For All Members
Keeper System
Keepers let you hold on to a player from year to year. Keeping a player costs you a draft pick, based on the round where he was drafted.
How Keepers Work
Before each draft, managers declare their keepers in the Sleeper app. A kept player comes off the draft board, and the manager gives up a pick in the round set by the keeper rules.
Keeper Cost
The standard rule: a keeper costs the pick two rounds above where he was drafted last season.
Example: a player you drafted in Round 6 last year costs your Round 4 pick to keep this year.
Special Cases
| Situation | Cost |
|---|---|
| Player was a free agent (undrafted) | A set round, 5 by default |
| Player was drafted in Round 1 or 2 | Ineligible, can't be kept |
| Player was already a keeper last year | His keeper pick last year counts as his draft round, so the cost moves up again. Kept in Round 4 last year means Round 2 this year. |
The commissioner sets these values each season:
- how many rounds above the draft round a keeper costs (2 by default)
- the free-agent round (5 by default)
- the last round that's ineligible (Round 2 by default)
The current values are shown on the Keepers pages.
Viewing Keepers
Current Declarations
Keepers → Current Declarations works as a draft assistant for the upcoming season. For every manager's roster it shows:
- each player's name, position and NFL team
- the round he was drafted in, or "free agent"
- the round he would cost to keep
- whether he's Ineligible
- which players are currently declared as keepers in Sleeper
Before Sleeper rolls the league over to the new season, this page uses the just-finished season's rosters and draft as a preview.
Keeper History
The main Keepers page shows every season's keeper declarations across the league, with each keeper's previous draft round and what he cost. It's useful for spotting who keeps well and which players keep getting kept.
Ineligible Players
A player can't be kept if:
- he was drafted in the ineligible rounds (Rounds 1–2 by default), or
- his cost would be earlier than Round 1.
If your intended keeper is ineligible, choose someone else or go into the draft without one. Contact the commissioner if you think there's a mistake.
When Keepers Are Set
Keepers are read from Sleeper automatically. Designate your keeper in the Sleeper app before the deadline the commissioner announces.
For Commissioners
Set the season's keeper rules under Commissioner → Keeper Rules (/keepers/config/).