What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

What are the best Keeper rules? (1 Viewer)

sdp1226

sdp1226

Footballguy
I have been part of the same Keeper league for about 6 years now but I am not a huge fan of the rules that we have in place

10 teams

Start: 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 2 FLX, 1TE, 1K, 1DEF

Currently we all keep 1 player and we do not lose any draft picks for that player. The 1st round is essentially the "Keeper Round" and from round 2 on it is a snake draft in reverse order from last year's standings. I have been trying to convince the others that it would be better if we lost the draft round that the kept player was drafted in the previous year.

There also is no restriction on how long a player can be kept.

What kind of Keeper rules do you guys have? Are these rules more fair and how so? Do they create a more competative balance?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Keepers cost a pick. Vets 2 rounds earlier than drafted. Rookies 1 round earlier than drafted. Consider setting a max # of years a player can be kept. I like 3 years but some people are really against that kind of limit.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
In our league we can only keep a maximum of 3 players and keepers count 3 rounds earlier than drafted. So players drafted in the first 3 rounds of the previous year cannot be kept. Players taken off the waiver wire count as being drafted in the 9th round. A keeper can only be kept a maximum of 3 years in a row. We had an owner in our league who drafted Larry Johnson in the 16th round and got to keep him for three years when he was tearing up the league. There is a real advantage of picking guys towards the end of the draft that you think might breakout the next year if you want to sacrifice the roster spot.

 
We can keep 2 players.....but they have to be from different positions. It then costs you 2 rounds from where you drafted them the prior year. So......if someone drafted Arian Foster in the 4th round last year, he would have been a 2nd round keeper this year. You can keep a player as long as they can move up 2 rounds the next year. Someone was fortunate enough to draft Aaron Rodgers in the 15th round, right before he took over. Needless to say............Rodgers won't be put back into the draft for another 4 years. It works well because it makes you try to draft that long-term keeper in the later rounds. If you want to keep a player that was picked up via free agency, it costs you a 5th round pick next year.

I also like the rule the prior poster said in that there is a 3-year keeper limit.

 
We have a keep two league and the cost to keep a player is four rounds earlier. In regards to limiting the number of years a keeper can be kept, unless your draft has a lot of rounds, any penalty will eventually get the kept player back into the player pool.

Leading up to this year, we treated FA acquisitions as the last draft round plus one. For example, if we had a 16-round draft then a FA would be slotted into the 17th round and would cost a 13th round pick. We are actually dropping FA from being kept because several owners don't like an elite talent be kept for several years because he was acquired based on where you were in the waiver wire list on the week he was acquired.

The thrust was to disallow people from being kept as a result of an injury to the person in front of him on the depth chart and the highest waiver priority getting the new starter. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to identify who was a shrewd pickup before his breakout and who was an injury pickup who had a breakthrough when given the chance.

 
I guess we are one of the few that do NOT cost a draft pick.

We are only allowed to keep players drafted in the fourth round or later, including waiver wire picks. We sign them to contracts. Max of 3 players, up to 5 years total. At any one time, you can have up to 5 players and 8 years if you acquire contracts via trade. Players under contract can NEVER be dropped, so we have to sign cautiously (Steve Slaton and Kevin Smith are both still under contract, and eating up a contract spot, years, and a roster spot).

Since it starts in Round 4, it gives the 10 spot a little boost since they kind get screwed in the first three rounds. Most 4th round picks are usually speculative (last year the first three picks in the 4th round were J Finley, J Best, and Adrian Foster). Players have to be on your roster from the kickoff of week 8, to prevent players dumping their entire team at the end of the year for flyers. Also, you announce who you are going to keep by Aug 1st, to give plenty of time for draft prep.

Inspires quite a bit of off-season trade talk also. I traded a 1 yr contract on McFadden and Knowshon for a 2 year contract on Ray Rice and a 9th round pick. Really gets you into GM mode, because you have to be careful not to get stuck in a bad contract (I have to decide if I want to sign Peyton Hillis to a 1, 2, or 3 year deal - leaning toward 2 year).

 
Ours costs the round you drafted him in. Rewards guys who were savvy enough (or lucky enough) to draft a guy the previous year. Can only keep them 3 full seasons though; the one you drafted him in plus 2 more after that. We are a 10 team, 2QB league.

Everybody has their own methods. I prefer this one because it's not complicated, it rewards guys for drafting solid players late (Foster in the 4th, Vick in the 17th!, etc), and it doesn't allow guys to keep solid players for their whole career. But to each their own.

