I thought I had a fairly concrete stance on how I felt about being eliminated from Fantasy Football until I got into a discussion with a player in one of my leagues who was adamant about making trades to improve his line up when he had no chance to make the playoffs. This didn’t sway me from my stance either way which is the following:

• If you can’t make the playoffs, your season is over. Not making the playoffs is extremely clear. There is a 0% shot you can’t get there. Meaning it’s the last week in the season and you have 5 wins and everyone else has 7. I have no issue with trying to win even if the only chance you have is getting in by points on the same record and you’re down 200. Only when it’s mathematically impossible should you quit. At that point, all you should do is set your best lineup. I’ll touch on a max point possibility later.
• You shouldn’t trade if your team is out. What is your incentive to help your own team? To spoil someone else’s season? Most likely when you’re out, you’re trading for the wrong reasons. Did you complete one trade during the season when it mattered? A league I was in got absurd when people were trading studs for keepers and ruining the integrity of the playoffs because the trade deadline was set too late. Trading at the end of the season only leads to trouble.
• Should you pick up players off waivers? I frankly don’t know. I know when I’m out and I have no reason to continue playing, I won’t pick up players. I did this in baseball about 3 years ago and took some flack for it and now agree with not disrupting players who are playing. If there is a max point that gets money, all is fair. You can’t put a max point and expect people to stop playing.

Here is where, in my mind, it gets unclear. When the season starts playing out, there are going to be the last few weeks where some teams are mathematically out. Are they supposed to lay down and let teams beat them? Frankly, your team has 15 players and that one waiver wire player most likely isn’t going to make a difference on your already shitty team. That’s my thought. I know not everyone will agree with me, but I will at least ask, when does your season end in fantasy football?