Game Summary

The Just For Fun League (JFFL) is a game in which football fans hold their own draft before the start of the National Football League (NFL) season and assemble their all-star team made up of actual NFL players. When pro football players score in real games, franchise owners accumulate points. Each week between games, JFFL owners act like NFL owners - trade players, shuffle starting lineups, claim undrafted players in preparation for next week's games. They scheme, pore over statistics, and do anything they can to build the highest scoring team in the league. The JFFL season is directly tied to the NFL season starting with the first regular season game, ending with the last game before the playoffs.

Game Purpose

Our purpose is to match strategy and sports management skills with our friends. We determine through weekly JFFL scoring who drafted and manages the best pro football team. League dues are for expenses only, as David Letterman would say, "This is not a competition, this is only an exibition please, no wagering." Good old fashioned competition (I guess it is a competition) is at the heart of why we play this game. Weekly website updates from the commissioner and statistician add to the light-hearted and fun atmosphere of the league.

Objective

Weekly frahcise winners are detemined at the end of each week's games, and the JFFL Total Points Champion is, obviously, the team that accumulates the most amount of points during the regular NFL Season. Also, TURKEY of the WEEK awards are given to the person whose poorly thought own roster cost them the most points for the week, or who made another grievous embarrassing error. The TURKEY of the YEAR is given to the team at the end of the regular season who has the least amount of fantasy points accumulated. In addition to the high and low points for the weeks & for the season, a Head to Head competition goes on. At the drafy day, each franchise is assigned to a division and has a shcedule to play where they "meet" other teams during the weeks of the season. Whoever gets the mist fantasy points between the two teams playing head to head, gets a win on their head to head record and gets 10 (ten) bonus points in the week's fantasy point totals. The Head to Head Champion is determined at the end of the year when a playoff is held during the final weeks of the season. During this time, since not all of the teams play each week, no bonus points are awarded for head to head wins.

To Begin Play

We organize up to 16 franchises to form the league. Each person or group of people become the franchise owner(s). Each franchise is named by it's owner(s) to be used throughout the season. We also highly suggest drawing up team logos to add to the fun.

The Commissioner

The Commissioner should be one of the pool of franchise owners. The Commissioner is responsible for running the draft, conducting league business, organizing league functions and arbitrating league disputes.

The Statistician

The Statistician is responsible for calculating and providing weekly scoring totals for JFFL owners. He/She must deliver in person or by mail, fax or computer, a weekly scoring sheet to each FFL owner in a timely manner to assist owners in preparing for upcoming games. The Commissioner may also serve as Statistician but does not necessarily need to do so.

Draft

Prior to the start of the NFL season, owners hold a draft. Each owner drafts a total of 17 offensive players from current NFL rosters and/or defensive/special teams. If possible, the draft will be held the day before the season starts so that the final NFL rosters for Game 1 of the season can be found in the USA Today and/or other news publications.

Game Rules & Scoring Summaries

The league draft is based on the drawing of numbers out of a hat from 1 (one) to 16 (or less if there are fewer teams). If there are any new franchises in the league, they will draw first. Then, the team finished last will draw and continue until the team that finished first draws the last number. The draft commences. The first round goes from #1 to #16, round two goes from #16 to #1. The draft continues with the odd rounds going down the numbers and the even rounds coming back up.

The general rule for drafting is that owners are allowed 2 minutes following the previous draft pick to make their choice. In an effort to speed up the process, league owners assembled may choose a time limit that is still comfortable but goes quicker. Selections not made during the allotted time are considered a "pass" and may be made up after the draft is over. The selection(s) must be made however, before the kickoff of the first game.

There are no limits on how many players a person must draft at each position. The number of players drafted by each team on draft day is 17. Wide Receivers and Tight Ends are combined into the category of Receivers. A franchise MAY look like this:

3 QBs

4 RBs

6 Receivers

2 Kickers

2 Defenses

This is just a sample. Your franchise does not have to follow this as a blueprint.