 
I've been in keeper leagues for auction and redraft. I liked both of these systems:

For auction, teams could keep three players, but would have to give raises based on position:

QB: $5 raise/per year

RB/WR: $8 raise/per year

TE: $3 raise/per year

This was based on $100 auction budget.

For redraft, teams could keep three players, but you'd lose picks depending on where the player was drafted. -2 round penalty. So you couldn't keep anyone in the first two rounds. If you drafted Arian Foster in the 5th round last year, he would cost you a third round pick this year. And a first round pick next year.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I like the modified round to keeper format. We run a 0,1,2,3 keeper league, meaning you can keep as few as zero or as many 3, giving up your pick in the related round. It's a nice balance of rewarding strong teams with letting them keep 3 and not totaling nerfing bad teams by making them keep bad players or forcing them to trade for keepers off stronger teams. Every year we have people keeping 3 and 2, and people keeping 1 or 0 isn't uncommon. So far it's my favorite keeper format.

 
My main league just does a simple one keeper, three year max (including year originally drafted). No forfeiting of picks. Yes, it removes a strategic element and it can suck to not be rewarded for a knockout pick (I drafted Foster in the 14th round last year -- this was pre-week 3 preseason blow up), but at the onset we were more worried about this becoming too much of an advantage for a particular team than the reverse. This is clean and simple, and the teams that seem to "lose" the most based on this approach are right back at the top of the standings the next season anyway.

 
Thanks you Shark Pool for all of the posts.

Something that I can take away from all of this is that every league is different in their own way.

The most important thing is to make sure that the rest of my league agrees to the new rules that will be put into place.

Based on the feedback above, I will be able to propose changes that everyone will be happy with.

Thanks Again!

 
'Wadsworth said:
I like the modified round to keeper format. We run a 0,1,2,3 keeper league, meaning you can keep as few as zero or as many 3, giving up your pick in the related round. It's a nice balance of rewarding strong teams with letting them keep 3 and not totaling nerfing bad teams by making them keep bad players or forcing them to trade for keepers off stronger teams. Every year we have people keeping 3 and 2, and people keeping 1 or 0 isn't uncommon. So far it's my favorite keeper format.
Click to expand...
I like this as well. We do it with 4 keepers in a 12 team league. It creates a lot of room for critical thinking as you have to look at everyone's roster, figure out who they should keep, and then figure out who would be there at each of your early picks if you didn't use them on a keeper. While a strong team gets some advantage, it's also possible for a team to not keep anyone and still turn their team around. A team that doesn't keep anyone pretty much gets first dibs with the rookies.I also like this combined with letting teams pick their own draft spot. So a team who keeps 1 will often take the 12th pick so they keep a player with 1.12 and then have the first pick in the 2nd round to use on a player.
 
12 Team league, ppr - geting into it's 7th year

No cost on keepers

Keep 3 Vets & 1 Rookie

Max 2 Vets at any 1 position

Can keep max 4 yrs (or 3 Off seasons)

If player is kept all 4 yrs, after last season returned to FA pool

(Can not be traded after Week 10 Trade deadline)

Rookie must be drafted & on somebody's roster all year

Rookie is exempt from Max 2 at 1 position rule

If team does not keep rookie, no compensation given.

 
One of my leagues uses a sort of contract system I came up with, the first year you get 3 contracts (1 for 3 years, 1 for 2 years, 1 for 1 year), every year after that you only get 2 contracts (1 for 2 years, 1 for 1 year).

The catch is, you cant re-sign a player for the same or less than he was signed previously.

So your initial 3 year keeper is essentially released after those 3 years, your 2 year keepers cant be resigned either (since you dont have a 3 year contract) and your 1 year contracts can be extended for 2 years more for a maximum of 3 years.

I would like to use it more, but it confuses people.

