Cap Time on Keepers... (1 Viewer)

[unckeyherb]

I am taking over commish duties on our keeper league that has been running since 2003. We are currently a 2-person keeper with no penalties or time limits on how long you can keep your player. In an effort to splash things up a bit, we are considering making it a 2 year limit with keepers, then they go back in the draft pool. Some rules we are thinking about are:

1. The player can only be kept for 2 years, even if traded. So if I trade for a player in his first year with a "keeper tag" on him, I can only keep him for one year after.

2. If a player is kept for one year, then not kept for the second year and is drafted again his 2-year keeper status renews.

Anyone do anything like this; have any pointers/issues?

TIA!

 

[ConstantRebuilding]

I am taking over commish duties on our keeper league that has been running since 2003. We are currently a 2-person keeper with no penalties or time limits on how long you can keep your player. In an effort to splash things up a bit, we are considering making it a 2 year limit with keepers, then they go back in the draft pool. Some rules we are thinking about are:1. The player can only be kept for 2 years, even if traded. So if I trade for a player in his first year with a "keeper tag" on him, I can only keep him for one year after.2. If a player is kept for one year, then not kept for the second year and is drafted again his 2-year keeper status renews. Anyone do anything like this; have any pointers/issues?TIA!

We only allow players drafted after third round to be kept, keeps some big point producers on the board. Also limit to 2 players kept, and must be of differing positions.Only can be kept for 2 years. Can only keep players that were drafted (not someone you picked up via free agency). When keeping a player, you forfeit a draft pick 2 higher than where you originally drafted the player (draft in 8th, forfeit 6th for years player is kept).Same rules you have regarding trades and renewing keeper status after being redrafted.

 

[-jb-]

We just moved over to a two year limit. I voted against it. It's stupid.

 

[Nemesis]

The attraction of having a keeper league is to draft well, make smart FA pickups during the yr, and make some trades that can improve your club........for both the short term AND long term. With only 2 keepers AND only being only able to keep them for a max of 2 yrs doesn't interest me. IMHO, you're just running a modified re-draft league.........and don't get me wrong, b/c if that's what your league wants, then so be it. I commish a keep 3 league (with no limits) and I went back a couple of yrs and looked at the keeper selections and noticed that things change in NFL ~ every 3 yrs anyway so I didn't feel the need to add limits.

 

[-jb-]

The attraction of having a keeper league is to draft well, make smart FA pickups during the yr, and make some trades that can improve your club........for both the short term AND long term. With only 2 keepers AND only being only able to keep them for a max of 2 yrs doesn't interest me. IMHO, you're just running a modified re-draft league.........and don't get me wrong, b/c if that's what your league wants, then so be it. I commish a keep 3 league (with no limits) and I went back a couple of yrs and looked at the keeper selections and noticed that things change in NFL ~ every 3 yrs anyway so I didn't feel the need to add limits.

Exactly.

 

[Spike]

In my money league, you can keep 1 player. He can be kept for 3 years. If he's traded, the new owner can start his own "3 years" block. You cannot reacquire a player you traded unless he goes to another team. (I cannot trade Tom Brady to a team and then turn around a trade for him. He has to go to at least one other team first.)

Another twist we have is that you can choose to not keep a player, you can get one (a non-rookie) in a "dispersal draft". Everyone protects 3 players and you can choose any player from the pool of non-protected players.

 

[unckeyherb]

We just moved over to a two year limit. I voted against it. It's stupid.

That's funny, I'm sort of not 100% for it as well, though the league seems to think it will add something.

 

[Polish Hammer]

I am taking over commish duties on our keeper league that has been running since 2003. We are currently a 2-person keeper with no penalties or time limits on how long you can keep your player. In an effort to splash things up a bit, we are considering making it a 2 year limit with keepers, then they go back in the draft pool. Some rules we are thinking about are:

1. The player can only be kept for 2 years, even if traded. So if I trade for a player in his first year with a "keeper tag" on him, I can only keep him for one year after.

2. If a player is kept for one year, then not kept for the second year and is drafted again his 2-year keeper status renews.

Anyone do anything like this; have any pointers/issues?

TIA!

We only allow players drafted after third round to be kept, keeps some big point producers on the board. Also limit to 2 players kept, and must be of differing positions.Only can be kept for 2 years. Can only keep players that were drafted (not someone you picked up via free agency). When keeping a player, you forfeit a draft pick 2 higher than where you originally drafted the player (draft in 8th, forfeit 6th for years player is kept).

Same rules you have regarding trades and renewing keeper status after being redrafted.

We do this, except it keeps adding each year. For instance, the 2nd consecutive year you keep that same player (originally an 8th, then kept for a 6th) it would now cost you a 4th. You can't keep him once his cost is more than a first rounder. This way you can really benefit by drafting a diamond late (also have slots for FA based on when they were acquired) but many of the top players are available in the draft year after year b/c a player drafted in the first 2 rounds is ineligible.

