Taxi Squad when in Rebuild?

[DLF3000]

So when your team sucks, do you keep certain positions on/off your taxi for a few years?

Or anything you do differently taxi squad-wise in a rebuild?

For example, I'm thinking of leaving Prescott on my taxi all year because my RBs are so bad I have very little chance to compete. He's just as good a start as my other guys in a lost year.

[WhatWouldDitkaDo]

Sure, if the rules permit. In my home league in sig, we get 3 practice squad roster spots, and those rookies can stay there for up to 3 years. Rebuilding teams take advantage of that, and I see no issue with it.

[Goddard]

I agree, if your team isn't competing and the rules allow it, leave them on the TS. That way you don't waste their points and you get a higher draft pick.

[DLF3000]

Does anyone prioritize leaving certain positions on their taxi?

For example, since TEs usually take forever to develop, do you tend to leave them on the taxi for a few years?

And yet I was thinking of just activating Njoku alongside Kelce so I could ignore TE for a while.

But is it there any advantage in stacking your taxi with RBs or WRs only?

[DDT]

Does anyone prioritize leaving certain positions on their taxi?

For example, since TEs usually take forever to develop, do you tend to leave them on the taxi for a few years?

And yet I was thinking of just activating Njoku alongside Kelce so I could ignore TE for a while.

But is it there any advantage in stacking your taxi with RBs or WRs only?

I look at two things when determining who to place on a taxi squad:

#1 - Can TS guys be promoted in season?

If so, then it's really just an extra roster spot. In this case I would consider rostering a rookie RB or WR, knowing that I can promote them if they start performing. You also don't want to go too far out on a limb here because this really is a spot that you can use.

If you cannot promote them in season, then the TS is truly a place to stash and forget. And I would look at RBs or WRs that will miss the year due to injury or really need development -- Smelter and Lattimore come to mind here as options. But avoid a guy that could perform -- I put Josh Gordon on a non-promotable TS his rookie year and still regret it. I would also look at QBs that you think may start in a year or two (subject to point #2 below). Guys like Hundley and Kelly this year are favorites for this type of spot.

#2 - How long can you leave them there?

If you can promote in season, then point #2 becomes much less relevant because you are looking at guys that you could conceivably start this year.

Assuming that you cannot promote in season and if you can only TS for one year, then I think that you're really looking solely at RBs and WRs, preferably those that you know will be out for the year or who will take time to develop. Kevin White from two years ago would have been a great choice.

Assuming that you cannot promote in season and that you can keep them on TS for several years, I really really really like to use my TS spots for QBs. You could go other spots here but it seems like you're wasting the spot unless you go with the developmental QB.

[DLF3000]

#1 - Can TS guys be promoted in season?

If so, then it's really just an extra roster spot. In this case I would consider rostering a rookie RB or WR, knowing that I can promote them if they start performing. You also don't want to go too far out on a limb here because this really is a spot that you can use.

If you cannot promote them in season, then the TS is truly a place to stash and forget. And I would look at RBs or WRs that will miss the year due to injury or really need development -- Smelter and Lattimore come to mind here as options. But avoid a guy that could perform -- I put Josh Gordon on a non-promotable TS his rookie year and still regret it. I would also look at QBs that you think may start in a year or two (subject to point #2 below). Guys like Hundley and Kelly this year are favorites for this type of spot.

I didn't realize there were leagues where you can't promote from the TS during the season - doesn't seem much fun not having that option.

So yeah, I can promote at any time during the year (once promoted can never go back to the TS). We can leave them on there forever though, no limit there - you just eventually run out of space as the years and rookie drafts go by.

Your Gordon example is a good one. So basically, if you suspect they might perform during the year, then be ready to move them from the TS or just make them active before the season starts and keep "rawer/definitely won't start or play much this year" rookies on the TS.

[sloth8u]

I'd leave your best projected rookies there if your allowed. I will be taxi'ing lenny and davis in a league. (Major rebuild)

[jeffster]

#1 - Can TS guys be promoted in season?

If so, then it's really just an extra roster spot. In this case I would consider rostering a rookie RB or WR, knowing that I can promote them if they start performing. You also don't want to go too far out on a limb here because this really is a spot that you can use.

If you cannot promote them in season, then the TS is truly a place to stash and forget. And I would look at RBs or WRs that will miss the year due to injury or really need development -- Smelter and Lattimore come to mind here as options. But avoid a guy that could perform -- I put Josh Gordon on a non-promotable TS his rookie year and still regret it. I would also look at QBs that you think may start in a year or two (subject to point #2 below). Guys like Hundley and Kelly this year are favorites for this type of spot.

I didn't realize there were leagues where you can't promote from the TS during the season - doesn't seem much fun not having that option.

So yeah, I can promote at any time during the year (once promoted can never go back to the TS). We can leave them on there forever though, no limit there - you just eventually run out of space as the years and rookie drafts go by.

Your Gordon example is a good one. So basically, if you suspect they might perform during the year, then be ready to move them from the TS or just make them active before the season starts and keep "rawer/definitely won't start or play much this year" rookies on the TS.

I never understood the point of taxi squads with in-season promoting. Why not just have extra roster spots?

We just started a superflex with taxi squad this year, and I feel like QBs are the best candidates for it by far, followed by WRs and then TEs. RBs are no good for it, because you never know when opportunity presents itself due to injury, and it seems common for them to seize that opportunity for just one season. But ours has two features: no in-season promotion, and all players are eligible for it without restriction. I feel like the two rules work well together, since the first one addresses basically every reason someone would not put the sort of guy on it you're intending (i.e. development candidates).

