MBL2 Rules

 

Rosters, Contracts, and Salary Cap

1.      Each team’s active roster will consist of exactly 15 players.

2.      Each player on an active roster will be signed to a contract.  Owners decide the length of each contract with the minimum length being one year and the maximum length being 5 years.

3.      Contracts are based entirely in years; they carry no monetary value.

4.      The salary cap is 30 contract years.  The sum of the years of the contracts of the 15 players on each team’s active roster may not exceed this level.

5.      At the expiration of his contract, a player will become an unrestricted free agent and will be eligible to be selected in the annual draft.

6.      There is no penalty associated with cutting a player prior to the expiration of his contract, and cuts may be made at any time.

 

Developmental Squad

1.      In addition to the active roster, teams will also carry a 0-5 player developmental squad.

2.      Developmental squad players are signed to contracts in the same manner as active roster players; however, the contract lengths of the d-squad players do not count against the salary cap.

3.      Developmental squad players may not be started during the regular season until they are moved up to the active roster.  Once a part of the active roster, their contracts will count against the salary cap.

4.      Owners may promote a player from the developmental squad to the active roster at any time; however, the team must have an open roster spot and cap space available in order to do so.

5.      In order to qualify for placement on a developmental squad, a player must meet ONE of the following criteria:

a)     The player must be in his first or second season in the NFL, with a “season in the NFL” being defined as any year during which the player was on the roster of an NFL team.  OR

b)     If the player has more than two years of NFL experience, then he must not have exceeded the following statistical levels:

QB – 100 passing attempts in any season

RB – 65 carries + receptions in any season

WR – 35 receptions in any season

TE – 20 receptions in any season

If a player on the developmental squad exceeds these levels during the regular season, that player DOES NOT have to be moved up to the active roster.  Kickers and defenses are not eligible for the developmental squad.

 

Draft

1.      The annual draft will be held each year in June and will last 10 rounds.

2.      The draft order will be based on the previous year’s standings with the team with the worst record selecting first in each round, and the league champion selecting last in each round.

3.      Teams are free to trade current year and future year draft picks at any time.

 

Cut-down Day

1.      During the week prior to the start of the regular season, each team must trim its roster to 15 active players plus developmental squad.

2.      On cut-down day, each team must also submit the contract lengths of all new players added in that year’s draft.

 

Franchise Player

1.      Each team may designate one player whose contract has expired and who otherwise would become an unrestricted free agent as its franchise player.  Instead of becoming eligible for the annual draft, the player will be signed to a new contract for a length determined by the owner.

2.      If a team decides to designate a player as its franchise player, it may not use the franchise tag again until the franchise player’s contract expires or the player is cut.

3.      Teams must submit their intention to designate a franchise player along with the number of years of the new contract at least one week prior to the start of the annual draft.

 

Transition Player

1.      In addition to a franchise player, each team may also designate one player whose contract has expired and who otherwise would become an unrestricted free agent as its transition player.

2.      Once designated as a transition player, the player will no longer become a free agent and will instead be signed to a one-year contract extension.  At the expiration of this extension, the player will automatically become an unrestricted free agent.  His former team will not be allowed to use the franchise or transition tag on him again.

3.      Each team may name one player per year as its transition player and must submit their intention to use the transition tag at least one week prior to the start of the annual draft.

4.      The transition tag will remain with the player even if traded to another team.  However, if the player is cut and resigned by any team, he will no longer be subject to the transition player rules.  If the team that originally tagged the player cuts him and immediately resigns him, he will still carry the transition tag.  In order for his original team to completely remove the transition tag, the player must be cut and be subject to one waiver clearance period.  After clearing waivers, his original team may resign him and then he will no longer be subject to transition player rules.

 

Contract Extensions

1.      In August of each year, each team will receive two contract years for the purpose of extending its players contracts.  These contract years can be used in one of two ways:

a)     TWO years can be added to ONE player’s contract length

b)     ONE year can be added to TWO players’ contract length

2.      A player’s contract may be extended a maximum of two years per team.  This means that if a player’s contract is extended by two years, it may not be extended in the future.  If a player is only given a one year extension, it may be extended an additional one year in the future.  If a player with an extended contract is traded to another team, the player’s new team may extend his contract an additional two years if desired.

3.      Players whose contracts have been extended two years are still eligible for the franchise and transition tags at the end of their contracts.

4.      Transition tagged players may not have their contracts extended.

5.      Note that contracts may only be extended in August.  This means that a player must have at least one year remaining on his contract PRIOR to the beginning of the season in order to receive a contract extension.  A contract cannot be extended after it has expired.

 

Preseason Transactions

1.      Preseason waiver periods will begin five weeks prior to the start of the regular season.  There will be one waiver period per week starting on Monday at 8:00am and ending on Wednesday at 10:00pm.  If an owner would like to add a player, he must inform the commissioner at any time during this period.

2.      If a team has 20 or more players on its roster, the team must drop a player in order to add a player during the preseason.  When informing the commissioner of the player to add, you must also specify the player to drop.  If a team has less than 20 players on its roster, the team is not required to drop anyone when making an acquisition.  Each team is allowed to make one add/drop per week.  All roster changes will be made online by the commissioner each Thursday.

 

In-season Transactions

1.      During the regular season, transactions will be handled via two methods – waiver clearance and free-for-all

Waiver Clearance

a)     The waiver period starts each week on Monday at 8am and ends on Wednesday at 10pm.  During this time, if an owner would like to acquire a free agent, he must submit a request for the player to the commissioner.

b)     The commissioner will add all players acquired during the waiver clearance period to the appropriate team’s roster on Tuesday at 10pm.