So I had, Ray Rice (locked in for 3 years), Hakeem Nicks (locked in for 2 years) and Jermichael Finley (locked in for 1 year, potential 2 year extension)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
'Greg Russell said:
'Wadsworth said:
I like the modified round to keeper format. We run a 0,1,2,3 keeper league, meaning you can keep as few as zero or as many 3, giving up your pick in the related round. It's a nice balance of rewarding strong teams with letting them keep 3 and not totaling nerfing bad teams by making them keep bad players or forcing them to trade for keepers off stronger teams. Every year we have people keeping 3 and 2, and people keeping 1 or 0 isn't uncommon. So far it's my favorite keeper format.
Click to expand...
I like this as well. We do it with 4 keepers in a 12 team league. It creates a lot of room for critical thinking as you have to look at everyone's roster, figure out who they should keep, and then figure out who would be there at each of your early picks if you didn't use them on a keeper. While a strong team gets some advantage, it's also possible for a team to not keep anyone and still turn their team around. A team that doesn't keep anyone pretty much gets first dibs with the rookies.I also like this combined with letting teams pick their own draft spot. So a team who keeps 1 will often take the 12th pick so they keep a player with 1.12 and then have the first pick in the 2nd round to use on a player.
Click to expand...
I was very surprised at how involved the choice of how many and who to keep can become in this format. Every year there is mini-poker type game going on with the keepers, with owners bluffing and lying. It adds a nice element and you are frequently surprised at the choices.
 
'Wadsworth said:
'Greg Russell said:
'Wadsworth said:
I like the modified round to keeper format. We run a 0,1,2,3 keeper league, meaning you can keep as few as zero or as many 3, giving up your pick in the related round. It's a nice balance of rewarding strong teams with letting them keep 3 and not totaling nerfing bad teams by making them keep bad players or forcing them to trade for keepers off stronger teams. Every year we have people keeping 3 and 2, and people keeping 1 or 0 isn't uncommon. So far it's my favorite keeper format.
Click to expand...
I like this as well. We do it with 4 keepers in a 12 team league. It creates a lot of room for critical thinking as you have to look at everyone's roster, figure out who they should keep, and then figure out who would be there at each of your early picks if you didn't use them on a keeper. While a strong team gets some advantage, it's also possible for a team to not keep anyone and still turn their team around. A team that doesn't keep anyone pretty much gets first dibs with the rookies.I also like this combined with letting teams pick their own draft spot. So a team who keeps 1 will often take the 12th pick so they keep a player with 1.12 and then have the first pick in the 2nd round to use on a player.
Click to expand...
I was very surprised at how involved the choice of how many and who to keep can become in this format. Every year there is mini-poker type game going on with the keepers, with owners bluffing and lying. It adds a nice element and you are frequently surprised at the choices.
Click to expand...
Trade negotiations can be interesting too. A pretty good player might bring a 7th through 10th round pick because the team trading for him knows if you don't trade him that you'll get nothing for him and he'll have a good shot of picking him up by using his draft pick normally. So you can get a little something, but not so much it really swings the balance of the league.I think after the added strategy, the second best thing is that it limits how much disparity between there is between the compensation and the player. I think it's too much advantage to keep a top 5 player for a 9th, 10th, or something else like that.

In a system like yours, the best you could do is keep him with a 3rd, in mine a 4th. And to do that you'd have to have other 1st round talents to keep along with him. In my case with a keep 4 league that starts 2 QB, 2 RB, 5 WR, 2 TE plus IDP, I'm keeping Vick, AP, Foster and Gates with my first 4 picks. If our keep 4 league used a 3 rounds less than where you drafted them, I could have kept Foster for a 9th, Freeman for an 11th, Vick for a 24th, and Hillis with a 32nd. Being able to have that much advantage and still draft with my 1st through 8th round picks normally is just way too much to me.

 
We have unlimited keepers. Rules:

[*]Cannot keep anyone drafted in rounds 1-3

[*]Keepers cost 2 rounds higher than where you drafted them (So drafted in round 7, next year kept for round 5, following year kept for round 3, then becomes free agent as pick counted for rds 1-3)

[*]Free Agent pickups count as round 11 pick

 
Seven years ago we started a 12-team experimental keeper league that addresses the weaknesses (imho) of traditional keeper leagues. I came up with the original rule set and wouldn't change them much today.

Rounds 1-3: current year only

Rounds 4-6: current year + 1 year eligibility keeper status

Rounds 7-10: current year + 2 years eligibility keeper status

Rounds 11-16: current year + 3 years eligibility keeper status

The result is:

[*]top players are thrown back into the pool every year (no one gets to keep A.P. or CJ2K year after year)

[*]owners are rewarded for accurately picking sleepers (eligible to keep for multiple years)

[*]players are traded with their keeper eligibility (a round 7 player traded can be kept for 2 additional years by the new owner)

[*]eligible keepers are selected in June (prior to camps)

[*]pick order based on reverse of previous season finish (serpentine draft)

Works for us, ymmv.

 
In 2 leagues I created, our keeper rules are as follows:

Each team is allowed to keep 0 - 2 players.

