The ADFFL draft is a time-honored tradition. What started as a simple process eventually grew into an annual weekend back in the 1990s. The League has been true to the format of the Draft since its inception – a standard snake draft order determined by a lottery system. While the lottery system has changed over the years, the current system used is that each team’s logo is placed in a sealed envelope and then randomly selected. The first team name selected will then select their draft slot, ex. draft slot # 4. As the lottery proceeds, each subsequent team selected will select one of the remaining draft slots until all twelve teams have selected a draft slot. The composite draft order 1-12 will reverse each round thereafter (i.e. the team with the first pick in the first round will have the last pick in the second round). The draft consists of 15 rounds. Each team must draft at least one QB, two RB, two WR, one TE, one K, one LB, one DL, and one DB.
Each team has three (3) minutes to make a selection. If a franchise is not ready or it does not pick in the allotted time, the next team in the draft order has the right to select a player. Should this occur, the original team remains eligible to pick whenever they feel compelled, but at the risk of having other franchises select players in their 3-minute window. Once the team that was skipped, has provided their selection to the league, one of the Co-Commissioners will pause the draft clock, make the required selection, and restart the draft clock. This will occur each time a team is skipped.
After the draft concludes, free agent acquisition will open at a specific time designated by the Commissioner/s. They will give at least a 24 hour notice beforehand.
There is no retention of players on a year-to-year basis, (no franchise players). All offensive and defensive players are eligible to be drafted each season. Once a player is drafted, his name is taken off the board and is ineligible to be drafted by another team.