[IBall2]

I'd leave your best projected rookies there if your allowed. I will be taxi'ing lenny and davis in a league. (Major rebuild)

This is ideal if your league allows it and you are in a major rebuild. My league doesn't allow you to leave players on the taxi squad if they are blatantly outperforming players that you have in your starting roster. So last year if I tried stashing zeke on my TS but was starting players like TJ Yeldon throughout the season, the commish would make me promote zeke.

I personally like to put the middle of the road players on my taxi squad, even in a rebuild. Players that are dart throws have no worth in the TS and may be cut candidates mid season but that would just burn a TS spot if you put them in the TS. The high end players are more valuable in your weekly lineup but if you're in rebuild, it is a loop hole to put them on the taxi squad but I don't prefer that method.

[DDT]

#1 - Can TS guys be promoted in season?

If so, then it's really just an extra roster spot. In this case I would consider rostering a rookie RB or WR, knowing that I can promote them if they start performing. You also don't want to go too far out on a limb here because this really is a spot that you can use.

If you cannot promote them in season, then the TS is truly a place to stash and forget. And I would look at RBs or WRs that will miss the year due to injury or really need development -- Smelter and Lattimore come to mind here as options. But avoid a guy that could perform -- I put Josh Gordon on a non-promotable TS his rookie year and still regret it. I would also look at QBs that you think may start in a year or two (subject to point #2 below). Guys like Hundley and Kelly this year are favorites for this type of spot.

I didn't realize there were leagues where you can't promote from the TS during the season - doesn't seem much fun not having that option.

So yeah, I can promote at any time during the year (once promoted can never go back to the TS). We can leave them on there forever though, no limit there - you just eventually run out of space as the years and rookie drafts go by.

Your Gordon example is a good one. So basically, if you suspect they might perform during the year, then be ready to move them from the TS or just make them active before the season starts and keep "rawer/definitely won't start or play much this year" rookies on the TS.

I never understood the point of taxi squads with in-season promoting. Why not just have extra roster spots?

We just started a superflex with taxi squad this year, and I feel like QBs are the best candidates for it by far, followed by WRs and then TEs. RBs are no good for it, because you never know when opportunity presents itself due to injury, and it seems common for them to seize that opportunity for just one season. But ours has two features: no in-season promotion, and all players are eligible for it without restriction. I feel like the two rules work well together, since the first one addresses basically every reason someone would not put the sort of guy on it you're intending (i.e. development candidates).

I've always agreed with this point -- why have a TS if you can promote in season? But most are against that. In one league that I run we prevented promotions for one season and then the league requested that we permit promotions. Of course, that's after I had Gordon on my TS all year.

As to the primary point of the post, if you are in full rebuild mode, it's a great strategy to leave studs on the TS. But it's not one that I would endorse or necessarily follow. It feels like an abuse of the TS. And I'm reluctant to give up on a season before it starts, even in full rebuild situations -- a lot of things can change once the games start.

[jeffster]

It seems like most often you would be best off trading your studs for a rebuild, rather than sitting them for a season on a TS. Unless your league won't give you value for them, but even then, even for most studs aging another year lowers their value.

[gopackgo]

My 10-team league has a five player practice squad. Players can be promoted at any point during the season, but once a player is promoted, you lose that practice squad spot for the remainder of that season (unless another team put in a claim on that player). We are only allowed to have players that have been in the league 3 years or less on it. We assign a draft pick ranking (1st round to 5th round) on each of the five spots. Teams are allowed to place a claim on another team's practice squad player, with the corresponding draft pick as compensation. Once a claim has been made, the team has 72 hours to add that player to their active roster or work out a trade involving that player, otherwise they would receive a draft pick from the team that made the claim. Once a player has been lost from your practice squad or added due to a claim, you're able to back-fill that spot by adding a player that meets the requirements from the FA pool.

It makes it challenging to keep a stud (such as Zeke mentioned above) on your practice squad as someone could easily place a claim with a simple 1st or 2nd round claim, but this is a great way to generate more trading and activity in your league. By placing a claim on another team's roster, you're making them make the difficult decision on who to cut from their active roster in order to save their younger player. We're three years into this and it's been going great.

[DLF3000]

As to the primary point of the post, if you are in full rebuild mode, it's a great strategy to leave studs on the TS. But it's not one that I would endorse or necessarily follow. It feels like an abuse of the TS.

And I'm reluctant to give up on a season before it starts, even in full rebuild situations -- a lot of things can change once the games start.

Yeah, it's all within the rules, just like injury status changes and the IR/Out slots, so I'll likely BB it - like anyone else in my league could.

As for giving up so soon, well, the truth is you can't win - mathematically - without dominant RBs and QBs in our scoring system. They blow away the other positions. So since I'm utter trash at RB, I'm a huge longshot this year. (It's so bad I'll be posting a proposal to change our scoring system in our Rules thread.)

Things would have to go absolutely crazy-perfect for me at RB to even sniff the playoffs. So rather than bank on that 1% - rebuild.

[WhatWouldDitkaDo]

I never understood the point of taxi squads with in-season promoting. Why not just have extra roster spots?

In my home league, I have taxi squads to promote the relevance of later round rookie picks. It's a shallow 20-man roster league with a 3-round rookie draft. However, only players drafted in the rookie draft can be placed on taxi squads. Rookies added via waivers cannot. This way, even in a shallower league, that 3.12 rookie draft pick has some added value to allow time for development instead of needing to drop a guy that's taking longer to develop into a starting fantasy asset.

[James McGhee]

Anybody have taxi squads where other teams can sign your TS'd unless you promote them to the active roster?