Overview of Waivers and Free Agents in Yahoo Fantasy

Waivers put temporary freezes on unclaimed players, giving everyone a chance to make a claim on them. If multiple claims are filed, the manager with the highest waiver priority gets the player. Unclaimed players not on waivers are Free Agents and anyone can add them without waiting.

Available waiver modes

Use Continuous Waivers

In this mode, all unclaimed players are on waivers at all times. When a manager makes a claim to add a player, a clock starts, letting other managers have the chance to make a claim on the same player.

The default time period is 2 days, but the commish of a Private League can change this from 0-7 days.

Use Standard Waivers and Free Agents

Whenever a player is dropped, they'll be temporarily frozen for a period of time. The default time period is 2 days, but the commish of a Private league can change this from 0-7 days. During this time, all managers can make a claim to add the player.

If no one claims the player, the player become a Free Agent, which means anyone can add them to their team almost immediately, without competition from other managers.

If a manager adds a Free Agent and then drops them in the same day, the player remains a Free Agent.

Available waiver claim priorities

Use Continual Rolling List waiver priority

All managers are ranked from highest to lowest priority to determine who signs a player. The initial rank is determined by the league's draft. In Live or Autopick Drafts, the last draft position gets 1st rank and in Offline Drafts, the last to register gets 1st rank.

  • When a claim is successful, that manager drops to the bottom of the priority list.
  • You can view your waiver rank standings on the "League" page, in the "Waiver" column.

Use FAB (Free Agent Budget) waiver priority

Each manager is given a budget that ranges between $1 (min) to $999,999,999 (max) to make offers on unclaimed players that are on waivers. The default budget is $100, but the commish of a Private League can adjust the budget as they see fit.

  • Offers are blind, so other managers can't see what your offer is.
  • Your offer can range from $0 to the remainder of your budget.
  • Highest offer at the end of the waiver period signs the player.
  • Offer amount is deducted from the manager's budget that signs the player.
  • Ties are broken by Continual Rolling List waiver priority.

  Note - Your FAB budget does not replenish when it runs out. This budget is meant to last the entire season.

Situational waiver tips and options

Place multiple, conditional waiver claims

Since other managers can make waiver claims on players you want, you can increase your chances by making multiple "conditional" claims to add or drop players. The idea is that if 1 claim is voided for any reason, the next claim is processed and you can still have a favorable outcome.

Multiple claims to add 1 player:

  • Waiver Claim 1 - Add Player C, drop Player A
  • Waiver Claim 2 - Add Player D, drop Player A
  • Waiver Claim 3 - Add Player D, drop Player B

If Waiver Claim 1 is successful, Waiver Claim 2 is voided because you no longer own Player A, but you still have a chance to get Player D because of Waiver Claim 3.

Multiple claims to drop 1 player for other players:

  • Waiver Claim 1 - Add Player B, drop Player A
  • Waiver Claim 2 - Add Player C, drop Player A
  • Waiver Claim 3 - Add Player D, drop Player A

This way, even if someone else signs Player B or C, you can still drop Player A for Player D.

Post-draft unclaimed players can go straight to waivers

When the league's draft ends, you can have all unclaimed players be immediately available to add or have them go into waivers. You can only change this setting pre-draft (from the "Edit League Settings" page).

  Note - The waiver time frame for a player does not begin until the following day. If a player is dropped to waivers on Friday with a 2 day waiver rule (for example) the player will be on waivers on Saturday and Sunday.