RFL Rules

Introduction

The Realistic Football League™ (a.k.a. the "RFL") is a unique Fantasy Football system, designed and created by Gregory Greenway in 1988. The rules were created through statistical analysis of NFL games and designed for hardcore football fans or players who enjoy the human aspect of having a local league with their friends.

The RFL scoring system was built for players ("Owners") who desire more realism in Fantasy Football, and to meet certain goals via basic NFL tenets for success;

• Recognize that the Quarterback is the leader and most important offensive player on the team.
• The rushing game is extremely important for any great team.
• Yards do not equal points in real football games. Yardage is just the board the game is played on.
• Touchdowns equal exactly 6 points in a real game. Those points should be split when two players are involved in a passing play, not duplicated for each player.
• Drafting an entire NFL team's Defense is contrary to a real draft. In the fantasy game, it reduces the fun of team individuality.
• Although they are not the most important aspect, Punters do exist in the actual game of football. Tie games stink, and the Punter is a great way to have an automatic tiebreaker (by using a "half-point" in the scoring method, which can only go to one team).
• Draft in sequential order, as in real football leagues.
• Real football teams and coaches build in different ways. A flexible Kick Returner ("KR") position allows a fantasy owner to play to his perceived strength and helps to counteract a lower drafting position.
• Add a fun factor by giving double points for long scoring plays. This also helps the reduce the imbalance of giving lower points to receivers and the defense, since many of those touchdowns are of longer length. (Some argue against this Double Rule, as football purists. An RFL Hardcore league does not use Double Points.)

The only thing lacking in the RFL system is scoring for the offensive line. There simply were no decent stats available to use. Regardless, the system has reliably proven (for over 20 years) to produce game scores closer to actual football scores than any other known Fantasy Football system, which was the goal.

Setup Procedures

Leagues should consist of 8 teams (Using more teams may not allow enough starting NFL players to complete adequate rosters). The following standard format may differ for leagues with less than 8 teams:

In the Regular Season each team will play all other teams twice, with each alternating as the "Home" team during their match-ups. After the Regular Season ends, a Playoff Round is played by seeding the teams based upon their Regular Season finish. The results of the Playoff Round games determine the matchups in the following week of playoffs, which is Bowl Week. The Bowl Week results determine the championship and the draft order for the next season.

[ As a convenience, you may check the RFL Forms section for blank documents that can be used to help run a league. There is RFL Software available for the PC. Using a voice-mail system is also a great asset to any RFL Commissioner, and plans are also in the works to run RFL leagues online. ]

Drafting

Teams must draft 23 players to complete their roster. Check the Drafting section for details.

Weekly Lineups

Each week a team plays against another. Both teams must submit a lineup in advance of the NFL games, and whichever team scores the most RFL points wins the game.

The weekly routine for each team owner is;

• Choose 15 starters for the week, to form a valid RFL starting lineup.
• Submit the lineup to the Commissioner by the required 'Call-In Time' (as stated in the Starting Lineups section).
• The burden is always on the team owner to submit a valid lineup (but the Commissioner should attempt to contact the owner for corrections).
• Owners may partially submit a lineup, by only stating players to be removed and their replacements. In this case, all other players will be retained from the previous lineup (if one exists).
• The Commissioner will validate, track and process all lineups.

The weekly routine for the Commissioner is;

• Attempt to contact owners to correct invalid lineups and rosters.
• If an owner refuses to submit or correct an invalid lineup, or the owner cannot be contacted to do so prior to the start of the weekly scoring; the Commissioner has the authority to adjust invalid lineups and rosters, in order to make them valid per RFL rules.
• If no valid lineup is submitted, the previous week's lineup must be used. If no previous lineup exists (as in the case of the first week), the highest-drafted players at each position should be inserted to create a valid lineup.
• The Commissioner has no authority to adjust valid lineups, unless rule-breaking by the owner is suspected. All other owners must be notified if there are any changes to a valid lineup, and are allowed to hold a vote to protest each change.
• After all scheduled NFL games are completed for the week, the Commissioner should process and distribute weekly results, standings and/or statistics as soon as possible. This will give each owner enough time to work on their next lineup.
• A procedure should be in place where each team can be notified of their opponent's lineup immediately after the required time to submit lineups.

The Commissioner may replace any owner for a team that is believed to have intentionally broken the RFL rules, stopped competing, stopped submitting lineups for a minimum of 2 weeks, or intentionally attempting to lose a game by any means. All remaining owners should be notified of ownership changes, and may reject the new owner by a majority vote (Check the Commissioner section for voting procedures).

