Snake or Straight?

[Steelersfan]

It's common knowledge that annual dynasty rookie/free agent drafts are straight in nature but what about keeper league drafts? I'm thinking that the amount of keepers play a major role in the decision so lets say 4-6 keepers for the polls sake...

Remember this is annual rookie/free agent drafts, not inuagural...

[blacksheep]

I'd go with a straight post-inaugural draft. I assume worst-to-first ranking. Allows the weaker teams to build, gives them something to look forward and avoid frustration within the league.

[Steelersfan]

In my local keeper league we keep 4 players and there is not that big of a difference between the keepers of the 1st place team and the last.

Here's the probable keepers from those two teams:

Last place: Brady, MJD, Greene, Bowe
First place: Ch. Johnson, Austin, Marshall, Wells

We snake the draft after the 1st round...

[blacksheep]

In my local keeper league we keep 4 players and there is not that big of a difference between the keepers of the 1st place team and the last.

Here's the probable keepers from those two teams:

Last place: Brady, MJD, Greene, Bowe
First place: Ch. Johnson, Austin, Marshall, Wells

We snake the draft after the 1st round...

Thats not a bad compromise

[Steelersfan]

In my local keeper league we keep 4 players and there is not that big of a difference between the keepers of the 1st place team and the last.

Here's the probable keepers from those two teams:

Last place: Brady, MJD, Greene, Bowe
First place: Ch. Johnson, Austin, Marshall, Wells

We snake the draft after the 1st round...

Thats not a bad compromise

We're exanding the keepers to 5 after this season (started with 3 in 2006 so at this rate we will be a dynasty league by 2030... ) so maybe there will a greater difference in keepers then.

[Misfit74]

Keeper leagues that I have been in have always snaked. Worst to first and snake draft.

[skip]

I keep our keeper leagues simple...min keepers 0, max up to X number. For every player you keep you lose a draft pick starting in rd 1. Snake after that. I don't think a straight draft is beneficial at all in a keeper league.

[meineymoe]

Keeper leagues that I have been in have always snaked. Worst to first and snake draft.

ditto. -oo-

[rkrazy]

Keeper leagues with 1-6 players kept should only use snake drafts. In these cases the teams don't keep enough players to have a dominant roster - although with 6 keepers and snake draft you could argue someone will turn into a dominating team eventually. The higher the number of keepers the more established the rosters are so a stacked team can remain stacked for multiple seasons. Above 6 keepers I think straight drafts are in order to ensure some balance over the years. I think the number of teams in the league should be taken into account also when defining draft type.

I play in a 10-team keeper where each team keeps 14 and we do straight drafts (rook only followed by FA/rook). DLF keeper is also straight draft, we keep 10.

[meineymoe]

If you keep double-digit players, then you are closer to a dynasty league than a keeper league. Just saying.

-oo-

[Phish Brigade]

I found it hard to vote on that one.

Assuming that the players kept cost you a top pick no matter what like skip's league( 4 keepers, no picks in the first 4 rounds ), then I'd snake it.

But in our keeper league, you forfeit a pick in the round the player was kept. ( actually, it will escalate by 1 round each year now ) So we decided to also change the draft format to go straight for the first 3 rounds and then snake from there. Any of you guys ever tried that? It's worth noting that you can't keep anyone drafted in the first 2 rounds with these new rules.

[RobertBobson]

I found it hard to vote on that one.

Assuming that the players kept cost you a top pick no matter what like skip's league( 4 keepers, no picks in the first 4 rounds ), then I'd snake it.

But in our keeper league, you forfeit a pick in the round the player was kept. ( actually, it will escalate by 1 round each year now ) So we decided to also change the draft format to go straight for the first 3 rounds and then snake from there. Any of you guys ever tried that? It's worth noting that you can't keep anyone drafted in the first 2 rounds with these new rules.

I've been in a similar league that was straight the first two rounds, then snaked.

[Phish Brigade]

I found it hard to vote on that one.

Assuming that the players kept cost you a top pick no matter what like skip's league( 4 keepers, no picks in the first 4 rounds ), then I'd snake it.

But in our keeper league, you forfeit a pick in the round the player was kept. ( actually, it will escalate by 1 round each year now ) So we decided to also change the draft format to go straight for the first 3 rounds and then snake from there. Any of you guys ever tried that? It's worth noting that you can't keep anyone drafted in the first 2 rounds with these new rules.

I've been in a similar league that was straight the first two rounds, then snaked.

Ya, we thought about just doing two rounds. We've always had our keeper rules set so that there would be some studs in the draft each year. This will definitely ensure that happens. We changed the scroing to PPR as well, so we're starting over with a brand new draft. I'm thinking it will work pretty well and keep our live draft fun.