Starting a Keeper League - Rules and Tips (1 Viewer)

[VTjkru]

I did a search and couldnt really find anything that fit this. My friends and I have been playing together for six years and we have finally talked about setting up a keeper league. We have had the same twelve guys in the league and I figure that would probably be a requirement to starting a keeper league (with a few replacements here and there). We are having a big problem concering two factors:

1) There are some owners that are perennial losers and some owners that are perennial winners, would a keeper league solidify this pattern? The big draw with redraft is that everyone begins with a new slate every year. Also, the perennial winners just happen to be the guys who take it the most serious.

2) A standard set of rules. I didnt realize how different everyone's rules are and we would like a quasi universily accepted set of rules. Most redraft leagues are set exactly the same (with minor changes in point values and roster sizes) but its not the same with keeper. So Im asking you guys if you have any input on what a keeper league should definitly be.

Also, I just have a few questions that we have brought up.

-How would the draft work out after our first year? Would it still be a serpentine draft or would it make sense to have it more like the NFL? (with picking done by last seasons ranking)

-How many keepers do we keep?

-Should we lose picks if we keep a player?

-How long can we keep a player?

-How will trades work?

-etc

Thanks, Im pretty sure this will spark some debate also, but thats a given.

 

[VTjkru]

Oh, and incase anyone wanted to actually check out my leauge http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/leagueoffice?leagueId=59350

Also, do most people do rookie drafts?

and there was another question I had but I totally forgot now. Basically, I just want to go into this year with not a lot of kinks. We've finally figured out all the loopholes we have for our league now but now we are thinking of switching to keeper which should be interesting. Oh yeah, now I remembered. Would you recommend setting up some sort of year long contract so that if someone does want out they basically can just sell their team to another person?

 

[SmallDawgsBITE]

I did a search and couldnt really find anything that fit this.  My friends and I have been playing together for six years and we have finally talked about setting up a keeper league.  We have had the same twelve guys in the league and I figure that would probably be a requirement to starting a keeper league (with a few replacements here and there).  We are having a big problem concering two factors:

1)  There are some owners that are perennial losers and some owners that are perennial winners, would a keeper league solidify this pattern?  The big draw with redraft is that everyone begins with a new slate every year.  Also, the perennial winners just happen to be the guys who take it the most serious.

2)  A standard set of rules.  I didnt realize how different everyone's rules are and we would like a quasi universily accepted set of rules.  Most redraft leagues are set exactly the same (with minor changes in point values and roster sizes) but its not the same with keeper.  So Im asking you guys if you have any input on what a keeper league should definitly be.

Also, I just have a few questions that we have brought up.

-How would the draft work out after our first year?  Would it still be a serpentine draft or would it make sense to have it more like the NFL?  (with picking done by last seasons ranking)

-How many keepers do we keep?

-Should we lose picks if we keep a player?

-How long can we keep a player?

-How will trades work?

-etc

Thanks, Im pretty sure this will spark some debate also, but thats a given.

First it's a keeper, not a dynasty so don't do separate drafts for vets and rooks.You can do a multitude of things in a keeper keep x-amount of players 3-5, keep players drafted in the first 2 rounds, don't keep them.........make teams forfeit the round in which the player was originally drafted ie. LJ drated 5th round last year, cost you a fifth rounder this year. Always go serpentine, don't penalize a team for building up talent only to allow others to close in the gap by getting better draft placement. Keep players for around 3 seasons, to keep player turnover.

For easy management, make all teams keep the same amount of players, don't allow for 1-5 or something along those lines. You can restrict each postion by only allowing 2 Rb's or 2'Wr's to be kept per team, there is a vast ways to set up your keeper, put some ideas out on the table and see how comfortable your league members are with them.

So long as everyone has a good understanding of the rules and feel confident in their ability to draft for the future, your keeper league will be competitive yearly. There simply isn't a model for keepers leagues as they are tweaked to fit people's odd quirks

 

[VTjkru]

Thanks for the tips. So are most keeper leagues basically all different? I kinda wanted to go a standard route but if there isnt really a "standard" set of rules Im going to have to get the guys together.

Keep the rules coming that you think are essential. Remember, weve never done a keeper league before. About a third of us are obsessed with fantasy, another third follows it pretty well, and the last third may as well be the Lions or Cardinals of the league.

 

[SmallDawgsBITE]

here's a few sets

Keepers:

* Each team can keep up to 3 players from their previous

year's roster. This rule will take effect for the 2005

season.

* Each keeper player may only remain on a team's roster

for 3 years.

* For each player you keep, you will forfeit your draft

pick for the round in which that player was originally

drafted.

* For players that are being kept the third year, you will

forfeit the highest draft pick not already being

forfeited. This will be either a 1st or 2nd or 3rd round

pick.

* Players traded may be used as keepers by their new

teams. The players original draft pick will stay with him

and the new owner may keep him by forfeiting the same

round pick. This will remain the same even if the player

is traded during his second year.

* A traded keeper player may only remain with the new team

for the remainder of his 3 year eligibility from being

drafted originally.

* The deadline for determining your keepers and notifying

the commissioner is August 15th each year.

another is:

Keepers:

* Each team is required to keep a minimum starting line up

from their current roster. 1-QB, 2-RB, 2-WR,1-TE,-1-D,1-K,1-FLex

* Each keeper player may only remain on a team's roster

for up to 3 years.

* Players traded may be used as keepers by their new

teams.

* A traded keeper player may only remain with the new team for the remainder of his 3 year eligibility from being

drafted originally.

