Taxi squads - compelling arguments why they are necessary

[M-Dub]

If you can just move players back and forth from your active roster to your taxi squad with impunity and there are no restrictions on which players you can place there, then yes, they are pointless and not any different than just adding extra roster spots. But if you place restrictions on which players are eligible and when they can be taxied and/or called up, then they absolutely have a legitimate function beyond just being extra roster spots. Of course, those restrictions usually can't be automated, so it requires a degree of manual policing. If that's too much work for you, I get it, but to just broadly dismiss taxi squads as completely pointless seems a little lazy and short-sighted. They're as useful/useless as you're willing to make them.

[Vectorgod]

I've said it for years and nobody will ever convince me otherwise; Taxi Squads are utterly pointless unless you play in a Salary/Contract league.

I agree with this completely. I commish 3 leagues that use 3-year taxi squads. All of these leagues are a combination of salary cap and contract years. For leagues like this, the TS makes perfect sense as TS players do not use up contract years or count against the salary cap. All of these leagues limit players to being placed on the TS during their rookie season, and players promoted to the active roster can never be moved back to the TS. One of the leagues allows taxi squad raiding modeled on the NFL's rules regarding practice squad players, which adds another layer of strategy.

[maxhyde]

I've been in leagues where the taxi squad had nothing unique to it other than being just for rookies. For leagues like that, they are better served eliminating it and expanding rosters.

This ^.
I see no reason to force owners into rostering young players over old players. I always vote for the roster spots rather than TS or IR

[BuckeyeNation]

I've said it for years and nobody will ever convince me otherwise; Taxi Squads are utterly pointless unless you play in a Salary/Contract league.

What about devy leagues? I understand your point in standard leagues but in devys they feel necessary to me, especially when you can draft any college eligible player.

Yeah I guess there's some merit to them in Devy leagues, but I've always been of the belief that you can accomplish the same thing as a TS by simply expanding rosters by the same amount. At least with SC/contract leagues you can use the TS to keep players salaries from counting towards your cap or to keep the clock from running on the length of rookie contract for a player that you're not going to use that season.

[Tsunami]

They aren't "necessary" any more than devy leagues, dynasty leagues, and keeper leagues are "necessary". A league with a taxi squad is going to be focused more on the draft and have more vets on waivers, a league without a taxi squad is going to roster more vets and be more likely to have late-round rookies available on waivers. It just caters more towards owners with a deep knowledge of rookies and a more long-term view of roster building.

Doesn't playing without taxi squads allow you to take either approach though? There will still be guys who love rookies and could reap their rewards while allowing the flexibility to roster a vet or two who is also speculative. Half the challenge of dynasty is weighing value this year against long term potential value right?

That depends on your league. Imagine a dynasty league with no bench and a taxi squad. In this imaginary league, Allen Robinson would be a free agent but Dede Westbrook would be owned. If those taxi spots were bench spots, most of the rookies would be dropped for vets regardless of whether the owner was rebuilding or not. But in a very deep league it wouldn't make much difference whether you had a taxi squad or more bench spots.

[DLF3000]

Originally, I'm sure it was one of those NFL simulation-style rules, like including kickers and defense in dynasty.

In recent years, I've come to absolutely hate K and D in dynasty... and after reading this thread, I now see how having more standard roster spots is far superior from both simplicity and competitive game standpoints.

Perfect NFL simulation doesn't always make for the best fantasy game.

[jeffster]

I feel like there are multiple explanations in this thread for why and how they can be made to matter, with goals that can't be met the same with expanded benches.

Followed by people ignoring those points and agreeing they're useless.

It's a strange thread.

[sloth8u]

The only argument I hear for them is to stash young players. Expanding rosters allow for that.

Imo, there is no place for the taxi. It just restricts owners. Or allows owners to taxi players that should not be there...to prevent them for scoring points for the franchise.

[jeffster]

Imo, there is no place for the taxi. It just restricts owners.

Well... yes? I mean, you don't play in leagues with 10 flex positions and nothing else, do you? As long as all owners are restricted the same, it's basically the way we define a league. This is just a slightly different restriction, usually with the aim of raising the value of development prospects, but that's been laid out in other posts.

[sloth8u]

Imo, there is no place for the taxi. It just restricts owners.

Well... yes? I mean, you don't play in leagues with 10 flex positions and nothing else, do you? As long as all owners are restricted the same, it's basically the way we define a league. This is just a slightly different restriction, usually with the aim of raising the value of development prospects, but that's been laid out in other posts.

the restriction is based on how many years that a player has been in the league. why do we need spots (that dont count towards anything) reserved for rookies or young players? its simply my opinion that if there are x number of roster spots...any player should be allowed there, reguardless of how long that they've been in the league.

the argument is that they are used to stash players. why could those taxi'd players not be stashed on a roster? the only reason i see for not having them "count" is for those looking to improve draft postion, by leaving rosterable rookies on their taxi. outside of that, i see no difference between a taxi squad or a few extra roster spots. fast forward to the next draft and your doing the exact same thing.

[grooner]

Imo, there is no place for the taxi. It just restricts owners.

