Each team in the league selects five (5) keeper(s)/player(s) from their current year’s roster to carry over to next season. Once keepers have been designated by team owners, they are protected and not allowed to be drafted by any other team. Keepers are designated by each team’s draft position based on the exact RD he was drafted originally. For example, if you drafted a player in RD 1 and you decide to keep that player, you would use your RD 1 pick the following season to protect him.
You may keep the same player based on his original draft position for an additional 3 seasons (including the season you drafted the player). For example, if you drafted a player in RD 2 in 2008 and you intend to keep him for the maximum season allowed, you will use him as a RD 2 pick in the following seasons 2009, 2010, 2011. You will no longer have rights to that player in 2012.
Keeping Multiple Players drafted in the Same Round
Unlike keeping players/keepers from later Rounds, in order to keep multiple 1st RD Keepers, you MUST have the available 1st RD draft selection(s). When keeping multiple players from the same round, the team is required to use succession rounds in the reverse order. For example, if you have three players drafted in the 3rd RD that you want to keep, you will use your team’s selection in Round 3, Round 2 and Round 1 to keep all three players. In this same scenario, you will not be able to keep your 2nd RD Keeper or 1st RD Keeper if you do not possess additional selections for those Rounds.
The main objective of this keeper league format is to reward teams’ ability to draft well, especially in middle to late rounds. The more “diamonds in the rough” your team drafts, the better your chances of keeping them without exhausting a high round selection. It’s easy for team to find a great player when drafting in Rounds 1 – 4. Most teams tend to find it more challenging when drafting in the middle to late rounds when all the popular and proven players are gone.
Teams are not required to designate any keepers if you do not find any of your players worth keeping. All players that are not protected or kept are then placed back into the Free Agent pool for next season’s draft
