Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations) - Page 138

**Rain Man** · 09:15 AM

I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free.

cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below.

If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3.

Here's the overview:

Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football

Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end.

Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league.

This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter.

In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week).

Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh.

The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games.

The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this:
• Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs.
• Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft.
• Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league.
• Rinse and repeat.

Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved.

We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors.

Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like.

So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft!

Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system.

How Free Agency Works:

Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft.

Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later.

1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool.

2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts.

The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies).

$0 - 1 season contract
$10 - 2 season contract
$22 - 3 season contract
$37 - 4 season contract
$55 - 5 season contract
$76 - 6 season contract
$100 - 7 season contract

You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents.

3. The free agency period begins.

Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below.

Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid
1 0 to 9
2 10 to 21
3 22 to 36
4 37 to 54
5 55 to 75
6 76 to 99
7 100 or more

For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it’s also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it’s a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it’s a 7-year contract.

For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012.

4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency.

Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3.

The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours.

5. Unused Salary Points

If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over.

6. Salary Points and Roster Management

In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points “on your roster” and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons.

Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it’s a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted.

7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players

When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents.

There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows:

• At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid.

8. Free Agency and Trades

If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he’ll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.)

9. Future Years

In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions.

a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600.

b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else.

c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one.

10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this:

a. Sandbox season goes from February through April.
b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit.
c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period.
d. January. Roster cuts to 53.
e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d.
f. New Sandbox season begins.

**cdcox** · 06-23-2012, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostcause

I had this buried in a prior post, but wanted to make sure you saw it (punting on 4th down late in the 4th quarter while down by 3):

4th Q 0:49 3rd and 1 Clearwater 18 Maurice Jones-Drew rushes for -3 yards.
4th Q 0:28 4th and 4 Clearwater 15 Mike Scifres punts 47 yards, returned for 7 yards by Jacoby Jones
Anchorage 27, Clearwater 24

Thanks for bumping this, I had missed it earlier. I added some code that should fix this.

rageeumr · 06-23-2012, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rageeumr

I might have to set my gameplan at 90% run for this week. I'm thin at receiver to start with, but this week I only have 2 guys active. Mike Thomas and Roscoe Parrish.

Just for the record, I went with a run-heavy game plan and it seems to have worked well (the logic, not the results

)

I ran the ball 30 times and passed it 17, which is probably pretty close to where my percentages worked out since I left "x and long" situations as pass-heavy.

**Old Dog** · 06-23-2012, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

For the Steve Smith problem, set your WR4 to street free agent, set WR2 to Steve Smith, then go back and set your WR4 to whomever you want it to be. If a player is in one roster spot, you can't put him into another one.

I tried that. In fact I set every position to SFA and then went position by position to assure I had the guy I wanted in the correct slot. Everyone else seem to work correctly.

I just retried it and it worked....I don't know what the heck happened, but it didn't work a few hours ago.

**cdcox** · 06-23-2012, 02:02 PM

Rudimentary standings are now shown under

your_team_name -> Standings

Playoff format:
Division winners plus two WC teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs.
Week 1: the two WC teams battle it out
Week 2: 1st seed plays the WC winner and the 2nd and 3rd seed play each other
Week 3: conference championsips
Week 4: Sandbox Bowl

brorth · 06-23-2012, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

1. Yes. Any HB in your lineup can play at any time. It is determined randomly.
2. Do you want your QB to never throw from 3 yardline?
3 and 4. Fixed the problem. Next time it will be a safety.

Thanks.

Double combo of unlucky. Just checking.

Hammock Parties · 06-23-2012, 03:24 PM

My Week 2 stats:

Tom Brady - 21 of 28 for 278 yards and 3 TD.

Kellen Winslow - 8 catches for 88 yards

Kenny Britt - 5 catches for 95 yards

Reggie Bush - 15 carries for 88 yards

Ahmad Bradshaw - 4 carries for 31 yards

Ricky Williams - 4 carries for 12 yards (2 of these were when I was running out the clock)

Defense did a good job, holding Ronnie Brown to 15 carries for 41 yards.

Brady has 6 passing TD and about 600 yards in two weeks so I'm happy with that.

**Dartgod** · 06-23-2012, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

So this would have evaluated as a 'run clock situation'. Unless there is a programming error, you must have wanted to occasionally pass in 3rd and 1 situations when you are trying to run out the clock. You can set pass to 0 if you never want to pass in 3rd and 1 situations when you have a late lead.

Yep. I had the default setting of 10% pass in that situation. Fixed now.

