I have edited out the stuff that pertains to "first year only" rules, got rid of the red highlighted stuff from last years iteration. The stuff that is bolded is new and/or slight modifications from last years rules (generally the result of a vote last year or a administrative oversight).

The language in RED has been added to clarify what has been in place for some time.

Edit on 9/9 -- tie-breakers for who goes to the playoffs and tweaking the Excepting Events for cutting players between the end of the auction and the start of the season.
Edit on 9/13 -- FCFS and Blind Bid process edits.

COWBOYS & INDIANS – LEAGUE RULES for 2007-08

1. LEAGUE STRUCTURE: There will be 10 teams with 2 divisions of 5 teams each. One division will be the KC Conference and one will be the Dallas Conference. Membership in each division will generally be along geographic and/or team affiliation guidelines. The league is a salary-cap, contract league. All players will remain on their current rosters until cut, traded or have their contracts expire.

2. LEAGUE DUES & PAYOUTS: Each team will pay annual league dues of $100 and are to be paid to the Commissioner on or before June 30th. The amount of dues may be revised upwards in future years and unrelatedly, in the future, we may require payment of one years' dues in advance to encourage long-term competitiveness and league stability. League software (ie, MyFantasyLeague) and Fantasy Auctioneer.com will be paid for out of league dues, and the remainder will be split as follows:

40% Super Bowl Champion
20% Super Bowl Runner-Up
10% Conference Champions
5% Wildcard Teams
5% Most points scored, season, not in the playoffs
5% Most improvement vs. previous years' total points scored (NFL weeks 1-14) in total points (not in % increase)

Winnings may be applied to the next years' dues, or may be paid out to the owners at each owners' discretion.

3. LEAGUE ADMINISTRATION: The league is controlled by a Commissioner and an Assistant Commissioner. All Commissioner decisions are final unless overturned by at least 75% of the owners. Rule changes may not be made during the season unless a decision by the Commissioner deems an “emergency” vote. All rule changes must be approved by 75% or more of the owners. A vote for a new Commissioner may be taken at any time.

4. LEAGUE SCHEDULE: The schedule will be posted prior to season and will generally allow each team will play eight divisional games (two games against each team in your division) plus six total games against the other division (five teams played once, one team played twice) prior to the playoffs (NFL Weeks 15 and 16).

5. LEAGUE PLAYOFFS: The two teams in each conference with the highest W/L percentage (where ties are ½ win and ½ loss) will meet in the first round of the playoffs. The team in each conference with the highest W/L percentage is the Conference Champion; the second highest W/L percentage is the Conference Wildcard. The winning teams from the first round games, the Conference Championships, played during the NFL Week 15, will meet the next week in our Super Bowl during NFL Week 16.

The tie breaker for seeding either division winners or wildcards will be the best overall win-loss record, then best percentage of wins between head to head games between all tying teams, then greatest total points and finally greatest points against if needed.

In the event of a tied game during the playoffs, the winner will be determined by eliminating the following starters in order from each team until a tie no longer exists – punters, place kickers, tight ends, lowest scoring receiver.

In all cases where tiebreakers need to be applied to more than two teams, partial eliminations and/or advancements will apply.

6. ROSTERS: Each team will carry 24 active players at all times during the season and may carry up to three players on Injured Reserve during the NFL season. There will be no limit on the number of players in a single position held on the active roster, except there must be enough players of each position to submit a legal lineup each week. At the end of the NFL regular season, any player on IR will revert to the active roster, and therefore, a team may exceed the 24 man roster rule between the end of the NFL regular season and midnight on June 30th, provided that the imbalance is a product of a trade or IR movement. The team must be at 24 players or less by July 1st and also during the season each team must be at 24 players by the start of the first game each week of the regular season. From the end of the Auction until 120 hours (i.e. 5 days) before the beginning of the NFL regular season, a team may exceed the roster limit.

7. LEAGUE SALARY CAP: Teams will adhere to a salary cap of $500. Exception to the salary cap is only allowed during the “Salary Recalculation” period described elsewhere.

