Rules: New Postseason 2.0

Our new goal is it incentivize winning, and so while the draft is a way for losing teams to shore up their teams, we also don’t want to encourage any losing on purpose aka tanking, or owner inactivity.

The simple explanation is that each draft slot is now competed for, and you have to earn a higher pick. It’s easiest to think about the new system as a mini-tournament that happens as you win or lose each postseason matchup. Win and you advance, lose and you face off with your fellow losers in a consolation bracket for a draft slot.

Note: This goes into effect for next season's draft, 2020, not this one obviously.

1) Draft Slots in RD1
The new draft order for RD1 will not be determined by overall record, and will not reward regular season losing. Instead each position will be earned and played for throughout the postseason, via postseason results and then consolation brackets. [See image and explainer below]

2) Playoffs
Top eight teams in the Power Rankings are re-seeded, irrespective of conference. Each playoff round and consolation round will be re-seeded as well. [ Conferences, Re-Seeding, No Roster Lock ] and [ Postseason Mini-Explainer ]

3) Toilet Bowl
The bottom eight teams are thrown into the Toilet Bowl. Draft slots for RD1 are awarded in order of Toilet Bowl finish, #1-8 for picks *1-8.

4) Consolation Brackets
In the past, once you were eliminated from the three-week playoff period, you were gone. We changed it so that every team will now have a reason to play until the end of the postseason in consolation brackets. Everyone plays all three weeks of the postseason

5) Drafting RD2-6
Also a change, RD2-6 of the draft will be in Power Ranking order, meaning we go #1-16, and then snake at the bottom of RD2 into RD3. This rewards regular season win-loss records starting in RD2.

6) Incentivizing Making the Playoffs
It's tough to pass up a shot at the Toilet Bowl crown if you are a bubble team (#8 or #9), so we're toying with the idea that if you win the Toile Bowl as a #9 or #10 seed, you have to give up your RD2 pick to #7 and #8 seed next season.

Edit: Instead we're going to implement a rule that the #9 and #10 seeds can only get up to the *3 draft slot, even if they win the Toilet Bowl. (The next team would just slide up a draft slot.) This is the newly dubbed "Swamp Rule."


First Round Draft Slots: Image

First Round Draft Slots: Text
• Picks *1-8: Toilet Bowl participants, in order of finish (8)
• Pick *9: Finals Runner-Up (1)
• Picks *10-15: Playoff non-Finals participants, in order of finish (6)
• Pick *16: Finals Winner, aka Champ (1)

Note: #9 and #10 seeds cannot win *1 or *2 RD1 draft slots, only up to *3

Glossary

• Postseason= Combined term for playoffs and Toilet Bowl
• Playoffs = Top eight Power Ranked teams
• Toilet Bowl= Bottom eight Power Ranked teams
• Consolation= Postseason bracket for the losers of postseason games
• #= Power Ranking / Seeds
• *= Draft Pick