A Theory on Keeper Leagues Players Rankings

The Keeper leagues are becoming more and more popular in Fantasy Football. In case you are some what new to Fantasy Football and do not know what a Keeper League is, let me explain.

Of course, all Keeper Leagues have their own set of rules, but the basic story line is that after each season, each owner gets to retain the right to a set number of players for the next season. For example, I am in a Keeper League with my brothers and some friends. In our rules, we can keep two players. Having Ladanian Tomlinson and Brandon Jacobs on my team, I will very likely make those two players my keepers. So when we draft our new teams for the new season, the draft will begin with those two players already on my roster.

With the Keeper Leagues becoming more and more popular, I am seeing more and more sites offer two sets of rankings. Keeper Rankings and ReDraft rankings. The "ReDraft" rankings being for leagues that start fresh and completely do a whole new draft every year. I was considering this fact when a thought occurred to me. How much of a difference does the Keeper Draft make in a players rankings?

Most people will automatically think it would make a lot of difference. Older players for instance who are winding down in their careers would not rank as high as many younger players who are still to reach their potential. I would urge one to slow down, take a breath, and think again.

In reality, there are only two areas where the Keeper rankings would... or should differ from redraft Player Rankings. Rookie Running Backs and the top 24 to 36 players. Maybe more, depending on how many players a team is allowed to keep in their league. In my leagues case, with twelve teams being allowed to keep 2 players, only the top 24 players will be effected in the rankings.

If you are looking at a sites Cheat Sheets and find that a middle ranged player who is not a rookie running back is effected, find another sites cheatsheets... preferably mine... because whoever made those rankings up did not truly think it through.

If a league of ten teams allows two keepers, why would the 25th ranked player change from one list to another? You are not going to look to keep him. The only players who will be kept are the top 20 players. Sure there is the chance that a player who was drafted later than 20th might end up a star and be a keeper, in fact it is probable, but nobody knows who that will be. When you are drafting, you have your idea of the top 20 players and in your mind, those are the keepers.

As for rookie Running Backs, they are effected because they have a higher ceiling of growth and are more possible to become a star player who is worth keeping. The odds of a rookie Quarterback or rookie Wide Receiver becoming a keeper is highly unlikely.

So other than the top 20 to 30 stars and maybe 5 rookie runningbacks, nobody else should be effected by the keeper rankings. That is only 25 to 35 players out of 200 to 300 players that will be drafted.

If you think even deeper, you will find that list slims down even more. Any players with 2 to 10 years of experience should not be effected much. In this case, the only players who will jump around in the rankings, in the top 35 players, are the older players. For instance, lets say you are extremely high on Brett Favre if he plays for Minnesota. I would tell you right now, do not draft him in the top twenty, but lets say you have him in the top 30 and your league allows three keepers. In such a case, you might consider dropping Favre down some because there is a high probability that he could retire (I mean for good) and you will lose him anyway. So why not draft a younger player who might be worth keeping for the next coming season? So far, in my opinion, there is not a player in the top 30 who I think is in the last year of his stardom. So in my opinion, I would not even bother looking for a difference in the rankings from keeper or redraft rankings.

This year the only players I would adjust between the two are the rookie running backs. In a redraft, I would not consider taking them too high, but if you are in a keeper league, they might be worth taking earlier because one could turn out to be the next big star and you would want him on your team to keep.

Personally, I love Keeper Leagues in Fantasy Football. However, I fail to see much of an importance in worrying about the differences in Fantasy Football Cheatsheet rankings. The only ones I truly look at are the Rookie Runningbacks who are suppose to start the season as the go to guy on their respective team.