8. STARTING LINEUPS: Starters may be changed at any time until their game begins. Each team must provide starting line-up each week comprised of 1 Quarterback, 1 Place Kicker, plus any combination of the following for RBs, WRs and TEs:

Standard – 2 RB, 4 WR, 1 TE
Hail Mary – 1 RB, 5 WR, 1 TE
Short Yardage – 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE

In the event that an owner does not submit a starting lineup prior to the kickoff of the first game in a given week, the starting lineup from the previous week will be started. If a player in the rolled-over lineup is on bye for the current week, then if that owner has more than two players at that position on their bench, the second highest scoring bench-sitter will be considered to be started in the place of the player on bye. If the owner does not have at least two players on their bench at the position of the bye week player, the owner will start the player on bye.

In the event that an owner submits an illegal lineup, the highest scoring player at a position with 'too many' players to be a legal lineup and submit the lowest scoring player not on by and not hurt before the start of the game to allow the lineup to be legal. If an owner catches an illegal lineup submission prior to the start of the kickoff of the subsequent weeks' games, they are to notify the commissioner or the assitant commissioner who will then notify the league via the league MB and the commissioner will process the changes to reflect player scoring and, potentially wins and losses as soon as is practical. The time stamp of the notification to the commissioner or assistant commissioner will be used to determine whether or not the notice was given in time.

9. SCORING: Scoring will be handled by an internet service (like MFL).
All TDs = 6
All INTs thrown = -3
Each yard passing = 0.05
Each yard rushed or received = 0.1
2 point conversions (all participants) = 2
Made Field Goal <40yds = 3
Made Field Goal <50yds = 4
Made Field Goal >49yds = 5
Missed FG <30yds = -2
Missed FG <40yds = -1
Made PAT = 1
Missed PAT = -1
Rushing Attempts = 0.2 / each

Then, by position,
Receptions = 0.2 / each for RBs, 1.5 / each for WRs, 2.0 / each for TEs, QBs and PKs

Any changes to the official statistics after the completion of that game will only be applied to our games if an owner notifies either the commissioner or the assistant commissioner prior to the kickoff of the first game in the subsequent week. They will then notify the league via the league MB and the commissioner will process the changes to reflect player scoring and, potentially wins and losses as soon as is practical. The time stamp of the notification to the commissioner or assistant commissioner will be used to determine whether or not the notice was given in time. Once kickoff of the first game for a week occurs, the scores for the previous week are final.

In the event that “Player A” fumbles the ball and “Player B” recovers the ball and scores a TD, Player B will be awarded 6pts for the TD but no yardage points as it is neither a reception or a rush. In the event that any other “miscellaneous” play is not contemplated by our league scoring rules, we will have an anonymous vote at the league MB to determine how the play should be scored. In the event of a tie, we will defer to the league hosting service (ie, MFL) for making the decision.

10. SALARY CAP COMPLIANCE: A team may exceed the Salary Cap only during the “Salary Recalculation” period between the end of the playoffs and 12:01am (central) July 1st each summer. If a team exceeds the Salary Cap via a trade or free agent acquisition during the season, they have 24 hours to get back under the Salary Cap by dropping players and acquiring cheaper ones if needed.

When in force, any team that is not at or under the Salary Cap, and any team that is not at or under the roster size will begin to incur salary cap penalties of $10 per day that they remain out of compliance; i.e. the salary cap available for the coming year for the team out of compliance is reduced by $10 per day the team is out of compliance after July 1st at 12:01 am, including July 1st.

11. FREE AGENCY: Players will be available on the free agent market during the season via the league message board. Any NFL player not currently on a league team or dropped that week can be opened for bidding by any team at a starting minimum of $1 and with all additional increments of $1. During the regular season, Free Agency bidding is open from Tuesday, 9 A.M. CST through the earlier of 36hrs prior to the first kickoff for the week or Thursday at 6 P.M. CST (the "Weekly Cut Off Time"). If a player is dropped by a team after the Weekly Cut Off Time, that player is ineligible for Free Agency that week.

If at any time a player has gone more than 24 hours with no additional bids, he is awarded to the highest bidder. The 24 hour period is a "hard" 24 hours; meaning, if a player was last bid on at 2am, then if that player has not received a bid by 2am the next day, that player is the property of the highest bidding team.

If any player has had a new bid within 24hrs of the Weekly Cut Off Time, then the league is notified that the player is going to a blind bid. Each interested team must reply back 12 hours after the Weekly Cut Off Time with their last and final bid for the player. The player will then be awarded to the highest bidder. The period for submitting blind bids will last from the Weekly Cut Off Time to 10pm (central) that same day. Blind bids received after that deadline will be void.

