2025 RULES: Multi-Positions

[larry linke]

I agree that a college tackle who has only played guard in the NFL should not have a tackle designation. I dont have a problem with a NFL tackle playing guard as to me that isnt a stretch. I do have a problem with a NFL center having his interior offensive lineman designation potentially stripped. That has been the understanding since 2008 since I joined FanGM. Two years ago I drafted Joe Tippman in the first round to protect myself if I didnt re-sign Eric McCoy but knowing he could always classify as a guard in our league. It doesnt seem fair to draft a guy under one set of rules and have them drastically changed.

Another example is Cam Jurgens. He was drafted as a center by the Eagles but played guard until Kelce retired. Having a center play guard is not a stretch.

Larry

[Goodell]

Yup. The depth chart calculations setup with much of that in mind for offensive line flexibility. Believe it requires 2 tackles, 1 center and 1 guard with the other guard spot able to be filled by either a guard, center or tackle with that logic that a center or tackle can move over as they often do.

As for rules, there aren’t ever any rules that will never be subject to discussion or possible change. We have off-season rules discussions every year of course and usually some changes every year as we continually work to improve.

We’re never going to say we can’t change or update or improve and rules from years ago must always remain.

In regards to multiple position eligibility, though, as mentioned this particular one mostly about Travis Hunter and flexible position players that could impact multiple areas which we currently don’t allow but now will in certain cases to a limited degree. To other related topics of position eligibility in the same area grade (like an offensive lineman), as mentioned unless there efficient data processes developed we’ll at least initially focus mostly on extreme cases where it makes little sense for a player to be listed somewhere based on bad or ancient data no longer relevant. We update player grades and some positions every year as players career develops. The game isn’t what their grade/position was 10 years ago or in college. It’s what is their value and reality today, which is why we update players info. With a lot on the plate, I wouldn’t expect big changes in positions outside of ones that make the most sense because I can’t go through thousands of players in detail for mass updates. But as mentioned we’ll probably take a look at longtime veterans with multiple positions and make sure that’s still relevant, and not some position from college 10 years ago they never played one snap at in nfl.

But as we get more data and tools maybe ahead, keep that in mind. As mentioned, don’t draft Travis hunter with the expectation that he’ll always be a cb/wr. That will never be set in stone. If he’s into his career later and never plays wr again, he’s not going to be a wr here just because he was in college years ago. We get player data and adjust every year.

[sportznut]

While we're discussing position flexibility, I want to once again point out there was an issue last year that I brought up with how the depth charts pulled guys with multiple positions, and calculated them. I had a ton of guys who were DE/DT, or DE/OLB. Instead of placing everyone into the correct slot, and taking my top 7 defensive players for my F7, it relegated one of my players as a backup, and pulled a lesser player, and used him as the starter.

While I fully admit the difference in grade may have been a .1 of a point initially, I built my team in such a way to have a dominant F7, and once I began to endure injuries, the gap of pulling from lesser players could be larger, not just for my team, but anyone else in the league as well.

My point is if we're not able to maximize that versatility, that defeats the purpose of having it.

[Goodell]

The programming for that is very complex. I’ve tried to reprogram a couple of times without success. However, though, for the cases of known issues I had a short list of teams positional grades I would double check and recalculate within the sim (which shows updated grade average in game boxscore).

Having to incorporate some of the Travis Hunter inspired changes will mean looking at reprogramming that again, so hope to fix bugs and improve.

However if still some instances of problems we of course won’t cancel the season, but it’s built where I can do a recalculation and feed updated average into sim right before it runs as a backup. Hopefully it’ll all be improved and not need that, but if any problems as always teams can contact me and I can add them to a double-check problem situation list as before.

[sportznut]

The programming for that is very complex. I’ve tried to reprogram a couple of times without success. However, though, for the cases of known issues I had a short list of teams positional grades I would double check and recalculate within the sim (which shows updated grade average in game boxscore).

Having to incorporate some of the Travis Hunter inspired changes will mean looking at reprogramming that again, so hope to fix bugs and improve.

However if still some instances of problems we of course won’t cancel the season, but it’s built where I can do a recalculation and feed updated average into sim right before it runs as a backup. Hopefully it’ll all be improved and not need that, but if any problems as always teams can contact me and I can add them to a double-check problem situation list as before.

I mentioned this last year. I know some things aren't as simple as flipping a switch. Just wanted to bring it up while we're having this discussion.