 

[kylechoffman]

One of my leagues does almost the same thing as your original post:

Keepers can be kept for three seasons (year drafted and the two seasons that follow). If traded, the keeper status continues. Any player not kept by any team and sent back to the draft has their keeper clock reset.

To give you an example, I have had ADP for the last three seasons (his rookie plus two) and I lose him this season back to the draft. After the 2010 season, the following keepers are being sent back to the draft (assuming they are kept this year):

A Rodgers, Brady, P Manning and Eli, Chris Johnson, M Turner, Gore, Forte, D Williams, J Stewart, S Jackson, Slaton, Fitz, Roddy, Calvin, Boldin

Sorry for the long winded post but I wanted to show that its a good system in that it keeps the league fresh and interesting.

 

[-jb-]

One of my leagues does almost the same thing as your original post:

Keepers can be kept for three seasons (year drafted and the two seasons that follow). If traded, the keeper status continues. Any player not kept by any team and sent back to the draft has their keeper clock reset.

To give you an example, I have had ADP for the last three seasons (his rookie plus two) and I lose him this season back to the draft. After the 2010 season, the following keepers are being sent back to the draft (assuming they are kept this year):

A Rodgers, Brady, P Manning and Eli, Chris Johnson, M Turner, Gore, Forte, D Williams, J Stewart, S Jackson, Slaton, Fitz, Roddy, Calvin, Boldin



Sorry for the long winded post but I wanted to show that its a good system in that it keeps the league fresh and interesting.

You mean like a redraft?

 

[Ruffrodys05]

5 player keeper league, max 2 per position. (Moving to 6 keepers/max 3 per position at the end of 2010.) Unlimited term for keeping any player.

I am now keeping Peyton Manning for the 6th consecutive year. One team is going to keep Randy Moss for the 9th consecutive year...the longest tenured player in our league. Another team has had McNabb for the same amount of time but will be dropping him this year. If you want a stud, go out and trade for him.

 

[GregR_2]

When we went to a keeper league we took a look back at previous seasons and came to the conclusion a limit wasn't needed for how long you can keep a player. There's a lot of turnover at the top of positions. Normally about 50% of the top 10 RBs aren't there the next year. And the uber elite players like the top 3 RBs turn over even more than that. In the last ten years I think LT is the only guy who stayed up there with any consistency. Most players don't manage to stay up there more than 2 years in a row.

 

[notdarkyet]

One franchise tag on any player drafted 2nd round or beyond. Keep that player as long as you would like. We are about 3 years in doing it this way, I like it for the sake of teams making some interesting 'reaches' in rd 2-4 on young talent. Only downside is if you end up with several viable keepers you have to let talent go.

 

[gpthatsme]

We keep 4 players total (any position), lose the round they were previously drafted in and we can keep any player drafted 3 times total (4 season max). If the player is traded the keeper status goes with them. This makes for some interesting trades as you have to take into account the amount of years left for a particular player. Any FA pickups can be kept in the last round of the draft. Typically over half our teams have a couple players that are kept towards the end. A guy right now in our league has kept Aaron Rodgers for the last few seasons in the 16th round after he picked him up of waivers. I think this is the last season he has the rights to him and he will go back into the pool next season. The two big FA that hit the draft this year after their 4 years being kept are Drew Brees and Frank Gore.

This style definitely puts a lot of emphasis on the draft. You better draft well or get really lucky with high-end waiver wire snags during the season. Most of the top players are kept so you have to find the gems. What I hate though, is the fact that we can only keep 4. I typically draft well and then have to dump half my keeper options to start the new season. I wish we would just move to a straight dynasty.

 

[by_the_sea_wannabe]

One of my leagues does almost the same thing as your original post:

Keepers can be kept for three seasons (year drafted and the two seasons that follow). If traded, the keeper status continues. Any player not kept by any team and sent back to the draft has their keeper clock reset.

To give you an example, I have had ADP for the last three seasons (his rookie plus two) and I lose him this season back to the draft. After the 2010 season, the following keepers are being sent back to the draft (assuming they are kept this year):

A Rodgers, Brady, P Manning and Eli, Chris Johnson, M Turner, Gore, Forte, D Williams, J Stewart, S Jackson, Slaton, Fitz, Roddy, Calvin, Boldin



Sorry for the long winded post but I wanted to show that its a good system in that it keeps the league fresh and interesting.

You mean like a redraft?

I don't like dynasty leagues or keeper leagues but this setup is appealing to me. So it is basically a redraft with a slight modification.

 

[hefectus]

We have a pretty solid system that we've had for about 5 years now without complaint. 12 teams, scoring is PPR, 1pt / 10 yards rushing/receiving/passing, 6 pts for any TD.