Any player cut prior to 24hrs before the Weekly Cut Off Time is unavailable for First Come, First Served free agency for the week. This prohibits an owner from signing a FA, cutting an existing player and then immediately resigning the cut player to a better contract.

If a tie exists for a free agent, the player is awarded to the team with the fewest points scored for the current season. If a tie exists prior to the start of the season, the player is awarded to the team with the largest amount of unused salary cap per open roster spot.

If the commissioner is involved in the bidding, then he will send an email to another team owner to show his bid prior to opening the bids from other interested teams. All teams will be notified of the winning bid and team for all players with a blind bid as soon as practicable before the weekly games.

Beginning thirty minutes after the announcement of the Blind Bid winners on the league message board, any team may claim any player not dropped prior to the Weekly Cut Off Time for $1 by merely posting the claim on the league message board. This allows teams that were not successful in the blind bid the chance to still acquire a player before the games start on for the week.

Free Agency exists from the conclusion of the Auction up through kickoff of the fist game the week before the start of C&I playoffs. In the event that a team has a player who becomes injured, cut, deactivated or otherwise made unavailable to the owner after the kickoff of the week before the start of C&I playoffs, the owner may add a player at the same position while cutting the impacted player.

If a team adds a player to their roster who is able to be placed on IR due to an Excepting Event (see below) and/or is out on the injury list for the week, the player must be left on the teams’ active roster for at least the current weeks’ game prior to being placed on IR.

12. TRADES: Trades are allowed at any time, including during the Auction, except from from the period from kickoff of the first game the week before the C&I playoffs and the conclusion of the C&I playoffs.

Teams may trade players and salary cap relief. Meaning, a player can be traded from one team to another where the original team pays for a portion of that players cost, including the deferred Signing Bonus (see below for details on the Signing Bonus), even though the player is no longer on the original teams’ roster. Also, this would potentially allow for a team to trade a player to a new team and have the receiving owner provide additional salary cap to the team losing the player, in which case the team receiving the player would be providing excess relief to the sending team. No team can receive a cumulative 5% of the salary cap in “excess relief” across all trades. Salary cap relief may be traded for the current season only during the current season. Salary cap relief for the coming season may be traded only during the offseason. Cap relief for any year beyond the current (or coming) season cannot be traded.

13. CONTRACT EXPIRATION / RESIGNED VETERANS: Any player with an expired contract is a RFA. Each offseason, each team is granted the right to resign up to four (4) RFAs (excluding place kickers and punters, as they do not count as RFAs). A RFAs recalculated salary equals their fantasy points scored multiplied by the applicable Recalculation Constant. RFA contracts are for one year unless otherwise specified. Additional years, up to 5yrs total, can be used at a 10%/yr premium. Therefore, if a Resigned Veteran is signed to a contract of two or more years, the price of the Resigned Veteran player equals (‘the contract length’ – 1) X the RV Recalculated Salary, so if a player has a RV Recalculated Salary of $50 and you want to resign the player to a 5yr contract, he'll carry a $50 salary and $20 of Signing Bonus. The Signing Bonus can be either paid in the current year or spread out over all future years after the current year in equal amounts each year.

Specifically, a 2yr contract extension would entail a 10% SB to be paid this year or next; a 3yr extension would entail a 20% SB to be paid in full this year, or paid over each of the final two years; etc. If the SB for a RFA is paid in the current year, it is rounded down to the nearest whole dollar. If the SB for a RFA is paid over future years, it is rounded up to the nearest whole dollar / year. The SB for a RFA is subject to a minimum of $1 / year.

By June 30 owners must designate which of their RFAs they wish to retain on their rosters for the possibility of extended contracts. Any RFA not so designated will immediately become a free agent on July 1.

For the purposes of determining June 30 salary cap compliance, designated RFAs without contracts will be assigned the salary for a 1 year extension. At no time will owners be allowed to extend a contract beyond 1 year if it will put them over their cap for the current year.

Owners must assign a new contract of between 1 to 5 years for any of their designated RFAs (that they wish to retain) on or before Final Cuts. Designated RFAs that are not specifically assigned a contract by Final Cuts will immediately become free agents. So, no action taken will result in the RFA going back to the free agent pile and said player will be available in the upcoming auction.

