What is a Keeper League?

A fantasy football keeper league is just like a regular fantasy league
except team owners can protect ("keep") some players for the next
season. The most common form of fantasy football league is a redraft
league, where all players are eligible to be selected from
season-to-season in a snake draft format. The difference with a keeper
league is, team owners can select a certain number of players to be
kept from season to season and thereby make those players ineligible
for selection at the next year’s draft (or auction) by other fantasy
teams in their league. This is distinct from a dynasty league where
all players are kept from season to season.

There are two styles of keeper league. The most common is the "keep a
player - lose a pick" format. This format applies to leagues that
draft players in a snake draft. For example, a team owner can elect to
keep a player they selected in the first round of the previous year's
draft, and as a result, the team owner will lose their first round
pick in the next year's draft. The other style of keeper league is the
more simple format in which each team is allowed to keep X number of
players from season-to-season without regard to draft pick position.
This is especially typical in an auction league where draft position
does not apply.

Most keeper leagues will limit the number of seasons a player can be
kept by the same team. Three years seems to be the most typical
maximum duration for keeping a player.

The most long lived keeper and dynasty leagues tend to be formed among
a group of people that know each other well, like high school or
college buddies or family or work friends. It helps to have that
motivation if you’re in a rebuilding year.

Key characteristics:

* Option to keep player(s) from season to season
* Increased value of young players
* Necessitates planning for future seasons
* Requires more commitment from team owners