Yes, yes no change committee – I get it BAFFL is perfect and shouldn’t ever be changed:
Without change, we’d still be tracking stats in an excel spreadsheet and checking our league mates homework. Change can be good friends, and can make the game more enjoyable for everyone.
With that said, this post is not intended to propose any specific change (if you vote to keep kickers you are dead to me), but to lay out some possible ideas to solve some of the league’s problems. Namely, the problem that Myles Gaskin will continue to be relevant, and Mike Davis will go in the fourth round. The elephant in the room: the running back situation and what can be done about it.
SOLUTION # 1: Axe 2-4 league members
The nuclear option, just punt 4 of you losers from the league. This could be done any number of ways: bottom 4 in one year get the toss, completely random, survivor style voting. The drama/headlines would be endless, friendships destroyed, what could go wrong?!? If we wanted to be generous and minimize toaster baths, we could create BAFFL Europe, or BAFFL CFL, where the 4 absolute losers compete annually to see who will be promoted back to the show (could also include other people who expressed interest in joining in the past), with the bottom two teams annually getting sent down.
Pros: Solves runningback situation permanently and extremely effectively
Cons: This is a stupid idea and there are a lot of them.
SOLUTION # 2: Full PPR
Switching to full PPR adds 6-8 runningbacks who would otherwise be completely useless into fantasy relevance. Imagine starting guys like JD McKissick (43 rec), Devontae Booker (40 rec), Myles Gaskin (49 rec), Nyhiem Hines (40 rec), and not wanting to gouge your eyes out watching them catch 2-3 yard passes over and over again. It won’t solve the problem on its own, but adding a few extra relevant players certainly won’t hurt.
Pros: Helps runningback situation, makes shitty players slightly less shitty. Makes wide receivers more important and more viable in the FLEX spot.
Cons: Makes the top tier runningbacks who also catch passes even more godlike. If you have peak health CMC or Kamara RIP the rest of the league. Cooper Kupp also absolute god of full PPR last year.
SOLUTION #3: Cut 1-2 bench spots
Reducing the amount of bench spots leaves less room for GMs to stash handcuff runningbacks, developmental prospects, etc. As we all know, every year there are 3-4 runningbacks who come out of nowhere and become fantasy stars. With the amount of homework being done by GMs, it’s becoming harder and harder to find these guys, as everyone seeks to get an edge by stashing them (or premier handcuffs) on their bench. With the FAAB rules in place, this would further give everyone a fair shake at landing these guys and improving their squad.
Pros: Holding handcuffs becomes way less of a viable strategy. With injuries and bye weeks, you absolutely would need to have guys who can step into your lineup and play.
Cons: Injuries can become way more devastating. If you already have a guy on your IR, tough decisions would need to be made on whether you hold onto a key player for a few weeks or let them go, especially if you’re in the playoff hunt. This could be mitigated by adding extra IR spots, but strictly monitoring their use (cough Devan cheater cough).
BONUS SOLUTION #4 (to no particular problem): Change Keeper Format
This doesn’t solve the runningback solution per se (though it could help), but is a neat idea and at least worth some consideration. Basically what would happen is the keeper format would be altered so you had to pay an escalating price to keep players every year. The way I’ve seen it work is essentially you would forfeit a pick to keep a player, that pick would be one or two rounds higher than wherever you took the player (with FAs counting as the last round +1). So you could see a lot of the absolute stud RBs eventually make their way back into the draft, as the cost to keeping them becomes too high, whereas finding a stud runningback in the late rounds or through FA suddenly sets your franchise up for unparalleled success. Before you get your jimmies rustled “but but I did so much work and skillfully drafted Najee Harris!! How is this fair?” all current players would be grandfathered in (we could say for example, all historical keepers start at forfeiting a 3rd or 4th round pick.
Pros: Makes draft more fun, it’s already Christmas in the summer imagine how sick it would be if Derrick Henry and Travis Kelce were available. Still maintains the keeper format but makes it harder to maintain dominance for many years in a row through keepers alone.
Cons: Big change, hard for you luddites to wrap your head around. FAAB competition for stud RBs will be intense.
BAFFL 