The standard fantasy waiver wire system sucks, I think most of us can agree on that. Removing the reset in waiver priority with IFL Amendment VII helped, but it's still just not a dynamic free agent system.
Here to save us all from our frustrations with the waiver system is FAAB, which stands for Free Agent Acquisition Budget.
It's pretty straightforward, but if you don't want to read and prefer to listen to someone explain it, this guy details the basics pretty well:
How it Works
You're given a budget, $100 for the season, during each waiver period you'll bid on players you want to acquire. It's a blind bid, and highest bid takes that player when the waivers process on Wednesday morning.
NFL.com gives two examples to illustrate (It's call Waiver Acquisition Budget on NFL.com):
- Peyton Manning is available on waivers. Your League Manager has delegated 100 WAB points to each team in your league. You bid 45 points to obtain Peyton Manning and win. Those 45 points will be removed from your budget and you will have 55 WAB points left to bid on players for the rest of the season.
- Arian Foster is available on waivers. You bid 25 points out of the 100 season WAB points your League Manager gave each team. Another owner bids 30 points and wins Arian Foster. The 25 points that you bid will be returned to you and you will still have 100 points in your budget.'
Other important notes from NFL.com rules:
If you and another owner bid for the same player and tied, Waiver Priority will be used to break the tie. This Waiver Priority is determined by the Inverse Order of the Standings. Note that for any acquisitions made in Preseason, the Waiver Priority is determined by the Inverse Order of the Draft.
Say you have used all of your WAB points, you still are able to make claims on players. You can bid "Zero" points and if no one outbids you, you will be awarded the player.
With IFL Amendment IX, the FAAB system will be introduced for the 2018 season.
Pro-tip from Nick in the video above for this system:
"People who use it for the first time, their bids are going to be very low, they're going to be super cautious about bidding. You give everyone $100, a lot of people are going to be very cautious, only spending $8 - $12 on a single player. If a big player goes down, don't be afraid to spend 30 to 40 to 70 percent of your total budget if he's going to be a playmaker. If a guy that you would select in the first 5 rounds of the draft becomes available, then you should spend a heavy portion of your budget to obtain that player."
Let's Make Waivers Great Again.