PQBFL Rules 2023

PQBFL Rules - 2025

Rule changes from last year are in blue

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Quarterback

Touchdown pts depend on yards

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per 3 y rush+receiv 0.25 pt

2 pt conv. 2 pt

Interception -3 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Fumble not lost ** -1.5 pt

Forced fumble 3 pts

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Defensive stats: Sack, INT, tackle, assist, safety, etc.: same as for defensive players

PAT and FGs: same as for kickers

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble lost because the team loses possession.

** If the player recovers the ball himself, he also gets one point for the fumble recovery so the net effect is zero

Running Back

Touchdown pts depend on yards

Per 2.5 y rush+receiv 0.25 pt

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

2 pt conv. 2 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Fumble not lost ** -1.5 pt

Interception -3 pts

Forced fumble 3 pts

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Defensive stats: Sack, INT, tackle, assist, safety, etc.: same as for defensive players

PAT and FGs: same as for kickers

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble lost because the team loses possession.

** If the player recovers the ball himself, he also gets one point for the fumble recovery so the net effect is zero

Wide Receiver

Touchdown pts depend on yards

Per 5 y receiv+rush 0.25 pt

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per reception 1 pt

2 pt conv 2 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Fumble not lost ** -1.5 pt

Interception -3 pts

Forced fumble 3 pts

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Defensive stats: Sack, INT, tackle, assist, safety, etc.: same as for defensive players

PAT and FGs: same as for kickers

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble lost because the team loses possession.

** If the player recovers the ball himself, he also gets one point for the fumble recovery so the net effect is zero

Tight End

Touchdown pts depend on yards

Per 5 y receiv+rush 0.25 pt

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per reception 1 pt

2 pt conv 2 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Fumble not lost ** -1.5 pt

Interception -3 pts

Forced fumble 3 pts

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Defensive stats: Sack, INT, tackle, assist, safety, etc.: same as for defensive players

PAT and FGs: same as for kickers

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble lost because the team loses possession.

** If the player recovers the ball himself, he also gets one point for the fumble recovery so the net effect is zero

Kicker Made Missed

PAT +1 -1.5

FG 17-24 +2 -2

FG 25-29 +2 -2

FG 30-34 +2.5 -1.5

FG 35-39 +2.5 -1.5

FG 40-44 +3 -1

FG 45-49 +3 -1

FG 50-54 +3.5 -0.5

FG 55-59 +3.5 -0.5

FG 60+ +4 -0.5

Note: a blocked FG or PAT counts as a missed kick

TD pts depend on yards

Yardage: same as QB

2 pt conversion 2 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Fumble not lost ** -1.5 pt

Interception -3 pts

Forced fumble 3 pts

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Defensive stats: Sack, INT, tackle, assist, safety, etc.: same as for defensive players

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble lost because the team loses possession.

** If the player recovers the ball himself, he also gets one point for the fumble recovery so the net effect is zero

Defensive Lineman, Linebacker, and Defensive Back

Defensive Stats:

Sack 2 pts

INT 3.5 pts

Tackle 1 pt

Tackle for loss 1 pt (in addition to the regular point for the tackle)

Assist 1 pt

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Forced fumble 3 pts

Pass defended 1.5 pts

QB Hurries 1 pt

Safety 4 pts

Blocked kick 4 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Fumble not lost ** -1.5 pt

Touchdown pts depend on yards (a touchdown scored on offense by the defensive player counts)

Defensive stats include tackles, assists, etc. on special teams

Offensive Stats:

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per 5 y receiv+rush 0.25 pt

Per reception 1 pt

2 pt conv 2 pts

Interception thrown -3 pts

PAT and FGs: same as for kickers

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble lost because the team loses possession.

** If the player recovers the ball himself, he also gets one point for the fumble recovery so the net effect is zero

Rookie

Like a player from its position. Rookies can be of any position including defensive players.

A rookie is a player that has never played an NFL snap, not only players that are classified as a rookie by the NFL. This rule is intended to include players who were injured all year in their rookie season, among others.

Starting with the 2022 season, PQBFL teams can elevate a maximum of one rookie to its natural position at any time after the draft including during the NFL playoffs. Such move is irreversible.