The rules are as follows:

1) You can keep two players that are selected in the 3rd round or later in our fantasy draft.

2) One of these players (the "Franchise Player") can be kept as long as you want, at the cost of a third round pick every year that you keep him.

3) The second player (the "Transition Player") can be kept for one year only, at the cost of a 4th round pick. After that year, the transition player must be promoted to franchise player status, or he is returned to the pool the next year.

4) A franchise player can not be named a transition player on the same team after he has been tagged as such. So there is no flip-flopping between franchise and transition.

5) You can't keep a transition player unless you keep a franchise player.

With these rules, there are a ton of good players still available to draft in the first two rounds. The player pool is churned annually because some people always keep the same guy every year and just rotate their transition player out. Most teams keep at least one guy, but about half of the league keeps two every year.

5th round picks are like gold in our league. There will not be a rookie RB picked in the first 2 rounds because they can't be kept, so the 4th and 5th is where owners have to weigh the cost of drafting a potential long-term rookie keeper vs. the known quantity of a veteran.

In addition, we have all kinds of player movement before the draft, with guys who have more than 2 eligible keepers trying to move one of them to a team without two keepers in exchange for draft positioning. It makes it exciting because of all the positioning that goes on prior to the draft.

Anyhow, good luck and I hope you guys find a mix that works for you!

 

[RushHour]

I play in a 16 team IDP league which has a setup I think is really good with regard to keepers:

1. Once you have your league draft in the first year, every player drafted is then worth a draft pick 2 rounds higher each subsequent year (assuming he is kept). e.g. You might draft a guy in the 13th round, the next year he will be an 11th pick, the next year 9th etc....

2. You can keep any player as long as he is not worth a 2nd round pick or higher. This effectively means you can only keep players drafted in round 5 (i.e. worth round 3 the following year) or lower each year.

3. After you draft a guy, you can keep him for the next three years following the draft, or until he becomes worth a second rounder, whichever comes first.

4. Each year you can keep up to 3 offensive and 3 defensive players.

5. Out of those keepers, you can have one 'free pick' on offense and one on defense - so in my own example this year, the highest round offensive player drafted last year that I'm keeping is Mendenhall, who was drafted in round 10. Normally, it would cost me an 8th round pick to keep him in this year's draft, but he is my 'free pick' so I keep my 8th rounder. My next offensive keeper, Nicks, will however cost me a 13th rounder as he was drafted in round 15 last year. If you use free picks, you don't draft the last 2 rounds of the draft.

6. When players are traded, they keep their contract/pick status.

7. If, during the season, you pick up a guy off the FA list, you can choose his pick value next year if you keep him. So, if you have a couple of those players, you would put the guy with the best long-term potential in the lowest draft slot.

I probably haven't explained it that well, but that's the basic idea.

One of the good things about this system is that a lot of the top players are available every year....although guys like Peterson, Johnson, MJD were snapped up as very late round picks in the first year of the league and are still being kept at a very cheap price (this is the third year of the league).

This setup also affects your draft psychology a bit as it's a real balance between present and future. I find myself trying to hold off on sleepers as long as possible since a 17th round pick who I want to keep will only cost me a 15th next year.....whereas if I pick up a guy in the 12th round, he will cost me a 10th rounder the next year.

 

[redBourne]

I once played in a league where you had 3 normal keepers and a rookie keeper.

Normal keepers had a 3 year shelf life, rookie keepers had 6.

I.E. if I kept ADP as my rookie when he was a rookie, then I could have him as my rookie keeper for 2 years after, and then if I so chose, keep him as my normal keeper 3 years after that.

We've gone away from this and limits and now all my leagues are keep 3 forever.

One league doesn't apply any other restrictions.

The other you can only keep 1 from each pos.

Having played in both, time limits are a waste. As someone previously mentioned, a LOT changes in 3 years anyway. So there is a lot of turnover.

 

[tonka]

We keep 5 offensive players and 1 IDP. Max 3 years for anyone to be kept, but you get one franchise tag which allows you to keep one player indefinitely.

 

[Sweet Love]

I am in a 12 team, local FBGs Keep 3 league since 2005. We have a 4 year/3 keep year limit. Basically, if I draft Manningham this August, I can keep him until the end of the 2013 season. I also can move him up until Week 10 (our trading deadline) of 2013 and get compensation back, but if I choose to keep him through the end of the season, he goes back in the pool. I can then draft him again and it starts the clock for another 4 years, but as GregR mentioned, you most likely would not do that.

I like it. I own ADP, Rice and Andre, but will have to move ADP by the end of 2011 to get something back. It rewards good drafting, but does not make it impossible to rebuild.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

10 team keep up to 2. Limit three years. So you get the draft year and two more after that. 2nd year they cost you the round you drafted them in and in the final year they are automitc first rounders. If you have 2 3rd year keeprs you lose a 1 and 2.

