Occasionally, I see post of questions about the conversion of a
regular draft league into a keeper's style. There are a hundred
questions that need to be addressed before you can successfully
attempt this. These questions are not the point of this missive.
I would like to suggest a fun and easy way to make the transition.
The next two weekends are the target. Either the Super Bowl or the
Pro Bowl offers a great opportunity to reassemble the old crowd
and commence the conversion to a keeper's league. The Super Bowl
is the perfect time, with all of the inane pregame, the pre-pregame
and the pre-pre-pregame shows. Let this serve as a backdrop for
your conversion.
The first step is to decide if the scoring rules change. I would
suggest that they stay the same. Next each team making the transition
designates ONE and only one keeper for this special draft. Your
rules can set different limits on the number of keepers in following
seasons. Why only one keeper? For three very important reasons:
it helps rectify the complaint that owners would draft differently
if they knew it was a keepers league; it allows each team to retain
a favorite player; and it dismantles the current championship team
so that the league is not formed with a dynasty already in place.
Now all your friends are gathered and have declared one player to
retain. In the spirit of cooperation, every team must retain one
player. The question is where do we go from here? Take last season's
record. Start a zipper draft with the worst to first taking the
first round and reversing it on the even rounds. This will continue
for 10-12 rounds. You can draft any players of legal positions.
EXAMPLE: if you allow defenses, or defensive players, you can draft
them as well. These 10-12 players becomes the core of your off season
roster.
Your league has a roster to play with during the draft/trade/free
agent period. Be sure to set the rules for trades before the evening
is over. I suggest the following:
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All off-season trades must be submitted
to the league for approval. |
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A 50% vote against a trade will cancel
it. |
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No other access to free agents or players
not currently on a team is allowed until the August draft. |
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The league has 2 weeks to review and
reject a proposed trade. |
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If a decision has not been reached or
announced in the 2-week period, the trade is completed. |
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Establish a deadline for the league
to cut down to the number of players you will keep in the
following seasons. EXAMPLE: This season we have agreed to
keep one player and draft 10 or 12 more. At the deadline we
will cut down to 6 players, which is the number of keepers
we will retain every season until the league disbands. |
That should cover you until the regular season arrives. You
should not retain more than one player if you are trying to convert
from a draft to a keeper's league because of players like Steve
Young. No one I know who plays in keeper leagues would have made
Steve a first, second or third round choice with his injury history,
but someone in your league may have taken him early. To insure
the best possible transition, you need to be fair to all. And
to those who would like to "lock in" their dynasty team, I say,
have more faith in yourself. You can do it again.
Just my thoughts…
:: comments to dan
sez
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