College

Only I-A college players are eligible. Stats will be taken from espn.com even if there are discrepancies with other websites. College week #1 will not be used. College week #2 matches with NFL week #1 and it will be the first week where college players can start. College week #15 is the last week where college players can start and it matches with NFL week #14. College players cannot start after NFL week #14 even if they play in bowl games. A football week starts on Tuesday and ends on Monday (note that this does not apply to the NFL, if a game scheduled on Sunday/Monday for example is moved to Tuesday due to special reasons, that game falls into the week where it was previously scheduled, so Sunday/Monday). A college player can only be a QB, RB, WR, or TE. No kickers, defensive players, or defenses. The scoring system is the following

Touchdown in regulation 6 pts

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per 3 y rush+receiv 0.25 pt

2 pt conv. in regulation 2 pt

Interception -3 pts

Fumble lost -3 pts

Defensive points: see below DL/LB/DB

Touchdown in regulation 6 pts

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per 3 y rush+receiv 0.25 pt

2 pt conv. in regulation 2 pt

Interception -3 pts

Fumble lost -3 pts

Defensive points: see below DL/LB/DB

WR or TE

Touchdown in regulation 6 pts

Reception 1 pt

Per 7.5 y passing 0.25 pt

Per 5 y rush+receiv 0.25 pt

2 pt conv. in regulation 2 pt

Interception -3 pts

Fumble lost -3 pts

Defensive points: see below DL/LB/DB

DL or LB or DB

Sack 3 pts

INT 5 pts

Tackle 1 pt

Assist 1 pt

Pass Defended 1.5 pt

Fumble recovery 1.5 pt

Safety 4 pts

Fumble lost * -3 pts

Touchdown pts depend on yards (a touchdown scored on offense by the defensive player counts)

A discount factor of 0.25 will be multiplied by the player’s score and we truncate down to the nearest 0.25. For example, a QB who throws for 2 TDs, 1 INT, and 310 passing yards will have the following score:

(2*6-3*1+10.25)*0.25 = 19.25*0.25 = 4.8125 truncated to 4.75 pts.

College players can be saved or cut for the following season. If they remain in college, they are still playing the college position. If they graduate to the NFL, they are playing the rookie position.

Touchdowns scored in OT do not count.

Defense and Special Team

TD 6 pts

To determine whether the TD was scored by a special team or the offense, we go by the box score. If the box score says it’s a TD run or pass, the TD goes to the offense, not the special team, except if the box scores specifies “FG formation” or “Punt formation”.

2-pt conversion (on an INT or fumble rec when the opposing offense attempted a 2-pt conversion) 2 pts

Interception 1.5 pts

Fumble rec. * 1.5 pts

Fumble -1.5 pts

Safety 4 pts

Safety allowed -2 pts

Sack 0.5 pt

Blocked kick 2 pts

Allowed blocked kick -2 pts

Yards allowed: see matrix

Points allowed by defense or special team: see matrix

* Fumbles that result in a safety because the ball goes out of bounds count as a fumble recovery in addition to counting as a safety even if not counted as such in the NFL gamebook

Notes:

In the calculation of points allowed, a TD on an INT return or a TD on a fumble recovery doesn’t count because the points are allowed by the offense (deduct 6, 7, or 8 points from points allowed in the game). Exception: a TD scored on a fumble recovery if the recovery is made by an offensive player, the defense allowed the TD, not the offense.

A safety allowed by special teams counts in the calculation of points allowed by the defense / special team.

A fumble recovery by the offense does not count for the points scored by the defense. For example, team A is on offense, they turn the ball over, but the opposing team fumbles and it is recovered by team A. The fumble recovery does not count for team A’s defense / special team.

A fumble by the offense that goes out of bounds in the end zone counts as a fumble recovery for the defense / special team because it is a turnover.

Value of Touchdowns

1-9 yards 5 pts

10-19 yards 6 pts

20-39 yards 7 pts

40 yards + 8 pts

On occasion it is necessary to read the exact play by play to find out how long a TD was particularly in the case where there was a lateral pass. For example if the scoring reads “pass play 60 yards” it might be that the WR caught a lateral only for the last 20 yards so his TD would count for 20 yards while the QB would count for 60 yards.