Defense/Special Teams score points when any member of that team scores a touchdown or safety on an interception, fumble, kickoff return or punt return. When this happens, 25 points are awarded to the franchise. No special teams points are scored when a team scores a touchdown on a fake field goal or punt. The placekicker does score points (see SCORING section) in he runs, throws or catches a touchdown on such a play.

Undrafted Players/Free Agency

After the initial 17 round draft, free agency will begin at 12:00 pm (noon) on Monday after the start of Week 1. Players will now be available to be picked up anytime on anyday through the end of the season, and each team is limited to claiming one player in a week. If you want to have a claimed player in your line-up, that player must be picked up 24 hours prior to kickoff for that week's Thursday or Saturday game, and by 1:00 pm for Sunday and Monday games. All times are Eastern.

If more than one owner is interested in claiming a player off free agency, the one that claims them first has rights to them. This will be confirmed with time stamps on phone calls, texts and/or emails.

All rosters can be expanded to 20 positions at any point of the season. There is no limit as to the number of transactions that can be made during the season but the limit of one per week would remain. Once the roster limit of 20 has been reached, in order to acquire a player, you must release a player to stay at the limit of 20.

Starting Lineups

Each franchise submits an eight player starting lineup to the commissioner or statistician prior to the kickoff of the first game of the week. There are occassional Thursday night and Saturday games, so watch your schedules. Teams that have not called in a new lineup, will start the one from the previous week. The starting lineup consists of:

1 QB

2 RB

3 Receivers

1 Kicker

1 Defense

Trades

As with NFL teams, JFFL owners can trade or transfer one or more players from one franchise to another. The only two hard and fast rules are that each trade must only involve two franchises, and that no trades are allowed during the last 4 weeks of the season. After a trade has been made, one of the owners should call either the Statistician or the Commissioner to verify it and make it known to the rest of the league via the weekly mailing.

Scoring

JFFL scoring is based on actual plays makde by NFL players each week during the season. Only players listed as starters for each franchise receives points for that particular week. Points are awarded on the following system:

Method of Scoring 1-9 yards 10-39 yards 40+ yards

QB Passes for TD 6 pts 9 pts 12 pts

RB Runs for TD 6 pts 9 pts 12 pts

REC catches for TD 6 pts 9 pts 12 pts

QB runs/catches a TD 12 pts 18 pts 24 pts

RB catches/throws a TD 12 pts 18 pts 24 pts

REC throws/runs a TD 12 pts 18 pts 24 pts

K runs/throws/catches a TD 12 pts 18 pts 24 pts

K, QB, RB, REC runs/throws/catches a 2 pt conversation: 2 pts

As stated earlier, anytime a defensive team runs back a fumble, interception, kickoff or punt for a TD; it is worth 6, 9 or 12 points based off the yardage listed above. In addition, each franchise starts with 25 pts & the number of points scored against there defense will be subtracted from that and that number of points will be awarded to the franchise for the week.

Kickers Field Goal Yardage Points

1 - 39 yds 3 pts

40 - 49 yds 5 pts

50+ yds 10 pts

Points after TD (PAT) 1 pt

Tie Breakers for Head to Head playoff games will be total points scored by position in the weekly starting lineup beginning at QB, RB, etc.

Tabulation of Weekly Scoring

The Statistician tabulates scoring each week for each franchise and keeps all of the official records for the league. He/She will provide each owner with their detailed scoring and standings summary each week. Discrepancies in scoring will be worked out between the owner and Statistician. If there is still a question, the Commissioner will settle it. All scoring becomes official after two weeks and cannot be changed after that (Ex. Week 1 is official after Week 3).

Fees

On Draft Day each year, the owners will determine how much each owner of each franchise will pay to be a part of the league. Fees are collected solely for the purpose of providing the materials needed for mailing, Drafy Day and awards. Enjoy this league and good luck.