Keeper strats / thoughts?

[flm74 0]

Hey, this is my fourth year doing FF but my first in a keeper league. It's a new 12 team league. I have the 9th pick and I'm clueless who I should be looking at as far as drafting goes. If it was a redraft it would be much easier, so I was trying to find some veterans who could give some advice on planning a team for a keeper league. Any help would be appreciated.

[famousb 11]

Hey, this is my fourth year doing FF but my first in a keeper league. It's a new 12 team league. I have the 9th pick and I'm clueless who I should be looking at as far as drafting goes. If it was a redraft it would be much easier, so I was trying to find some veterans who could give some advice on planning a team for a keeper league. Any help would be appreciated.

 

in any league, your first objective should always be to win THIS year.

But in a keeper league you should also have in mind future years, which means there are other things to consider as well, age being the most predominant of these. Contract status and the direction their current team is going is another.

The length of how long you are allowed to keep someone also takes part, if you can keep someone indefinitely then young players fly off the board while owners are looking for the next big thing...

That said, young productive players who are looking to only get better usually go a little sooner than a standard redraft. At 9, Caddy/RB would be a solid pick, but both may actually be off the board by that time since they both have long careers ahead of them. All the rookie RBs will probably go a bit earlier than they should as well. In round 2, if you're looking at WR, LFitz would be a great pick because he's going to be good this year, and far into the future too. MHarrison is a great player THIS year, but his value for future years makes him slide a bit too.

Plus, when you're drafting, think about things like trade value. A guy that may be sitting behind an aging starter may not have much value this year, but could be great trade bait in the offseason if he goes to a new team or the starter retires.

so many things to consider, but first and foremost, worry about building a team that can win this year - but try to do it w/ younger players!

[CurleyQ 0]

in any league, your first objective should always be to win THIS year.

But in a keeper league you should also have in mind future years, which means there are other things to consider as well, age being the most predominant of these. Contract status and the direction their current team is going is another.

The length of how long you are allowed to keep someone also takes part, if you can keep someone indefinitely then young players fly off the board while owners are looking for the next big thing...

That said, young productive players who are looking to only get better usually go a little sooner than a standard redraft. At 9, Caddy/RB would be a solid pick, but both may actually be off the board by that time since they both have long careers ahead of them. All the rookie RBs will probably go a bit earlier than they should as well. In round 2, if you're looking at WR, LFitz would be a great pick because he's going to be good this year, and far into the future too. MHarrison is a great player THIS year, but his value for future years makes him slide a bit too.

Plus, when you're drafting, think about things like trade value. A guy that may be sitting behind an aging starter may not have much value this year, but could be great trade bait in the offseason if he goes to a new team or the starter retires.

so many things to consider, but first and foremost, worry about building a team that can win this year - but try to do it w/ younger players!

[CurleyQ 0]

Sorry. Screwed up my email. Not sure what happened.

 

I agree with the previous advice. In a re-draft league, you might be forced to take RB-RB in the first 2 rounds, but I think you are able to take the best guys (young and good performers) available in a keeper league. You have reasonable choices by taking either RB-RB or RB-WR in the first two rounds of a keeper league, depending on who is there. I would make sure i get at least one RB. In one start up league at the 1.09 last year, I took Chad J, because I was not crazy about the RBs available to me. I grabbed Caddy in the 2nd and along with some other good picks and trades I won the league last year. Of course, I also had Larry Johnson, which was huge.

 

I like Chad, S Smith and L Fitzgerald for WRs if you can grab one in the 2nd. Holt would be okay, also. At RB, I think going Jackson, Caddy or Rudi in round one is solid. Rudi gets very little love out there, but he is more than solid and young enough to make you very competitive this year at RB. Don't get too caught up with the Palmer injury. Over thinking is as bad as not thinking at all.

 

You should get 2 real good guys in the first two rounds. Rounds 3-7 are real key in keeper leagues, I have found. This is where the core of your team will be developed and real good starters. One piece of advice I have is to decide what you want to do at TE. If you get one of the top 3 guys, you probably have to take him somewhere between round 3-6. If you decide to wait you could find use those early rounds to take better backups and find a very serviceable TE in rounds 9-12.

 

You have to find some gems later on, also in 11-15 Guys like Mewelde Moore, Wilford, Simms can be very valuable, young, decent guys to add to your core team.

 

Good luck.