Starting Lineups

Valid team lineups for each game must contain 15 starting players, as follows:

• 1 Quarterback ("QB")
• 2 Running Backs ("RB")
• 2 Wide Receivers ("WR")
• 1 Tight End ("TE")
• 1 Kick Returner ("KR"); who must be either a Running Back, Wide Receiver, or Defensive Back.
• 1 Kicker ("K")
• 4 Defensive Linemen ("DL"), which consist of either Defensive Linemen or Linebackers from the NFL.
• 2 Defensive Backs ("DB"), which consist of either Cornerbacks or Safeties from the NFL.
• 1 Punter ("P")

Points can only be scored by the players in the starting lineup (Check the Scoring section for details).

[ Originally, the USA TODAY™ football box scores were used for scoring tabulation. With the advent of wider internet use, the RFL now recognizes NFL.com box scores for official scoring. ]

The Commissioner is in charge of tabulating the official scores, and players may appeal any perceived errors. All scoring adjustments should be corrected prior to the start of the RFL Playoffs. Once a playoff game begins, no adjustments or corrections are allowed that will alter the playoff matchups or the winning team of any previous game.

Starting lineups must be submitted to the Commissioner no later than the start of the week's most-active day of NFL games (Usually a Sunday). This is the "Call-In Time" (Usually at 12 pm, Central). Teams may choose to submit only the players that they desire to exchange, but it is still best to submit the entire lineup (especially if using a voice-mail system to check lineups). Any players not removed from the previous week's starting lineup will remain in the lineup.

After the Call-In Time, no further lineup changes will be allowed. The Commissioner needs this time to process lineups for scoring. After the Call-In Time, teams may request their opponent's lineup. As a courtesy, you may also submit your lineup to your opponent, as the Commissioner may be very busy at this time.

It is the burden of the team owner to keep track of any NFL teams that have a Bye Week and/or players who are injured. This is part of being a team owner, and the Commissioner should never give anyone an unfair advantage by reminding a specific owner of these situations.

In the event of early NFL games for the week (prior to the most-active day), a.k.a "Stragglers", teams must notify the Commissioner of any changes that will affect their lineup for those games. Teams may adjust the remainder of their lineup by the Call-In Time. No player may be removed from, or added to, the lineup after the start of their weekly NFL game.

The Commissioner should make RFL results available as soon as possible. Weekly stat sheets should be given as soon as the box score results from the final NFL game can be totaled. Optionally, a monthly newsletter may be distributed every four weeks.

Playoffs

The RFL Playoffs begin after the end of the RFL Regular Season. The following standard format is based upon 8 RFL teams per league:

The Regular Season schedule consists of 14 weeks. After that, the first Playoff week contains a round of elimination games. The second Playoff week is Bowl Week, including the RFL Bowl championship game. The final Playoff week is used for the RFL All-Star game, the All-Pro Bowl.

Playoff formats may differ, depending upon how many weeks or teams are used. Check the Playoff section for further details.

Standings

Teams are ranked from highest to lowest, by the amount of games they win. Any ties in the standings will be resolved by using the following system, in the order listed, until the tie is resolved and the teams can be separated in the standings;

• Total Points Scored ("PS") — The team that scored more points during the regular season wins the tie.
• Strength-of-Schedule — The team that had more total points scored against them (Points Allowed, or "PA") will win the tie, on the basis of having a tougher schedule.
• Head-to-Head competition — The team with more victories against the tied team, during the regular season, wins the tiebreaker.
• Head-to-Head Total Points — The team that scored more total points, during its games against the tied team, wins the tiebreaker.
• Coin-Flip — In the unlikely event that a tie cannot be resolved prior to this point, the Commissioner shall either; (a) Flip a coin to determine a winner ("Heads" denoting the team with an alphabetically higher name), or (b) use a random number method until the tie is broken (such as the roll of 5 dice in an Official RFL Yahtzee™ Cup). Any of these procedures must be done in the presence of both owners, if possible. If not possible, at least one other witness should be present (Preferably the owner of an RFL team in the league), who is not involved in the tie.

The Commissioner should update the Standings on a weekly basis and make them available for viewing by all teams.

Free-Agent Points and Roster Moves

A Free-Agent player is an unselected player who is not currently attached to an RFL team's roster in any manner.

Teams begin the season credited with 10 Free-Agent Points ("F/A Points"). Whenever a team desires to replace a player from their roster, and that player is not "Injured" per RFL rules or on a Bye Week and unable to be used, then the team must use one of their F/A Points.

F/A Points cannot be given or traded between teams, nor can any additional points be granted or recovered. When the team has no F/A Points remaining, they can no longer replace players on their roster unless they are unable to play (Injured or on a Bye Week).

Exception: Between the end of the Draft and prior to the start of the first played NFL game of the season, a team may make unlimited roster moves and/or trades without the loss of an F/A Point.