Free-for-All

a)     The Free-for-All period begins each week at 8am on Thursday and ends at noon on Sunday.

b)     During this time, teams are free to add any available free agent to their rosters.  It’s a free-for-all, first-come, first-served process requiring no prior authorization from the commissioner.

2.      After an owner has added a player via an in-season transaction, he must inform the commissioner within 2 days of the length of the contract to which he wants to sign the player.  If such notification is not made, the contract will be assumed to be for 1 year.

3.      If a team releases a player in order to add another player, but then reacquires the cut player within 7 days of originally being cut, then the team must re-sign that player to the same contract he was signed to prior to being cut.  After 7 days have expired, the team may re-sign the player to any contract length.

4.      Please remember that in order to add a player, a team must have 1) an open roster spot, and 2) available salary cap space.  A team will most likely be required to cut a player in order to meet these requirements.

 

Waiver Priority

1.      If multiple teams place a waiver request for the same player, the player will be awarded to the team with the highest waiver priority.

2.      Waiver priority will be based entirely on team record.  During the offseason and first two weeks of the regular season, priority will be based on prior year record.  During weeks 3-17 of the regular season, priority will be based on current season record.

3.      If multiple teams with the same W-L record request the same player, the priority tiebreakers are:

a.      Head to head winning percentage

b.      Total points scored

c.      Coin toss

 

Injured Reserve

1.      During the regular season, each team will be allowed to place one player on injured reserve.

2.      In order to place a player on IR, the team must produce documentation (from ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports, etc) stating that the player is expected to miss at least three games due to injury.

3.      Placing a player on IR results in the following:

a)     The player may not be started in any games for any MBL2 team for the remainder of the current season (including playoffs).

b)     The player will no longer count against the total active roster limit of 16 players.

c)      The team will be granted a salary cap exemption equal to 2 years, which will expand that team’s salary cap to 32 years.  If the player being placed on IR has less than two years remaining on his contract, then the exemption will be equal to 1 year.

d)     The exemption will expire on Cutdown Day of the following season.

4.      If a player on IR is traded to another team that already has a player on IR, both players will be designated as being on IR.   Neither will be eligible to start in any games for the remainder of the season.  However, a new exemption will NOT be granted for the newly acquired IR player.  He will count against the active roster limit, and his salary years will count against the cap.

 

 

League Setup

1.      The league will consist of 12 teams competing in two separate conferences.  Each conference will be divided into two divisions of three teams.

2.      The entry fee for the MBL2 is $20.  This amount must be paid to the league office prior to the beginning of the NFL season.  At the end of the season, the league champion will receive $150, and the runner-up (championship game loser) will receive $90.

3.      The regular season will begin week 1 of each NFL season and will consist of 13 weeks.  Each team will play the other two teams in its division twice and the other 9 teams in the league once.

4.      Six teams will qualify for the post season tournament which will last three weeks.  Each of the four division winners will automatically qualify for the play-offs, with the remaining two wild card spots awarded to the one team in each conference with the best winning percentage that did not win their division.

5.      Play-off Seeding:

a)     The #1 seed in each conference will be the division winner with the highest winning percentage.  The #1 seeds will receive a bye during the first week of the play-offs. 

b)     The #2 seed will go to the division winner with the lowest winning percentage and the #3 seed will go to the wildcard team. 

c)      The #2 and #3 seeds in each conference will play in the first round of the play-offs with the winner going on to face their conference's #1 seed the following week in the second round.  Round 2 winners will meet the next week in the league championship

 

Lineups and Scoring

1.      Starters must be set one hour before the kickoff of each player’s game.  If you have a player in a game on a Thursday night, that player must be in your starting line up by Thursday, however, the rest of the players in your starting line do not need to be set until one hour prior to the kickoff of each player's game.  Line up submissions will be handled via the website.

2.      Line up requirements:

a)     Option 1 - 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1K, 1Def

b)     Option 2 - 1QB, 1RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1K, 1Def

c)      Option 3 - 1QB, 2RB, 1WR, 2TE, 1K, 1Def

d)     Option 4 - 1QB, 1RB, 2WR, 2TE, 1K, 1Def

3.      Players will receive points (rounded to the nearest 0.1) for the following statistics:

·        1/4 point per pass completion

·        1 point per 30 yards passing

·        6 points per passing touchdown

·        -3 points per interception thrown

·        1/2 point per reception

·        1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving

·        6 points per rushing/receiving touchdown

·        3 points per made field goal

·        1 point per made extra point

·        -1 point per missed field goal or missed extra point

Defensive Team (defense only, does not include special teams) scoring:

·        1 point per sack

·        2 points per fumble recovery or interception

·        4 points per safety

·        6 points per TD

·        0 points allowed = 8 points

·        1-6 points allowed = 5 points

·        7-13 points allowed = 3 points

·        14-20 points allowed = 1 point

·        30-35 points allowed = -1 point

·        36+ points allowed = -3 points

 

Tiebreakers

1.      Regular season tiebreakers are:

1)     Head-to-head winning percentage

2)     Head-to-head points

3)     Divisional winning percentage (only when determining division champion)

4)     Total points scored

5)     Coin toss

2.      Playoff Tiebreaker - In the event of a tie during a play-off game, the higher-seeded team will be awarded the victory, except in the championship round.  If the championship game ends in a tie, the team that scored the most total points during the regular season will be crowned the champion.  If the two teams scored the same number of points during the season, the tie will be broken with a coin flip.

 

 

League Website Address:

http://www.oocities.org/mbltwo