Tanking etiquette

[cazzie33]

Tanking etiquette ... If others are playing bye week & out injured players can you do the same ? Should it depend on the playoff status of whom you are playing ?

[KCLep20]

Tanking at any point is frowned upon and will anger the fantasy football gods, resulting in losses of <1 point, injuries, and game-time decisions for multiple players on your roster each week.

Be warned!!!

[Bronco Billy]

They should only be starting bye week/injured players if there are no healthy players at those positions that they could sub in instead. Just my opinion, of course, but you play your best healthy lineup every week.

I won’t subscribe that an owner has to go to the WW - that’s team management and they may have a great reason to continue to roster an injured player. But overt tanking where an owner is starting a bye week/ injured player over a healthy alternative is over the line.

[frerichs5]

They should only be starting bye week/injured players if there are no healthy players at those positions that they could sub in instead. Just my opinion, of course, but you play your best healthy lineup every week.

I won’t subscribe that an owner has to go to the WW - that’s team management and they may have a great reason to continue to roster an injured player. But overt tanking where an owner is starting a bye week/ injured player over a healthy alternative is over the line.

x2. Good post

[dustyroads]

They should only be starting bye week/injured players if there are no healthy players at those positions that they could sub in instead. Just my opinion, of course, but you play your best healthy lineup every week.

I won’t subscribe that an owner has to go to the WW - that’s team management and they may have a great reason to continue to roster an injured player. But overt tanking where an owner is starting a bye week/ injured player over a healthy alternative is over the line.

This is pretty much how we do it. You need to put out the best team with what your roster has available, but you do not need to make roster changes which could be damaging to your team as a whole just to put forth a full starting line up. Example for this week, if you are in 1QB and your QBs are Dak and Russ, we wouldn't force you to drop a good player from your bench so you have room to pick up a scrub waiver wire QB to start for 1 week. Now a team competing for the championship may choose to do this, but a team not competing could choose not to.

When we first transitioned to this style of play, we'd have teams announce what position they aren't starting and why for clarity's sake. At this point though we just let it be. Again, if you have sound rules in place for how future draft picks are determined (total points scored/best possible line up), and give some kind of purpose or reward to always putting your best team forward (giving a compensation pick to the winner of the loser's bracket) it takes away not only any motivation to "tank", but also takes away any benefit of "tanking". Honestly we should do better of distinguishing between tanking and rebuilding.

IMO, forcing a non-competing team (aka rebuilding, already a lesser team in the league) to do this is really just making them worse in the long run. And to what end? It makes 0 sense, and would be the type of arbitrary rule that would have me quickly leaving a league.

[Cameron Giles]

If your league allows teams to start players on bye or IR, then it's pretty shitty.

At some point, it's going to bite the rest of the league when the games down the stretch become more important for determining who gets into the playoffs:

Team 1 needs to win and needs Team 2 to lose to make playoffs. Team 1 has to play a competitive team setting a full lineup.
Team 2 just needs to win to make the playoffs. Team 2 has to a play a loser team that is benching their best players and starting IR players.

Each league should require you to set a full lineup every week without benching players that every other team would start.

[dustyroads]

If your league allows teams to start players on bye or IR, then it's pretty shitty.

At some point, it's going to bite the rest of the league when the games down the stretch become more important for determining who gets into the playoffs:

Team 1 needs to win and needs Team 2 to lose to make playoffs. Team 1 has to play a competitive team setting a full lineup.
Team 2 just needs to win to make the playoffs. Team 2 has to a play a loser team that is benching their best players and starting IR players.

Each league should require you to set a full lineup every week without benching players that every other team would start.

Agree with the bolded. But what if you are like me this week with 13 players of a 17 man bench on bye/IR/out? (I am still able to field a full roster, but if I was say short a line backer to start, I would not be dropping one of those good players on bye/IR/out to pickup a crap LB to give me 6 meaningless points on a one week rental). Just asking to clarify, in this scenario would you be ok with starting a player on bye, or rather just leaving an open position on your starting roster?

[abloom]

Tanking etiquette ... If others are playing bye week & out injured players can you do the same ? Should it depend on the playoff status of whom you are playing ?

Those owners should be booted and replaced immediately.

[smbkrypt24]

I would not copy the same behavior that you are questioning. My response to that in the past has been to notify the commissioner of the concern.

[grandmabetty]

Where it gets tricky is when guys say they are playing a hunch and they start lets say david Montgomery over Alvin kamara. You suspect they are tanking but also a guy has a right to play his team how he wants and if he has a hunch well then who am I to say he can't sit kamara.

[lukkynumber13]

Where it gets tricky is when guys say they are playing a hunch and they start lets say david Montgomery over Alvin kamara. You suspect they are tanking but also a guy has a right to play his team how he wants and if he has a hunch well then who am I to say he can't sit kamara.

This sort of thing should NEVER be punished. Legit starting options are just that. Legit starting options.

Sitting Justin Jefferson in favor of Tyquan Thornton? That would be a different case, however

[lukkynumber13]

They should only be starting bye week/injured players if there are no healthy players at those positions that they could sub in instead. Just my opinion, of course, but you play your best healthy lineup every week.

I won’t subscribe that an owner has to go to the WW - that’s team management and they may have a great reason to continue to roster an injured player. But overt tanking where an owner is starting a bye week/ injured player over a healthy alternative is over the line.

Piling on - this is pretty much it

[Cameron Giles]

If your league allows teams to start players on bye or IR, then it's pretty shitty.

At some point, it's going to bite the rest of the league when the games down the stretch become more important for determining who gets into the playoffs:

Team 1 needs to win and needs Team 2 to lose to make playoffs. Team 1 has to play a competitive team setting a full lineup.
Team 2 just needs to win to make the playoffs. Team 2 has to a play a loser team that is benching their best players and starting IR players.

Each league should require you to set a full lineup every week without benching players that every other team would start.

Agree with the bolded. But what if you are like me this week with 13 players of a 17 man bench on bye/IR/out? (I am still able to field a full roster, but if I was say short a line backer to start, I would not be dropping one of those good players on bye/IR/out to pickup a crap LB to give me 6 meaningless points on a one week rental). Just asking to clarify, in this scenario would you be ok with starting a player on bye, or rather just leaving an open position on your starting roster?

I think in those scenarios I get it. You have a team full of injuries or bye weeks and you don't want to drop a player you like for a bye week fill.

But someone who's just flat out not setting a lineup or benching Chris Olave and Kenneth Walker in a rebuild should just be kicked from the league.

[abloom]

Where it gets tricky is when guys say they are playing a hunch and they start lets say david Montgomery over Alvin kamara. You suspect they are tanking but also a guy has a right to play his team how he wants and if he has a hunch well then who am I to say he can't sit kamara.

That's not tricky at all. Managers are allowed to start players not injured and not on bye.

[Pac_Eddy]

I wouldn't be ok with people starting players on a bye. Most of my leagues fine you five or ten dollars for staying a bye week player or someone who was known to be out for a couple days before their game.