Keeper Strategies (1 Viewer)

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

It is clear that you need to weigh out the ADP of your potential keepers and see if your getting more value than their price tag but is there more to keeper strategy then that?

Always keep RBs first if you can. But value rules.

And try to predict who is going to be kept in your league......if a lot of RBs are going to be kept, then that might make you keep a RB over another position if it's close in value.

Your team......you're likely keeping Benjamin and Crowell, unless your flexes are superflexes, then you might want to consider keeping one of Stafford or Rivers.

fryentropy said:

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

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can you only keep for a year or for an unlimited number of years?

fryentropy said:

It is clear that you need to weigh out the ADP of your potential keepers and see if your getting more value than their price tag but is there more to keeper strategy then that?

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I think looking a little further into the future is key, too. Can you keep the same guys over and over for the one round drop? If so, Benjamin showed enough this year that you could have a wr1 on your hands in 2016 for a 7th round pick.

Long Ball Larry said:

fryentropy said:

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

Click to expand...

can you only keep for a year or for an unlimited number of years?

Click to expand...

Long Ball Larry said:

fryentropy said:

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

Click to expand...

can you only keep for a year or for an unlimited number of years?

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I can keep for up to 3 years I believe. ( There is no way my league would allow the guy with Leveon Bell who was drafted in the 11th round a year before to be able to keep him for the next ten years).

Agree with most of the above that you have to value position versus round. That said, with your team I think Murray and Benjamin are the two no-brainers regardless of round.

Keep stud WRs. RBs pop up every year.

jwb said:

fryentropy said:

It is clear that you need to weigh out the ADP of your potential keepers and see if your getting more value than their price tag but is there more to keeper strategy then that?

Click to expand...

I think looking a little further into the future is key, too. Can you keep the same guys over and over for the one round drop? If so, Benjamin showed enough this year that you could have a wr1 on your hands in 2016 for a 7th round pick.

Click to expand...

I can keep for 3 years.

I also have Kennen Allen, who was one of my keepers this year, he was a waiver pick up from a year ago, so if I keep him again, I lose my 15th round. Crowell was also a waiver pick up, but from this year.

It isnt my intention to get advice for my own keepers, but to just see in the community how people approach keeper decisions.

I'm in a keeper league where we keep 2 guys and they cost us a pick 2 rounds ahead of where they were drafted.

I was able to keep Lacy and Joquie Bell last year for a 6th and 8th. It was a huge advantage going into the draft knowing I had my RB1 and RB2 locked up already. So if possible, keep RBs if you have any worth keeping. Especially with how thin RB depth is anymore.

But definitely keep in my ADP for next season. There's no point in keeping a guy if you think you'll be able to get him in the same round or later.

zamboni said:

Agree with most of the above that you have to value position versus round. That said, with your team I think Murray and Benjamin are the two no-brainers regardless of round.

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Cant do Murray because he was a first rounder, but Benjamin is a serious consideration.

Keep your studs first if possible. Most people will and even if it costs you a 1st or 2nd round pick, if the best players are kept you don't want to be left out in the cold.

massraider said:

Keep stud WRs. RBs pop up every year.

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Funny - I view it the exact opposite.

I just did my 1st keeper league this year. I drafted Brown in the 3rd round and he'd cost me a 2nd to keep next year. Basically by keeping him I am guaranteeing I get him in the 2nd round. I will weight that vs where he is being drafted on average vs what my draft pick is. Like others have said it's all about value.

My league has the same keeper rules as yours. I will toss back guys like Lacy & Foster to ensure my first two round picks (could draft the same guys) to keep Antonio Brown (3rd) & TY Hilton (7th).... Only difference is my league puts all undrafted guys (Forsett, crowell, OBJ) back into the pool for next year. Sucks if you have them, is cool if you don't. I think the reason is to keep the draft more relevant? Either way, Im really happy with Brown & Hilton, though I wish I had the option of a late round RB to keep. Now, if I had someone like Murray or Leveon Bell it would be really hard for me to throw them back into the pool.

It is great to see some keeper discussion around here. I posted this awhile ago, and tried to update it a bit.

