Off-Season Trading

Q: I run a twelve team fantasy football keeper league whereby each owner is allowed to keep 3 players from his roster for up to three years. One of our owners has a wealth of talent at running back and is currently keeping Laurence Maroney, Frank Gore and Larry Johnson. Still remaining on his lineup is Ronnie Brown which is not planned as one of his keepers but he would like to trade this player to another owner in our league and a 8th round draft pick for the 4th round pick of said owner. I as commissioner am against this as it subverts the three keeper rule giving this owner not only three keepers but also an additional pick in the fourth round for a player that he had no intention of keeping. I have been running this league for five years and I was in another league for three years before this one but I am not sure it there is some sort of precedent for this. In our rules there is no mention of this being illegal but it is a strict keeper rule in that each team should only enter the season with three assets at max and two at minimum. Let me know your thoughts.

Our league has only allowed trades with draft picks on draft day as it did not interfere with keepers on that particular day. Also our league does not require a 2/3rds majority on trades only a league council consisting of two members plus myself and also two alternates when needed. The only time we require 2/3rds vote is on rule changes.

A: Thanks Xman. Since your league has never allowed trades for draft picks - except on draft day - you need to be very careful here as you are about to set a precedent for trading policy in your league for years to come. Regardless of how this particular dispute is resolved your league needs to set specific rules on when and how a trade can take place and inform all league members so you can avoid similar issues going forward.

That said, I think the issue at hand is a no-brainer. You stated that your league allows for a maximum of three keepers and a minimum of two keepers. Regardless of when in the off-season your league members are required to officially name their keepers - the maximum number remains three. When the whistle blew on the last play of last year’s fantasy football season, the owner in question relinquished control over his full roster and instead was left with three “keeper slots”. Trading Ronnie Brown at this stage in the game assumes that Brown is still part of this owner’s squad and the only way this is possible is if he has been designated as one of the three keepers. This of course leaves the owner with only two slots left to use on Maroney, Gore or LJ.

A fantasy football roster is different from a real football roster. The fantasy team doesn’t lift together in the off-season or attend mini camps together or go out and get hammered together on the town. The minute the fantasy season ends, uniforms are returned, playbooks are handed in and the union is dissolved. The players don’t remain huddled within some digital locker room while their past owner spends the summer deciding their fates for the upcoming season. This owner had until the trading deadline of last season to deal Brown for draft picks. Now he can keep him and then deal him for picks if he so chooses, or not keep him but allowing the trade to occur is essentially affording him 4 keepers (or assets as you pointed out) and that seems to be a blatant violation of your leagues charter.