Join Fantasy Football: Fantasy Football Rules

Select a link below for more information:

1. Introduction from "The Commish"
2. Leagues
   • Tight End Required Leagues
   • No Tight End Required Leagues
   • Costs
   • Winnings (prize breakdown per league)
   • The Commissioner
   • Deadline To Join A League
3. Drafting Process
• "Live Draft" Leagues
• "Email Draft" Leagues
• Predrafting
4. Teams
• Roster Requirements (tight end required league)
• Roster Requirements (no tight end required league)
• Multiple Teams
5. Scoring System
   • Offensive Statistics
   • Defensive Statistics
   • Wins/Losses
   • Decimal Scoring
   • Various Scoring Explanations
6. Schedule and Playoffs
   • 12 Team Leagues
   • 10 Team Leagues
7. Lineup Changes
   • Weekly Lineups
   • Abandoned Teams
   • Deadline to Change Status
   • Free Agents / Waivers
   • Waiver Rank
   • Post Draft Waiver Rank
   • Trades

Introduction: A Few Words From "The Commish"

Welcome to FantasyHeadquarters.com Fantasy Football 2004!

Here you'll compete head-to-head all season long in our Award Winning Fantasy Football Leagues against other fantasy football FANATICS across the globe! And what will you be playing for? How about for respect...for pride...for bragging rights...for fun...and of course, for CASH PRIZES!

Have you ever played in a fantasy football league where the only person that wins anything is the overall winner of the entire league? What's up with that anyway? No matter how insightful an owner you may be, just a little bad luck here or there, and you go home with nothing, nada, zilch!

With this in mind, we have set up our our leagues so that the top three finishers within each league win $CASH$ PRIZES!

Any fantasy football veteran knows that a little bad luck here or there can unfortunately ruin your brilliant draft. With that in mind, at the end of the 14 week regular season, the 4 non-playoff teams with the best records will participate in our one and only, "Toilet Bowl Championships"! Then, the overall winner of our consolation "Toilet Bowl Championships" wins a cash prize, too. So, for every league we offer there are always FOUR WINNERS, not just one!

Whether you're a beginner or an expert, we've got a league (and the odds are a prize too) for you!

Leagues

Some of us here at FantasyHeadquarters.com aren't huge fans of having to start a Tight End (TE), while others think that the TE is a must on any fantasy football team. As the saying goes, to each their own, which is why we support two distinct starting lineup options.

Tight End Required Leagues:
1 QB (quarterback), 2 RB (running back), 2 WR (wide receiver), 1 TE (tight end), 1 K (kicker), and 1 DT (defensive team).

No TE Required Leagues:
1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR and/or TE, 1 K, 1 DT. In this type of league, if you wish to draft and /or start a TE (tight end), go right ahead, however it is not required that you draft or start any TE's. You can have all WR's if you'd like.

Costs:
We provide five levels of leagues to choose from, "A", "AA", "AAA", "Pro", and "AllStar". The costs per team are $49 per "A" team, $99 per "AA" team, $199 per "AAA" team, $399 per "Pro" team, and $999 per "AllStar" team. These are the only costs per team, there are no other transaction costs.

Winnings:
Within each league, "A", "AA", "AAA", and "Pro" you can join either a 10-team league, or a 12-team league. The only difference really is the amount of the cash prizes associated with each league. Since the 12-team leagues have two more owners than the 10-team leagues, the total pot, and therefore the cash prizes that are kicked back to our 4 WINNERS PER LEAGUE is a little more generous. Also, a higher percentage of the total pot is kicked back to those teams that participate in our $999 entry fee leagues, vs. teams that participate only in the $49 entry fee leagues. As the entry fees increase, so does the percentage of the total pot that is kicked back to our 4 WINNERS! You invest more, you get rewarded!

All of our Award Winning Fantasy Football Games are games of skill, and we do not discriminate based on geographical location. Quite simply, if you have the skills and knowledge necessary to guide any of your fantasy football teams in our games to a prize winning finish, we will happily reward your time and efforts by mailing your much deserved prize in the form of a company check to the address given upon registration. Whether you are white, black, or pink, live in Moscow, Manhattan, or Maui, if you would like to participate in our games of skill, we'd be honored to have you as a General Manager!