An owner may elect to restructure the contract of a player currently on their roster, as long as the contract has one or two years remaining and the new contract is for five years or less. In the event that an owner elects to restructure a players contract, any unpaid signing bonus from their current contract must be paid in the upcoming season, even if the player is cut prior to the end of the season (i.e., if you restructure the contract of a player, accelerating his signing bonus, your salary cap will be reduced if he is subsequently cut prior to the end of the season). The restructured contract would place a players' Base Salary at their Recalculation Constant multiplied by their Fantasy Points from the previous year, subject to a $1 minimum. All signing bonuses for contracts two years or longer require a signing bonus equal to 10% of their new annual salary with a $7.50 / year minimum. Any signing bonus applied to this resigned player must be paid in the current year and cannot be stretched over future years. All resigned contracts are finalized at he same time Final Cuts are effective. If an owner restructures a players contract, it is equivalent to resigning two RFAs ... so, each owner can restructure one contract and resign two RFAs, restructure two contracts and resign none of his RFAs or an owner can resign up to four RFAs.

14. INJURED RESERVE: If a player is injured during the season, the owning team will have two options as long as the player is officially listed as OUT on the NFL injury list that week:

A.) Cut the player and allow him to enter free agency. His salary cost is eliminated from the team cap and the money can be fully used to acquire a new player. The team takes no salary cap hit. The player is immediately able to be resigned by any owner via the free agency process as described below.

B.) Retain the player and mark him as Injured Reserved. This means that the team retains his rights and his salary is considered to be cut in half for the remainder of the season. Once a player is placed on IR, their fantasy season is over even if they play again for their NFL squad. This frees up some of his cost to pursue other players. After the season concludes, his recacluated salary will consider his original salary, not his “halved” salary. A player must be officially listed as “out” before he can be placed on IR and once placed on IR cannot be used that season. Each team may only carry three players on IR at any time during the season. If the injury happens before the season begins, whether or not a player can be IR'd will be up to the Commissioner, or if the Commissioner owns the player in question, the Assistant Commissioner will decide.

15. PLAYER ACQUISITION DURING AUCTION: Players acquired in the Auction are awarded contracts of 1-5 years, at the owners' discretion; any contract longer than 1 year requires a 5%/yr premium to the winning bid for the first years' cost. For example, if a player is awarded for a $60 salary and the owner would like to sign the player to a 5yr contract, four years longer than the one year default contract, the owner would pay a 20% premium above the $60 price on that players' cost for the first year (or $72). This 5%/yr premium is to be considered the players’ Signing Bonus. Subsequent years would see the salary adjust via the recalculation process.

In the event that an owner would like to sign a player to a multi-year contract and 5% of the contract value is less than $1, the minimum contract increment is $1; therefore, if a player acquired for the minimum bid of $1 is signed to a 5yr contract, their first years' salary would be $5.

An owner may elect to pay the signing bonus in the current year or to defer 100% of the signing bonus to future years. An owner may not defer a portion of the Signing Bonus less than 100%. In the even that an owner defers the signing bonus, for salary cap reasons, to future years, the deferred portion will be applied evenly to the life of the contract beyond the first year. In the event an owner would like to accelerate a previously deferred Signing Bonus, the owner may do so without incurring any salary cap penalty prior to Final Cuts. In the event that the player in question is cut prior to the first week of free agent activity after the start of the season, the owner will incur a full salary cap penalty, otherwise, the owner will not incur a salary cap penalty. Deferred Signing bonuses cannot be accelerated during the season.

If the Signing Bonus is to be deferred, the amount of Signing Bonus to be allocated to each year will be the cumulative Signing Bonus, divided by the contract length, and rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. So, a player won in the Auction for $36 and signed to a five year contract would receive a $7 signing bonus (4 additional years * 5% * $36, rounded down). For each year of the contract, excluding the first year, the player would receive a $2 hit for the Signing Bonus ($7 Signing Bonus / 4yrs, rounded up).

If declared before Final Cuts, a signing bonus that was previously deferred may be fully accelerated into the current season and applied against the current cap. If that player is cut prior to the Free Agency period immediately after the first weekends' games of the NFL season, that owner will be incur the Salary Cap Charge discussed in 19.C. below.