Note that it is possible for a player to score two TDs on the same play, for example a TD pass thrown to himself which is a TD reception.

Miscellaneous Rules

Each team selects 20 players in the draft. Each team also has 1 franchise player and 14 saved players, for a total roster of 35 players. If a team traded for a draft pick or traded a draft pick away, it is allowed to have a roster of more or less than 35 players.

If a team delegates part of their draft to another team by submitting a draft list, the delegating team takes responsibility for mistakes made by the team drafting and such errors will not be undone after the draft.

Each week, each team starts 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, 1 Kicker, 1 Defense, 1 Rookie, 1 College, 1 DL, 1 LB, 1 DB, and one additional defensive player from any position, for a total of 14 starters.

If a player started the year at a certain position and switches to a new position during the season (a DL becomes LB, a TE becomes WR), for PQBFL purposes he remains a player at his old position and we use the scoring of his old position. The position of a player is determined by what is shown on NFL.com at the time the PQBFL draft starts.

A Touchdown or a fumble on special teams counts for the player’s stats (Ex : Tim Brown on a punt return... counts for his WR stats)

When there is a TD on a lateral pass, a TD is not allowed to the player who lateraled the ball (only the player who scored the TD), unless if his name appears in the game scoring summary. For example, if Culpepper passes to R Moss and who laterals to Moe Williams who scores the TD and the scoring line reads “M. Williams 59 yd. pass play by D. Culpepper”, then Moss does not get credit for the TD, only Culpepper and Williams do. Also, a QB who laterals to the RB who scores a TD is not considered a lateral pass because the game scoring summary will indicate that it is a TD run by the RB.

Each owner must announce his starting players before 1:00PM Eastern on Sunday. It is the owner’s responsibility to ensure that the league has received his starting lineup. If someone’s e-mail fails to work, it is the owner’s problem. Therefore, each owner should check the website to make sure that their lineup was received. If for some reason, the commissioner will not be available to update the website, the owner must check with other owners or with the commissioner to see if the lineup was received. Alternatively, an owner can leave a message on the commissioner’s voice mail at work which will prove at what time the roster was sent.

If there are games before Sunday 1:00PM (for examples, games Sunday morning in Europe, or games on Tuesday to Saturday in college or NFL, the owner must announce his starting players before the start of the game and can announce the rest of his starting players by 1:00PM Eastern on Sunday. If the first game is Sunday but earlier or later than 1:00PM Eastern (in the NFL playoffs for example), then the roster is due by the scheduled time of the first game played on that Sunday, with the exception of a Sunday morning game played in Europe.

If an owner does not announce his players before the games, the players that started the week before automatically start that week. If no PQBFL team received an owner’s lineup before the deadline for whatever reason, the same logic applies (e-mail date/time sent is not sufficient reason). Someone must have received the e-mail before the deadline.

If an owner does not submit a defensive flex starter or submits an invalid defensive flex starter, the last defensive player to start at any defensive position will start by default.

If an owner does not announce his players before week #1, the starters will be determined by the order in which they were drafted (for saved players, we will consider their value compared to drafted players by going by the number of injury points they earn if they miss a game). If there are games on Thursday (or other date before Sunday) in week #1, any owner who remains silent about a starter at a particular position automatically starts the player with more injury points earning potential, even if there are other players who play on Sunday at that position. Not announcing a starter in week #1 at a particular position when a player plays on Thursday does NOT mean the owner intends to bench him.

Owners have to clearly announce their lineup by listing players. Simply stating “start same players as last week except for injured players and those on bye” is not acceptable and will result in the same players starting as the week before. Owners must research injuries and bye weeks themselves.

If an owner announces his weekly lineup but a player listed is not part of this team’s lineup, it is considered the same as not listing a player at all for this position and therefore the starter is determined based on the previous week lineup.