I'd like to get a few more keepers into the system but over all if you are going to have a limit the 3 year one works for us. To each his own though.

 

[mrip541]

My keeper league lets you keep up to 4 vets plus one rookie, paying a pick 2 rounds earlier than the player was drafted the year before. Gives enough stability and makes the later rounds much more interesting while preventing soul-crushing dominance.

 

[Art_VanDalay]

We use an "Auction Ranked Keepers" A.R.K. system for our league. Essentially it is pretty simple and rewards good drafting which we think is the point of a keeper league. Contracts are the best way to do this. We allow teams to sign their non-contracted players to a contract for either 1 or 2 years maximum. Thus, a 2 year player essentially can't play for the same team more than 3 years without being available again in the player auction pool. The caveat to the contracts and what makes teams have to think hard about signing their players is that any contracted player takes a 10% salary increase for the life of the contract or $5, whichever is Greater.

This allows teams to sign their best picks within a salary cap and ensures that talent is not locked up infinitely. We think this works best and I would be happy to share more with anyone that wants the details. We have an elaborate 35 page Owners' Manual for our league that I have Commissioned for 15 years.

 

[bostonfred]

We do this and I love it.

We keep four players, for a maximum of four years, regardless of trades. Every year, there are great players available in the first round for the teams that sucked the previous year. There are some crazy trade possibilities. I have Peterson for the next two years, and I have to decide if I'd rather keep him this year or trade two years of Peterson for a good sized haul. Four of the top picks this year will be Jones-Drew, Frank Gore, Ryan Matthews and Colston. Three of those are guys who fell back in the draft because they had no keeper eligibility. Two years of Peterson is clearly worth less than four years of Jones-Drew, but how much? Would you rather have four years of Gore or Ryan Matthews with the second overall pick this year? It creates some really interesting possibilities, and it keeps some parity in the league because even if you have literally nothing on your team, if you can take four years of Jones-Drew with your first pick, you can keep it or trade it for a huge haul and build a team back overnight. Very interesting IMO.

 

[Grid71]

10 teamer here. Keep 1 player for 1 additional year. Even if a keeper is traded in the 2nd year, the team that trades for him has to throw him back in the pool for next year's draft. I would much rather see at least another keeper and be able to keep them longer, but the other owners want to "keep things fresh" as others posted above. ---Yes -jb- just like a redraft---

The problem with this format is that it gives a big bonus to the first few picks of the draft each year. For example, last year I landed the first pick by random draw and got Adrian Peterson along with my keeper Fitz. This year I throw back Fitz, and two of Peterson, Rice and Rodgers. CJ was franchised last year, so he will be available too. My team has a 1/10 chance of being able to start the draft with Peterson/CJ. If I draw one of the first 3 picks, I start out Peterson/Rodgers in a worst case scenario. (QB HEAVY scoring, so Rodgers is $)

Not trying to brag about having a good team, just showing a real life example of why a short keeper term actually gives the first few picks a greater advantage than the rest of the league. If you truly want to "keep it fresh" then go pure redraft. Consider this before changing your rules.

 

[benbadman]

We just moved over to a two year limit. I voted against it. It's stupid.

I agree. For me, part of the fun of a keeper league is that you can become a fan of a player and cheer for him throughout his career. So you can be Tom in Jacksonville FL, with Frank Gore is your keeper going on 6 years, and you rock the Frank Gore jersey on Sunday, it's okay.It sucks to ride a player to a fantasy title, then the next year you are cheering against him 2-3 times a year when you play him.

 

[southeastjerome]

To keep a player you lose the pick from the round you took that player in the previous season's draft. If you keep the same player a 2nd year, the pick you lose jumps up 2 spots from the original draft spot. If you keep the player a 3rd time, it jumps up 4 spots. If you keep the player a fourth time it automatically jumps to a first round pick (if not already there). The fifth year is the last year you can possibly keep a player, you lose your first round pick and automatically go to the end of round 2. Also of note, if you keep a player from the first round, you can do it once losing the first round pick. If you keep him again a 2nd year, you lose the 1st rounder and automatically go to the end of the 2nd round. You can not keep that player the next season.

We allow 2 keepers on offense and 2 for IDP. One for each spot can come from any round. The 2nd player you keep is optional, but it must come from round 14 or later.

 

[unckeyherb]

Wow, thanks to everyone for the posts. There's a ton of information to glean from all these and I am going to have my work cut out for me figuring out which options will work best for us. I did have a question though, to the peeps that lose picks for their keepers. Do you have the option of NOT KEEPING players? I assume that you could unload your team and not have any keepers the following year, providing you with more early draft picks?

Thanks again to everyone, this is exactly what I was hoping for.