The N.I.F.F.L.E. - 2025 Rules
All rules within this league are explicit. Anything that falls between the stated rules will be considered outside of the League Rules and thus against league rules.
“The Season” or “Regular Season” = is the initial 14 weeks of NFL Play
“The Playoffs” or “Postseason” = Week 15, 16,17 and 18.
“The Bonanza Week” is not part of The Season or Postseason.
Tanking will not be a punishable offense, but owners must compete till mathematically eliminated or relieve themselves from the waiver wire process.
“Starting Roster” = Players who accrue points toward scoring period
“Active Roster” = all players on Owner’s team. Does not include Scout team.
League Dues: $420 per team
Winnings Break Down
1st place = $2300 with a Playoff Record of 3-0
2nd place = $1300 with a Playoff Record of 2-1 reaching Championship Game
3rd place = $900 with a Playoff Record of 2-1 losing in Divisional Round
4th place = $200 with a Playoff Record of 1-2 winning Wild Card Round Game
5th place = $200 with a Playoff Record of 2-1 losing in Wild Card Round
Team that Scores the most points in a regular season week is paid $100
Week 18 (Bonanza) will be a Top Score payout of $420. 1st 2nd and 3rd place are ineligible,
“The Laske” (aka. the last place team overall for the season), must bleach their hair.
League
The league will be comprised of 16 teams with 4 divisions
The league operates on a H2Head basis
Playoff Team & Lottery Team Keepers
Division Winners get top 4 Seeds and right to name their Division in the upcoming year as the 4 Division winners will be split to compete in their own divisions to provide competitive balance.
Schedule:
Each team will play 14 of the 16 teams once during the season and will only play division teams once as well.
Teams
Teams will have the following positions
QB x1
RB x1
WR x2
TE x1
FLEX WR/RB/TE x2
K x1
DEF/ST x1
Reserves x4
No IR
Scoring
The League accounts for Fractional and Negative Points
Offense - Passing
Passing TD = 6 Points
Interceptions = -4 Points
25 Passing Yards = 1 Point
Offense – Rushing
Rushing TD = 6 Points
10 Rushing Yards = 1 Point
Kneel downs/Sacks cannot result in going into negative rushing numbers for QBs
Offense – Receiving
Receiving TD = 6 Points
10 Receiving Yards = 1 Point
Receptions = .5 point
Offense – Returns
Kickoff and Punt Return Touchdowns = 6 Points
Kick Return yardage is added at the value of 1 yard = .05 points (i.e. 100 yards = 5 points).
Offense – Miscellaneous
2 Point Conversions = 2 Points
Fumbles Lost = -2 Points
Offensive Fumble Return TD = 6 points
Kickers
Field Goals 0-39 Yards = 3
Field Goals 40-49 Yards = 4
Field Goals 50+ 5
Field Goals Missed 0-39 = -1
PAT made = 1
PAT missed = -2
Defense/Special Teams Points Allowed
0 Points Allowed = 12 Points
1-6 Points Allowed = 9 Points
7-13 Points Allowed = 6 Points
14-20 Points Allowed = 3 Point
21-27 Points Allowed = 0 Points
28 -34 Points Allowed = -3 Point
35 + Points Allowed = - 6 Points
Sack = 1 Point
Interception = 2 Points
Fumble Recovery = 2 Points
Interception and Fumble Recovery Touchdown = 6 Points
Safety = 2 Points
Blocked Punt & FG = 3 Points
Blocked XP = 1 Point
Kickoff and Punt Return Touchdowns = 6 Points
Commissioner
There will be no one Commissioner, instead it will be known as The Association. The Association will be comprised of three owners.
They will hold the power to veto trades (by majority) and process early waiver requests.
Current members: Brian Goldstein (+Treasurer), Harrison Brown, and Casey Miller.
Draft
The draft will have a lottery system for all non-playoff teams to determine the order of 1-8. All 8 Teams will have equal odds of each Pick. The remaining 8 Playoff teams from the prior year will be determined by how they placed in prior year’s playoffs.
There will be 13 rounds. The Draft will follow a fixed format for the first 5 rounds then proceed to a standard Snake format in round 6-13.
All players will be entered back into the draft except for one to two players (see specific details below) from each team chosen by each Team Owner.
Keepers must be chosen the Monday before the draft, or they will not be entered into the draft.
2nd Round Playoff Keepers count as a 2nd round draft pick. A Team may choose to opt out of their named playoff keeper at any point up until the day before the draft and move in front of all other playoff teams for the fixed rounds.
13th Round Keepers (Playoff and Lottery): will count as a 13th round pick. The player kept must have been added* in-season any week the team had a NIFFLE matchup except for Bonanza Week (Week 18) which will not count as a keeper qualifying week AND were not drafted by or traded for by team keeping them. Player must also have played in one NFL Regular Season game after being added to the NIFFLE team's lineup or bench.
