If you’re in a keeper league and feeling lost, this is the post for you, We’ve just released a new fantasy football keeper calculator—a free tool that helps you make the smartest keeper decisions in just minutes.
In this blog post, we’ll cover what a keeper league is, discuss essential fantasy football keeper strategies, and introduce our fantasy football keeper analyzer tool that simplifies the decision-making process. By the end of this post, you’ll (hopefully) know enough to be dangerous, and then you can download the tool and start picking your keepers! Download the Fantasy Football Keeper Calculator.
What is a keeper league?
A keeper league is a type of fantasy football league where you can carry over a set number of players from one season to the next. This offers a unique challenge compared to standard leagues, as you must think long-term while managing your roster. Each keeper league has its own rules, which can vary widely. Some leagues allow you to keep just one or two players, while others might let you hold onto as many as five. The draft rules can also differ—some leagues require you to draft your keepers in the same round they were selected the previous year, while others might impose a penalty, like moving the draft round up a few spots.
Managing these keepers during the draft can be tricky, especially since most leagues require you to handle this process manually. This makes it crucial to have a fantasy football keeper strategy in place.
Fantasy football keeper strategy
When developing your fantasy football keeper strategy, the key is to compare the projected value of your potential keepers against the players likely available in the same draft round.
For example, suppose you have the option of keeping a first-tier running back who would be drafted in the fourth round and is projected to score ~150 points this season. Usually, in the fourth round, only second-tier running backs who would score ~100 points are being drafted because all of the tier-ones are gone. In this case, you should keep the first-tier running back – your team will benefit, to the total of roughly 50 points over the course of the season. You will your earlier picks to get other first-tier players.
On the other hand, let’s say you have the option of keeping a third-tier running back only projected to score ~80 points, again to be drafted in the fourth round. In this case, you should not keep the player – if you did your team would suffer to the tune of approximately 20 points. You would be able to use that 4th round to pick up a better player in the same position, so it’s out with the old, in with the new.
It’s relatively easy to get this kind of information by looking at the player’s Average Draft Position (ADP). ADP is the average round/position where a player is being selected across multiple mock drafts. Various fantasy football platforms like Sleeper, ESPN, and Yahoo all publish their ADP data (though it’s very messy). You can use this data to see where your potential keepers are likely to be drafted, and what other players are being drafted in various points throughout the draft.
A quick check is to see if your potential keepers’ ADP is more or less than the round where you are allowed to draft them. Going back to the first example, if your first-tier running back potential keeper’s ADP shows they are usually being drafted in the first round but you would be able to draft them in the fourth round, you should definitely keep him. If you didn’t keep him, you would lose the benefit of picking such a great player in the fourth round and using your first, second, and third picks on other top-tier players.
Or, you can download the Fantasy Football Keeper Calculator tool to decide for you
To make your keeper decisions easier, Draftblaze has developed a fantasy football keeper calculator. This Excel-based tool, which available as a free download, is designed as a fantasy football keeper analyzer to help you evaluate your options quickly and accurately.
The Calculator basically does all the strategic calculations I explained earlier automatically so you don’t need to break out your abacus. The calculator uses ADP data from various mock drafts, combined with Draftblaze’s custom projections, to assess each player’s value vs other players in your potential keepers’ draft rounds. Simply input the names of your potential keepers and the rounds in which they would be drafted. The calculator will provide recommendations on whether to keep a player or not and ranks your potential keepers by value.
Thanks for reading! You can download the fantasy football calculator (for free) here. As always, happy drafting, and message me on hello@draftblaze.com if you have questions or concerns.