* To clarify keeper status, the year you draft a player does NOT count as year 1, the first year you elect to keep a player is year 1, is essence a player can be on your roster for 4 years, 1 year he is drafted and 3 years that he is retained on your roster.

* The deadline for determining your keepers and notifying

the commissioner is Aug. 18th, 2006.

Commish and C0-Commish are required to submit their keepers one day prior to this on league message board

I have 3 more keeper leagues, but you should get the hang of how to set yours up by mixing and matching things you like

 

[code]

my response to a similar post last week

 

[streamkeeper]

Here is a copy of our constitution. We transitioned about 3 years ago to a two player keeper format. We are very happy we did. We wanted a simple scenario to magage and we wnated to encourage trading. We settled on keeping two player because we did not want to dilute the draft too much. We don't use contracts. One last thing we did a lottery for draft picks the first year of keepers. The first draft is exceedingly important and the only fair way to do it was to scramble the order.

Here ya go;

DRAFT:

A. Every year a week or so before the NFL season, we will hold a

draft online.

B. The draft will be the opposite of the previous

years standings and will be a snake draft.

C. The draft will be 14 rounds consisting of 300 seconds per pick.

ROSTERS:

A, Team rosters will be limited to 16 total/active players, with no more than 6 players per team, per position.

B. Teams may carry 2 players in injured reserve only if injured by designation of CBS Sportsline.

C. Every week coaches may start 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1K, and 1 Defense. Coaches must have their rosters set 5 minutes prior to the player’s kickoff.

D. Players suspended by the NFL, cannot be held on IR.

TRADES:

A. Trades are encouraged, reviewable, and revocable.

B. Collusive coaches will be expelled from the league and their rosters frozen. When the season ends all players on frozen rosters will be returned to free agency.

C. Players are only traded for players, not for money. Multiple player/draft pick trades are allowed. Draft picks may only be traded in the off-season. Trades including draft picks will have to be conducted through the Commish or Co-Commish.

D. The regular season trade deadline is Week 10. No trade may be conducted between week 10 and the culmination of the season.

SCHEDULE & PLAYOFFS:

A. We will play 14 regular season games.

B. Playoff qualification will be based on overall record/ division record/ power ranking/ coin flip.

C. The two qualifying teams from each division will then play for the division championship. The two victors will then play for the Old School Football Club championship.

D. Playoff game tiebreakers will go to the home team / highest seed per power ranking.

STANDINGS:

Final standings will be based on playoff performance/ power ranking/ coin flip.

KEEPERS:

A. Each coach may select 2 players from any position to keep for the following season’s opening roster. Keepers will be declared to the commissioner or co-commish no later than 12:00pm May 31.

B. If a coach retires from the league, all players in the retiring coach’s franchise are returned to the free agent pool at the end of the season. When a new coach enters the league he/she begins with an empty roster.

There is more but it deals with keeping stats and other details.

 

[Razon]

I will add my input here.

I have been for the last 5 years in a keeper league that I think is quite different. I didn't come up with the format but I enjoy and the thinking that can go into it. We are entering our 6th year with this league.

The keepers are based on your standings. It is a 10 team league that starts 2 QB, 3 WR, 3 RBs, TE, PK and DT with 6 man bench.

Four teams make the playoffs. The non-playoff teams are allowed to keep 7 players. The 3rd and 4th place team gets to keep 6 players. The 2nd place team gets 5 players and the 1st place team gets to keep 4 players.

The draft is the other interesting twist. It is run like an expansion draft. Players that are not declared as keepers, are still assosicated with your team. If an nonkeeper is drafted from your team you the option of pulling back a player from your remaining non-keepers.

So everything else is pretty much the same, I say you have to think about your keepers because sometime not kept a player knowing he is going to get drafted early and I will get to do a pullback. Based on our scoring and the requirement to start two, QBs are pretty important and if you got two top 10 you can go far. I usually always keep 2, but a few years ago when I only had 4 keepers, I only kept one but I knew I had two different QBs of which one would get drafted in the first couple of picks and I would be able to pull back the other one.

So there is another viewpoint.

 

[Bulldog96]

Here's a brief summary of our rules : 12 Team League, Performance based scoring

- Keep 3 players for 3 years MAX (contracts follow ALL Players until they're dropped back into the draft)

- Players must have been drafted from the 5th - 17th of initial draft (keeps studs available in 1st - 4th RDs each year)

- 14 RD draft the following season (17 RD initial draft - 3 keepers = 14 RD draft)

- No Draft Picks are forfeited >>> we simply re-draft each year (serpentine)

- Teams may only keep 1 RB keeper (there just aren't enough quality RBs available for ALL teams to remain competitive... just not enough to go 'round)

So far this system has worked for us... in the past 6 years, we've had 6 different champions >>> No one has managed to repeat.

 

[inca911]

In our auction league, we increase the costs of keepers each year. This returns players to the auction pool and awards finding new talent. Here's a link to the rules we use. These rules could easily be amended for multiple keepers. I don't like redraft keepers since the value drops can be large between teams, which causes disparities for multiple years as the values aren't accounted for as they are in an auction.

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index...opic=229615&hl=

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

We just started a deep keeper league a few years ago and it is workin quit well.

I won't call it dynasty cause some people around here get mad.

here is what we did.

Inital draft is auction style.

20 round draft. Keep 12 the following off-season, any 12 you want. turn in protected list on Aug. 1st. Start the new rookie/FA draft via e-mail.

Draft in order of finish from worst to superbowl winner in every round.

Not a ton of money on the line cause everyone already has a ton a $ in other leagues.

highly competitve though. Entering season #3.