Starting with the 2020 season, if a starter does not play due to injury or for any other reason, we will automatically default the starting lineup to the player who last started (the previous week or going farther back in time who last started). If there is no such previous starter, the default is the player with the highest draft status (measured by injury points). Alternatively, any owner can submit a substitute desired player list in case their starter does not play and that will take precedence over the defaults above. Note that such subs list will anchor part of some lineups if one player is active before the Sunday games. For example if an owner announces a subs list of player A as the starter, B as first backup, and C as the second backup, if B plays on Thursday and A+C are playing on Sunday, then once the Thursday game is over the owner can no longer move C ahead of B in the priority order which means A is locked in as starter and if he’s inactive then the effective starter will be B, it cannot be C.

When an owner declares “start same players as last week”, this will be the lineup for starters only and such declaration will be considered having been done without specifying any backup priority list. The backup priority list would default back to the normal backup priority rules and we would not consider whether a backup list had been provided the week prior or not. This is the same as if someone actively announces a starting lineup but remaining silent on the backup list.

For the avoidance of doubt, where two starters at the same positions can start, if the owner for example declares: Start WR1 (backup ABC) and WR2 (backup XYZ), if WR2 misses the game to injury then the backup will be ABC.

If an NFL game is cancelled in a particular week rather than simply being moved to another week, then all players are deemed to be injured. If the game is cancelled after the start of the game, then we will count the points scored by starters as of the moment when the game was suspended, and add pro-rata of time not played for the next in line default backups. Starters with shortened games will accrue prorata injury points but not those who were intended to be benched anyway. If the shortened game is not cancelled but rather deemed to be official by the NFL, starters will have whatever points they had scored until the game was called off, and there will be no add-on for backups etc.

If an NFL player is traded after playing an early game (Thursday) and plays again for his new team on Sunday/Monday, for the PQBFL purposes the only game when he is eligible is the first, not the second.

Stat Changes

If the NFL changes stats after the gamebook is published, the revised stats will be used if the change is made and announced before the following Sunday 1pm Eastern. The PQBFL scores will not change under any circumstance after Sunday 1pm following a particular week’s scores.

Injured Player Rule

1) A team can replace an injured player regardless if the injured player has been officially placed on Injured Reserve or not. It is therefore possible to replace an injured player even for a short-term injury.

2) The injured player must have been selected in one of the first four rounds of this year's PQBFL draft or was tagged as the team’s franchise player (round 1 being the equivalent of franchise player #2). For any expansion team, the equivalent of the franchise player is considered to be the player drafted with the compensatory pick at the end of the 1st round. So returning teams and expansion teams will generally have 5 players protected by this rule, unless they traded for an extra draft pick in the early rounds.

3) The injured player must not be a rookie or college player (and defense of course). However the rookie can be graduated to his natural position and then eligible for a replacement at that position.

4) The replacement player must be from the same position as the injured player.

5) If the injured player is no longer injured (or is ready to play but does not, because the NFL backup is performing well or because of a disciplinary issue), then the replacement player is immediately removed from the roster of the team who replaced the injured player. The released replacement player is available to another team who might have an injured player at that same position. If the player who returned after recovering from an injury is injured again later in the year, he is not eligible for a replacement anymore.

6) Each owner can only make one such replacement during a season. However, after having made such a replacement, an owner can trade another injured player and that player can be eligible for replacement by his new PQBFL team.

7) The last day to pick up a replacement for an injured player is before 1:00PM Eastern on Sunday of week #18.

8) If the injured player’s team does not play in a particular playoff week either because the team is eliminated or because the team has a first round bye, the replacement player cannot start in that week.

9) If a player is traded to another team, it does not affect his eligibility to this rule. However, the team who acquired the eligible player would still only be allowed one injured player replacement during the season even though the new team has one more player eligible to be replaced if injured. If the replacement player is selected after the injured player was traded, the replacement is charged to the new team. The old team is not charged with the replacement and could still get a replacement player if they have not used their right yet.

10) If the injured player is traded to another PQBFL team before being replaced by virtue of this rule, the replacement player selected by the new team cannot be traded back to the team that traded the injured player

11) If an injured player is replaced by virtue of this rule, that injured player is still part of the team’s roster at the end of the season and therefore could be designated as a franchise player, he could be cut, or he could be a saved player. The replacement player is not part of the team’s roster at the end of the season.

