videoguy505
Footballguy
There's a similar thread for Dynasty rosters, but for limited-number keeper leagues, it's a different beast. The last few years I've dominated my keeper league by picking up guys near or after the end of the season that everyone else forgot about. I don't even keep all of them, but just by having them on my roster instead of another owner's, I can manipulate the first round or two of the draft by stockpiling a certain position and making other owners use early picks on my castoffs while value falls to me at other positions.
For example, at the end of 2004 I grabbed Steve Smith from Free Agency--he was on IR at the time. He finished '05 as WR1. I also grabbed Larry Johnson, who was still behind Priest Holmes, late in the '04 season. He started '05 splitting carries and we know how that has progressed. At the end of '05, I grabbed another WR off IR--Javon Walker. He was WR2 in my league before this week's games. I basically got all three of these studs FOR FREE by being the first owner to claim him. Now, going into and again after the fantasy playoffs are done, I dump my spare TE, PK, and DSTs to make room for as many of these guys as I can.
At the end of last year, I knew my RB core was set with Larry and Rudi Johnson, so I stockpiled all those sexy "upside" and "sleeper" RB3s. The guys the fantasy magazines tout endlessly. I ended up dumping them all into the draft pool, but by having control over them no other owner could use the keeper tag on them, instead they had to keep one RB and some mid-range WRs and QBs. This meant that the first few rounds of our draft were spent with other owners picking up my RB castoffs while I poached the top players at other positions. For example, since just about half the teams kept 2 WRs, receivers slid very far in my draft. I ended up grabbing Plaxico Burress as my WR3 as the 65th player off the board... the equivalent of a mid-5th pick for a guy who's ADP was late 3rd/early 4th round--in the top 40 overall--he's now WR17. He kept sliding because everyone else had to grab their RBs, leaving the available WRs for me.
I know not all keeper leagues are the same, but for those that allow FA pickups near or at the end of the season, or even in the offseason, here's a list of guys I'm looking at rostering--either as potentail keepers should one of my guys get hurt in training camp, or, just to keep them away from the slower owners in my league who haven't starting looking ahead to '07 yet:
In no particular order:
Domanick Davis
Ricky Williams
Damon Huard (his showing could land him a starter job next year on another team)
Byron Leftwich (could end up on a throw-first team next year if he's not resigned by Jax)
Michael Turner (some short-bench leagues [like mine] he's still a FA, 70% ownership on Sportsline)
Brandon Jacobs (80% ownership, doubtful he's there in a keeper league, but if he is he's a no-brainer)
Jerious Norwood (only 57% ownership on Sportsline)
Trent Green (75% ownership)
Kurt Warner
Daunte Culpepper
Drew Bledsoe
Billy Volek
Amani Toomer
Sam Gado
Chris Brown
Vernon Davis
Robert Ferguson
Brandon Stokley
Guys like Portis and McNabb probably aren't free agents in a keeper league, so I left them off the list. Anyone else have any suggestions to add to the list?
For example, at the end of 2004 I grabbed Steve Smith from Free Agency--he was on IR at the time. He finished '05 as WR1. I also grabbed Larry Johnson, who was still behind Priest Holmes, late in the '04 season. He started '05 splitting carries and we know how that has progressed. At the end of '05, I grabbed another WR off IR--Javon Walker. He was WR2 in my league before this week's games. I basically got all three of these studs FOR FREE by being the first owner to claim him. Now, going into and again after the fantasy playoffs are done, I dump my spare TE, PK, and DSTs to make room for as many of these guys as I can.
At the end of last year, I knew my RB core was set with Larry and Rudi Johnson, so I stockpiled all those sexy "upside" and "sleeper" RB3s. The guys the fantasy magazines tout endlessly. I ended up dumping them all into the draft pool, but by having control over them no other owner could use the keeper tag on them, instead they had to keep one RB and some mid-range WRs and QBs. This meant that the first few rounds of our draft were spent with other owners picking up my RB castoffs while I poached the top players at other positions. For example, since just about half the teams kept 2 WRs, receivers slid very far in my draft. I ended up grabbing Plaxico Burress as my WR3 as the 65th player off the board... the equivalent of a mid-5th pick for a guy who's ADP was late 3rd/early 4th round--in the top 40 overall--he's now WR17. He kept sliding because everyone else had to grab their RBs, leaving the available WRs for me.
I know not all keeper leagues are the same, but for those that allow FA pickups near or at the end of the season, or even in the offseason, here's a list of guys I'm looking at rostering--either as potentail keepers should one of my guys get hurt in training camp, or, just to keep them away from the slower owners in my league who haven't starting looking ahead to '07 yet:
In no particular order:
Domanick Davis
Ricky Williams
Damon Huard (his showing could land him a starter job next year on another team)
Byron Leftwich (could end up on a throw-first team next year if he's not resigned by Jax)
Michael Turner (some short-bench leagues [like mine] he's still a FA, 70% ownership on Sportsline)
Brandon Jacobs (80% ownership, doubtful he's there in a keeper league, but if he is he's a no-brainer)
Jerious Norwood (only 57% ownership on Sportsline)
Trent Green (75% ownership)
Kurt Warner
Daunte Culpepper
Drew Bledsoe
Billy Volek
Amani Toomer
Sam Gado
Chris Brown
Vernon Davis
Robert Ferguson
Brandon Stokley
Guys like Portis and McNabb probably aren't free agents in a keeper league, so I left them off the list. Anyone else have any suggestions to add to the list?
