worth drafting guys like Demarius Thomas, since they will take a couple years to blossom. Even guys like Alshon Jeffery, who need first year to get comfortable.

[Preds]

I'll go back to my point from earlier in the off-season when you and Bobby pushed for further extending the 3rd year TS players through the end of summer so you could have a 4th pre-season to evaluate them. They've already had 3 full seasons to show they deserve to be an active roster player. At that point if they haven't produced it's time to either have your convictions that they will do so and pay up with an active roster spot, or release them.

The same applies for your 5 player max which is usually a mix of 1st and 2nd round players and an occasional 3rd. Most 1st round picks are moved up within a year, 2nds within 2-3 years. By design the TS isn't setup to allow for you to stash multiple years of draft classes on your TS. You're forced to make decisions, the hard calls, you know, the things REAL GM's have to do every season. ;)

I'll also point out that there are far more 1st/2nd round flops like Vincent Brown and Juron Criner's who don't produce (not to mention 3rd round players who rarely produce) than there are Alshon Jeffrey's and Demarius Thomas's. And... the Browns and Criners of the world were generally higher picks than the few surprise players that emerge.

The UFA pool is depleted enough as is. Having the OCCASIONAL 3rd or 4th year player surprise in the 4th or 5th season as a UFA is healthy for the league. Nobody is forcing you to cut players off your TS, the league is structured to force you to decide whether they warrant a spot on your active roster or not in their 4th season. If you have conviction on a player, by all means stick to it and pay up by giving them a roster spot. But 4-5 years sitting on your TS is nothing but taking an easy way out and IMO not healthy overall for the league.

As for 3rd rounders, they're supposed to be a rarity for sticking with a team. Odds are they only have 1-2 seasons if that to make your squad. Think of them like undrafted FA's in the NFL.

4th rounders are even deeper reaches, though we gave teams the PS to stash truly deep sleepers to satisfy the Pastor Jim's of the world who put such a premium on their personal draft research. ;)

[Burt the Butcher]

But we are not talking about 4-5 years. Unless you hit 2 of your 3 picks every year, you run out of slots. If you make trades for extra picks, like I did last year, they better hit in first year, or you have to move them or lose them. So essentially, its a waste to aquire anything more than your 3 picks in rounds 1-3. Thus the draft is devalued.

And actual GM's have more slots available to take chances on active players still learning.

[Preds]

Real NFL GM's also have 53 player rosters and a 8 player 2 year max Practice Squad (that ANY team can sign the player off of unless the PS team activates said player). The PS accounts for 13.11% of developmental roster space in the NFL

In Frenzy we have 5 TS and 3 PS slots and only 18 man rosters. The TS & PS account for 30.76% of developmental roster space in the Frenzy.

The Frenzy already has over twice the developmental space as the NFL, and stricter protections on players to boot, and you want to expand that? I just have to disagree. I think Frenzy's system is generous enough for development.

[Burt the Butcher]

We only have 34% of the active roster space of NFL GM to move our Developmental players up to. THAT is major crux of the argument for, and cannot be disputed.

But I have said my piece, I will say no more on this topic. If only 5 teams are interested enough to comment, then seems like a dead issue anyways...

[Preds]

Up to 17 out of 18 Frenzy active roster slots are available to offensive players, and all 8 on the TS/PS are offensive players.

In the NFL, that 53 man roster is generally a 50/50 mix between offense/defense with the PS a similar mix. So consider 4, maybe 6 of the 8 on the PS as offense for roughly 26 offensive roster slots.

The Frenzy already offers a significantly larger space for developing players. I just can't see to your view that it needs to be expanded further.

[Bounty Hunter]

Originally Posted by Preds

Pastor Jim slinging mud!

Just where has all that draft research gotten you in recent years besides an epic last place finish 2 seasons ago?

;)

Jim did have 4 of his players receive rookie bonuses for 2013 performance so there's that.

[Preds]

Originally Posted by Bounty Hunter

Jim did have 4 of his players receive rookie bonuses for 2013 performance so there's that.

2 of whom were 1st round picks (1 3rd overall, the other 6th), a 3rd acquired via trade two years after the player was drafted (Murray), and finally a 2.16 in Russell Wilson who has certainly turned into a very nice NFL QB, albeit not a Fantasy beast as of yet.

FTR, I'm not trying to knock on Jim here, he certainly does his research and has his sources he trusts. Just saying that rookie bonuses on those 4 players this year are not the product of Jim's clairvoyance in drafting as Bobby's argument seems to infer.

[Bounty Hunter]

From my perspective the numbers for TS/PS seem to work better in SACD than Frenzy. Was this by design or it just worked out that way?

[Burt the Butcher]

Originally Posted by Bounty Hunter

From my perspective the numbers for TS/PS seem to work better in SACD than Frenzy. Was this by design or it just worked out that way?

Right, because you have more slots for TS, and an extra Offensive slot to use for those flyers on active

[Royal Hawaiian Opihi]

Wow. Just got online today and saw this epic thread.
I was sorta kinda joking about draft research. But whatever.
I will most likely be promoting 3-4 TS players this year to active.
So yah, my drafting had worked out well, if I say so myself. Two years ago was an epic fail for me. Can't sugar coat that one bit. But I'd put my drafting over the past 5 seasons up against anyone else in the league. Needless to say, it's either obvious this isn't an issue to over half the league... Or half the league isn't reading non-UFA posts.