12) If the franchise player gets injured after the owner tagged him as franchise player but before the PQBFL draft, the owner can opt to drop the injured franchise player and have the last pick of the 1^st round as a compensatory pick, before any expansion team compensatory 1^st round pick. The injured franchise player will be available in the PQBFL draft. If two or more franchise players are injured, the team with the most injury points from the previous year will get the first compensatory pick.

13) If a player gets injured and is out for the year before the first game of the NFL season, the PQBFL owner can dump him and draft a replacement player at the same position after the PQBFL draft but before the first NFL game. The player dumped is no longer on his PQBFL roster and cannot be saved for the following season. This replacement does not count against the limit of one replacement per season.

14) If a player is franchised or if a team drafts a player while it is already public knowledge that the player is injured for the year, he is not eligible to be replaced during the season.

15) As mentioned in the injury points section below, a player which rests in week #18 (or week #17) will accrue injury points. Consequently that player is treated as being injured and can be eligible to the injured player rule.

Frozen Player Rules

1) Every team will select one player from their previous year’s roster to keep for this season. This can be a player from any position and could be a defensive team / special team. This will be the franchise player.

2) After each team has selected its franchise player, the commissioner will organize a vote among all team owners (including expansion teams) to determine which players get cut from each team’s roster (franchise player excluded). Each team will lose its top 5 offensive players (includes defensive/special team) and its top (1) defensive player. Each owner will vote for the top 10 offensive players and top 3 defensive players of every team except their own team. The best player will get a score of 10, and the 10th player will get a score of 1 (for defensive players: 3-2-1). Votes not received in the Excel file provided are discarded.

3) Offensive players getting a score between 10 and 6 get one vote for cuts. The five offensive players getting the most votes are cut. If there is a tie, the player with the highest total score is cut. If a tie remains, the player cut is the one that was ranked higher by the most owners.

4) The defensive player getting the highest total score is cut. If there is a tie, the player cut is the one that was ranked higher by the most owners.

5) If players are still tied (offense or defense), the vote of the PQBFL champion from the previous year is the final tiebreaker (or 2nd best team from previous year if the champion does not return or voted zero for both players).

6) After a player has been franchised and after the 5 offensive players and top defensive player have been cut, each team has to freeze 14 players from what’s left. These 14 players must include at least 5 defensive players. Exception: if a PQBFL team has 2+ IDPs who lose value due to position change (DL/DB moving to LB) and/or a player clearly out for the year (as of the day of the saved player deadline) because of injury then that PQBFL team is allowed to save 4 IDPs rather than 5.

7) Starting with the 2022 season, teams will have the option to franchise 2 players instead of only 1 and in that case only 4 offensive players will be cut.

8) Teams who franchise 2 players will not draft in the first round. The draft order of the first round will be the reverse order of final standings of the previous season.

9) Rookies from the last year can be saved by the owner. This saved player will be on the team’s roster at his regular position. Exception: if the rookie has not played a snap during his rookie season, his still qualifies as a rookie, so the rookie can be saved and still play at the rookie position this year. College players can also be saved and will either remain in college or will graduate to rookie the following year.

10) If a PQBFL team does not announce franchise players, then by default that team gets 1 franchise player, and that player is the same as the franchise player #1 from the year prior. If a PQBFL team does not announce saved players, the votes will determine the saved team.

11) Deadlines

a) Each owner must tag its franchise player(s) on August 9, 2025 at 7:00AM Pacific during a mini-draft with each owner going in order for the first round.

b) Owners can start submitting their votes for cut players of other teams on August 9, 2025 after franchise players have been announced.

c) The last day to submit votes is August 11, 2025 at 11:59PM Pacific. The cut players will be announced August 12, 2025 early in the morning.

d) Owners must announce their saved team by August 14, 2025 at 11:59PM Pacific. After this date, all remaining players are not owned by their team anymore, they are released and available for the draft.

e) Trades are open during the offseason until August 8, 2025 at 11:59PM Pacific. There is a blackout period for trades between August 9, 2025 at 12:00AM Pacific and August 12, 2025. Teams can trade again starting when the cut players are announced on August 12, 2025.

f) The draft will be on August 17, 2025 at 5:00AM Pacific.

