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Roster
Count Position
1 QB
1 RB
1 WR
1 TE
3 Offensive Flex (WR, RB, or TE)
1 K
3 Defensive Flex (DL, LB, or DB)
5 Bench (any position)
16 Total Max
Scoring
Player Statistic Fantasy Points
30 Yards Passing 1
Passing TD 6
Passing Interception -3
15 Yards Rushing 1
Rushing TD 6
15 Yards Receiving 1
Receiving TD 6
25 Yards Return (Kickoff or Punt) 1
Return TD (Kickoff or Punt) 6
Fumble N/A since 2017 (formerly -3)
Fumble Recovery N/A since 2017 (formerly 3)
Field Goal 3
Extra Point 1
Tackle 1
2 Assists 1
Sack 4
Defensive Interception 4
Forced Fumble 4


Getting Started
The Basics
Fantasy Football allows a set of owners (that's you) to create their own fantasy team by choosing from amongst all players in the NFL. Each team can have up to 16 players, and 11 are started each week leaving 5 for the bench. For your starters, points are accumulated based on how each player performs in his game.

Each week, fantasy teams go head-to-head and the winner is chosen based on total points earned for the week. The tie-breaker is the home team (home/away rotates according to a fixed schedule).

At the end of the season, the team with the best win-loss record is the champion. The tie-breaker is total points.

For each league, a player may only belong to one team. In order to fairly distribute players amongst fantasy teams, a draft is performed before the season begins (see "The Draft" section below).

Throughout the season, players may be dropped ("Waived") and free agents (players not already on someone else's team) may be signed.

It is important, in the game of fantasy football, to keep track of your team throughout the season by monitoring bye weeks (when a player's NFL team is not playing) and injuries - and then to make lineup changes as appropriate.

Changing your password, email address, or your name
Once you login, the Homepage will have links which allow you to change your password, your email address (and email preferences), and your name. Click on any of these links to navigate to the desired page. The Email and Preferences page allows you to not only change your email address but also to control how many emails you get during the draft. If you choose to only receive emails when it is your turn to pick, then you will get 16 emails (there are 16 rounds in the draft). Otherwise, you will get 160 emails for each of the 160 picks (10 teams * 16 rounds = 160).

My Fantasy Football Leagues
On the Homepage, the "My Fantasy Football Leagues" section shows any team that you have owned since the inception of patbox in 2002. Click on any link in the table to view data for that particular team and league.

All Leagues
This section of the Homepage allows you to view information about other leagues which you have not been a part of.

Changing your team's name
From the Homepage, click on your team's name under the "Team" column of the "My Fantasy Football Leagues" table. From your team page, click on the link "Change your team's name" which will take you to the proper page to update your team's name. Typically people use the city or neighborhood which they call home and some sort of mascot name. For instance, Patrick's team in recent years has been called the "Colerain Cornholers."


The Draft
Overall Draft Process
The patbox draft is a slow, live draft. This means that when it is your turn to pick, you will receive an email alert. The entire draft usually takes 2-3 weeks.

DISCLAIMER: In year's past, I have sometimes had to move the draft along by going in and drafting a player for a team that has not made a pick in a reasonable amount of time. Don't let that happen to you! Use Auto-Draft (more info below).

Draft Queue Page
While the draft is in progress, you will see a link called "Draft Queue" in the "My Fantasy Football Leagues" section of the homepage. From this page, you can monitor all draft progress. You will see who is "on the clock" which means that it is their turn to draft. The Draft Status table will show the draft order and where we are in the process. The draft starts at the top of the list and continues to the bottom (1 through 10) then for even-number rounds goes bottom to top (10 to 1). Thus, the player with the 1st pick is also the 20th pick, and the player with the 10th pick is also the 11th pick.

On the draft queue page, you will also see your personal draft queue. This can be loaded with available players that have not already been drafted by another team in the league. Once your draft queue has at least one player in it, you can put yourself in "Automatic Draft Mode" (see below for details).

Adding a Player to your Draft Queue
To add a player to your draft queue, simply navigate to the "Available Players" section and search for a player either by position or by last name. Once the search results have loaded, check the box next to the desired player(s) name(s) and then click the "Add Player(s) to Draft Queue" button. You will then be taken to your Draft Queue page where a status message should tell you that the player(s) was/were added successfully. From here, you may re-sort your queue by using the up/down links.

Throughout the draft, as players are drafted by other teams, they will be removed from your draft queue automatically.

Note: you may also do this from the "Player Rankings" page as well. This page shows all players, regardless of whether or not they have been drafted.

Automatic Draft Mode
On your Draft Queue page, you may choose to place yourself on Automatic Draft Mode (assuming you have at least one player in your queue). As long as there are players in your queue, automatic draft mode will auto-draft for you when it is your turn. You may turn Auto-Draft on or off at any time by using the "Enable Auto-Draft" and "Disable Auto-Draft" buttons (only visible when players are in the queue).

Note: once your queue becomes empty, you will be automatically put back into manual draft mode.

Making a Pick (when it is your turn and not in Automatic Draft mode)
METHOD 1: To draft a player, simply navigate to the "Available Players" section and search for a player either by position or by last name. Once the search results have loaded, click the "DRAFT" link next to the player's name. You will then be taken to your team page where you will need to select the player's position and do a final submit before making your draft selection official.

METHOD 2: If your draft queue has players loaded, you may simply navigate to your Draft Queue page and click the "DRAFT" link next to the player's name. You will then be taken to your team page where you will need to select the player's position and do a final submit before making your draft selection official.


Regular Season
Changing your Roster (Lineup)
To make roster changes within your set of starting and bench players, navigate to your team's page. There you will be able to select the position for each player. If you want to switch a starter and a bench player, then simply set the starter's position to "Bench" and the benched player's position to a starting position. You will need to do a final submit to make your roster changes official.

Claiming a Free Agent (and Waiving a Player)
To claim a free agent, simply navigate to the "Available Players" section and search for a player either by position or by last name. Once the search results have loaded, click the "CLAIM" link next to the player's name. You will then be taken to your team page where you will need to select the player's position, select which player to Waive, and do a final submit before making your roster changes official.

Notes on timing:
Free Agents are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Free Agents may be claimed as soon as the week begins. This occurs immediately after the kickoff time of the last game of the week. So, for example, week 3 of NFL season 2023 had 2 Monday night games starting at 7:15pm and 8:15pm, respectively (all times Eastern). At exactly 8:15pm, week 4 began and owners were able to begin claiming free agents.

Trades
There are no special pages in patbox to make trades. If you would like to trade players with another team, one team will need to waive the player as a pre-step while the other team claims the same player, and vice-versa.


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