Here is the prize breakdown per league and entry fee...

12 Team "AllStar" Football League prize breakdown ($999 entry fee)
1st place: $5,030
2nd place:$2,530
3rd place: $1,520
Toilet Bowl Champion: $520

12 Team "Pro" League prize breakdown ($399 entry fee):
1st place: $1,750
2nd place:$1000
3rd place: $650
Toilet Bowl Champion: $200

10 Team "Pro" League prize breakdown ($399 entry fee):
1st place: $1,325
2nd place:$775
3rd place: $550
Toilet Bowl Champion: $200

12 Team "AAA" League prize breakdown ($199 entry fee):
1st place: $750
2nd place:$375
3rd place: $225
Toilet Bowl Champion: $100

10 Team "AAA" League prize breakdown ($199 entry fee):
1st place: $625
2nd place:$300
3rd place: $175
Toilet Bowl Champion: $100

12 Team "AA" League prize breakdown ($99 entry fee):
1st place: $325
2nd place:$175
3rd place: $100
Toilet Bowl Champion: $50

10 Team "AA" League prize breakdown ($99 entry fee):
1st place: $275
2nd place:$150
3rd place: $75
Toilet Bowl Champion: $50

12 Team "A" League prize breakdown ($49 entry fee):
1st place: $150
2nd place:$75
3rd place: $50
Toilet Bowl Champion: $25

10 Team "A" League prize breakdown ($49 entry fee):
1st place: $125
2nd place:$65
3rd place: $35 each
Toilet Bowl Champion: $25

The Commissioner:
The commissioner is traditionally the individual responsible for coordinating and managing a fantasy league. "The Commish" will serve as the commissioner for all 2004 leagues, and will be responsible for resolving any disputes that arise, such as trades or rules violations, etc.

Deadline To Join A League:
We would like to preface this portion of the rules site by urging you to sign up for the league(s) in which you wish to play ASAP! There is no guarantee that once a particular type of league is full, that another one similar to it will be made available to take the original league's place. It is our goal to fill all of our leagues ASAP, then if the need for additional leagues arises, at that point introduce new leagues. So again, in this situation, the best policy is to decide which league(s) you would like to join, and register immediately.

All of our leagues will be full, and therefore will have conducted their drafts, before the beginning of the 2004 football season, which is Thursday, September 9th, at 9:00pm ET. We will not be running half season leagues, or partial season leagues.

Drafting Process:

Draft Q & A's:

Question - How do I initially acquire my fantasy players?

Answer - All GM's will initially acquire their players via a 18 round player serpentine draft.

Question - What exactly is a Serpentine Draft?

Answer - In a serpentine draft, the order rotates each round. For example, in a 12 team draft, in round one, the team with the first pick of the draft would draft first, the team with the second overall pick would draft second, on through the last pick in the draft (pick 12), drafting last in that round (round one). However, in round 2, team 12 would pick first, while team 1 would pick last that round. So, in the odd rounds of our drafts, the order would be 1-12, while in the even rounds the order would be 12-1. This same principles apply for the 10 team leagues too.

Question - Where do the all drafts actually take place?

Answer - All drafts will take place via each individual league's home page.

Question - How and where do I access my league's home page?

Answer - All league home pages will be accessible sometime in late July or early August via the "Member Login" link at www.FantasyHeadquarters.com.

Question - Okay, I've accessed my league's home page, now how do I actually draft?

Answer - Whether your league has an Email Draft or a Live Draft, you will need to draft your players by choosing the "Owners" option on your league's home page, and then by selecting "Draft". From there, simply choose your team, type in your password, and you'll be set to draft or predraft.

Question - How is the draft order determined?

Answer - The draft order for all of our drafts is determined 100% randomly before the draft actually takes, so you will know ahead of time in which position you'll be drafting!

Question - How can I find out the draft order?

Answer - Once your league's home page is accessible (which again will be around late July/early August), you'll be able to access the draft order on your league's home page by choosing "Reports", then "Fantasy League Reports", and lastly by clicking on "Draft Report".