Trades

1) Trades are open during the offseason until August 8th, 2025 at 11:59PM Pacific. There is a blackout period for trades between August 9th, 2025 at 12:00AM Pacific and August 12th, 2025. Teams can trade again starting when the cut players are announced on August 12th, 2025.

2) Trade Deadline : 1:00PM Eastern on Sunday Week 12 games

3) Trades are allowed after the end of week #18 (during the NFL playoffs)

4) A player traded cannot be reacquired by the same team during the regular season with another trade. The player can be traded back to his old team during the NFL playoffs or during the offseason.

5) Teams are allowed to make trades that have an impact on future seasons. However, any team making a trade that has a negative impact on future seasons must join the league the following year or pay a $50 departure fee to the league. When the trade is made, the commissioners will determine which team has sacrificed the future (if any) and will notify the owner of the team(s) that they are subject to the $50 departure fee. Commissioners may check with other league owners not involved in the trade when there is some doubt about whether a team has sacrificed its future or not. The $50 departure fee will be part of the prize pool for the league.

6) If a trade for draft picks was made in the previous season and one of the teams involved does not come back in the league, we will honor the trade anyway. For example, if the team that stays in the league traded their 6th round pick in return for the departing team’s 3rd round pick, the team that stays in the league will not draft in the 6th round and will get a compensatory draft pick at the end of the 3rd round.

7) The commissioner can refuse a trade if it is obvious that it does not make any sense. It must be extremely clear that the trade is lopsided to the point of being a sign of collusion before it can be vetoed. Trades that are simply to one owner’s advantage will be allowed to happen.

8) It is illegal to make a trade that includes “future considerations”, to trade “conditional” picks, or to have a clause that says a certain player will be traded after week XX or at the end of the season. It is also illegal to have players on loan (player X is traded, and have a clause to have this player X traded back to his original team later on).

9) If a trade is made after one of the players involved has played already (for example a player was part of the starting lineup on Thursday and a trade is announced on Friday), then the trade is official and final, and a team can start a player who is part of the starting lineup and also benefit of an acquired player via trade in the same week. A team cannot start one last time players involved in the announced trade. Players on bye during a week can be traded against players who have played already or who have not yet played. If none of the players involved in a trade started in the PQBFL in that week yet, then the entire trade can be effective immediately and players can be started by their new PQBFL team, for example if a PQBFL player was benched on Thursday then it does not prevent other traded players to start for their new PQBFL team.

10) Starting with the 2020 season, because backup lists are allowed in case a starter does not play, it effectively locks the lineup of all players listed ahead of a player who plays before Sunday 1pm and such players temporarily cannot be traded. For example if QB2 plays on Thursday then QB1 (the starter) cannot be traded until the week is over; however QB3 remains tradable. Similarly, if that team acquires a new QB after QB2 has played on Thursday, then the new QB can only be QB3 or QB4 in the priority order for that week.

Rankings and Tiebreakers

Rank-points are used for the PQBFL standings. The team with the most rank-points one week before the end of the NFL regular season (17 weeks) is champion. Starting with the 2025 season, we ignore the final week (week 18) for the purposes of the PQBFL championship.

If teams finish with the same number of rank-points, the following order will be used for tiebreakers:

1) The first tiebreaker is the most total points scored.

2) If teams remain tied, the team that gets the second tiebreaker is the one that finished ahead of the other team the most often during the season. For example, if team A and B both finish with 79 rank-points and 2041 total points, and team A had a higher score than team B 10 weeks out of 18 weeks during the season, then team A wins the tiebreaker.

3) The next tiebreaker is the team with the most untied first places during the season.

4) The next tiebreaker is the team with the fewest untied last places during the season.

5) The next tiebreaker is the team with the most top 2 finishes during the season (excluding ties in 2^nd place)

6) The next tiebreaker is the team with the most top 3 finishes during the season (excluding ties in 3^rd place or quadruple ties in 2^nd place)

7) If the teams remain tied after the first three tiebreakers, the first week of NFL playoffs will be used to break the tie.

