Need some advice on Keeper League setup.

[No Quarter]

I have played in a 12 team redraft league for the last 12 years. Great group of guys with very little turnover. The money is small, but the smack talk and good natured beer bets are large! Last year before the draft, we discussed and agreed that this year we would turn it into a keeper league, starting with one player this year. So now we are trying to decide how it should work and I could use some advice on how these type of leagues typically work. The comish has decided that we draft in the reverse order of last years finish. I think everyone is ok with that. Then he suggested that we keep the same draft position for every round just like the NFL instead of snaking. Naturally the back half of the draft, including myself is against that idea since we are only keeping one player, not the whole team. I think we can vote that one down. But the real question we face now is, should it be mandatory or optional to keep a player? What about how many season's you can keep the same player? Any other snags we are likely to encounter while switching to this format? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

[BetterOff]

My league also has reverse order from the finish which seems to work ok.

 

As for things to look for, first make sure you document the way its going to be run. It seems like every year in my keep league the person with the worst keeper choices tries to weasel the keeper rules in his favor. Unfortunately the commish did not document the rules till this years draft and we ended up spending an hour re-hashing the rules.

 

Although my league did not implement this rule I like the losing the pick for the round you drafted the keeper. Then each year increase that round so that the elite players can come up for draft again. Not that I am complaining as I have had LT since his rookie year

[No Quarter]

Thanks for the reply. I was also in favor of losing the pick in the round you drafted your keeper or even the one before it but got shot down by the majority. It has to be your first round pick. Is it mandatory in your league to keep a player or optional? Just trying to help the league work better. Pesonally, I'm in the number 8 slot and my keeper would be Fast Willie, who I would probably take at that point anyway, so I can be fairly objective.

[BetterOff]

Actually we have two keepers. The first is mandatory but the second is optional.

 

At the beginning of the draft you announce who you are keeping/protecting. After you choose the first round keeper you have to declare if you are keeping your second round or pick from the pool of remaining players. It works well for the teams that didn't have a stellar draft the previous year.

[lekraus]

I have played in a 12 team redraft league for the last 12 years. Great group of guys with very little turnover. The money is small, but the smack talk and good natured beer bets are large! Last year before the draft, we discussed and agreed that this year we would turn it into a keeper league, starting with one player this year. So now we are trying to decide how it should work and I could use some advice on how these type of leagues typically work. The comish has decided that we draft in the reverse order of last years finish. I think everyone is ok with that. Then he suggested that we keep the same draft position for every round just like the NFL instead of snaking. Naturally the back half of the draft, including myself is against that idea since we are only keeping one player, not the whole team. I think we can vote that one down. But the real question we face now is, should it be mandatory or optional to keep a player? What about how many season's you can keep the same player? Any other snags we are likely to encounter while switching to this format? Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks.

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we had a keeper league and it was a two player optional but they couldn't both be QB's or RB's only 1 from any catagory. we then had a 2 round replacement draft to replace the 2 that you could or would drop. the draft was in reverse order of finish and if team 2 and 5 released all of their players and team 7 kept one team 2 and 5 would draft 1 player then the 3 teams would go in reverse order for the last player. it gets complicated but it seemed to be the fairest. anyway after the predraft was done the regular draft was done by drawing cards and the normal to to bottom then bottom to top draft as normal.

[satelliteoflovegm]

This is copied from our constitution, it might fit your needs or give you some ideas. We don't lose draft picks in place of keepers.

 

Section 3: THE DRAFT

 

3.1 Rounds 1-5

 

A. Weighted and based on previous year's seedings.

B. Picks in rounds 1-5 can be traded.

 

3.2 Rounds 6, 7, and 8

 

A. These rounds are serpentined and round 6 starts with the highest seeded pre-trade team down to the lowest seeded team from the previous season.