16. PLAYER ACQUISITION DURING FREE AGENCY: Players acquired via free agency prior to Week 13 of the regular season will hold contracts whose lengths are determined by their owners, not to exceed 5 years (where the current year is year 1 of the contract). For this purpose, the season will consider to be started as of the completion of the Auction. Any contract signed for a period longer than one year will carry a 5% / yr signing bonus. The signing bonus may be paid in the current year, or may be 100% deferred to future years.

17. PLAYER CONTRACT VALUES:
A. Acquired in the Auction or Free Agency - A player acquired in the Auction will have their contract value determined by their owner within 48 hours after the conclusion of the Auction. A player acquired in free agency at any point after the conclusion of the Auction and prior to Week 13, the player is awarded a one year contract at the winning bid amount.

B. Acquired in a trade - Players may be traded and their value transferred to the new owning team. The receiving team must have salary cap space to add the player or reduce their payroll by cutting and/or trading players in order to get under the cap again. Teams will have 24hrs to cut/trade their players. A player’s contract years are transferred to the new team as is, meaning if a player is in his final contract year, then he cannot be kept the next year unless resigned as a RFA or a Resigned Veteran. Once cut, they are available for being reacquired by any owner during the free agency process starting after the conclusion of that week’s games. All trades are subject to Commissioner approval (or the Assistant Commissioner if the Commissioner is involved in the trade; or a majority vote of the rest of the league if the trade involves both the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner). Unless collusion is involved, the Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner do not envision vetoing any trades.

C. Players values during the offseason – Player values are recalculated to award them with a salary commensurate with their performance. Using the league scoring system, each player will be considered re-signed to each team at a value equal to the midpoint between his previous year’s salary and his recalculated value.

The recalculated values are determined by multiplying each players points scored by a constant value, based on the total points scored by that player for the previous season. The declining nature of the recalculation constants reflect the increased value of having “elite” players at a given position and the limited number of starters at each position. Essentially, even though a WR may have 800 yards and 4 TDs for a season, which is a good season, they’re still not all that valuable in our league as a WR4 or WR5, and applying a higher recalculation multiple will make these players churn from one team to the next each offseason with much higher frequency than is warranted. Compared to a WR with 1400 yards and 12 TDs, the relative value of having a single player who is so much more productive than the 800/4 WR, it makes sense for our league to have these players at a higher price per fantasy point scored. While bidding for players in the auction and via free agency occurs (and Signing Bonuses are calculated) in whole dollars, the salaries will be recalculated to one decimal place, rounded down.



EXAMPLE: Hypothetically, lets say that prior to the 2003 season, Corey Dillon was signed for $62 (what he was signed for in our inaugural auction this year) and was signed to a five year contract, where 100% of the $12 Signing Bonus was deferred to future years. Due to the Signing Bonus yearly allocation, the owner would incur a $3/yr salary cap hit for each year after the current year. Because he was injured, he would have finished as the #43 RB in our league. For the 2004 season, his salary would have been the average of $62 and ($0.05 * 103.000 fantasy points), or $33 for 2004, plus $3 in deferred Signing Bonus, or $36. In 2004, Dillon was the #7 RB with 325.900 fantasy points, resulting in a recalculation constant of 0.24. His salary heading into 2005 would be the average of $33 and ($0.24 * 325.900 fantasy points), or $55, plus $3 in signing bonus.

18. OFF-SEASON TIMELINE:

February: Player salaries are recalculated

March 1 – June 30: Trades, etc are allowed for each team to become salary cap compliant

July 1 - July 31: Auction style is determined

The league will vote to determine whether or not we will have a message board auction or a live/chatroom/conference call auction between mid August and the start of the season. If we, as a league, decide to have a non-MB based auction, and an owner cannot attend, the owner must either 1) supply a proxy bidder, or 2) fill their roster with free agents left over after the auction is complete. If at least 8 of the 10 owners agree on a specific day/time for the "live" auction, and no other more favorable time is available which would allow more owners to participate, the league will have it's auction at that time.

August 1 - Five Days before Week 1: Auction occurs

Final Cuts must be posted to the league MB 72 hours before the start of the Auction. After this deadline and prior to the first week free agency period, if an owner cuts a player that is on their roster before the Auction or acquired during or after the auction, that team will be subject to the salary cap penalties specified in the SALARY CAP CHARGES portion of this document.