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:08 PM

Couple of things I'm noticing:

My team is Anchorage, and we do have a punter.

We recovered a fumble but the other team kept the ball.

Anchorage
1st Q 10:02 Alex Henery kicks 67 yards, returned for 13 yards by Devin Hester
1st Q 9:54 1st and 10 Anchorage 16 LeSean McCoy rushes for 0 yards.
1st Q 9:12 2nd and 10 Anchorage 16 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes complete to LeSean McCoy for a gain of 5 yards.
1st Q 8:27 3rd and 5 Anchorage 21 PENALTY. False Start Vernon Davis loss of 5 yards.
1st Q 7:42 3rd and 10 Anchorage 16 Colt McCoy passes, batted at the line of scrimage incomplete.
1st Q 7:35 4th and 10 Anchorage 16 free agent punts 37 yards, fair catch byStefan Logan
Anchorage 0, Oklahoma City 3
Oklahoma City
1st Q 7:23 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith fumbles snap Recorved by Anchorage
1st Q 7:11 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith passes, batted at the line of scrimage incomplete.
1st Q 7:04 3rd and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith passes complete to Jordy Nelson for a gain of 10 yards.
1st Q 6:19 4th and inches Anchorage 43 Marshawn Lynch rushes for -3 yards. Turned over on downs
Anchorage 0, Oklahoma City 3

**Dartgod** · 06-23-2012, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Couple of things I'm noticing:

My team is Anchorage, and we do have a punter.

We recovered a fumble but the other team kept the ball.

Anchorage
1st Q 10:02 Alex Henery kicks 67 yards, returned for 13 yards by Devin Hester
1st Q 9:54 1st and 10 Anchorage 16 LeSean McCoy rushes for 0 yards.
1st Q 9:12 2nd and 10 Anchorage 16 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes complete to LeSean McCoy for a gain of 5 yards.
1st Q 8:27 3rd and 5 Anchorage 21 PENALTY. False Start Vernon Davis loss of 5 yards.
1st Q 7:42 3rd and 10 Anchorage 16 Colt McCoy passes, batted at the line of scrimage incomplete.
1st Q 7:35 4th and 10 Anchorage 16 free agent punts 37 yards, fair catch byStefan Logan
Anchorage 0, Oklahoma City 3
Oklahoma City
1st Q 7:23 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith fumbles snap Recorved by Anchorage
1st Q 7:11 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith passes, batted at the line of scrimage incomplete.
1st Q 7:04 3rd and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith passes complete to Jordy Nelson for a gain of 10 yards.
1st Q 6:19 4th and inches Anchorage 43 Marshawn Lynch rushes for -3 yards. Turned over on downs
Anchorage 0, Oklahoma City 3

Actually, you recorved a fumble. Completely different thing.

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:15 PM

The referees are showing preferential treatment to Troy Polamalu, which may be accurate but it's not right.

Anchorage
4th Q 15:00 2nd and 8 50 LeSean McCoy rushes for 2 yards. PENALTY. Personal Foul on Fred Robbins. 15 yards.
4th Q 14:52 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 33 Colt McCoy passes complete to LeSean McCoy for a gain of 1 yards. PENALTY. Defensive Pass Interference on Troy Polamalu. -4 yards.
4th Q 14:44 2nd and 14 Oklahoma City 36 Colt McCoy scrambles for 4 yards.

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:20 PM

It's possible that this was just bad luck, but either we need some logic to go for the winning field goal in this situation, or Colt McCoy made a bad decision. (We ended up losing in overtime.)

Anchorage
4th Q 2:22 Alex Henery kicks 67 yards, returned for 22 yards by Devin Hester
4th Q 2:14 1st and 10 Anchorage 25 Colt McCoy passes complete to Andre Roberts for a gain of 10 yards. Two minute warning.
4th Q 2:00 2nd and inches Anchorage 35 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes incomplete to Andre Roberts.
4th Q 1:53 3rd and inches Anchorage 35 LeSean McCoy rushes for 1 yards. time out Anchorage
4th Q 1:45 1st and 10 Anchorage 36 LeSean McCoy rushes for 0 yards. time out Anchorage
4th Q 1:37 2nd and 10 Anchorage 36 Colt McCoy passes incomplete, dropped by Vernon Davis.
4th Q 1:30 3rd and 10 Anchorage 36 Colt McCoy passes complete to Devin Hester for a gain of 13 yards.
4th Q 1:16 1st and 10 Anchorage 48 Colt McCoy spikes the ball to kill the clock.
4th Q 1:14 2nd and 10 Anchorage 48 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes complete to Devin Hester for a gain of 18 yards.
4th Q 1:00 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 34 Colt McCoy spikes the ball to kill the clock.
4th Q 0:58 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 34 Colt McCoy passes complete to Jason Snelling for a gain of 7 yards.
4th Q 0:34 3rd and 3 Oklahoma City 27 Colt McCoy passes complete to Vernon Davis for a gain of 10 yards.
4th Q 0:20 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 17 Colt McCoy spikes the ball to kill the clock.
4th Q 0:18 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 17 Colt McCoy scrambles for 5 yards.
Anchorage 20, Oklahoma City 20

(Regulation time ran out.)

