How fantasy commissioners should handle the craziness of the 2020 season

Yahoo Sports’ Andy Behrens explains how to handle game postponements and so much more, especially with the playoffs right around the corner.

Video Transcript

- All right, let's head to Fantasy Court, and you will notice that I am not in the traditional wig this week. I'm not be-wigged if that is even a word. And nothing that I say in this-- in this segment is going to be an actual ruling because I put the call out for your league disputes, and all that came back were a bunch of questions about the Baltimore/ Pittsburgh game. Totally understandable. I get it. You're asking questions about the way Yahoo is going to handle this, about the way that-- that league manager should proceed.

Well, look at this one here from Glenn. He's saying in the event of Ravens/ Steelers postponement beyond week 12, what are league managers to do during such a crucial time of the re-draft season? So I think obviously it's-- it's clear at this point. All of us are shying away-- particularly the Ravens side of that game if we possibly can but certainly the Steelers as well. It's not a guarantee to happen this week. I mean we have almost two dozen Ravens on the COVID list, and it turned out that that game was really just the appetizer for all of the COVID stories related to week 12. So I think what we really need to do is use week 12 as kind of a fire drill for fantasy commissioners.

What we're going to do here is I'm going to walk through all of Yahoo's handling of COVID IR designations and related postponements, all the rules related to that, and then we're going to issue a call to commissioners to get things buttoned up ahead of the fantasy playoffs because like if you think this is going to be isolated to week 12, you're crazy. That's not the case at all. The fantasy playoffs are going to be wild, and commissioners need to get ready. So let's talk, first of all, about what's available to you in Yahoo Leagues.

First of all, any game that is played on a Tuesday is going to count in the current week. I know we're not used to Tuesday Night Football. It's going to happen. That game, should it be played, is going to count in week 12. Here's the thing, in weeks that have a Tuesday game, waivers are then going to clear on Thursday morning. So please, I'm begging you, don't yell at me. Don't yell at the fantasy handle when your waivers haven't cleared on Wednesday. In weeks with a Tuesday game, we give you an extra 24 hours to consider your waiver claims. It's all going to clear on Thursday.

Now, if the game is forfeited, if that happens this year, every player attached to that game is going to have COVID IR designation. So you'll be allowed to put them in an IR spot if, of course, your league even has COVID IR spots, right. Otherwise, COVID designation is only going to be for players officially on the NFL's COVID list. So there's going to be occasions where you see a rumor on Twitter, you see unconfirmed reports, and you're going to immediately demand that that guy get placed on the COVID list. That's not how it works. The transactions have to officially happen with the league.

Now here's where I want to skip to what commissioners can do, and listen, again, I want to urge you, get everything buttoned up with your rules before the fantasy playoffs start because, again, this is going to be absolute chaos. It is not too late to add bench spots to your league. Normally, I'm not someone who would suggest that you want to change any settings once we get in season, but this, I'm not sure if you've noticed, this is not a normal year. This is absolutely not a normal year. It's fine if you want to add IR spots, bench spots. You want to give managers as many options as possible because like look at the last 12 hours. We've seen star players go on the COVID list. We've seen a team get kicked out of its stadium, and that's like the eighth biggest story in the NFL. These are going to be crazy weeks coming up.

Another thing I like, and we mentioned this earlier in the season, I love the IDM in a couple of leagues where commissioners are doing this, contingency plans in case a game is forfeited. So we have this Baltimore/ Pittsburgh game coming up. I have a couple of leagues in which commissioners have allowed us to say, OK, I'm an a designated a player. Let's say Chase Claypool can't go for me. I'm able to say, OK, give me the stats associated with Sterling Shepard because he's on my roster. That's just an example. I think that is a great way to go. It's a little bit labor intensive for fantasy commissioners, but it is going to pay off if we in fact have forfeitures or cancellations or further postponements.

Again, this is a year unlike anything we have ever seen, and I am once again urging fantasy commissioners to tighten up your roles, and give fantasy managers as many options as possible.