Whacky Eligible Receiver Idea

[Paul Kian]

Hi fellow Coaches and Forumites,

While I am waiting on some materials to arrive to build my board (along with some more paychecks to come in for additional materials 😆), I had an interesting idea regarding eligible Receivers for my 7 man league that I wanted to run by you all.

What if, instead of determining eligibility by number/position/placement on the line/backfield/etc, you are allowed to pick any 4 players you want and can designate them as eligible receivers? Do you want 3 WRs and a Lineman as a Tight-End/Fullback? Do you want 4 WRs, 2 Linemen, and an Ineligible QB? How about all 3 Linemen and the QB eligible, and keep the Receivers back to really mess with the Defense's blocking assignments? Pretty nutty stuff, right?

The Eligiblity Rules I had thought of are as follows:

1) Eligible Receivers can be any 4 players on offense, designated with a specific color base, string tied around the figure, or something else to delineate them (still working on this part).

2) Ineligible Receivers cannot cross the line of scrimmage with the ball - therefore, do you sacrifice an QB scramble for a 4th Eligible Receiver?

3) Regardless of Eligibility, there must be 3 players on the line and 4 in the backfield. You can choose to spread or condense the line spacing and backfield placement however you wish as long as there isn't any blatant stacking outside of the tackle box.

4) Regardless of Eligibility, all backfield players are eligible to go in motion per usual American Football rules (one player at a time, must be lateral or backward motion, etc).

5) Eligibility is determined after lining up in formation, but prior to the snap. This gives the Defense time to adjust but still allows the Offense to motion.

Any thoughts?

Edited October 6, 2020 by Paul Kian

[nefgm.org]

Ever hear of the A11 Offense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-11_offense. 

 

[The Major]

NEFGM, I have never heard of this before now.  Thanks for posting this link.  Must have been incredible to watch.  I can just imagine the shock that would have caused.  Looks like great minds think alike, Paul.  You and coaches Bryan and Humphries were on the same wavelength!  

[Paul Kian]

7 hours ago, nefgm.org said:

Ever hear of the A11 Offense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-11_offense.

Oh yeah, I remember seeing an opponent use the A11. My state (NC) was actually one of the first places to ban it during my senior year of High School.

I would definitely watch a whole League of A11. I'm addicted to whacky formations and trick plays as it is. 😆 That's actually the one thing that I want to do with my 7 man league- the AFL and most indoor leagues are way too strict with their formation requirements, especially on Defense. In my league, as long as you have 3 guys on the line on Offense and only send 3 blitzers on Defense, you can basically do anything you want. 😁

Edited October 6, 2020 by Paul Kian

[The Major]

Paul,

  This sounds like a great variant.  Eager to see your formations and maybe some plays in action.

[Paul Kian]

On 10/7/2020 at 2:09 PM, The Major said:

Paul,

  This sounds like a great variant.  Eager to see your formations and maybe some plays in action.

For sure, I can't wait for my board materials to arrive! I'm going to try drawing up a mock playbook this weekend if I get the time. I'll post it here, terrible handwriting and all. 😁

[Paul Kian]

On 10/7/2020 at 2:09 PM, The Major said:

Paul,

  This sounds like a great variant.  Eager to see your formations and maybe some plays in action.

Hi all,

I've been working on some formations, and just doing the various iterations of OLine formations alone, I have already drawn up 13 variations- and at least 2 more that I haven't come up with a name for yet. 😆

 

I will be posting them hopefully by the end of tonight, so stay tuned! I'll have receiver Formations down the line, as there are even more possibilities there.

[Paul Kian]

Hi all,

I figured it would be easier to split formations into two sets: O-Line and WRs.

Here are some formations with 3 Lineman and QB. 2 OL and 3 and 4 WR formations to follow.

 

Key:

G = Guard, C = Center, F = Flexback (i.e. TE or Fullback)

Q = Quarterback

[] = Ineligible

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Paul Kian
Adding files on second post

[Paul Kian]

[Paul Kian]

And here is my original idea of formations for this game. These formations would allow an additional Receiver at the expense of less blocking and no QB scrambles- it's basically wide open gunslinging unless you want to motion a WR over to block.

I sort of based this on a 7-vs-7 Special Teams punting drill from High School- we'd line up as a Long Snapper, a Personal Protector, 2 Upbacks, a Punter, and 2 Gunners per side. The Upbacks often messed up the drill and would run out wide like Slotbacks instead of staying in place to block first. They were probably the reason our Coach went bald so quickly. 😆

Edited December 1, 2020 by Paul Kian