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Actually, you recorved a fumble. Completely different thing.

Oh. My bad. I thought we just corved it.

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:26 PM

Something odd happened here. We had a change of possession with no event to cause it.

Topeka
3rd Q 15:00 Jason Hanson kicks 68 yards, returned for 9 yards by Danny Woodhead
3rd Q 14:52 1st and 10 Topeka 12 Ray Rice rushes for 2 yards.
3rd Q 14:10 2nd and 8 Topeka 14 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes incomplete to Mike Thomas.
3rd Q 14:03 3rd and 8 Topeka 14 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes complete to Miles Austin for a gain of 9 yards.
3rd Q 13:18 1st and 10 Topeka 23 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes incomplete to James Jones.
St. Louis 3, Topeka 0
St. Louis
3rd Q 13:11 1st and 10 Topeka 23 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 2 yards. Fumble, recoved by Topeka returned for 0 yards.
St. Louis 3, Topeka 0

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:29 PM

The refs gave us back the recorved fumble later in the game:

St. Louis
4th Q 15:00 2nd and 4 St. Louis 38 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 4 yards.
4th Q 14:10 3rd and inches St. Louis 42 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 1 yards.
4th Q 13:20 1st and 10 St. Louis 43 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 46 yards.
4th Q 12:30 1st and 10 Topeka 10 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for -1 yards.
4th Q 11:40 2nd and 11 Topeka 11 Kyle Orton fumbles snap Recorved by Topeka
4th Q 10:50 3rd and 11 Topeka 11 Maurice Jones-Drew rushes for -2 yards.
4th Q 10:00 4th and 13 Topeka 13 Jason Hanson field goal attempt from 30 yards. Good.

**Rain Man** · 06-23-2012, 09:32 PM

We had a "fifth down" scandal at the end of the game. Aaron Rodgers gets an extra play on the orders of the commissioner.

Topeka
4th Q 1:53 1st and 10 Topeka 18 Aaron Rodgers scrambles for 2 yards. time out Topeka
4th Q 1:45 2nd and 8 Topeka 20 Ray Rice rushes for 5 yards. time out Topeka
4th Q 1:37 3rd and 3 Topeka 25 Ray Rice rushes for 2 yards.
4th Q 1:16 4th and 1 Topeka 27 Ray Rice rushes for 2 yards.
4th Q 1:02 1st and 10 Topeka 29 Aaron Rodgers spikes the ball to kill the clock.
4th Q 1:00 2nd and 10 Topeka 29 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes complete to Mike Thomas for a gain of 9 yards.
4th Q 0:36 3rd and 1 Topeka 38 Ray Rice rushes for 1 yards.
4th Q 0:22 1st and 10 Topeka 39 Aaron Rodgers spikes the ball to kill the clock.
4th Q 0:20 2nd and 10 Topeka 39 Aaron Rodgers passes complete to Miles Austin for a gain of 2 yards. time out Topeka
4th Q 0:12 3rd and 8 Topeka 41 Aaron Rodgers passes complete to James Jones for a gain of 17 yards.
St. Louis 13, Topeka 7
Topeka
5th Q -1:0-2 1st and 10 St. Louis 41 Aaron Rodgers spikes the ball to kill the clock.
St. Louis 13, Topeka 7

