Issue #247: Walkaway Money

By Derrick Ernst

January 29, 2026

“You Gotta Know When To…”

There was a trailer that was played in one of the commercial breaks on Sunday that mentioned something about “walking away money” that struck a chord. When is the right time to leave a league? If I collected responses from each of you, my guess is that we’d have pages worth, but at the heart of each is your answers is:

Was it your doing?

If it was, why? If it wasn’t, why? Each of these can be succeeded by their own mind web. For me personally, I’ve left leagues:

• After going out on top by winning the championship

• Moved away from those a part of the league (think leagues through work)

• As a move to trim the number of leagues I was a part of

• Simply by way of them fizzing out

I will admit that I like leagues that tie a level of significance to performance (and the fate of the league and/or one’s place within it). What I mean by this are leagues concluding/starting over when a team wins the championship in two consecutive seasons. Kudos if league dues accumulate and aren’t paid out until this occurs. On the flip side, I’ve also heard of leagues kicking out the team that finishes last. Talk about getting rid of dead weight.

Switching gears, I’d love to hear from you guys about how much your league(s) buy-in is. As my discretionary income has grown with age, I’ve become extremely vocal about $100 being the minimum. Coincidently, every single league I’m in is under this threshold. Maybe ’26 will be the year my message finally catches fire. I actually think it should be more, but you only need one bill to make $100 so I’m considering the convenience of it too.

When you think about it, a fantasy season lasts 15-ish weeks, on average. I think we can all agree fantasy’s entertainment value alone is worth $5-10/week. When you put it that way, that’s $75-150/season. The juice needs to be worth the squeeze. My guess is that a lot of us are in our fair share of $20 leagues. Think about all the mental energy we’ve exhausted for a few bucks. Let me speak on behalf of us all, our time is worth more! If you’re in a few leagues where the dollars involved feel more like quarters and dimes, maybe let this be what’s gets you to reconsider your involvement?

Source: Civic Science

27% is way too low. And to the 14% who don’t find fantasy stressful, are you TDF subscribers? I like your energy!

On a completely different note, I wanted to say thank you to those who wrote in with well wishes to the book’s success. There’s a long journey ahead, but I have the best support group in you all powering me along. Not if, but when the book gets published, it will be our accomplishment, not mine. Lets make a pact right now, in the book’s Acknowledgments, I will list each subscriber’s name as of today. You have my word.

Lastly, I usually ask if you want to share the newsletter, to get my blessing first. Well, with me now dishing out free content on Reddit, let this be your thumbs up to share prior issues at your discretion. Have at it!

Roll Call

	Team	Coach Record	Old Coach	New Coach
AFC	LV	3 - 14 (.180)	Pete Carroll	Open
	MIA	35 - 33 (.515)	Mike McDaniel	Jeff Hafley
	BUF	106 - 58 (.646)	Sean McDermott	Joe Brady
	CLE	46 - 58 (.440)	Kevin Stefanski	Todd Monken
	PIT	201 - 125 - 2 (.616)	Mike Tomlin	Mike McCarthy
	BAL	193 - 124 (.610)	John Harbaugh	Jesse Minter
	TEN	4 - 19 (.170)	Brian Callahan	Robert Saleh
NFC	ARI	15 - 36 (.290)	Jon Gannon	Open
	ATL	16 - 18 (.470)	Raheem Morris	Kevin Stefanski
	NYG	21 - 41 - 1 (.340)	Brian Daboll	John Harbaugh

There are some heavy hitters as ‘new’ coaches. Thinking about Mike McCarthy, has there ever been a HC to lead three more iconic teams? GB, DAL, and now PIT. Two predictions for ‘26: (1) A. Rodgers returns to PIT and (2) J. Allen wins MVP.

We haven’t had a short issue in awhile so I think I’m going to end it here. Let’s close out this week on a high note. See you Sunday.