(1) E-mail Draft:

All "Email Draft Leagues" will begin promptly at 5:00 pm ET on Friday, August 20th, 2004.

Besides the ample time you will be given to prepare for your draft, we will also provide you with various resources to ensure your draft runs smoothly, and that you are well prepared to draft a competitive team. Though it is called an "Email Draft" League, in actuality the Email Draft is just like a Live Draft. However, the main difference is that in an "Email Draft" League each team has a MAXIMUM of up to 8 hours to make each selection. This time frame is a MAXIMUM, and we certainly encourage teams to make their selections as soon as they are able to, and/or Predraft for any or all of the rounds. Once selections have been made, they will be EMAILED to all team owners within that league. This ensures that you are always aware of what is going on in the draft, and will assist you in keeping track of when your next pick will occur. EMAIL DRAFTS typically can take between 3 to 13 days, depending upon how fast teams submit their selections.

*** PLEASE NOTE - If you choose to participate in an "Email Draft" League, please realize that as stated above this is not a fast draft. It is for people who don't want to be rushed in drafting, or simply aren't able to make any of the Live Draft League dates. We have people from all over the globe playing in our leagues, so though you may be on the East Coast ready for a team to make their pick, someone else may be on the West Coast, still sleeping when their turn is up, or vice versa. "Email Draft" Leagues, with their 8 hour maximum timeframe to make your draft selection, also allow our GM's to go to work, sleep, etc. without worrying about missing a pick. Plus, as with "Live Draft" Leagues, there is always the Predraft Option (detailed below).

Predrafting is recommended, as it will not only speed up the draft, but will enable each team owner to be prepared once it is their turn to draft, and ensure that they are not stuck with a player they do not want should their time to draft expire.

(2) Live Draft:

All "Live Draft" Leagues drafts will begin promptly at the time listed on our Fantasy Football Registration Page and that league's home page.

The "Live Draft" will be held in a LIVE ONLINE DRAFT ROOM on your league's home page accessible via the "Member Login" link at www.FantasyHeadquarters.com. The Live Online Draft room is accessible by choosing the "Owners" option on your league's home page, and then by selecting "Draft". From there, simply choose your team, type in your password, and you'll be set to draft and/or predraft, and of course to enter Live Draft Mode. In a LIVE DRAFT, each team will have only two minutes to make their selections per round. Typically, LIVE DRAFTS can last anywhere between 1 to 4 hours, depending upon how quickly owners select their players. Each team will have the opportunity to predraft for any and every round if they wish.

Predrafting:

If you are participating in an "Email Draft" League, we would strongly recommend predrafting whenever possible, and for every pick. This will not only speed up the draft, but also ensure that you never miss a pick. Predrafting isn't as important for "Live Draft" Leagues since you'll only have two minutes to make your picks anyway, but it will guard against missing picks because you get kicked off-line.

When predrafting the computer will automatically select your highest ranked player still available as soon as it is your turn. Please keep in mind that if you have predrafted for any round, your predraft selections will occur automatically as soon as your turn comes up. So if you wish to clear your predraft selections and draft for yourself, you'll have to erase all predraft selections before your pick comes up, or the computer will automatically draft for you immediately based upon your predraft rankings.

Question - How do I predraft?

Answer - You can predraft at any time by selecting the "Owners" option, and then clicking on "Draft". Once on the draft page you'll be able to submit and save picks for any and all rounds.

However, please keep in mind that your predraft selections do not carry over, you must predraft for every single round that you wish to predraft for, or choose the option to apply one rounds picks to future rounds. Also, please make sure that you predraft enough players so that at least one will be left on the draft board when your turn arrives. So for example, if you have the 3rd pick in the first round and predraft Priest Holmes, Ladanian Tomlinson, and Ahman Green, you will be assured of getting one of those three players. However, if you had the 4th pick in that round, and only predrafted those 3 players, they could all be selected before your turn comes up, so now you have nobody in your predraft list available since they've all been taken. In this situation, unless you logged in and made your pick before the clock expires, you would miss your selection, and hold up the draft for everyone else. So please make sure to always predraft enough players so that, worst case scenario, there will still be one player at least available for you to automatically select.