08-08-2011, 02:01 PM
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations) I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free. cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below. If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3. Here's the overview: Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end. Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league. This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter. In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week). Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh. The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games. The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this: • Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs. • Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft. • Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league. • Rinse and repeat. Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved. We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors. Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like. So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft! Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system. How Free Agency Works: Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft. Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later. 1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool. 2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts. The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies). $0 - 1 season contract $10 - 2 season contract $22 - 3 season contract $37 - 4 season contract $55 - 5 season contract $76 - 6 season contract $100 - 7 season contract You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents. 3. The free agency period begins. Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below. Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid 1 0 to 9 2 10 to 21 3 22 to 36 4 37 to 54 5 55 to 75 6 76 to 99 7 100 or more For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it’s also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it’s a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it’s a 7-year contract. For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012. 4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency. Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3. The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours. 5. Unused Salary Points If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over. 6. Salary Points and Roster Management In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points “on your roster” and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons. Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it’s a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted. 7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents. There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows: • At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid. 8. Free Agency and Trades If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he’ll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.) 9. Future Years In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions. a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600. b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else. c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one. 10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this: a. Sandbox season goes from February through April. b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit. c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period. d. January. Roster cuts to 53. e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d. f. New Sandbox season begins. Last edited by Rain Man; 05-27-2013 at 09:15 AM..
Posts: 141,247

06-23-2012, 02:02 PM	#2059
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2381769	Rudimentary standings are now shown under your_team_name -> Standings Playoff format: Division winners plus two WC teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs. Week 1: the two WC teams battle it out Week 2: 1st seed plays the WC winner and the 2nd and 3rd seed play each other Week 3: conference championsips Week 4: Sandbox Bowl
Posts: 45,536

06-23-2012, 03:24 PM	#2061
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4760478	My Week 2 stats: Tom Brady - 21 of 28 for 278 yards and 3 TD. Kellen Winslow - 8 catches for 88 yards Kenny Britt - 5 catches for 95 yards Reggie Bush - 15 carries for 88 yards Ahmad Bradshaw - 4 carries for 31 yards Ricky Williams - 4 carries for 12 yards (2 of these were when I was running out the clock) Defense did a good job, holding Ronnie Brown to 15 carries for 41 yards. Brady has 6 passing TD and about 600 yards in two weeks so I'm happy with that. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 277,607

06-23-2012, 09:08 PM	#2063
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	Couple of things I'm noticing: My team is Anchorage, and we do have a punter. We recovered a fumble but the other team kept the ball. Anchorage 1st Q 10:02 Alex Henery kicks 67 yards, returned for 13 yards by Devin Hester 1st Q 9:54 1st and 10 Anchorage 16 LeSean McCoy rushes for 0 yards. 1st Q 9:12 2nd and 10 Anchorage 16 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes complete to LeSean McCoy for a gain of 5 yards. 1st Q 8:27 3rd and 5 Anchorage 21 PENALTY. False Start Vernon Davis loss of 5 yards. 1st Q 7:42 3rd and 10 Anchorage 16 Colt McCoy passes, batted at the line of scrimage incomplete. 1st Q 7:35 4th and 10 Anchorage 16 free agent punts 37 yards, fair catch byStefan Logan Anchorage 0, Oklahoma City 3 Oklahoma City 1st Q 7:23 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith fumbles snap Recorved by Anchorage 1st Q 7:11 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith passes, batted at the line of scrimage incomplete. 1st Q 7:04 3rd and 10 Oklahoma City 47 Alex D. Smith passes complete to Jordy Nelson for a gain of 10 yards. 1st Q 6:19 4th and inches Anchorage 43 Marshawn Lynch rushes for -3 yards. Turned over on downs Anchorage 0, Oklahoma City 3 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247

06-23-2012, 09:15 PM	#2065
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	The referees are showing preferential treatment to Troy Polamalu, which may be accurate but it's not right. Anchorage 4th Q 15:00 2nd and 8 50 LeSean McCoy rushes for 2 yards. PENALTY. Personal Foul on Fred Robbins. 15 yards. 4th Q 14:52 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 33 Colt McCoy passes complete to LeSean McCoy for a gain of 1 yards. PENALTY. Defensive Pass Interference on Troy Polamalu. -4 yards. 4th Q 14:44 2nd and 14 Oklahoma City 36 Colt McCoy scrambles for 4 yards. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247

