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How Fantasy Football Works from an Owner's Perspective

Once the NFL season begins, you'll be tasked with a number of activities each week. The following chart can give you an idea of what to expect each day of the fantasy week. All times are Central.

Date/Time	Activity	Instructions
Midnight after the last game (usually Monday)	Trade Window Opens	The new week begins at midnight after the week's last game. Trades may be proposed and accepted throughout the week, until the trade deadline on the Saturday of week 11.
Tuesday Morning	Blind Bidding Opens	Standings are updated and you may begin entering blind bids for the week.
Tuesday Evening	Lineups Adjusted	Any advance lineups you set for this week are swapped in. Then, during weeks 2-14 in leagues hosted on DataForce, starters who will not play (bye, ruled out, on IR, or no longer on an NFL team) and empty starting spots are filled with your best available bench player, and a starter who is playing is replaced if a bench player is projected to score at least 6 more points. You'll receive an email of any changes. You can turn this off with the "Helpful roster moves" option on your Owner → Setup page.
Wednesday 9pm	Waivers Processed	Waiver wire players are players that were recently dropped from another team. You may place blind bids on these players each week. You'll have $500 of bidding money to last all year, so be frugal. A player dropped within 24 hours of the waiver run is held out until the following week's waivers. In a week whose first NFL game is on Wednesday, waivers are processed at 11am instead.
Wednesday 9:30pm	Free Agency Opens	All players who received no bids during the waiver wire process now become free agents, and may be picked up for free by any team. Of course, you must drop unwanted players to make room for any pick-ups. In a week whose first NFL game is on Wednesday, free agency opens at 11:30am.
Each Game's Scheduled Start	Players Locked	Players are locked at their game's scheduled start time (not necessarily when the kickoff occurs), whether in your starting lineup or on your bench. Once locked, a player cannot be moved, dropped, or picked up as a free agent. Set your lineup before the first game of the week, usually Thursday night, and modify it as you wish before each later game.
Saturday 5pm	Bestball Roster Warnings	In bestball leagues, owners with roster or I/R violations are emailed a warning. Violations remaining at 11am Sunday are corrected by the commissioner.
Saturday 9pm	Trade Window Closes	Saturday evening, the trade window closes. No more trades may be proposed or accepted for the week. This leaves a few hours for trade reviews before the majority of Sunday's games begin.
Final Game of the Week	All Players Locked	When the week's final game begins (usually Monday night), all remaining players, including free agents and players on bye, are locked. Take time to watch the games.
Monday Night	Final Results	Approximately one hour after the week's final game (usually Monday night), results are made final and are posted. Even if the NFL changes its statistics after this time, it will no longer change your fantasy game results.

Not every activity applies to every league. Draftmaster and Playoff leagues have no waivers, free agency or trades, Bestball leagues set lineups automatically, and Contender and Guillotine leagues do not trade.