Strategy #1: All keepers are declining assets, treat them as such. FF Players have a habit of looking at a player they like and assuming the best case scenario and pencil in 10-20% improvements per year for some number of years. Players get hurt, injured, change teams, have down years, all sorts of things that cannot be anticipated and destroy keepers value. When you factor in the keeper formula my league uses (two rounds ahead), you realize you should cash in on a top keeper whenever possible. Of the 36 keepers in our league from 2013, only 5 were kept into 2014 (Cobb, Morris, Cameron, Vereen, Woodhead). Of those, I can't say confidently that any will be kept again in 2015 (depends on where Cobb ends up). Picks that looked fantastic a year ago have lost their sizzle. While others I didn't mention actually still present some value, I believe owners will move on to the next hot commodity since we are forced to choose 3.

Strategy #2: There is a tendency to look toward next year too soon, avoid it. This might be specific to my league where poaching players for picks is common. My main goal is to always be competitive in the year we are in, while keeping an eye on the next. Rebuilding is for dynasty leagues. If your team looks like it has a few warts, deal a player with more keeper value in n+1 for a player with more actual value in year n. Or sell some middling draft pick for an underperforming player with a juicy schedule from a team that is looking toward next year. Get to the playoffs, from there anything can happen.

Strategy #3: You can accumulate value by trading up in the draft if your league mates use a pick calculator to determine fair trades. I can't feel too guilty when someone approaches me with a trade offer of the 8th overall pick for the 20th overall + the 60th. Sure, the pick calculator says its a good deal for them but in actuality you need to adjust for the keepers whose ADP is higher than the picks in question. Actually I do feel guilty for doing this - why does it seem the rest of my league doesn't get this?

Strategy #4: A 12th round draft pick is more or less equivalent to an 18th round draft pick. I'd have a hard time trading a 12 for an 18. But if I needed to throw in a 12 to close a deal knowing that I'd be down one pick and get an 18th added on the backend I'd do it in a heartbeat. Your pretty unlikely to hit on a worthwhile player in either round, but if you hit on the 18th rounder the keeper value is through the roof.

Strategy #5: Draft the rookies no one else wants. Watkins went in the 4th/5th, Beckham went in the 12th/13th. Sankey went in the early 4th, Mason in the 17th. I know its hindsight, but the point is, if you overpay for a guy with keeper value, there is a good chance he no longer has keeper value.

My league has similar rules to those listed here. However, we can keep up to three players, but we can't keep more than one player at each position. Although it's premature, I'm struggling with who to keep between Mason or C.J. Anderson. I would only lose a late pick for either.

The hardest obstacle I face in keeper leagues is how to plan for the draft. In redraft, I love participating in mock drafts and viewing mock drafts as much as I can online. This is virtually impossible when you're in a keeper league. For example, coming into this season, Lynch, Lacy, Manning, and D. Thomas were just a handful of early round players that were kept. How do people plan for their drafts in keeper leagues, and is it possible to do mocks with any degree of accuracy?

IheartGuinness said:

My league has similar rules to those listed here. However, we can keep up to three players, but we can't keep more than one player at each position. Although it's premature, I'm struggling with who to keep between Mason or C.J. Anderson. I would only lose a late pick for either.

The hardest obstacle I face in keeper leagues is how to plan for the draft. In redraft, I love participating in mock drafts and viewing mock drafts as much as I can online. This is virtually impossible when you're in a keeper league. For example, coming into this season, Lynch, Lacy, Manning, and D. Thomas were just a handful of early round players that were kept. How do people plan for their drafts in keeper leagues, and is it possible to do mocks with any degree of accuracy?

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This is something I've been wondering about since my keeper league started this year and our 1st draft after keepers is next year.

IheartGuinness said:

My league has similar rules to those listed here. However, we can keep up to three players, but we can't keep more than one player at each position. Although it's premature, I'm struggling with who to keep between Mason or C.J. Anderson. I would only lose a late pick for either.

