Trade Dispute: Smith/Ward for Jones/Jones/Welker

Q: Hello, I seem to have a problem with a trade made in our league yesterday and I knew this could create an uproar, so I’m looking for a solution other than my own as commish.We have a 12 team keeper/franchise league. Our league has been around for 14 years, but still seems to get in a tizzy when trades are made including certain owners.

Here is a brief rundown of our rules with regards to keepers. We have developed a rather intricate set of rules for drafted rookies.Any rookie drafted in Rounds 6-10 can be “franchised” and kept at their round selected for EVER. Each team can only “franchise” 1 player.

The next set of rules pertains to “redshirts”. Any rookie drafted regardless of round can be “redshirted” following Wk 5 and be able to be kept as an 8th round pick the following year. By “redshirting”, the said rookie CANNOT play after Wk 5 and will reap the rewards the following year. Obviously some strategy is involved and some risk. For example, Adrian Peterson was drafted in the 4th Round this year. He can be in a teams starting lineup until Wk 5 and benched for the rest of the year and will be an 8th round pick next year, then 7, then 6 the following year. If he chooses to play him the whole year he would become a 3rd, then 2nd and go back into the draft after the 3rd year. The “redshirt” rule gives the owner a chance to have him for 4 years instead of 3, but can only play him for the first few weeks of the season but also retains him at a much better draft pick. We are only allowed to keep a max of 4 players, as long as 1 is either a franchise or redshirt.

Now to the trade at hand. Team A was offered Steve Smith (Car) and Derek Ward (NYG) from Team B for Jacoby Jones, James Jones, and Wes Welker. On the surface this seems very lopsided, but with our rules….is it?

Steve Smith goes back into the draft pool next year (3 year max for vets). The 2 Jones are drafted rookies in the 9th and 10th rounds respectively. Only 1 can be “franchised” for the next year(actually his career), while the other could be “redshirted” at 8, 7,6 for the next 3 years. The value for team B is obviously the players keeper status’, which could prove to be very valuable.Team A is absolutely getting stronger for the current year, but only for this year.

We are now going into the 2nd week of the year, so there is abslolutely no sense of “giving up” by either of the teams, or collusion. All teams pay a $200 entry fee, so pride is at stake as well as a handsome payday. Hopefully I have presented you with enough info to help in this case. Thanks, Vladimir.

A: Thanks for question. This is a good example of how important it is to consider specific league keeper rules when evaluating a trade. In this instance, the potential for keeping Jones and Jones adds enough value to that side of the trade to make it fair (plus Welker is going to be a solid option this year - 75% of Smith’s totals is not out of the question). Even in your format I’d still want to be on the Smith/Ward side, but remember that your job as commish is not to ensure all trades are smart decisions for the two owners involved, just that the trades are not overtly lopsided. This one should go through.