We establish a point system. If you timeout (i.e., you don’t make your pick before your allotted time expires), you accumulate 2 points.

If you exceed three hours of clock time but don’t timeout (the clock will initially be set at 4 hours), you accumulate 1 point.

Points will only be assigned after the first round, which is generally an untimed round anyway.

If you accumulate 2 points in total (either one timeout or two close calls), your clock time is reduced to 3 hours per pick for the remainder of the draft. That means your next timeout would be at 3 hours.

If you accumulate 4 points in total, your clock is shortened to two hours. At 6 points, your clock is shortened to one hour. That’s the ultimate limit.

Commissioners will need to monitor this, and will have the discretion to defer penalties if they believe the draft is moving OK and the time delays haven’t been too aggravating (or if the offending drafter has a good story.) Commissioners will also need to enforce the shorter clocks, since the system won’t be able to handle different time limits for each manager.

Here are some instructions for executing your draft picks.
(These are copied from last year's thread. Please let me know if I have misspecified anything)

1. "My Draft List" - Under the "For Owners" menu (at the top), there is an item called My Draft List. You can think of this as your personal pre-ranking of players if you wish, although it has one important operational impact. If your 4-hour clock expires, then your pick will be automatically selected as the top name on your "My Draft List". Only if that list is empty will your pick be skipped. (More on this in a moment.)

2. "Pre-Draft Pick" list - You access this through "For owners->Draft"
These are the equivalent of the Drafttime.com "queue", with several important distinctions:
There is a separate list/queue for each round, and they do not carry over, and
If there is a name in your queue, that player will be immediately selected when it is your turn to draft. The only way to turn off a round-specific queue is to empty it. Therefore, it is important to keep your queues empty unless you are sure that they should be used. If you expect to want to load & unload your queue frequently (similar to turning it on or off), then you should probably keep a list of players in "My Draft list", as you can quickly pull up that short list to add players to any queue.

Of course, if you have players in "My Draft List", then you are also subject to having those players selected if you should time-out. Typically, that shouldn't be a problem, as timing-out should be a rare occurrence.

If you want to keep players loaded in "My Draft List" and you don't want to risk the top name being selected automatically upon timeout, then I suggest putting a "placeholder" player at the top of your list - preferably someone who is retired, or injured, or clearly not a viable pick. We can come up with specific placeholder options, if needed. If you time-out and a placeholder player is automatically selected for you, then you can have the commish replace that player with a real pick when you are available.

Note that because queued picks are automatically processed, there is no role tantamount to a designated picker. As commissioner, I can enter a pick on anyone’s behalf. Other than that, you – or anyone else with access to your MFL password – will be the only one who can directly enter a pick.

If your pick times out and is skipped, only the commissioner can insert a pick afterwards. If this happens to you, please send your make-up pick to me by email or text message. You can post here as well - but do not rely on this thread as the primary means of communication for a make-up pick.

For the NFL weeks when teams are on bye (weeks 5-11 in the 2017 season), starting rosters may have only one running back. If only one RB is started, then the starting receivers must be either 3 WR and 2 TE, or 4 WR and one TE.

Decimal scoring is applied for all categories.

Offense Category Points
(apply to all players, including IDP)
Passing TD 4
Other TD 6 (all TDs, whether on offense, defense, or special teams)
Passing-2pt conv 1
Other-2pt conv 2
Passing yard 1/25 (i.e., .04 per yard)
Rushing yard 1/10 (i.e., .10 per yard)
Receiving yard 1/10
Punt return yard 1/10 (also applies to IDP)
Kick return yard 1/25 (also applies to IDP)
Kick return 0 (no deduction)
Int, fumbles lost -2

Kicking Points
(apply to all players, including IDP)
Extra point made 1
FG under 40 yards 3
FG 40-49 yards 4
FG 50+ yards 5
Missed FG <30 -1
Missed FG 30+ 0

Indiv Defensive Player Points
(apply to all players, including offensive players and kickers)
Solo Tackle 1
Asst Tackle 0.5
Tackle for loss 2
QB hit 1
Pass defensed 1
Sack 1 (half sack=0.5)
Interception 3
Fumble forced 2
Fumble recovery 2
TD 6 (all TDs, whether on offense, defense, or special teams)
Safety 3 (including safety on extra point attempt)<
Blocked kick (FG, XP, punt) 2
Defensive conversion returns (extra point) 2

Unlisted players
During the draft, any player may be drafted, regardless of whether or not the player is listed at the hosting game site. Once the draft is completed, unlisted players may not be added to any roster. This applies for any post-draft waiver processing as well.

In the event that a drafted player is not listed after the draft has completed, a placeholder player will be assigned to the drafting team, to be replaced by the drafted player as soon as he is available.

Position eligibility
Except as defined below, a players position eligibility will be that assigned by the league hosting site.

If a player is listed at one position when drafted and that position is subsequently changed by the hosting site, the manager drafting that player may elect to retain the original position. In this event, that player will keep the drafted position eligibility until he is dropped or traded, at which time the eligibility will revert to the hosting system's default position.

Injured Reserve
Each team will have one slot available for injured reserve. A player may only be placed on injured reserve when he is so designated by the NFL and the hosting site reflects that IR status.

If a manager adds a player who is already designated as IR at the time of his pickup (either through priority claiming or free agent pickup), that team must keep the player on its active roster until the following week. Players who are already designated as IR when drafted are not subject to this limitation, and may be placed in the IR slot immediately after the draft.

Once an IR player has returned to active status by the NFL, that player must be removed from the IR slot no later than the Wednesday following his activation. If an ineligible player remains in an IR slot after this time, the commissioner may forcibly drop such player after a 24-hour notice (via email) to the manager.