The hardest obstacle I face in keeper leagues is how to plan for the draft. In redraft, I love participating in mock drafts and viewing mock drafts as much as I can online. This is virtually impossible when you're in a keeper league. For example, coming into this season, Lynch, Lacy, Manning, and D. Thomas were just a handful of early round players that were kept. How do people plan for their drafts in keeper leagues, and is it possible to do mocks with any degree of accuracy?

Click to expand...

This is something I've been wondering about since my keeper league started this year and our 1st draft after keepers is next year. There's gotta be something out there.

fightingillini said:

Always keep RBs first if you can.

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Disagree.

List your core players. Then keep the cheapest. Exceptions can be made if you have a very good player you wouldn't consider to be core if he's cheap enough.

Don't see your roster but if Benjamin only costs an 8th, he's an easy pick.

Keep the keeper rules in mind during the draft and take a few gambles late.

FUBAR said:

fightingillini said:

Always keep RBs first if you can.

Click to expand...

Disagree.

List your core players. Then keep the cheapest. Exceptions can be made if you have a very good player you wouldn't consider to be core if he's cheap enough.

Don't see your roster but if Benjamin only costs an 8th, he's an easy pick.

Keep the keeper rules in mind during the draft and take a few gambles late.

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The reason why I say that is because RBs is the most popular position to keep, it drains the RB pool before the draft begins. Typical supply and demand. You can guarantee every RB drafted somewhat later that's pretty valuable is going to be kept. Think Justin Forsett or Tre Mason or Mark Ingram for example.

But if you have WR or QBs that are superior values, by all means keep them over a RB. But if it's close, I always keep the RB.

That said, the OP should keep Benjamin and Crowell.

just looking at it real quick first thought was benjmanin and crowell.

but keeping allen and crowell for 2 late late round picks wouldnt be argued

I play in a keep up to 3 players, for N+3 years from acquisition. These players are kept at the acquisition price, the round where they are acquired. No player drafted in the first 3 rounds can be kept. A waiver add that you keep is a last round pick for N+3 years from WW acquisition.

I love this format, and you try to absolutely score on WW picks, and guys drafted after round 3. However it shakes out, you take the most value available, and build next year's team around that core. Doesn't matter so much each player's position, but how much value they present to you to allow you to draft key players at other positions and be in "win-now" mode each season, if your keepers pan out.

An example to play this out, going into this season I kept:

- Jimmy Graham as a WW add before the 2011 season when he broke out. He is in N+3 as a WW add for me, so I have to release after 2014 to the player pool.

- Randall Cobb as a WW add from the 2012 season when he broke out. He is in N+2 as a WW add for me, so I have him through the 2015 season, then must release after 2015 to the player pool.

- Andre Ellington as a WW add from the 2013 season, entering 2014 as the starter. He is in N+1 as a WW add for me, so I have him through the 2016 season, then must release after 2016 to the player pool.

Having locked up an elite TE, high RB2/low RB1 (opinion withstanding), and low WR1, I had that as my situation to build around. I never draft QB's early, but these keepers gave me the ability to do so, and I took Peyton Manning 7th overall. Then just took best player available after that at RB/WR the rest of the draft since I'm not drafting backups for QB/TE in a situation like this. Season has gone great, and I focused on younger players after round 3 for future keeper "mining" while still playing for the playoffs.

Don't lose sight of prospective keepers, as I kept 2 guys going into each of 2012, 2013, and 2014 that I didn't continue to keep due to performance/ circumstance/what have you. Maximize value as you perceive it to be once you've done your pre-season research each year, and draft to maximize the current season team's value while keeping an eye out for your future, just a balancing act.

Alkahsu said:

IheartGuinness said:

My league has similar rules to those listed here. However, we can keep up to three players, but we can't keep more than one player at each position. Although it's premature, I'm struggling with who to keep between Mason or C.J. Anderson. I would only lose a late pick for either.

The hardest obstacle I face in keeper leagues is how to plan for the draft. In redraft, I love participating in mock drafts and viewing mock drafts as much as I can online. This is virtually impossible when you're in a keeper league. For example, coming into this season, Lynch, Lacy, Manning, and D. Thomas were just a handful of early round players that were kept. How do people plan for their drafts in keeper leagues, and is it possible to do mocks with any degree of accuracy?

