Sunday, July 6, 2014

Jimmy Graham Grievance Decided He is a TE!

In case you have been concentrating on World Cup Football (Soccer to Yanks) let me enlighten you on a developing Fantasy Football story. Jimmy Graham, the Super Star TE, is currently involved in a grievance case against his team the New Orleans Saints. UPDATE: He has been ruled a TE!

 Background: NO wants to pay Graham like a Top TE. They gave him the teams franchise tag but as a TE not as a WR. That means less money for Jimmy. 
TE gets $7 Million.
WR gets $12 Million.
Quite a difference and Graham is new school at TE and moves around quite a bit. He is not your typical stay in and block TE with a late slide to the middle of the field. In fact he lined up wide or in the slot 2/3 of the time he in the game so he has a legitimate gripe here.
He feels (and perhaps rightly so) that his numbers are worthy of WR $.

 The deadline for a ruling is 15 July so it will be resolved before training camp begins. However, if you are drafting Graham you need to know how your league will treat a decision that calls him a WR. If such a ruling is made then the NFL may call him a WR which means his position status will change for FF purposes. Or will it? How will your league rule? Normally it is the position that the league software. 

 Of course if he is ruled a TE than none of this discussion will matter. AND only really matter in leagues that have TE unique rules-like the FFPC and FPC that awards 1.5 PPR to TEs (as opposed to 1 PPR for other positions). Or leagues that do not allow TEs to be flex eligible. 

 Some questions to think about:
-If you already drafted him as a TE will he stay that way if the NFL subsequently changes his position to WR?
-When is the position locked in for FF Leagues? 
--At the start of the FF draft
--At the start of training camp
--At the start of the pre season
--At the start of the regular season
-Can a players NFL listed position change mid season? This is much more a factor in Fantasy Baseball then in FF.
-If you are in a tournament (such as FPC or TPC) does Grahams position change or should it stay the same for others who draft later?

 What do I think? 
If he is listed in the software as a TE when the first draft occurs (in the case of a tournament with lots of drafts on different dates) then he should stay at that position for the entire season. I guess what I am really saying is that there are no position changes in FF. Whatever the position he starts at he finishes in since some drafts occur before or after a change. It would be an unfair advantage for him to be listed as a TE for one draft of a tournament and then listed as a WR for other later drafts. 

 If you are in a local league just make sure you know whether he is a TE or WR based on your league rules in case the ruling makes the NFL change their mind about his position. 




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