Question - I have the first overall pick in my "Live Draft" league, but I can't access the predraft option, what is going on?

Answer - Congratulations, you have the first pick! Unfortunately, this means that you will not be able to predraft for the Live Draft at all until the Live Draft begins. This is the one drawback of having the first overall pick, you can not predraft until the draft begins. What you'll need to do is as soon as the draft begins be online to begin the draft by making the first overall pick, and then once you've kicked off the draft by making that first overall pick, you'll then be able to predraft after that if you'd like.

*** VERY IMPORTANT - MISSED DRAFT PICKS: If for any reason a team does not make their selection before their allotted time is up, as soon as their time expires, our software will automatically select the best available player for that team, based upon the average draft position of hundreds of drafts that have taken place leading up to the 2004 season. This policy is in place to guard against the unforeseen emergency that can occur to any owner at any time. HOWEVER, in our "Email Draft" leagues, if an owner misses two picks in a row, or three picks total throughout the draft, we will place their team on computer controlled drafting mode. In this mode, the computer will automatically make all of that team's picks based solely upon the player with the highest average draft position that is still available, not by need. So it is quite common to end up with too many WR's, DT's, QB's, or even TE's when the computer drafts for you, so in the long run we would NOT RECOMMEND allowing the computer to make your selections for you.

Teams:

Each league will have either 10 or 12 teams, depending upon which league you choose to enter. The 12-team leagues will be divided into three divisions of 4 teams each. Each team will consist of 18 NFL players. (Note: Individual defensive players are not drafted; rather, you will draft an NFL team's entire defensive unit. For the purpose of roster limits, each NFL defensive unit will count as one "player.") Owners may select a starting lineup each week from their 18 players. Below you will find two charts, one for the TE (tight end) required league, and one for the no TE required league. The charts list how many players you MUST start at each position. There is no maximum amount of players that you must draft at each position. So long as you draft enough players at each position to submit a complete starting lineup, you may draft as little or as many as you'd like at the other positions. If you wish to have 8 RB's for example, that is fine, again, as long as you have enough players at the other positions to submit a compete starting lineup weekly.

In the "No Tight End Required League", you MUST start no more than a combination of 3 WR's and/or TE's.

Multiple Teams:
In order to keep the leagues as competitive as possible, owners will only be allowed to have one team per league, per league. What this means is that you can have as many teams as you'd like within the different "A", "AA", "AAA", and "Pro" leagues, but, you may not and will not be allowed to have two teams within a specific league(s), i.e., two teams within League # 200 of the "AAA" League for example.

Scoring System:

YES, all of our Award Winning Fantasy Football Leagues DO provide LIVE SCORING!

Each week your team will compete against another team in your league in a head-to-head match up. During a match up, each of the players in your 'starting lineup' ('active' players) for that week will earn points based on actual statistics from NFL games.

Wins & Losses:
For each head-to-head match up, the team with the greater number of points will earn a Win and the team with the lesser number a Loss. During the regular season, if two teams have the same number of points, each team will get a Tie, though we have made the chances of a tie actually occurring very slim due to our decimal place scoring (see below). During the playoffs, there are no ties, and the team with the highest number of points scored by its 'reserve' players in that playoff game will be the winner. If this doesn't break the tie, then the team with the higher playoff seed gets the Win.

Decimal Scoring:
Though we have established rules if ties do occur (see above), we have structured our leagues to make that possibility a minute one. Our scoring system uses two decimal places, there is no rounding up or down, so every single yard your player earns counts. If your RB rushes for 95 yards, you get 9.5 points, not 9 or 10.

Scoring Explanations:

• Offensive Scoring (QB, RB, WR, TE, K) Any offensive player will receive points for any offensive statistics they accumulate. If you have a quarterback that passes for 324 yards and 3 TD, rushes for 37 yards and 1 TD, and also happens to have 12 yards receiving, his point total for the week would be 35.86. Broken down it would be: 12.96 (324 yards passing) + 12 (3 passing TD) + 3.7 (37 rushing yards) + 6 (rushing TD) + 1.2 (12 yards receiving) = 35.86.
  