Disabled List

Any player listed as anything worse than "Probable" on the weekly NFL Injury Report is considered as "Injured". Their RFL team may notify the Commissioner to place that player on the Disabled List and "freely" (without the loss of an F/A Point) obtain a Replacement player. All Replacements must be of the same position (as listed by their NFL team roster), forming a valid RFL roster at all times.

Once selected, a Replacement player is "chained" to the replaced player's roster position. The Replacement player is treated like a normal roster player and may only be replaced in the same manner as regular players on a roster (This means that different replacement players may not freely be exchanged every week as replacement for the same injured player).

The Replacement player may be retained on the roster position until the originally-replaced player no longer qualifies for the Disabled List. After that time, the RFL team must either; (a) immediately release the Replacement player, (b) retain the Replacement with the use of an F/A Point and release of another player, or (c) retain them as a Replacement for a different injured player without losing the right to first-use of the Replacement.

If a Replacement player also gets injured, a subsequent Replacement can also freely be obtained. Multiple replacements in this manner are sequentially chained to the same original roster position, but only one player can be uninjured at any given time. The first uninjured player in the chain is always treated as if they were the original player in that spot. Whenever an injured player in the chain becomes eligible to return, the RFL team must make a choice as to which player to keep and release all chained players that were obtained after that player.

Examples

• Player A gets injured. Replacement B is selected for free.
• Replacement B also gets injured. Replacement C is selected for free. The team still retains rights to both injured, A and B (the 'chain' is now in order of A,B,C for that single roster spot).
• If Player B returns, but A is still injured: B is treated as if he were the original player. With two uninjured players in one spot, team must now either release C —or— use an F/A Point to release B (because B was selected before C in the 'chain').
• If Player A returns: Team must release both B and C —or— spend an F/A Point to keep B or C and drop the others.
• If Player A returns, but Player D is now injured (and both play the same position): Team decides to keep A and drop the others. Team could choose any new Replacement for D, but decides to use Replacement C by freely moving them into D's new open spot. Because the team already had rights to C, they do not have to release him first and expose him to other teams.

The Commissioner should maintain a master roster list and track all players who are regarded as injured, along with their replacements. The Commissioner should also track when these players must come off the list and enforce the necessary roster adjustments as soon as possible.

Bye Weeks

If a team does not have enough players to form a valid RFL starting lineup, due to NFL teams having a "Bye Week" (not playing), they may select Free-Agent players without the loss of any F/A Points until they can form a valid lineup.

This applies only for the current week, and any such Bye Week Replacement player must either be; (a) released immediately following the last NFL game of the week, or (b) added to the roster by releasing another player and using an F/A Point. Bye Week Replacements are selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

Examples

• 1 of the team's 2 QBs is on a Bye: The team cannot get a free replacement, because they still have a QB to use and can create a valid lineup.
• 3 of the team's 4 RBs are on a Bye: The RFL owner may only select 1 unused RB for that week without using an F/A Point. They had only 1 RB to use, but needed only 1 more to create a valid lineup. The team cannot hoard players and select extra replacements who will not be placed into the starting lineup, because other teams may also need Bye Week Replacements.
• A team may not select a free replacement and use them as a KR unless they have no available RB, WR, or DB to use due to BYE weeks.

Trades

Trades cost 1 Free-Agent Point for each RFL team involved in the trade. As a trading incentive, there is no limit to the amount of players that can be involved in the trade, at the cost of a single F/A Point per team. Trades must be confirmed to the Commissioner by all owners involved.

No trades can be made after Week 10 of the RFL Regular Season. This is the Trading Deadline and helps prevent "Fire Sales" which can unfairly shift multiple players in an attempt to either load up a championship contender or dump players to improve Draft position. Fire Sales can ruin a Fantasy League season for everyone, and the Commissioner has full authority to stop any activity which could harm the integrity of the league (An alternative is to let all uninvolved teams vote or give opinion on the perceived transgression).

Waivers

When a team has "cut" (released from the roster) a player, they may not select them again until the player has "cleared waivers". This means that the player will be on the Waiver List until the end of that week's games. During that time, the player can be "claimed" by any team except the one that cut him. If more than one team claims the player, the team with the lowest ranking in the current standings (using any tie-breakers, as needed) will get the player. If no team claims the player, they become a Free-Agent.

Replacement players (Bye Week and Injury) are exempt from Waivers when released, and they immediately become available to other teams as Free-Agents. Their current team always has initial rights to Replacements and may choose to retain them as a Replacement for a different player, as long as it conforms to a valid RFL roster, without exposing them to Waivers.

Other teams may attempt a claim in anticipation of a Waiver situation, but should always check to see if the roster change is completed before submitting their weekly lineup. If the Commissioner is unavailable, owners should always submit alternatives for unconfirmed roster moves.

The Waiver List should be updated by the Commissioner as often as possible, and made available to all owners.