* Via waivers/free agency
Waivers/ Free Agency
The Waiver Wire will be run with a season long FAB budget of $1,000 for each team to use over the course of the season and playoffs.
The Waiver Wire will be processed according to the highest bidder on a player first. The team having the highest bid will have priority. Tie breakers for FAB if a player bid is won and same amount by multiple teams on same amount of money will be based on reverse draft order the first week and then record from there on out as the tiebreaker. The FAB priority order will reset after each week based on record and standings.
Players dropped will be placed on waivers and you can bid for those players until they clear waivers after 1 day.
Players will be put on waivers at the start of their game if still available.
Waivers will be processed two days after all games finish, or the player has been released, or the draft has been completed.
Teams mathematically eliminated will be moved to back of FAB order and can participate in add/drops to bolster their roster for week 18 throughout season finale. Adding players that devalue your team and increase the value of free agency will be seen as collusion and your ownership vacated and the transaction reversed. Eliminated teams are still allowed to pick up players until the playoffs start, then they will be locked out until week 18.
Active Rosters lock 5 min before Kickoff for each player and may not be involved in any waivers or free agent transactions until after the CBS website has awarded wins and losses and moved on to a new scoring period. Owners may contact the Association to edit their roster in the 5-minute overlap between Lock Rosters and Kickoff. Kickoff will serve as the deadline for your request to be made to the Association, this request may be granted any time after.
Adding players that devalue your team and increase the value of free agency will be seen as collusion and your ownership vacated and the transaction reversed.
Trades
Trade Deadline: Trade Deadline is EOD Wednesday (11:59pm EST) of Week 10 in the NFL Season. No Player on your Starting Roster can be traded once locked in another teams Starting Roster player until after the CBS website has awarded wins and losses and moved on to a new scoring period. Bench Players may be traded for Bench Players up until 11:59pm
Owners are allowed to Trade:
Players for Players
Draft Picks for Draft Picks
Players & Picks for Players & Picks
Players, Picks & FAB budget for Players, Picks & FAB Budget
FAB Budget for Players
Players & FAB Budget for Players & FAB Budget
Multi-team trades are allowed but must not exceed 4 teams, FAB budget CAN be included in deal, but draft picks are not to be included in deal.
There must be a matching number of draft picks in a trade.
Trades for future draft picks must not exceed 1 future year. If it is the offseason the upcoming draft is not counted as the future year & you may deal picks in the upcoming 2 drafts.
Trading the same majority of players back and forth between the same owners as a Rental will be seen as collusion and is illegal.
An owner may only receive one pick in the first three rounds for a future draft through trade. (You may trade for as many picks after the 3rd Rd)
If FAB is part of a deal / trade, the FAB that was traded as part of the trade agreement must be given in the exact dollar amounts to the commissioners immediately as soon as the trade is accepted for commissioners to review the trade. If trade passes, budgets will be updated in CBS by the commissioners. It is understood that it could be up to 24 hours before the dollars are adjusted.
Trading for FAB budget can only cover budget from the current season and cannot be for future seasons.
As in past, all trades accepted will be reviewed by the commissioners before being passed to ensure trades are following the above rules.
Playoffs
8 Teams will make the playoffs
There will be 4 divisional winners and 4 Wildcards.
The would-be 5th seed playoff position (final wildcard position) goes to the highest point total of the remaining 9 teams. Note, the top seven seeds would still achieve their playoffs standings per previous rules. This is intended to dis-incentivize trading your whole team for picks once you start the season off with a few losses. 6,7 and 8 seeded teams will be remaining top teams record wise + tiebreakers per previous rules. Example of how playoff seedings will work:
Division Winner
Division Winner
Division Winner
Division Winner
Wildcard 4 - Final Wildcard Position (Highest Point total of remaining 9 teams) [**Previously used to be the 8 seed in a bracket in previous seasons]
Wildcard 1 - Best remaining team record of non division winner
Wildcard 2 - Best remaining team record of non-division winner
Wildcard 3 - Best remaining team record of non-division winner
There will be 4 weeks of playoffs, the first 2 weeks will be one game each and the championship and consolation finales two games each.
There will be a consolation bracket to determine Payouts for 3rd and 5th place
7th and 8th place will be decided based on tiebreakers.
Tiebreakers
Tiebreakers go in order of following:
Head-to-Head
Points Scored
Points Scored w/ Reserves
Points Differential
Coin Flip best of 3
*Divisional ranking will be based on Overall Record, H2H, and then Points, only using Divisional Record to determine the Division winner.
*Laske Tiebreaker - Lowest Point Total is 1st tiebreaker amongst the last-place teams. then followed by remaining tiebreaker order as mentioned above
2025 Season Contingency (The Pandemic contingency)
If the 2025 season is canceled before week 12 is completed, 2025 will operate with the 2024 setup -- draft picks, trades, keepers, etc.
If the 2025 season is canceled after Week 12, most points scored crowned Champion.
Note, if the 2025 season is canceled any rules that were to sunset in 2025 would sunset in 2024 instead. etc.