Player Appreciation
I’ve been playing Fantasy Football from the very beginning of it’s development. I always enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until the advent of Keeper Leagues that it became a true love of mine. Being a part of a league that allows you to retain a couple players from season to season provides you with a small taste of what it feels like to be a general manager in the NFL. How long do you continue to keep that Star Player that’s done so well for you year after year? When is it time to let go, and grab a young hungry player with talent looking to make a name for themselves? What if your Star Player gets hurt and misses the second half of the season? Do you trust that he will come back healthy, or do you trade him while there’s still some Managers willing to gamble? These are all questions that you will have to answer at some point if you are in a Keeper League.
Draft Pick Value
Another key aspect to Keeper Leagues that make them far more appealing to me is the ability to trade Draft Picks. Each year leading up to the Fantasy Football Season you can find loads of information on the perceived Draft Value of each Player. What you won’t find is how much each of your future Draft Picks could be worth during the Regular Season. This makes understanding how many Star Players are about to enter the NFL at each Fantasy relevant position next Season. It’s also important to know how many top level Fantasy Football Players there are in the League. To make it easier to understand why I’ll provide you with an example.
Lets assume that there will be one Star rookie Running Back, and one Star rookie Wide Receiver entering the league. Currently there are 30 Top level Fantasy Football Players in the NFL already. There are also 2 Star Players returning from injury. Now assume that you are in a 12 team league that allows you to keep 2 Players. That would mean that 24 of the Top 32 projected Stars are already spoken for. Depending on how much you trust Players returning from injury. It would only leave a possible 10 Star Players remaining. Once those Players have been selected the remaining Players available are Second level Players, and you estimate that there are at least 30 of them. This means that your 2nd Round Pick has a similar value to your 3rd, and maybe even your 4th Round Pick. It also means that the last two Picks in the first Round actually only have a 2nd or 3rd Round value to them.
Now what does this mean to a Manager in a Keeper League? Well if you have already secured a Playoff spot in this League, but 1 or 2 more wins will guarantee you a First Round Bye. It might be worth it to trade your 1rst Round Pick and a Player off your bench for a 3rd Round Pick and a Star Player. Provided you make the Final in this League your 1rst Round Pick will be one of the last two. In other words the 11th or 12th. This means that it’s actual value isn’t much better than a 3rd Round Pick anyways. If you don’t trust Players returning from injury than you could get knocked out in the Semifinals, and still feel good about your trade. It also provides you with one more option of who to keep for next Season.
Division Rivalry
It’s possible to develop rivalries in Redraft Leagues. It’s just not the same as having Divisional Rivalries in Keeper Leagues though. In a Redraft League it wouldn’t bother me to make a fair trade with a Manager that defeated me last Season. In my Keeper Leagues though I’m wary of trading a potentially dangerous Player to a Manager in my division. I’ve actually accepted worse offers from Managers playing against my Rivals in order to hopefully provide them with a win over my divisional opponent. If a Star Player on a Rival’s team gets injured. I check the waiver wire to see how many decent replacement Players are available. If there’s only 1 or 2 I’ll try to snatch them up. That way my Rival is forced to either make a trade from a position of weakness, or accept having a very weak spot on their team. No way I go to that extent in Redraft Leagues.
Bragging Rights
There’s nothing worse than joining a Redraft League when there are only 4 ridiculously obvious Fantasy Football studs and you unfortunately get the 5th Pick. Ultimately when one of the Managers who were lucky enough to get a pick in the first four wins. They can’t resist bragging about how much of a Fantasy genius they are. Well in Keeper Leagues winning requires a lot more than luck. Your draft position is determined by the Season before. You had better have made the necessary moves to ensure your next Season isn’t a losing one. That could mean trading for a fantastic young Player to fill a Keeper position for years. It could mean trading out of the first or second Round to get more middle Round Picks in order to build a team with a lot of depth. If you really want to be successful in a Keeper League, moves must be made. If that’s not your thing? By all means join a Redraft League.
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