If the Auction occurs via the league MB:

A. Each owner will place one player up for bid on the league MB beginning on August 1st. Bidding will commence at a minimum bid of $1 until a player has not had a higher bid within the previous 24 hours, at which time the player will be awarded. If the 24 hour period is to expire after 5pm Friday afternoon (central time), the period is extended to 48 hours allowing owners to 'have a life' over the weekend. If a players' 48 hour period expires over the weekend, the player is awarded to their new team.

B. Once a player is awarded, the winning team will submit a new player for bidding by the rest of the league. If a player is not put out for bid within 12 hours of being awarded, the Commissioner may place a player out for bid at the minimum bid; if no one else bids on the player, the player is NOT awarded to the Commissioner.

C. Once a player is awarded, the winning team will have 24 hours to become salary cap compliant.

D. This process will continue until the earlier of each team having a full roster or one week before the first game of the regular season.


If the Auction via a conference call or online chatroom:

A. The commissioner will randomly assign the order for the Auction (random number generator; numbers in a pot; etc) and the first owner will place any NFL player out for bid. Bidding will commence on a first-typed basis (in the event of using an online chatroom) or in order of the auction order if on a conference call.

B. Players are awarded on a "going once...going twice...gone" process.

C. Once a player is awarded, the next owner in the auction order will submit a player for bid by the league.

D. This process will continue until each team has a full roster.

...once the Auction is complete, regardless if via the message board, live, conference call or chatroom...

A. At the conclusion of the Auction, all unclaimed players are considered free agents.

B. From the time the Auction starts, a team may not exceed the 24 man roster limit. As noted below, a team must be salary cap compliant within 48hrs of the end of the Auction.

C. If, by 72 hours (i.e., three days) before the season, there are any teams which have not filled a full roster of 24, those teams must select players for the $1 minimum by submitting their “wish list” to the Commissioner, ranked in the order of preference, and the players involved will be doled out in reverse order of the previous year’s rankings (or in the case of this first year, in reverse order of the amount of unused salary cap space, and then in reverse order of the number of open roster spots). In the first season, all roster spots will be filled in the auction to be held the day before the season begins.

D. Players acquired during the Auction cannot be cut from their roster until after week one of the regular season without incurring a Salary Cap Charge.

End of Auction + 48hrs: Salary cap compliance
After the auction is over, each team must become salary cap compliant again within 48 hours. Commissioner reviews each team for salary cap compliance, and if a team is not compliant within 48 hours after the end of the auction, the team is penalized $10/day. As noted above, a team may exceed 24 players on their roster until 120 hours (5 days) prior to the start of the regular season, however they must become salary cap compliant within 48 hours after the end of the auction.

”End of Auction + 48hrs” through Start of Season: Standard free agency period, excepting that players may not be placed on IR, unless due to an Excepting Event.

19. SALARY CAP CHARGES:
A. If an owner is not salary cap compliant by at any required time, the salary cap reductions are applied to the owner in question.

B. Any player that is cut after Final Cuts and prior to the end of free agency prior to Week 1 will cost the greater of 50% of the players' salary (as if they had been signed to a 5 year contract) or $20 in salary cap hit, subject to any Excepting Event. Final Cuts are due 72 hours before the start of that years' auction.

C. Any player with deferred signing bonus money that is cut will have 150% of the unpaid signing bonus due against the current year cap, subject to any Excepting Event. In the event that a player with deferred signing bonus money experiences an Excepting Event, and the player is released from his C&I Team, 100% of the deferred signing bonus money is charged against the current year cap.

D. Excepting Events - Serious pre-season injury placing their season/career in doubt, retirement, incarceration during the season, 1yr or longer NFL-mandated suspension or being waived by their NFL team prior to the start of the NFL regular season. The Commissioner (or Assistant Commissioner, if the player is on the Commissioners' roster) may or may not allow the exemption as there are no "OUT" lists published pre-season. In any event, only the 20 most expensive QBs, 30 most expensive RBs, 50 most expensive WRs, 20 most expensive TEs and 20 most expensive PKs can have an Excepting Event applied to them. Also, if a player qualifies for the Excepting Event, the player replacing such a player must be from the same position. The intent of the Excepting Event is not to allow a team to win a player who is expected to not make their team so that the owner will be able to cut the player and thereby have first dibs on the most attractive FA prior to the first game of the season, but instead the intent of the rule is to allow an owner who has a significant turn of fate against an important player (starter or first backup) the ability to replace that player with another player from the same position.

I thought we voted to allow another type of formation...did that not pass?

It did not pass