UFFDA Constitution

Teams
12 teams
Must have 2 team colors
15 players
9 active players
1 - QB
2 - RB
3 - WR
1 - TE
1 - K
1 - Defense
1 - IR Player (If necessary...can't be reactivated until end of season. The player will not count against the 15 man roster.)

Submitting Starting Line-ups
The deadline to submit rosters will be Saturday evening at 11 PM central time. You can make 2 roster moves before noon on Sunday, but they must be emailed to everyone. Owners must submit starters via email to everyone in the league. If you miss more than 2 weeks of submitting your starters (without giving instructions to the commissioner on what to do), you will be replaced. This way we know that everyone is being active.

Divisions
6 teams per division
After each year, they will be realligned (See Reallignment)

Contracts
During the season, you CANNOT resign a player to a contract extension. Drafted players will be assigned a contract length between 3 years (Max) and 1/2 year (Min) in 1/2 year increments by the drafting team with in 72 hours following the conclusion of the draft. Players not assigned to contracts by that time will default to 1/2 year contracts.

Retiring Players
If a player retires at the end of the season, the player will be dropped from the player's roster as if his contract had expired.
If a player retires during the season, the player's contract stays with the team, and a new player must be chosen through the FA signing process.

Upon completion of the "Free Agent and Rookie Draft" and assignment of contracts for players obtain in that draft, the first Wednesday will be used for the first round of claims and the Thursday will be the second round of claims (just like the regular season). This continues up until the season starts. The order for claiming will be: week 1) reverse order of finish from the previous year (12-1)...week 2) order of finish from the previous year (1-12)...week 3) reverse order of finish from previous year (12-1), etc. Players claimed will receive the same contract length as the players being dropped.

Free agent claims during the season consists of two phases each week. Rules for both phases are the same. The team with the worst season record holds priority for the first claim, with a tie breaker being based on the tiebreak procedure listed later on in this page. A claim for a free agent must include the player name being dropped.

The free agent process for each day (Wednesday and Thursday) will be divided into rounds. Each team only gets to pick up one player per round, but there can be up to 15 rounds for each day (ie, dropping everyone from your roster and picking up new players). Each team will email the commissioner their picks using the following format...

This will continue on for each player you want to drop. You can list as many players as you want to your add list. If all your players from your add list are taken, then that player is returned to your roster, and your latter rounds will be moved up a round (for example, if player B, C, and D are gone, then Player A is retained, and the round 2 drop will become the round 1 drop). In essence, every teams first drop/add request of the week will be considered before any teams second requested drop/add request, and so on.

There will be no "Phase Two" draft period for weeks when games are played on Thursday. There will be no additional free agent pickups following the games of week 13 until the following season.

Requests for free agents must be received by the commissioner by Wednesday at 10 PM Eastern Time. Requests after that time will not be honored. Above rules apply.

Requests for free agents must be received by the commissioner by Thursday at 10 PM Eastern Time. Players dropped the previous day are also available in the free agent pool.

Free Agent Claims (Pre and Regular Season):

IR
A player may be placed on injured reserve if he is declared out for the season. The free agent replacing the IR player may be signed to any contract length under the rules referenced in the contract section.

A player placed on the IR within the 1st eight weeks will have his contract length frozen for the year. A player placed on the IR after the 8 weeks will lose 1/2 of their contract eligibility. At the completion of the season, players on the IR need to be placed on the roster or released to the FARD.

Waiver Draft
Occurs AFTER week 8
Conducted in the league chatroom
You can trade draft picks
You can draft whichever players you want that is still available.
The draft will last until each team has 15 players total on their roster
Order determined by current standings (eg. 1st picks last, 2nd picks 9th, and so on)
You CANNOT drop a player to pick up a draft pick
We don't invert the order. If you pick first in the 1st round, you pick 1st in the 2nd round as well.
If you cannot make it to the draft, you must submit a list of players to be drafted. If you do not show up and you have not submitted a list, you will be replaced. NO EXCUSES!

Free Agent and Rookie Draft
Occurs AFTER the NFL Rookie Draft
Conducted in the league chatroom
You can trade draft picks
You can draft whichever players you want that is still available.
Rookies can be drafted at this time.
The draft will last until each team has 15 players total on their roster
The draft order for the FARD will be based on final regular season record and not final finishing order.
You CANNOT drop a player to pick up a draft pick
We don't invert the order. If you pick first in the 1st round, you pick 1st in the 2nd round as well.
If you cannot make it to the draft, you must submit a list of players to be drafted. If you do not show up and you have not submitted a list, you will be replaced. NO EXCUSES!

Regular Season
Head-to-head games
Weeks 1 through 13 are games
13 games total
You play everyone in your division twice
The top 3 teams from the previous year play teams 7-9 from the previous year and teams 4-6 from the previous year plays teams 10-12

Tie Breakers
1. Overall record
2. Total points scored
3. Head-to-head record
4. Division record
5. Season most points against

Playoffs
2 division champs get bye's
Next 2 best records per division get wildcard
Week 14 is the wildcard round (seeds two and three of each conference play each other)
Week 15 is the conference championship (the winner of each game plays their conference regular season champ)
Week 16 is the championships
The two winners of the semi's will meet for 1st
The two losers of the semi's will meet for 3rd
The two losers of the wildcard round will meet for 5th
The two in 4th place in each division will meet for 7th
The two in 5th place in each division will meet for 9th
The two in 6th place in each division will meet in the Toilet Bowl for 11th.

Reallignment
After week 17, there will be a divisional realignment
Places 7-12 in the Duff Light division
Places 1-6 in the Duff Beer division
This will ensure equality each year

Trades
Can trade draft picks
Players contracts go with players
I will have final say in allowing trades
A player may not be traded back to his originating team for a minimum of 4 weeks
The trade deadline will be week 13 (the same as the FA claiming deadline), and trading can resume following week 16.

Rule Changes
Must be approved by 8 owners
Expansion must be accepted by 10 owners