A kept player is subjected to a round penalty in the first year kept. EXAMPLE: Arian Foster drafted in round 6 last year. To keep him, it will cost that owner their 5th round pick. That round penalty increases with each year you keep a player. To keep Arian Foster a 2nd year, it would cost that owner their 3rd round pick (6-1=5, 5-2=3). After that you cannot keep Arian Foster for a 3rd year (3-3=0, no 0th round).

Players dropped and picked up by another team assume the round that the player was drafted in. EXAMPLE: Ryan Grant drafted last year in the 2nd round, if dropped and picked up by another team, it would cost that team a 1st round pick to keep him.

Free Agent players picked up that WERE NOT drafted cost a 10th round pick.

Works pretty well for us.

 
We keep 6, lose the round that you drafted the player. Makes for some super strong guys. MJD has been kept as a 19th round pick since he came into the league, Charles is an 18th, Rodgers (2QB league) is a 9th. Awfully tough for the poor teams to climb back into contention. One good late round keeper can be worth more than some guys entire team.

I would follow Greg R's suggestion.

 
Question for those in keepers,

Say someone like andre johnson goes down w/ season ending injury. The team that owns him drops him. How do you treat him if someone picks him up late in the season to keep him the next season? Saw some post that free agent picks are worth a 9th or so next season but what about the studs that go down?

 
In our league, the "draft status" of a player remains the whole year. So in your example, if Andre Johnson gets drafted in the 2nd round, gets dropped and gets picked up by someone else he still counts as being drafted in the 2nd round to determine keeper status for the following year. If he was a keeper, the number of years towards the maximum would also remain unless he is not on a roster at the end of the year.

 
I've been in several keeper formats over the years and like the 3 keeper, 3 year limit, 2 round bump setup, no rd.1-3 selections eligible format best. I was in a keep 6 league (that has disappeared as of this year) and that pretty much sucked. Players moved up one round each year and the draft pool was a total dud each season with 60+ players being kept.

3 keepers allows teams to reap the reward of solid preparation and drafting without completely decimating the draft pool. I have two leagues that are almost identical with this format and my only gripe is that waiver wire players are too cheap, costing only a 10th / 12th in resepective leagues. I feel like WW work should be rewarded, but guys like Blount should be either more costly (6th round-ish?) or should only be eligible to be kept for one season. Dumb luck (or being a ####ty team) & waiver priority should not lock up a stud keeper like Blount for the next 3 seasons, imo.

As to the add/drop question, a player retains his draft position from the previous year regardless of transactions, waiver or trade.

 
Our keeper league is going into it's 4th year right now, and we use a points system for our keepers, and have a seasons cap on players.

Players are classified as Rookies and Veterans. Rookies are players drafted their rookie season, and have had continued ownership since then. Veterans are everyone else. You can keep 2 to 3 players, though you have to have 1 of each classification to keep 3... so no 3 rookies, no 3 veterans. Rookies may be owned for up to 4 years, 5 if they are placed on your Taxi Squad during their rookie season. Veterans may be owned 3 years. You have 10 points to spend each season, and the point scale is :

Veterans

Rd 1 = 7pts

Rd 2 = 5pts

Rds 3-4 = 4pts

Rds 5-8 = 3pts

Rds 9-12 = 2pts

Rds 13+ = 1pt

Rookies

Rds 1-3 = 3pts

Rds 4-8 = 2pts

Rds 9+ = 1pt

Veterans increase at a rate of 1 point per year owned, capping at 7pts. Rookies increase at a rate of 2pts per year, capping at 7.

Heading into year 4 now, we haven't had any issues with have's/have not's, aside from owners just making poor or great decisions. So far, the system has worked great. The draft is pretty top heavy each year, giving the worst teams a decided advantage each season in their quest to rebuild. Traded players maintain their status as far as years of ownership, so last year we had an interesting trade deadline with teams selling "rentals" for prospective long term help, which was fun. Waiver/free agent pick ups start at 1 point, so a keen eye can really end up with a cheap gem (Vick, Blount). It's different, but I just didn't like the preferred "lose a draft pick" method of keeper leagues.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
We have 18 player rosters. We order the roster in descending order of fantasy points, and split it into three equal tiers. Each tier of players is assigned a keeper value from 6 down to 1. A team can keep 7 keeper points of value in the top tier, and they can keep 6 keeper points of value in each of the next two tiers. You have to keep at least one player from each tier. We have teams keeping anywhere from 4 to 8 players this year.