Click to expand...

This is something I've been wondering about since my keeper league started this year and our 1st draft after keepers is next year. There's gotta be something out there.

Click to expand...

The draft dominator iPad app allows you to plug in keepers. I go through the rankings and increase the rankings of players based on age to account for people reaching for younger players. It takes forever, but it is worth the effort because you gain a huge advantage over league mates who can't mock.

Another thing I've learned to do is to not worry about depth.

Say your wr's postdraft were: Julio, Hilton, Harvin, Adams, Bailey. You probably didn't draft Adams or Bailey with the expectation that they would be startable at the onset, and didn't care because you hoped to never have to start them anyway. Who cares that you don't have a startable WR4. If starters got hurt and one of the young guys didn't emerge, you can easily move these guys (who have tons of keeper value because of draft position) for a plug and play.

zamboni said:

massraider said:

Keep stud WRs. RBs pop up every year.

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Funny - I view it the exact opposite.

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This is a weird dynamic. Stud RBs get drafted early, even when they are rookies, and thus are constantly getting thrown back in to the early rounds of the draft. On the other hand, when a late round RB emerges as a keeper it's often fool's gold because the shelf life of an NFL running back is short and they are highly susceptible to injury. You can do it either way - horde RBs as keepers and focus your early picks on stud WRs or keep non-RBs and draft running backs in each of the first three rounds. My preference is dependent on what kind of return on investment I can get on a keeper running back - people often overpay.

fryentropy said:

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

Click to expand...

WRs are dime-a-dozen..TEs are hard to come by.when does Olsen get some love? he's clearly the 3rd TE after Graham and Gronk..he's infinitely better than Julius Thomas..but even with that said, the dropoff from 3rd TE to the rest of the pack is huuuuge..every year a guy like Benjamin comes down the pike..and usually you can find them on the waiver wire..Murray is another keeper if he stays in Dallas..but I'd be worried about a serious regression to the mean with him in '15..

Tanner9919 said:

fryentropy said:

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

Click to expand...

WRs are dime-a-dozen..TEs are hard to come by.when does Olsen get some love? he's clearly the 3rd TE after Graham and Gronk..he's infinitely better than Julius Thomas..but even with that said, the dropoff from 3rd TE to the rest of the pack is huuuuge..every year a guy like Benjamin comes down the pike..and usually you can find them on the waiver wire..Murray is another keeper if he stays in Dallas..but I'd be worried about a serious regression to the mean with him in '15..

Click to expand...

That's gonna be my dilemna next year. I can keep Graham and lose the last pick of the 2nd, or keep Josh Gordon and lose the 1st pick of the 13th (last round). It's a bigger value to keep the WR but like you say, someone comes down the pike every year. Few difference makers at TE.

kingmalaki said:

Tanner9919 said:

fryentropy said:

My main league allows me to keep two players from this year and bring them to my team next year. If I decide to keep a player I lose the round above which I had drafted him. (So if I keep Kelvin Benjamin who was drafted in the 9th round, next year I lose my 8th round pick), keeping with this logic means no first round picks can be kept.

My question is which position allows for the most potential success in the future?

I feel that even though FBGs are masters of knowledge when it comes to fantasy football, I can not find much on keeper strategies. They often talk about dynasty leagues but that's a whole other bag of tricks.

Click to expand...

WRs are dime-a-dozen..TEs are hard to come by.when does Olsen get some love? he's clearly the 3rd TE after Graham and Gronk..he's infinitely better than Julius Thomas..but even with that said, the dropoff from 3rd TE to the rest of the pack is huuuuge..every year a guy like Benjamin comes down the pike..and usually you can find them on the waiver wire..Murray is another keeper if he stays in Dallas..but I'd be worried about a serious regression to the mean with him in '15..

Click to expand...

That's gonna be my dilemna next year. I can keep Graham and lose the last pick of the 2nd, or keep Josh Gordon and lose the 1st pick of the 13th (last round). It's a bigger value to keep the WR but like you say, someone comes down the pike every year. Few difference makers at TE.

Click to expand...

Keep Graham