OT - Fantasy football keeper systems

[QuikSand]

This time of year, everyone's talking about fantasy football. I love it - have been playing since 1987. I have a long series of gut-wrenching stories about how I lost championships in the most improbable and absurd ways... and deep down, I think it's better that way.

Anyway - the thing that's really missing for me is a keeper element. I love my baseball keeper league, where we auction players and can keep them for the same dollar amount. But I have yet to get any enthusiasm for something similar in football.

I have sen plenty fo discussions here about football keepers, but it's always the same thing-- "I can keep [small number] guys - help me choose from [list of several star-caliber players]."

Nothing wrong with that - I'm sure everyone like to be able to keep a few star players. But it doesn't really capture the real essence of value-based keeper leagues, in my judgement. I have mark Teixeira for $1 in my baseball keeper league this year, and I'm positively giddy about it-- not because he'll be one of the 12 or 24 best AL players next year, but because at $1 he's a monster steal, a great value.


With all that - does anyone out there play in a keeper league that really rewards value in a way like this? Something like you lose the draft pick where you took the player... or even an auction-based league with keeper slots?

Just curious how well it works, and how it's set up. Any such keeper-friendly leagues online? (I know you can back-door it with a free site like Yahoo! if everyone cooperates)


Anyway... just some idle musings.

[TroyF]

QS,

I play in a league which has a full 53 man roster. The league is a full keeper league. It uses a salary cap + contract year limit to keep things fresh. There is a FA compensation system, a 7 round rookie draft and even a practice squad.

I love this league. It's one of the more enjoyable leagues I've ever been a part of. Downside? It costs 65 a year to play. No prize money to speak of. Still, I've had a lot of fun with it.

www.efsports.com

TroyF

[Ksyrup]

Holy cow. I never knew such a thing existed.

Do they do baseball or any other sports, or is it just strictly football? Do you know of a similar baseball league structure?

[TroyF]

They are currently working on a test baseball system. It should be launched by the beginning of next year.

TroyF

[henry296]

I know this isn't football, but our NBA league uses a good concept. You can keep a player for 2 rounds higher than you picked him last year. For example, to keep last years 3rd rounder will cost you a first. You can continue to keep for as many years but it moves up 2 years. 2 years ago 5th was kept for a 3rd last year and a 1st this year. We are starting to do this as business, check out www.kfba.net.

Todd

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by henry296
I know this isn't football, but our NBA league uses a good concept. You can keep a player for 2 rounds higher than you picked him last year. For example, to keep last years 3rd rounder will cost you a first. You can continue to keep for as many years but it moves up 2 years. 2 years ago 5th was kept for a 3rd last year and a 1st this year. We are starting to do this as business, check out www.kfba.net.

Todd So if you steal like Kurt Warner in 1999 in the 16th round, you can pick him this year in round 8, he'll be still a steal...
I guess this rewards people who are very lucky too much.
Kurt Warner should cost a top 25 pick without a doubt. (Okay, maybe this year is a bit different, but you get the point.)

A salary cap system might be a solution.
What if the draft has base salaries per pick, pretty much like the unofficial auto-salaries in the NFL Draft.
Maybe you can make it as easy as $5 (fictional million dollars) for a 1st rounder or $5 for a top 5 pick and putting salary figures lower in the next picks and rounds.
Then you could add salaries in the same ranges for last year's top fantasy performers, only to be paid when the players are kept. Like Terrell Owens and Priest Holmes could be costing $5.
Then keep in mind to have a salary cap at for example $2.5 per roster spot (so for 16 players the cap would be $40) and then never allow to downgrade salaries of kept players (If you keep Holmes in 2003 summer for $5, keeping him in summer of 2004 would still cost you $5, even if Larry Johnson takes over as #1 RB in KC or if Holmes becomes an average RB.)
That way, you have to balance out between keeping star players but also leaving enough room to make you draft selections signable. You could penalize teams who go over the cap by needing them to cut players or to forcome this not allow to make draft selections in rounds they can't pay. (Like if you have a cap of $40 with 16 rounds of drafting.)

What would be really interesting is adding the real life strucutre of having a preseason and cut teams to the eventual roster limitations. That way teams could still keep players and use a full draft. Make the cut day count for the salary cap.
For exmple, you need to go to 16 players, you have 17 signed and the only way to get under the $40 cap is to cut a player worth of $3+.

I think this way you can have both steals (providing they are unproven players) and keep star players. who could cost ya.

Personally I'd love to step into a league that has a rookie draft as well. For other players, you could use a FA bidding period with the highest bidder winng and making a rule to break ties if several teams bid the same amount.

Just some thoughts...

[Mustang]

We use a system similar to our fantasy baseball league.

2 QBs/3 RBs/3 WRs/2 TE/2 K/2 D

$150 salary cap (at the draft, removed during the season).

You have to keep a minimum of 4 players, maximum of 8 players and the money comes off your cap. At the 'draft', you can keep a player, long term him or keep but not long term. Players that are kept have their salaries go up $3/$4/$5 over 3 years and then are FA's. Players that are not long termed go up $3 and then are FA's.

Players that are not kept, Free Agents and Rookies are eligible to be bid on from the pool of money you have left. (Minimum bid $1 in $1 increments). A player picked up during the trading deadline (12 weeks) has a $5 value assigned.

A player picked up after the trading deadline has a $1 value assigned. (This way, a team out of contention has a way of 'rebuilding' from 2nd and 3rd string NFL teams and then the next year, they don't get hit with a $8 contract but, rather a $4 contract).

$2 Add. $2 Drop. $2 IR. $15 if you drop a long term contract. $100 entry fee.

Those are the basics... anyone want anything more indepth, let me know.


I'm screwed this year going in.

QBs - A. Brooks $23, C. Pennington $5
RBs - C. Martin $31, A. Zereoue $5, Duckett $1
WRs - T. Glenn $21, J. Smith $22, R. Gardner $4
TE - Shockey $10, E. Johnson $1
D - Carolina $5, Giants $1

Half my guys are either injured or suspended. The other half a bit pricey. Figure I'm keeping Brooks, Amos, Shockey and the Carolina D... not pretty but.. ahh well....

[Castlerock]

I am in a very competetive redraft league which I would not want to give up. We tried to make it a hybrid keeper league (you could keep up to 4 players) but it really wasn't fun. It went back to a complete redraft in a couple seasons.

Then the guys (like me) who wanted something more started a second league. It's a dynasty league. We have 16 teams and a 22 man in-season roster (which expands to 25 players off-season). We draft players as they come out of college and they are yours forever.

Check out Rob's article:
Thoughts on a Hybrid Keeper League (http://www.fantasysharks.com/artman/publish/article_51.htm).

Doug has an article on what is so great about a
Dynasty League (http://www.fantasysharks.com/artman/publish/article_35.htm).

My advice is to keep your re-draft league and ADD a second dynasty league.