Ladies and Gentlemen,

If I were still doing the Fantasy Football Flyer newsletters, this one might be a double issue! The protection deadline bell has rung and a flurry of trades preceded it. Dallas alone traded away 5 players for a cache of draft picks. The protected rosters are in. All that information is below.

But I have buried the lead: The Raptors are extinct! Read on for all the details.

– Ying

Richmond owner Chris Lieberman has decided to dissolve his franchise and become part-owner in the Frelinghuysen Froglickers franchise. The Richmond franchise is no more, and we now have a league with 13 teams.

Nick and I shared a lot of quality phone time weighing options and considering ways to use this as an opportunity to improve the league as well. The following outline of changes to accommodate a 13-team league would shorten the regular season to 13 weeks, introduces a bye week for each team, a 3-week playoff with byes for the top seeds, two additional wild card teams, and a new playoff twist to reward the overall #1 seed.

We would continue to use existing seeding rules to rank the 3 division winners and the 3 wild card teams. No scoring changes. Teams would continue to submit lineups even on bye weeks.

Please read the list summarizing our ideas below. Nick and I think this a good plan. We need consensus in very short order — the season is upon us. Don’t be shy with your feedback.

• Slight changes to 3-division format with divisions consisting of 5, 4, and 4 teams.

• Teams continue to play other teams in their division twice each year

• Division scheduling will follow the same philosophy as current schedule, where low-finishing teams from previous year do not play against some higher-seeded teams outside their division.

• Three division winners and three wild card teams

• 13-week regular season

• Each team plays 12 games and there will be one team on a bye each week

• Week 14 – Wild Card week – 3 wild cards and the lowest-seeded division winner. #1 and #2 seeded division winners get byes.

• Week 15 – winners of the wild card round move on to play the two top-seeded division winners.

• Week 15 Choice – the overall number one seed team gets to choose his opponent for Week 15. The unchosen opponent plays the 2nd-seeded division winner.

• Week 16 – Fantasy Bowl

• BOS trades QB Cam Newton and conditional 2016[5] draft pick to NCT for WR Randal Cobb. (If Cobb scores >125 points in 2015 season NCT also gets BOS’s 2016 5th round pick. Otherwise, no draft pick will be traded.)

• BOS trades RB Charles Sims to MIM for 2016[5] draft pick.

• DAL trades RB Rashad Jennings to MER for 2015[3 – org. BOB] draft pick.

• DAL trades TE Davonte Adams to KEY for 2015[2] draft pick.

• DAL trades QB Russell Wilson to KEY for 2016[1] draft pick.

• DAL trades TE Jimmy Graham and 2015[9] draft pick to FFL for 2015[2] draft pick. The two teams also swap their regular draft picks in the 2015 4th and 5th rounds.

• DAL trades TE Travis Kelce to FFL for conditional 2016 draft pick. (If Kelce scores >109 points = 1st round; 80-109 pts. = 2nd rnd.; 50 – 79 pts. = 3rd; <50 pts = 4th)

• MER trades QB Drew Brees to BOB for RB Jonathan Stewart and 2015[3] draft pick.

• PHI trades RB Andre Ellington to MIM for 2015[3] draft pick

BOB

• QB Drew Brees

• RB Marshawn Lynch [F]

• RB Doug Martin [P]

• WR A.J. Green

• WR Jordan Matthews

BOS

• QB Teddy Bridgewater

• RB Alfred Morris

• RB Giovani Bernard

• WR Brandin Cooks

• WR Randall Cobb

• WR Martavis Bryant [P]

DAL

• RB Jamaal Charles [F]

• RB Le’Veon Bell

• WR Dez Bryant

• WR Julio Jones

FFL

• QB Tom Brady [F]

• RB Lamar Miller

• RB C.J. Anderson

• WR T.Y. Hilton

• TE Jimmy Graham

• TE Travis Kelce [P]

HVV

• RB Matt Forte

• RB DeMarco Murray

• WR Jeremy Maclin

• WR Allen Robinson [P]

• TE Rob Gronkowski

KEY

• QB Russell Wilson

• RB C.J. Spiller

• RB Darren McFadden

• WR De’Andre Hopkins

• WR Michael Floyd

• TE Davonte Adams [P]

MIM

• QB Tony Romo [F]

• RB Andre Ellington

• RB Bishop Sankey [P]

• RB Charles Sims

• WR Jordy Nelson

• WR Sammy Watkins

MER

• QB Ben Rothlisberger [P]

• RB Rashad Jennings

• RB Jonathan Stewart

• WR Brandon Marshall

• WR Demaryius Thomas [F]

• TE Julius Thomas

MIA

• QB Matt Ryan

• QB Phillip Rivers

• RB Carlos Hyde [P]

• RB Frank Gore [F]

• WR Calvin Johnson

• WR Emmanuel Sanders

NCT

• QB Cam Newton

• RB Jeremy Hill

• WR Antonio Brown

• WR Mike Evans

OCD

• QB Andrew Luck

• RB Adrian Peterson [FP]

• RB Shane Vereen

• RB Isaiah Crowell

• WR Victor Cruz

• WR Steve Smith

PHI

• QB Aaron Rodgers

• RB Eddie Lacy

• RB LaGarrette Blount [P]

• WR Andre Johnson [F]

• WR Kelvin Benjamin

SYR

• QB Peyton Manning

• RB LeSean McCoy

• RB Alfred Blue [P]

• WR Alshon Jeffery

• WR DeSean Jackson