I will write up the rule if there is some support. Here is my idea.
KRFL team rosters would be 53 players. Teams will have an additional 6 players on a taxi squad. These players are ineligible to play. Teams would announce the 6 players they are putting on their taxi squad after the FA draft and before the start of the season.
For example. I own JK Dobbins. He did not play last season since he got hurt in the preseason. Currently he is treated as an uncarded player. There are a few of these every year. Dobbins would be on my taxi squad. His salary counts toward the cap, but he is not on the 53 man roster.
Jeff Okudah did play last year - he played 1 game and got hurt. His durability is a 1. Under my proposal, I could assign him to my 2nd taxi squad spot. That way I can keep and develop him. He would not eat up a roster spot. This is a way of having low durability players not take up roster spots - teams would be able to keep low durability players and have their roster filled out with more players with higher durability (similar to the 6 durability rule that was just proposed.
There would be some limitations to who you can put on your taxi squad. Any player with a rating of 6 or higher who has a durability rating of 4 or more is ineligible. The taxi squad would only be for players who were hurt and missed more or all of the season or low rated backups you want to develop.
Rule 4.7 already covers the Dobbins situation. Rule 4.7 is shown below. The number of such injured reserve players a team can have on its roster is not limited.
Is this proposal to modify that rule by changing "if they are "uncarded" in the DKSports APCFB game", to "if the player's Durability Rating is 3 or less and his overall player rating is 5 or less"? If yes, what difference does the player's rating make? Why that distinction?
Current Rule: 4.7 –Injured Reserve. KRFL will allow returning players to be retained by their KRFL team on an injured reserve (IR) squad if they are “uncarded” in the DKSports APCFB game. A returning player is defined as a player whose rights are still owned by the team. Declarations of Injured Reserve Players must be done at the annual Roster Cut Down Deadline before the annual player drafts or other deadlines set by the Commissioner. Injured Reserve players will count against the salary cap but will not count against the team's 55-man active roster. Injured reserve players cannot be traded or cut.
It is rare that teams have more than 1 player on injured reserve. So yes, this would replace 4.7 to allow teams to keep more players and not have it affect their active roster. It solves multiple issues - teams wanting to carry additional players AND teams having several low durability players on the roster (hence the durability rating of 6 or above rule).
I picked a player rating of 5 or below to prevent teams from stashing good players, but that is not necessary.
We could change the rule to:
The 6 man taxi squad is reserved for players who A) did not play at all during the NFL season but are under contract or rookies who have not been signed yet. B) Any player with a durability of 3 or below C) Any player rated 4 or below D) Any sill player with less than 20 carries, catches or passes thrown.
Some GMs want more roster spots. Some GMs do not want complicated coaches files. Some GMs want to deal with the usage issues/injuries. So I would say the current rule is not fine and this rule proposal takes care of all 3 at once!
This still looks like a way to draft for projection and not actually helping the team week to week. If we take players off our current roster and designate them as taxi, before the free agent draft happens, maybe, but I would be against drafting just to put on a taxi squad that would mostly be about future value. Also, I could be misunderstanding the proposal.
Sure, some teams would draft for projection. Not every team starts the offseason with lots of players who are just future value. I don't see a problem with teams using some of their draft picks on potential. There are over 700 free agent players available after the draft.
Take my example. I own Jeff Okudah - he played 1 game last year. I am a rebuilding team trying to compete. If we have limited roster sizes, Okudah takes up a roster spot and is pretty worthless. I would love to keep him AND try to win this year. Shouldn't I be allowed to do both?
We also instituted a rule that allows teams to keep rookie picks an extra year before signing them. This rule, in my opinion, gives more value to mid to late round rookies.
Another example from my team is OLB Josh Uche. I drafted him two years ago. He has lots of talent but hasn't played very much....
With limited roster spots, I will probably have to release him. With extra roster spots - or a taxi squad - I can keep him an extra year. As a rebuilding team, a team that has sucked the last 3 years, wouldn't the league want me to be able to keep a player I drafted?
Thoughts: 1) I think a return to a 53 man roster is a step backwards. With COVID still hanging around, there seems to be fewer and fewer "Ironmen"/10 rated players meaning you need more subs. Remaining at 55 for a few more years (if not forever) seems reasonable. There appears to be enough players left over to do this. 2) The current IR system seems to work, although we could look at expanding the qualifications. 3) Anything but a static taxi squad would be a Commissioner's nightmare and I could not support that.
Like I said if the decision to keep Okudau is made before the free agent draft and the squad is selected from your current roster before the FA draft. That could work. I don’t want to see someone drafting at FA time for the current taxi squad.
Thoughts: 1) I think a return to a 53 man roster is a step backwards. With COVID still hanging around, there seems to be fewer and fewer "Ironmen"/10 rated players meaning you need more subs. Remaining at 55 for a few more years (if not forever) seems reasonable. There appears to be enough players left over to do this. 2) The current IR system seems to work, although we could look at expanding the qualifications. 3) Anything but a static taxi squad would be a Commissioner's nightmare and I could not support that.
1 - I agree we should not decrease the amount of roster spots. I think we should expand, but some people are against having to deactivate players before games start, hence this proposal. 2 - Taxi squad is one way of increasing the IR system, but I am open to others. Perhaps anybody with a 2 or 3 durability can be 'uncarded' or put on IR before the season and remain there. 3 - I agree - my idea is the taxi squad is announced at the end of the FA draft, before the season and it is static. No changing.
