Setting up a keeper league (1 Viewer)

[jurrassic]

I am starting a 10 or 12 team keeper league this year. I would like some feedback on which rules from keeper league you like/hate, etc.

What do you think is the optimum number of keepers? I am trying to decide between 2 or 3 keepers, after that I think the draft really gets watered down

What rules do you follow for your keepers? If you keep 2 players do you give up your picks in rounds 1-2? Do you just give up a pick in the round the player was selected the year before? Is keeping players mandatory?

Drafting draft picks? Does your league allow it? Are there rules that need to be followed?

 

[massraider]

I like the rule where you give up the corresponding draft pick for the player. It adds an element of strategy.

The keeper league I am in, we use the above rule, but we can keep 5 players. You might think the draft is watered down, and it is true that players get drafted higher than their ADP, but really, if a draft is watered down, it changes strategy, not enjoyment really. Just my experience.

I am also fine with a rule that says you can only keep a player for X number of years. We don't use it, but I can see why some would.

Re: the rule about no keepers drafted in rounds 1-2, or whatever: The problem with that, IMO, is it makes one draft pick, that first keeper pick, way too valuable. We used to do it so that the first three rounds were ineligible to be keepers. Well, if you have the last pick of the 3rd round, you could draft a Ryan Mathews, but you couldn't keep him. Even worse, every other team had their pick of potential keepers before you got a shot. That's a massive disadvantage for teams picking at the end of the 1st round (in a serpentine draft, obviously).

My attitude is, let them keep whatever picks they want. Really, the teams that kept later round studs have a better shot at getting better. In my keeper league, teams are always trying to keep their late round finds, and keep as many top picks as possible.

If teams pick up a FA, and keep him, they give up their last pick in the draft. Makes a Colston FA pickup that much sweeter.

I'd say there are no optimum number of keepers. I like having as many as we have, but there's no reason that is any better or worse than another format. Lesser keepers is usually better for parity, if you have a few weak sisters in the league, it may give them a better chance to compete. Go with whatever pleases the most owners; if owners get a format they don't like, they'll find a way to ##### about it all year.