8) If a tie remains, the 2^nd week of NFL playoffs will be used, etc., until the Super Bowl week.

9) If a tie still remains after the Super Bowl, the next tiebreaker is the team the most with the most injury points.

10) If a tie still remains after all this, then you should buy a lottery ticket.

Injury Points

The order in which teams pick their draft spot will be determined by the number of “injury points” of each team during the previous season. When a player misses a game due to injury or death (not because he is simply benched), he will earn a number of injury points that depends on his draft rank. If a player misses a game due to personal reasons like death in the family, birth of a child, etc., the player will receive injury points. Suspended players do not earn injury points. Players who miss a game due to injury but when the injury was caused by bad character (for example, getting in a bar fight), he will not earn injury points. If a player was previously benched and then gets injured and would have missed the game anyway on the bench, he will not receive injury points, for example a QB who is a backup on his NFL team. Injury points can be earned from week #1 to week #18, but not during the NFL playoffs.

In week #18 (and sometimes week #17), players might not play partially due to an injury but also because their NFL team has wrapped up a playoff spot. It is difficult to judge whether the player misses a game due to injury or because he is rested like other starters. Players rested will earn injury points starting with the 2021 season. Injury points cannot be traded. If an injured player is traded, all past injury points accrue to the team which owned the player while he was injured. Injury points earned after the trade is made accrue to the team which acquires the player.

Injury points per full game missed:

Franchise Player = 51 pts

Draft Pick Rounds #1-6 = 46-42-39-36-33-31 pts

Saved Player #1 = 29 pts

Draft Pick Round #7 = 27 pts

Saved Player #2 = 26 pts

Draft Pick Round #8 = 25 pts

Saved Player #3 = 24 pts

Draft Pick Round #9 = 23 pts

Saved Defensive Player #1 = 22 pts

Draft Pick Round #10 = 21 pts

Saved Player #4 = 20 pts

Draft Pick Round #11 = 19 pts

Saved Player #5 = 18 pts

Draft Pick Round #12 = 17 pts

Saved Player #6 = 16 pts

Draft Pick Round #13 = 15 pts

Saved Defensive Player #2 = 14 pts

Draft Pick Round #14 = 13 pts

Draft Pick Round #15 = 12 pts

Draft Pick Round #16 = 11 pts

Saved Defensive Player #3 = 10 pts

Saved Player #7 = 9 pts

Saved Player #8 = 5 pts

Saved Defensive Player #4 = 5 pts

Saved Defensive Player #5 = 5 pts

Draft Pick Rounds #17-20 = 8-7-6-5 pts

Saved Player #9 = 5 pts

Replacement player obtained by virtue of the injured player rule = 0 pt

The rank of saved players is determined by the scores received in the voting process (even if the votes were received on another team because there has been a trade after the cuts and before saved players were announced). The tiebreaking procedure is the same as for cut players. If a tie remains, we use last year’s injury points as the tie-breaker, and if a tie remains, the commissioner will assign the ranks. When a team saves more than 2 individual defensive players, one of them will be counted as one of the six saved players above (#1-#6) and the order is determined by comparing votes on offense and on defense and awarding the spot yielding the most injury points to the player who got more votes even though offensive and defensive votes are not directly comparable.

Starting with the 2009 season, the injury points will determine the draft order.

Note: for an expansion team, the points from 51 to 5 are assigned to players in the order in which they are drafted since there is no franchise player and there are no saved players.

Draft Order

Starting with the 2009 season, the draft order will be determined by injury points. The team with the most injury points will draft first in every round (except possibly in the 3rd and 7th round, and starting in 2022, the 1st round as well). The team with the fewest injury points will draft last in every round (except possibly in the 3rd and 7th round, and starting in 2022, the 1st round as well). The third round draft order is based on NFL playoffs of the previous year. The 7th round draft order is based on the week #18 rankings from the previous season. If there is a tie in injury points after 18 weeks, the tiebreaker is determined by increasing the injury points of a franchise player from 51 to 52. If a tie remains, the injury points of a first round pick goes up from 46 to 47. If a tie remains, the injury points of a second round pick goes up from 42 to 43. Etc. If the NFL season is shortened such that there is either no week #18 and/or no playoffs, the draft order for weeks #3 and #7 will be the same as the draft order for other weeks. The draft order will be based on injury points even if the NFL plays fewer than half of weeks and the PQBFL does not crown a champion.

