I don't understand what the Waiver number is on Yahoo

[aussieboy]

Once you finish your draft you get a Waiver number.

It seems that this is directly opposite to the your draft position. ie, the person who had the first pick has the last waiver priority.

My question is how long does this go on for? I can't remember this being a feature on Yahoo last yr.

[Mercer Boy]

It goes on the whole season. Once someone uses their waiver pick, they go down to last on the waiver priority line. For example, say you in a 10 team league and are waiver position #5. If you pick up a player on waivers, you become waiver position #10 and everyone else behind you moves up.

So basically, if you're near the top of the list, use your waiver pick on a decent player or you'll probably never get back up to the top!

[aussieboy]

wow, this is something i didnt know about. Is it possible to turn this off in a private league?

[Mercer Boy]

I don't think that there is...but I may be wrong.

Do you understand the waiver process fully? It's somewhat hard to explain, but I can try.

My league always sets all non-drafted players to Free Agency after the draft, so those people can be had with no penalty or change in waiver position. The only people that can go onto waivers at that point are people who were on a team and were dropped. Once a player is dropped (say on Sept. 14), they sit in waivers for two days while people put in waiver requests for the player. Once their waiver date hits (Sept. 16), if there is a pending waiver request for the player, then they go to that team and the team goes down to the bottom of the waiver list. If more than one team requests the same player, then the team with the highest waiver priority claims the player.

If a player hasn't been picked up after another two days (Sept. 18), they become free agents and can then be taken with no change in waiver priority.

The waiver priority list is something that Yahoo uses to keep certain teams from getting all the best players every time. Once you go down to the bottom, teams ahead of you have a chance to pick other players, but then they go down to the bottom as well and you move up.

If you have a very active waiver league, you can make your way back up to the top by the end of the year if you are patient in your choices.

[Gunslinger]

You can turn off waivers by going into:
Commissioner Tools -> Edit League Settings -> Time players are on waivers: No Waivers

EDIT: I'm not sure this is available after you draft.

Mercer Boy is right on how they work. I leave them on with my work league but drop them down to one day.

[Homeless]

Its worth noting that waiver priority usually lasts 24 hrs, after that a player can be picked up by anyone and wont change that person waiver priority. So dont burn a waiver spot on that week 4 TE you need as a fill in.

[IRON CHEF]

I was wondering, what caliber player would deem worthy of using am #1 waiver priority for?

[Mercer Boy]

I'd say any QB, WR, or RB that is worthy of starting on your team on a regular basis. I mean, eventually you should use the pick on someone, but it just depends on who's available and at what time of the year it is.

[Homeless]

I was wondering, what caliber player would deem worthy of using am #1 waiver priority for?

In my experience, what ive seen happening is this:

Someone will be holding onto an extra RB or WR, then for some reason or another they have to cut that player to make room on their bench for a player they need to fill in.

The player they cut is decent and worthy of a high waiver pick.
Believe it or not, defences often get used for a particular week, where the matchup is just too good to ignore. Bang, another waiver wire use.