Well... yes? I mean, you don't play in leagues with 10 flex positions and nothing else, do you? As long as all owners are restricted the same, it's basically the way we define a league. This is just a slightly different restriction, usually with the aim of raising the value of development prospects, but that's been laid out in other posts.

the restriction is based on how many years that a player has been in the league. why do we need spots (that dont count towards anything) reserved for rookies or young players? its simply my opinion that if there are x number of roster spots...any player should be allowed there, reguardless of how long that they've been in the league.

the argument is that they are used to stash players. why could those taxi'd players not be stashed on a roster? the only reason i see for not having them "count" is for those looking to improve draft postion, by leaving rosterable rookies on their taxi. outside of that, i see no difference between a taxi squad or a few extra roster spots. fast forward to the next draft and your doing the exact same thing.

This just simply isn't true, just because you don't read the explanations, doesn't mean there are no uses of a taxi squad.

In my one league we have 5 taxi squad spots. Players can only be put onto the taxi squad before their first nfl season (so while they are rookies). Once they have been on your roster during a NFL season, they cannot be put onto the taxi squad. This mean rookies who are picked up midway cannot go onto the taxi squad, only rookies drafted/picked up before the start of the season. These players can stay on there for up to three years, before they have to come off. This gives a little extra bump to those late round draft picks, rounds 4/5. If a player doesn't show right away, with normal roster spots they will just be dropped for someone who is performing or has hype. in this setup, you would have to drop someone else, but you can let late round picks develop for a year or two to see if they pan out. We do have quite shallow roster spots, only having 20, so most of the later rookies are kept on the taxi squad for a few years.

[sloth8u]

only rookies drafted/picked up before the start of the season. These players can stay on there for up to three years, before they have to come off. This gives a little extra bump to those late round draft picks, rounds 4/5. If a player doesn't show right away, with normal roster spots they will just be dropped for someone who is performing or has hype. in this setup, you would have to drop someone else, but you can let late round picks develop for a year or two to see if they pan out. We do have quite shallow roster spots, only having 20, so most of the later rookies are kept on the taxi squad for a few years.

but why could theses spots not be filled on a roster? why can a guy stash trey edmunds, but another guy cannot stash brandon bolden?

i believe what our op is looking for......is a reason that the league must have taxi, not just expand the roster size. i completely understand the purpose to stash players who may take awhile to gain value. i dont understand why it has to be limited to rookies or young players. especially so, when next years draft will just bring more rookies to the taxi squad and owners will be forced to decide who they want on their active roster or drop. they could just be rostered.

im sure there are several owners out there that are or will be faced with tough decsions. did you start the season with hunt, golladay, davis on your taxi? do you promote them to see them go down with an injury this week. essentially wasting a taxi spot and roster spot....you get the idea here.

how can you tell owners who they can and cant taxi to keep owners from tanking? we would have had owners keeping tread and doctson on their active rosters, and reality they should be taxi'd. you get the idea.

[jordanzs]

I like taxi squads, but not your ratio.

I prefer 24 active players, 2 taxi squad spots (rookies only), 2 IR slots.

It gives incentive to dig deep on rookie stashes (Chad Williams & Shaheen for example). It's a nice perk to be able to park them somewhere for a year instead of casting them to the waiver wire.

[DLF3000]

I like taxi squads, but not your ratio.

I prefer 24 active players, 2 taxi squad spots (rookies only), 2 IR slots.

It gives incentive to dig deep on rookie stashes (Chad Williams & Shaheen for example). It's a nice perk to be able to park them somewhere for a year instead of casting them to the waiver wire.

Weird, I look at it differently: with a larger taxi squad, you have more incentive for deeper stashes.

In fact, I've put a few deeper guys on my active roster (rebuild) because my taxi feels too small at 4 slots - give me 6! Better yet, give me +6 active roster spots. Which brings me to...

Zooming out a moment, I just feel bigger roster sizes, however you do them, are always better for a dynasty league. Because more roster spots encourages more ways for you to build your team the way YOU want to.

And a much greater emphasis on drafting vs. the waiver wire.

Smaller rosters, positional limits, too-small taxi squads - these all make dynasty leagues suck and force you do to annoying things like drop your stashes... which just fosters a more redraft-league atmosphere.

In dynasty, you should win your draft to win leagues 1000x more than win the waiver wire to win your dynasty league. Waiver wire league winners are a redraft thing.

Dynasty leagues should reward GMs who are great drafters and young talent evaluators far, far more than a lucky waiver wire pickup.

[Kcarr]

If the taxi squad is limited like that and is only a couple players might as well be just 2 more roster spots. all it does is forces teams to carry at least a couple young guys. For the couple people who threw out ideas that actually make taxi squads different than roster spots there is a point to them. For the steal able taxi squad slots it basically is similar to real nfl practice squads where the team gets first dibs on guys by having drafted them but they aren't locked up like a real roster spot so this adds an interesting aspect while adding some value to late draft picks.

Also, the unlimited taxi squads where any first and 2nd year players you drafted can be held for their first two years really adds a lot of value to late draft picks as it allows anyone you draft, even 5 or 6 or 7 rounds deep and even in larger 16 or more team leagues. Without a taxi squad like this that 85th rookie taken can't hold enough value to be kept over waiver guys in most situations but if you can hold him without taking an actual spot it does add some value