New Teams Joining the PQBFL / Teams Dropping from the PQBFL

Scheig Rule: Every expansion team must pay a deposit of $50 to officially join the league. After the draft, the league will return the $50 deposit to the expansion team. If the team quits the league before the draft, the $50 deposit will not be reimbursed and will be added to the prize pool.

If a new team joins the PQBFL, we will integrate it in the league by giving the expansion team a small, noticeable, but not unreasonable disadvantage relative to other teams. We will follow these rules:

The expansion team will be last at the end of each round.
The expansion team will have a compensatory pick at the end of the 1st round to get the equivalent of the franchise player of other teams. This pick will be after any other compensatory picks at the end of the 1st round if franchise players are injured.
The new team will have a compensatory pick at the end of the 7th-20th rounds to get the equivalent of the saved players #1-14.
If there is more than one expansion team, the first team to officially join the PQBFL will pick a draft spot and will draft players at the end of each compensatory round before the second team to officially join the PQBFL.

If a new team joins the PQBFL in the same year where an existing team quits, the new team cannot pick up the old franchise. The new team has to build a team from scratch. An existing PQBFL owner cannot drop his team and pick up the team of the withdrawing team. All players from the withdrawing team are released and available for the draft.

If a team drops out of the league before the PQBFL draft, all players from that team become eligible for the draft except franchise / saved players which were previously announced; such players will remain unavailable for any team during that year.

NFL Playoffs

The NFL playoffs will be used as a mini-season to determine the order in which teams will draft in the 3rd round of the following year. The starting requirements during the NFL playoffs are the same as in the regular season. The tiebreakers are also the same except that tiebreaking steps #7-9 will not apply. Expansion teams draft at the end of the 3^rd round.

Week #18

The standings in week #18 will determine the draft order of the 7th round of the following season. If there is a tie in week #18 between two teams, the max score possible in that week will be the tie-breaker. If a tie remains, total TDs by starters, then total TDs for the entire roster, and then total points scored by the entire roster are the next tie-breakers. Expansion teams draft at the end of the 7th round. In addition, if a team submits a lineup which includes a player who is widely known not to be playing week #18 (due to injury, rest, etc.) then that team will lose their 9th round pick the following year, to be replaced by a draft pick at the very last of the draft. If a team has already traded away their 9th round pick, then they lose their 8th round pick. What is "widely known" will be based on the commissioner's judgment and based on public information sources such as various websites. If an injured player is part of the starting lineup but there were no other valid options, then it does not trigger this rule. If the PQBFL championship is already wrapped up by week #17, then a team cannot lose their 9th round pick when starting an inactive player.

Prizes

1st place = + 165 beers

2nd place = + 80 beers

3rd place = + 35 beers

4th place = – 0 beers

5th place = – 25 beers

6th place = – 45 beers

7th place = - 60 beers

8th place = - 70 beers

9th place = - 80 beers

In addition to these fixed amounts, each team will win/lose the following amount:

( Average total points scored per week by the team – League average total points scored per week ) * 2 beers

For the calculation above, we multiply the week 17 scores by 2.5 and we multiply the week 18 scores by 4.

Any lost 50 beer deposit from failed expansion teams will be spread among all non-expansion teams

Late Penalty Fee

Teams that owe beers at the end of the season must settle their debt by the end of February. If the payment is made in March, there is a 5 beer penalty fee. If the payment is made in April, there is a 10 beer penalty fee. The penalty fee goes up by 5 beers each month. This penalty fee is payable to the league and will be used in the prize pool of the following season.

If the NFL plays more than half the season (9 weeks or more), the PQBFL season is valid. If the NFL plays 8 or fewer weeks out of 17 weeks for whatever reason, there will be no crowned champion and the prizes above do not apply. However for the subsequent season we will nonetheless draft based on rosters of the cancelled season.

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