B. Round 7 begins with the lowest seeded team from previous season.

C. Round 8 begins with highest seeded team from previous season.

 

3.3 Supplemental rounds 9, 10, and 11

 

A. Round 9 begins with highest seeded team and serpentines until the conclusion of the draft.

B. The draft can be extended if teams, because of trades, have less than 16 players.

 

3.4 Draft procedure

 

A. Starting with your original 5 protected players made up of 1QB, 1RB, 1WR, and 2 of 3 tightend, kicker, or defense you draft until you fill out your roster of 13 players. For some teams this will happen sooner than round 8 because of trades. Some teams having less picks will not reach 13 players at this time. The 13 players must consist of 2QB, 3RB, 3WR, 2TE, 2 K, and 1 defense.

B. The supplemental rounds have no restrictions on player positions taken. Including teams that begin the supplemental rounds with less than the required players and positions. The only restrictions being final rosters must have the following minimums, 2QB, 3RB, 3WR, 2TE, 2K, and a defense.

C. Teams with less than 16 players at the conclusion of round 11 may participate in additional supplemental rounds following the established serpentine pattern of rounds 9, 10, and 11.

D. Rosters are limited to 16 players

 

3.5 Leaving the draft early

 

A. Teams may leave the draft early for personal reasons.

B. Teams that leave before having 13 players can fill their roster through the commissioner up to 13 players and those fees will be waived.

C. Teams leaving the draft without selecting their supplemental picks must do so through the first waiver process with the associated fees. The first waivers will run about 48 hours after the draft. The initial waiver order will be from highest seeded team to lowest seeded team, the order of round 6 for example.

[slinger]

Keeper & Auction League here.

 

We keep 2 players each year, it is mandatory you must keep two players. You can keep a player on your roster for a maximum of three season before he must go back into the pool [the draft season counts as season one]

 

I've been in a card draft keeper league in the past [mandatory keeping two players], it was the snake type draft. It was okay doing it that way. If it would depend who was available that year if having the first pick was a bonus or not. Because it was a long wait until your pick in round 2.

 

If you do make it optional to keep players, you will have to make your rules clear as has been stated. There are many variations to the rules once you make keeping players optional. You'll have to do your research, but my guess is time is running out before draft day and you'll have to decide quickly.

[kcmast]

Thanks for the reply. I was also in favor of losing the pick in the round you drafted your keeper or even the one before it but got shot down by the majority. It has to be your first round pick. Is it mandatory in your league to keep a player or optional? Just trying to help the league work better. Pesonally, I'm in the number 8 slot and my keeper would be Fast Willie, who I would probably take at that point anyway, so I can be fairly objective.

You have to keep your first round pick? That's a horrible rule.

 

My league gives up the round pick you originally drafted the player in (2 keepers, one from rounds 1-11, one from 12-22). Since that failed, my next choice would be you just keep any one player off your roster. We also don't mandate any keepers.

[cmoore]

I run a 10 team keeper league in it's 4th year. Started it after playing in 12 team redraft for a while. Here is a link to the bylaws if you are interested

 

Link

 

some other advice...

-we limit waivers to one per week. If you open it too much, it devalues the draft and minimizes trades.

-we slot draft from the previous years playoff and try to give incentive for people to win their games late in the season. You get to choose earlier by going deeper into the playoffs (excluding the people who place in the money, they pick at the end).

[NatiTime]

We keep 3 players. I think the biggest thing with a keeper league is you have to setup a way for the studs to get moved around to other teams otherwise you will have one team keep LT for 20 years...not cool. So this is how we did it:

 

We took each postion and split the rankings into tiers for EX:

 

RBs Tier 1 = 1-10 Teir 2 11-24 Teir 3 25-36

 

So once your running back has been in teir 1 for two years (doesn't have to be consecutive) you can not keep him. You are allowed to trade him before the keeper selection deadline, but he either gets traded or gets dumped into the draft. For Tier 2 its 3 years and Teir3 its four years. It works good except some would reather have them just dumped into the draft instead of being traded. Theirs Teirs for every position too.