  
• Defensive / Special Team scoring Your defense is awarded points when any one of its members generates either a TD, interception, fumble recovery, safety, sack, blocked punt or blocked field goal. Your defense is NOT awarded points for a kickoff or punt return that results in a TD. If you have the Chiefs team defense, and Dante Hall returns a punt for a touchdown, you do NOT get 6 points. Rather, any team using Hall as an active WR would be awarded those points.
  
  
• Fumbles Lost by a player on special teams or defense will lose 2 points if they turn the ball over to the opposing team. For instance, if you have Dante Hall active at WR and he fumbles the ball away at any time while he is on the field, your team will lose 2 points. This includes a fumble lost while returning a kick, punt, interception (if your WR were playing defense) or while on offense at WR.
  
  
• Defensive Points Allowed will take into account ONLY the points given up by your Team Defense specifically, NOT the points allowed by the team as a whole. So, any points scored against the offense (TD from an interception, safeties, etc.) or special teams (punt return for a TD), will not be counted against your Team Defense. This is yet another scoring niche, that sets us apart from our "competition".
  
  
• Defensive Touchdowns are any touchdowns scored by the defensive team. This includes fumble returns, interception returns, blocked kicks, and blocked field goals.

Schedule & Playoffs (12 Team Leagues):

Regular Season:
The first 14 weeks of the NFL season represent the regular season for all 12 Team FantasyHeadquarters.com Fantasy Football Leagues. During the 14 weeks, each team will play the other teams in its division twice each, and they will play teams in the other divisions once each.

Playoffs:
The three division leaders based on won/lost record go to the playoffs along with a wildcard team. The wildcard team will be the team with the best won/lost record, excluding the 3 divisional leaders. If there is a tie for a division lead or any playoff seed, the following tiebreakers will be used.

1. Total Points Scored
2. Head-to-Head Record
3. Division Record

The division leader with the best record going into the playoffs will be the #1 seed, and the #1 seed will play the wildcard (seed #4) in the first playoff match in NFL Week 15. The other division leaders will be seeded #2 and #3, and will also face each other in week 15. These top four teams make up the Championship Bracket.

Toilet Bowl (Consolation playoffs):
The top FOUR teams that do not make the playoffs will participate in the Toilet Bowl Consolation Playoffs. The same rules and tiebreakers concerning seeding (as discussed above) will apply. These "top four" teams will meet up in the one and only. Toilet Bowl Championships!

Schedule & Playoffs (10 Team Leagues):

Regular Season:
The first 14 weeks of the NFL season represent the regular season for all 10 Team FantasyHeadquarters.com Fantasy Football Leagues, too. During the 14 weeks, each team will play the other teams in its division twice each, they will play teams in the other division once each, while playing one non-divisional opponent twice, for a total of 14 regular season games.

Playoffs:
The two division leaders based on won/lost record go to the playoffs along with two wildcard teams. The wildcard teams will be the teams with the best won/lost record, excluding the 2 divisional leaders. If there is a tie for a division lead or any playoff seed, the following tiebreakers will be used.

1. Total Points Scored
2. Head-to-Head Record
3. Division Record

The division leader with the best record going into the playoffs will be the #1 seed, and the #1 seed will play the wildcard with the worst record (seed #4) in the first playoff match in NFL Week 15. The other division leader will be seeded #2, and will play the wildcard with the best record, the #3 seed. They will also face each other in week 15. These top four teams make up the Championship Bracket.

Toilet Bowl (Consolation playoffs):
The top FOUR teams that do not make the playoffs will participate in the Toilet Bowl Consolation Playoffs. The same rules and tiebreakers concerning seeding (as discussed above) will apply. These "top four" teams will meet up in the one and only.Toilet Bowl Championships!

Lineup Changes:

Weekly Lineups:
Each week owners have the opportunity to select their starting lineup for the week. All lineups must be in by 1:00pm ET on Sunday for all players playing in any games after the 1pm ET deadline. However, if you have a player playing in an early game, say Thursday or Saturday, you must decide on their status before their game begins, but you can hold off on deciding on the rest of the players all the way up until the 1:00pm ET Sunday deadline.

