We decided last year to opt out of Yahoo's default system where free agents can be picked up anytime. The major reason I believe was to avoid the situation where RBs 1 and 2 go down on Sunday and a player suddenly becomes valuable and goes to the 1st person to go to the computer. Some people are away many Sundays, some aren't near a computer and some just don't want to have to follow all injuries and rush to the computer when a player suddenly becomes valuable.

Requests for players are handled through the manual waiver system. Managers who want to pick up a player must make a request to the commissioner or his delegate (myboyjack was the delegate last year and has offered to do it again) by a stated time each week (usually Tuesday at 9 P.M. Eastern). mbj sifts through the requests and produces a report on which claims have been approved, publishes it on the message boards, and sends it to the commissioner. The waiver priority is bottom up, last to first based on the standings as of that time. Multiple claims and alternative claims (i.e., DROP Joe Blow PK and pickup John Doe PK OR Joe Schmoe PK) are possible. Alternative claims address the possibility of some other manager claiming the player you want before it's your turn to claim.



Adding to that, once any NFL game starts, all free agent players on those teams are officially "on waivers" and cannot be added to anyone's roster. If you want to add a player to your team after his game has started that weekend, you must submit your request to the (currently unestablished) delegate via email.

The waiver schedule we used last year was that the claims had to be emailed to the delegate by 9pm EST Tuesday nights. That night the delegate (Waiver Master?) processes the claims and announces where all the players landed in a Rotoguru thread designed specifically for that purpose. (Last year's thread here)

We all then have 24 hours, until 10pm EST Wednesday to add the players we've claimed off waivers. At that time, 10pm EST on Wednesdays, all players not currently on any fantasy team's roster then becomes a free agent, until kickoff for their next game.

Also, when emailing your claims to the Waiver Master, please be sure to list your claims in order of preference and include the first and last name of players involved and their positions and teams. For example:

1. ADD: Joe Namath, QB, NY Jets
DROP: Fred Dryer, DL, LA Rams

2. ADD: OJ Simpson, KWM, Buffalo Bills
DROP: Fred Dryer, DL, LA Rams OR
Bill Bergy, DL, Phil. Eagles

This manager wanted to acquire both Joe Namath and OJ Simpson. Note that, knowing that he might not get both claims through the waiver system, and preferring to lose Dryer over Bill Bergy, he made Fred Dryer his first-choice player to drop both times. In case the Namath claim was successful, he listed a second player to drop for OJ, since Dryer would then no longer be on his team.