I modified our older, similar system in order to get more talent back into the redraft pool. It seems to have worked. Before I'd be crossing off the first thirty players in a draft. Now, it is at least spread out a bit more. I've also noticed a lot more trading going on pre-draft after keepers have been selected. I don't understand the dynamics of why that is compared to the old system.

 
I didn't get a chance to read everyone's responses, but my personal opinion is to keep things simple. Don't make it difficult to remember where keepers are kept from etc, where they count against next years draft, and how long they're kept.

I ran a league such as that and it made it difficult to run and for owners to keep track of. Specify how many keepers you can have, and keep it at that. You may think, well that seems pretty boring, but think about the value it adds to trading for younger guys. You keep three players and you might let go of a RB aged 29 who may seem at the top of his game for a lesser known RB whos 24, but you're taking the chance that the younger RB will get you more value than the RB who may hit that magical age.

If you allow trading draft picks, make that also simple. It will inevitably happen that one team will have more keeper type players than allowed. If they want to trade their players for picks, great. You can only trade players for next years draft and not after. You can only have 2 picks in each round. Nothing else. Keep the draft interesting with players that teams are excited to draft.

 
In our league we can only keep a 0-1 players and keepers count 3 rounds earlier than drafted.

Players drafted in the first 3 rounds of the previous year cannot be kept.

Players taken off the waiver wire count as being drafted in the 11th round (Michael Vick was a steal this year!)

A keeper can only be kept a maximum of 3 years in a row.

In trades, draft slot follows the player.

Keeper positions are determined by week 14 rosters - keeps owners from stashing a late injury.

We have an IR spot and thin rosters (14 players) so nobody ever picks up an injured player for the next year.

I like the idea of a dropped player following his draft slot.

I import DD into EXCEL as a starting spot, do the same for week 14 rosters, and show dropped players as crossed out and FA's as Slot 11 and then a column showing years kepts and keeper round for current year. Takes me about 30 minutes to put it together... interesting exercise shows who kept the majority of their draft and who turned their over...

Since you don't have to declare a keeper, we make keeper declaration mandatory before redraft order is determined. But only I know who is being kept, and I declare when I send out the initial email.

 
draft round minus three, so players in 1-3 can't be kept....if the player touches the ww he isn't eligible to be kept....

 
i read all this and great comments but when do you declare your keepers? the day of the draft, 2 weeks before the draft?

 
redBourne said:
I didn't get a chance to read everyone's responses, but my personal opinion is to keep things simple. Don't make it difficult to remember where keepers are kept from etc, where they count against next years draft, and how long they're kept. I ran a league such as that and it made it difficult to run and for owners to keep track of. Specify how many keepers you can have, and keep it at that. You may think, well that seems pretty boring, but think about the value it adds to trading for younger guys. You keep three players and you might let go of a RB aged 29 who may seem at the top of his game for a lesser known RB whos 24, but you're taking the chance that the younger RB will get you more value than the RB who may hit that magical age. If you allow trading draft picks, make that also simple. It will inevitably happen that one team will have more keeper type players than allowed. If they want to trade their players for picks, great. You can only trade players for next years draft and not after. You can only have 2 picks in each round. Nothing else. Keep the draft interesting with players that teams are excited to draft.
Click to expand...
This is how you do it. By far the best keeper format regardless of how many players are kept. Helps develop team identity if you can keep the same player for years. It's kind of cool for a player to stay on the same team for 6+ years rather than be forced back into the player pool after a few years. It is a keeper league, why force teams to give back players? Oh yeah, socialism/parity. Meh. If you want everybody to have a crack at a player then play redraft auction leagues. If you want to play in a keeper league, let teams keep their players indefinitely.

 
12 teams; start 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DST; total roster of players 16.

Each team gets to keep four players.

Draft goes worst to first and snakes.

During the season each team gets one waiver pick per week- worst to first.

 
whitem0nkey said:
i read all this and great comments but when do you declare your keepers? the day of the draft, 2 weeks before the draft?
Click to expand...
I think they should be declared as close to the draft as allows time for the league to be made aware of who all is being kept, and then a bit of time for owners to do their draft prep based on that information.

I'd say keepers should be announced to the league a minimum of 2-3 days before the draft.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

hedzookeeper
Draft Dominator app draft settings question
Replies
19
Views
779
Joe Bryant
Joe Bryant
T
Deshaun Watson vs. Jared Goff
Replies
9
Views
2K
-OZ-
-OZ-
S
Keeper Choice- Chubb or Mattison
Replies
2
Views
386
RenegadeRoy
RenegadeRoy

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top