If an owner doesn't set their lineup for a particular week, the owner's lineup from the previous week will be used.

Abandoned Teams:
Per FantasyHeadquarters.com policy, whenever a team appears to be abandoned, we will submit their starters for them based upon the highest draft choices at each position. The only time we will stray from this policy is if the highest drafted player is hurt, and unable to play that week. We do this to protect the integrity of our games, as no one wants to play in a league where a team has no starters every week.

Deadline to Change Status:
You can change the status of the players on your team (i.e., "active" or "reserve") up to 5 minutes before that player's NFL team is scheduled to start. While there are benefits to last minute research, please play it safe and change the status well before this 5-minute window arrives. FantasyHeadquarters will NOT be responsible if the time you are going by, and the time that we have are not synchronized. Please note that you will never be able to set an illegal lineup, too. For instance, if you've set your starting lineup already, you will not be able to change the status of one of your 'reserves' to 'active' for the Monday Night Football game, just because, say, one of your 'active' players didn't play, even if the Monday Night Football game hasn't begun, yet. Got it?! If not, just read over it one more time.

Free Agents/Waivers
Throughout the season you may want to improve your roster by adding available free agents and dropping players who aren't performing up to your expectations. There is no limit to the number of transactions you can make, nor are there any associated fees. You can submit a free agent request at any time before the weekly waiver deadline, which will be every Thursday at Noon EST. To provide an equal opportunity for all owners to add players to their roster that are new to the free agent pool, a Waivers process is used. Requests for players that are on Waivers are not executed immediately, but are put in a pending status. This allows multiple teams to request the same players. Then, every Thursday, AFTER the Noon EST deadline, we will process all of the pending requests. The order in which these requests are processed is based on the Waiver Rank of each team (discussed below). Once waivers have been processed (after the aforementioned Thursday Noon EST deadline), teams will be able to acquire players, a.k.a. free agents, on a first come first serve basis all the way up until Sunday at 1pm EST. Once the games begin on Sunday at 1pm EST, teams will again be locked from acquiring any free agents, and the waiver request process will begin all over again for the following week.

Waiver Rank:
During the waiver process, pending transactions are processed in an order determined by each team's waiver rank. The team with a waiver rank of 1, considered the highest, will get its first requested player. After the transaction is executed, the team's waiver rank is then set to 12 (last), and all other teams move up one. The waiver ranks are reset once each week after standings are updated based on the criteria below.

If a team's highest pending transaction becomes invalid because another team received the requested player, the transaction gets deleted and the team's next waiver request, if one exists, becomes that team's highest. If a team doesn't have any pending transactions because all players requested were taken by other teams, or the owner simply didn't request any players, there isn't any penalty and the Waiver Rank will not be changed.

Post Draft Waiver Rank:
Once a league's draft is completed, players can be added and dropped subject to the Free Agent and Waiver rules discussed above. The initial Waiver Rank after the draft will be the reverse of the Draft Order. After the draft, all players not drafted will be placed on Waivers.

Trades:
No trades are allowed after NFL week 12 kickoffs. Once a trade is agreed upon by two owners it is executed immediately. Please be cognizant of this, as it can have its drawbacks too. For example, if you propose a trade to an owner in the middle of the week, and the owner finally accepts the trade on Saturday for instance, the trade will be executed immediately, and the players involved in the trade promptly swapped teams. The problem lies in the following though: if you have a player in your starting lineup, a trade can not be processed. So, if you've proposed a trade, you must be aware of the status of the trade (you'll be emailed either way if the other owner accepts or denies the trade), and make the necessary changes to your starting lineup if the trade is accepted, or rescind the trade if you no longer wish to offer the trade. YOU WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING THE NECESSARY CHANGES TO YOUR STARTING LINEUP SHOULD YOU BE INVOLVED IN ANY TRADE THAT MAY EFFECT THAT WEEK'S LINEUP.

Lastly, if a trade is accepted, and any owner feels the trade is one sided, they can voice their complaints by emailing TheCommish@JoinFantasyFootball.com. Then as long as the majority of owners within that league (not including the owners actually involved in the trade) vote to veto the trade, the trade will retroactively be vetoed.