06-23-2012, 09:20 PM	#2066
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	It's possible that this was just bad luck, but either we need some logic to go for the winning field goal in this situation, or Colt McCoy made a bad decision. (We ended up losing in overtime.) Anchorage 4th Q 2:22 Alex Henery kicks 67 yards, returned for 22 yards by Devin Hester 4th Q 2:14 1st and 10 Anchorage 25 Colt McCoy passes complete to Andre Roberts for a gain of 10 yards. Two minute warning. 4th Q 2:00 2nd and inches Anchorage 35 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes incomplete to Andre Roberts. 4th Q 1:53 3rd and inches Anchorage 35 LeSean McCoy rushes for 1 yards. time out Anchorage 4th Q 1:45 1st and 10 Anchorage 36 LeSean McCoy rushes for 0 yards. time out Anchorage 4th Q 1:37 2nd and 10 Anchorage 36 Colt McCoy passes incomplete, dropped by Vernon Davis. 4th Q 1:30 3rd and 10 Anchorage 36 Colt McCoy passes complete to Devin Hester for a gain of 13 yards. 4th Q 1:16 1st and 10 Anchorage 48 Colt McCoy spikes the ball to kill the clock. 4th Q 1:14 2nd and 10 Anchorage 48 Colt McCoy (pressured) passes complete to Devin Hester for a gain of 18 yards. 4th Q 1:00 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 34 Colt McCoy spikes the ball to kill the clock. 4th Q 0:58 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 34 Colt McCoy passes complete to Jason Snelling for a gain of 7 yards. 4th Q 0:34 3rd and 3 Oklahoma City 27 Colt McCoy passes complete to Vernon Davis for a gain of 10 yards. 4th Q 0:20 1st and 10 Oklahoma City 17 Colt McCoy spikes the ball to kill the clock. 4th Q 0:18 2nd and 10 Oklahoma City 17 Colt McCoy scrambles for 5 yards. Anchorage 20, Oklahoma City 20 (Regulation time ran out.) __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247

06-23-2012, 09:26 PM	#2068
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	Something odd happened here. We had a change of possession with no event to cause it. Topeka 3rd Q 15:00 Jason Hanson kicks 68 yards, returned for 9 yards by Danny Woodhead 3rd Q 14:52 1st and 10 Topeka 12 Ray Rice rushes for 2 yards. 3rd Q 14:10 2nd and 8 Topeka 14 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes incomplete to Mike Thomas. 3rd Q 14:03 3rd and 8 Topeka 14 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes complete to Miles Austin for a gain of 9 yards. 3rd Q 13:18 1st and 10 Topeka 23 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes incomplete to James Jones. St. Louis 3, Topeka 0 St. Louis 3rd Q 13:11 1st and 10 Topeka 23 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 2 yards. Fumble, recoved by Topeka returned for 0 yards. St. Louis 3, Topeka 0 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247

06-23-2012, 09:29 PM	#2069
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	The refs gave us back the recorved fumble later in the game: St. Louis 4th Q 15:00 2nd and 4 St. Louis 38 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 4 yards. 4th Q 14:10 3rd and inches St. Louis 42 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 1 yards. 4th Q 13:20 1st and 10 St. Louis 43 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for 46 yards. 4th Q 12:30 1st and 10 Topeka 10 Adrian L. Peterson rushes for -1 yards. 4th Q 11:40 2nd and 11 Topeka 11 Kyle Orton fumbles snap Recorved by Topeka 4th Q 10:50 3rd and 11 Topeka 11 Maurice Jones-Drew rushes for -2 yards. 4th Q 10:00 4th and 13 Topeka 13 Jason Hanson field goal attempt from 30 yards. Good. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247

06-23-2012, 09:32 PM	#2070
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3368491 VARSITY	We had a "fifth down" scandal at the end of the game. Aaron Rodgers gets an extra play on the orders of the commissioner. Topeka 4th Q 1:53 1st and 10 Topeka 18 Aaron Rodgers scrambles for 2 yards. time out Topeka 4th Q 1:45 2nd and 8 Topeka 20 Ray Rice rushes for 5 yards. time out Topeka 4th Q 1:37 3rd and 3 Topeka 25 Ray Rice rushes for 2 yards. 4th Q 1:16 4th and 1 Topeka 27 Ray Rice rushes for 2 yards. 4th Q 1:02 1st and 10 Topeka 29 Aaron Rodgers spikes the ball to kill the clock. 4th Q 1:00 2nd and 10 Topeka 29 Aaron Rodgers (pressured) passes complete to Mike Thomas for a gain of 9 yards. 4th Q 0:36 3rd and 1 Topeka 38 Ray Rice rushes for 1 yards. 4th Q 0:22 1st and 10 Topeka 39 Aaron Rodgers spikes the ball to kill the clock. 4th Q 0:20 2nd and 10 Topeka 39 Aaron Rodgers passes complete to Miles Austin for a gain of 2 yards. time out Topeka 4th Q 0:12 3rd and 8 Topeka 41 Aaron Rodgers passes complete to James Jones for a gain of 17 yards. St. Louis 13, Topeka 7 Topeka 5th Q -1:0-2 1st and 10 St. Louis 41 Aaron Rodgers spikes the ball to kill the clock. St. Louis 13, Topeka 7 __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,247