*Editor’s note: This idea isn’t all mine, I know Mason and I worked on this together but I am pretty sure we were drunk, so where this actually came from who knows*
The word Jubilee is a Hebrew word and it represented the end of seven cycles of Shmita (about 49 years). The Hebrew tradition (as outlined in the Book of Leviticus) stated that at the end of seven cycles of Shmita, Hebrew slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven, and the land would be laid to rest. The year of Jubilee was to bring about the mercies of God. It was to deter empires from within. It was to reset all back to what it was.
There is a chasm growing in our league. Empires are being built and if it isn’t dealt with soon, it can make our league unmanageable, not fair and ultimately, if you’re on the underside of the power, the league won’t be enjoyable. So, what does the greatest commissioner in our league’s history do? (Really only a shot a Derek, but I’ll take it) HE FIXES THE PROBLEM.
*Editor’s note, rankings used are Eric Karables 2020 PPR Top 300*
WHY WE NEED TO DO THIS
Now, I know what you’re thinking… Well not really, and you really shouldn’t be thinking anything I haven’t even started yet, but let me explain the problem. Three of the top six players in ESPN’s 2020 rankings are owned by the same team *smiles and waves at the camera* (Barkley, Cook, Adams). Gray’s team has one player… IN THE TOP 25. (Mahomes 25). Okay, I know what you’re saying, Gray’s team is just terrible and we shouldn’t change the league for one terrible team… well first of all, yes we should, but okay, let’s say we don’t want to make huge changes off one team. Caleb’s best player is 26th (Allen Robinson), Tim’s is 28th (Fournette), Ben has one top 10 guy (DHop7), then his next best player is 39th (Tyler Lockette), Derek’s best player is 17th (Derrick Henry) then 18th (Joe Mixon) then his next best player isn’t in the top 100, Logan’s got one in the top 10 (Julio) next best player isn’t till 49 (Juju). I could go on and on but I won’t because you get the point.
Now, there is always a chance that a middle pack team gets hot and wins the league or at least makes the Superbowl, it happens sure. But if the regular season games aren’t competitive, how long until we start to lose participation in the chat? How long till 1/3rd or even 2/3rd of the owners aren’t even paying attention? And what fun is this is no one is paying attention?
In order for this league to stay what it is, we have to ensure that there is some sort of level playing field. But if things stay the way they are, I think things will only get more and more top heavy, as the teams with all the “power” control the league.
What can we do?
I have a couple options…
- We cannot be a keeper league. Sure, that is an option, we just redraft every year and that’s fine. But the original hope with making this a keeper league was to allow the league to evolve beyond football season, and into a whole year kinda thing. Which it has and I think that is the best part of the league and that is why I want to protect what we have built here.
- Less keepers and more compensatory draft picks. Another solid option. Until you look at how things have progressed over the past 2 years. Until you look at just how divided the top is from the bottom. Unless we go down to 3 or 4 keepers, it really wouldn’t have the desired effect and even then, there would still be a decent divide between the top and the bottom.
- Restart the whole league. I think off the jump, none of us knew what we were really getting into. Trades were made, like we would for any normal season and we missed some of the gravity of what trades in a keeper league should have. So, we just hit the ole reset button and act like the past 2 seasons didn’t happen. The issue here is those who have played their hand well up to this point get kind of slighted. And really anyone who has been storing up players for the future or draft picks gets screwed too.
- Add player contracts. That way, you cannot own a player for their whole career. Although it is a good idea, my opinion is it’s going to be extremely complicated and only half the league is going to understand how it works, which will just open up more opportunities for people to get screwed. If that’s something we want to look into, I can explain more or it, but trust me… it’s probably not for us.
Well then Mitchell… what are we supposed to do?
Here’s where things get crazy, and I need you to stick with me here… This is what we all would agree to.
There is a problem.
There aren’t many good solutions
As a league and as people, we are a little bit on the wild side
So, here’s what I am purposing, we add a year of jubilee to our league. Everything resets. All players go into the draft pool and we start the keeper pool over. Now, this can’t be every 50 years, and it can’t be every seven years. If it was on a schedule, then that would defeat the purpose of keepers at all, because in the last year or two before jubilee, young players and draft picks would have no value. It would throw off the whole league.
“well then Mitchell, you big dumb idiot… if it can’t be a scheduled year, how can we do it?”
Great question me. We can have it randomly. Yes, I said it… Randomly. Here’s how it would look.
We get 49 ping pong balls, 7 of which are marked with the year of Jubilee, and every year at the start of the draft, we lottery style pick 1 ball and if that ball is the year of Jubilee everything resets. All players are added to the player poll. We have an auction style draft (that way no one is at an advantage in draft order) and we start the draft. Right then. Right there.
Take a deep breath and imagine with me… the chaos of that moment. How great would that be? How much of who we are as a league is summed up in that one single moment of “fuck it, everything is starting over”. Draft days in general become this whole clusterfuck of anxiety. You don’t know what the hell is going to happen and you have to be prepared for anything. All of this is building up to the moment, we pull that ping pong ball, realize everything that you worked for during the last however many seasons is gone… oh and by the way, the draft is starting is 2 minutes.
Last arguments for why we need to do this
No matter where you are in the league this should be something you want. If you are a team hoarding all the best players and you stand the most to lose, this is an opportunity for you to prove how good you are at fantasy football. Right now, we have no clue if Mason or I are any good at fantasy football or if we just screwed a bunch of people. With the reset, it gives everyone the opportunity to show how good they really are, you didn’t just get lucky once and hit on the right guys and cruise. You have to earn it.
Also, there are teams that have had a major draft pick get hurt or bust. Think about this, Hanna’s second round pick from our launch draft never played a down on her team. Think about how huge of a setback that is. Starting a dynasty league and not having a second pick. Now, obviously that’s the risk we all take, but still, it’s a huge deal none the less.
If your team sucks, you get a reset. If your team is mid-pack, you get a chance to take all you learned and apply it to a fresh start. Hell, think about how much better Logan DeVega is at fantasy football compared to 3 years ago. That dude would have a chance to have a top tier team. If your team has been top tier, you get a chance to prove how good you really are.
I could legit go on and on but I guess where I’ll land with this is there… this is the kind of idea that will save the MFL and if you disagree I hate you.
I am putting this up for debate in the rules meeting, but I felt something this complicated deserves a little more time for you to sit and think about it. If there’s rules you want to write about and post it on our website, just let me know and we can make it happen.
The MFL 