2017 Keeper Report

I had the best intentions to get this thing done for a Saturday release. And then, someone traded a keeper and… well, I didn’t really change anything. I’m sure there would be some mathematical formula to rank these keepers, but I basically took the approach of the more points you get from the later the draft spot, the better the keeper. And so...

How are the keepers doing?

Here’s a look at how people’s keepers are doing so far this year.

Owner	Player	Keeper Round	Position Rank	Good keeper?
Chris	DeMarco Murray	7	RB18	Yes
Tim	David Johnson	12	INJ	N/A
Provost	Cam Newton	8	QB9	Meh
Nash	Antonio Brown	1	WR1	Yup
Kevin	Jordan Howard	8	RB9	Yup
Ryan	Odell Beckham	1	INJ	N/A
Cusick	Doug Baldwin	13	WR17	Sure
Kyle	Isaiah Crowell	12	RB35	Hahaha
Pete	Le’Veon Bell	2	RB3	Uh-huh
Nate	Melvin Gordon	9	RB6	Yup

DeMarco Murray

He was the logical keeper for Boobies (heh) because of the round and the lack of keeper worthy players on the rest of his roster. In our league, Murray is a must-start RB2, who if he’d been available in the 7th round you’d have snapped him up. So, it’s a good keeper, but surely Boobies (heh) was hoping for more from last year’s RB5.

David Johnson/Odell Beckham

I call these keepers “N/A” because you can’t really rank their status as keeper because of injury. Both were pretty obvious keepers (Luck-less and Iron would not have gotten their player if they hadn’t kept him).

Cam Newton

I call this keeper “meh” because drafting a QB in the 8th round isn’t bad. It seemed odd when Provost kept Newton OVER Matt Ryan, who was a better QB last year, and had a lower round penalty. That move proved good, as Matt Ryan is QB21. So that makes it good. However, Kirk Cousins (QB6) and Dak Prescott (QB2) went in the 10th, and Carson Wentz (QB1) went in the 13th. He was the 72nd pick overall on average in ESPN leagues (putting him in our 7th round), and was the 4th QB off the board in our league (behind Brady, Rodgers and Matt Ryan). He probably could have drafted Newton in this same spot (instead of using the keeper on him), which sort of negates the strategy of the keeper. So I give it a C+; only slightly above average, given the other parameters.

Antonio Brown

Certainly a top keeper, though doesn’t have the added round value of some others. But AB is far and away the top player at his position, and whatever spot you can keep that makes sense. Especially when you wind up picking 8th overall, to get a guy who would have been a top 3 pick is worth it. Other possibles for The Heroes: Devonta Freeman (2nd round keeper, drafted in the 1st round this year) or Tyreek Hill (8th round keeper, drafted in the 3rd this year). But like I said, when you can keep a talent as generational as Antonio Brown, you do it.

Jordan Howard

This is a good keeper, despite the inconsistency. LeSean McCoy would have been third round keeper (could have been 4, if Zeddemore had drafted that way); Todd Gurley would have been a 5th round keeper. (Though after last year, I understand why this wasn’t really a consideration: why keep a player you think will be ineffective?) But to get an RB1 (anyone in the top 10 RBs in our 10-team league) in the 8th round is kind of a no-brainer. The downside: this RB9 is 61 points BELOW the RB1/2. He’s just not scoring a ton of points. It’s too easy to call it a bad keeper; the reality is, he was the RB9 last year, and that’s a good 8th round value.

Doug Baldwin

This is another case of keeping a player with highest upside for the round he can be kept. Baldwin, at WR17 and a known quantity, would never be able to be drafted in the 13th round. It’s not unheard of to get a WR17 that late in a draft: shoot, Baldwin was the WR8 when he was drafted in the 14th round of 2015 (after Stephen Gostkoswki, Alfred Blue and Brandon LaFell). Since starting this write-up, Baldwin has been traded, and you’d think Luck-less would be looking at the keeper value as part of the reason (but he’s got David Johnson, so Baldwin will be available to be drafted next year). He was used to upgrade a Squad looking to make an upgrade, so I’d say this keeper certainly has value.

Isaiah Crowell

This keeper was easily the worst of all, especially when you consider he could have had Michael Thomas (currently WR22) a round earlier (he instead drafted him in the second round). Two of Reaper’s top 4 picks in 2016 and 2017 were the same players: Carlos Hyde and DeAndre Hopkins.But back to Crowell: he hasn’t scored double digit points all year, nor has he found the end zone. This is what happens when you play for the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad Browns offense. (Poor Saquon Barkley is going to go from one of the classic uniforms in football at Penn State to one of the worst in the Browns. They never should have changed from their classic version, but that’s for another day). I guess I can’t fault the logic (a starting RB for an NFL team available in the 12th round). But it’s the Browns.

Le’Veon Bell

You really can’t go wrong with Lev Bell as a keeper, especially in the second round. He’s in that Antonio Brown Department: if you have him, you keep him wherever you can. He’s the RB3 and has scored in single digits only once (Week 1). He’s 20 points behind the top 2 RBs, but he will likely narrow that gap as the season goes along. Not much analysis needed here. Pickles is just kind of lucky he was suspended to start the 2016 season, or he wouldn’t have been available in the 2nd round. It was shrewd drafting last year, taking him as the third pick in the 2nd.

Melvin Gordon

I’m pretty sure the reason Gordon was even available in the 9th round last year was because he scored literally ZERO touchdowns as a rookie, and his previous fantasy owner in our league did such a good job shit-talking him leading up to and during the draft that everyone stayed away. He was the RB8 last year (and he missed the last 4 games of the season, if I recall), and has been every bit the prospect the Chargers expected when they drafted him #15 overall. Another no brainer keeper really: a top 10 RB available in the 9th round? Kept every time.

Final Analysis

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that what are probably the two best value-based keepers (Bell in the 2nd, Gordon in the 9th) are on the rosters of probably the two best teams in the league. When you have a stud, you keep a stud. As late as you can.

New Keeper Prospects for 2018

• Leonard Fournette (2nd round)
• Maybe Deshaun Watson (8th round: since Scrote just traded for him)
• Dalvin Cook (3rd round: he showed enough that if he comes back from his ACL tear, he’ll be a steal here)
• Ezekiel Elliot (2nd, could have been 3rd, obviously fluid depending on the suspension situation)
• I’d say Carson Wentz in the 13th, but that’s Luck-less and no way he keeps him over DJ

Thanks guys! Enjoy your Sunday watching football!