As stated earlier, the CKL prides itself on being a progressive fantasy football league filled with active, involved, and knowledgeable coaches. Nowhere are these traits more evident than in the realm of talent acquisition. We draft prep early and often, we draft hard, we tackle FAAB with style and aplomb, and we make haymaker trades of the blockbustery variety. If you are the type of person who likes to draft a team and then simply ride that team to the finish line, you are either Derrick or you are a CKL also-ran.
Trading
The CKL prides itself on being a trade-happy league.
One of the unique things about the CKL is that every trade occurs instantaneously, skipping the veto process. If both sides agree to make a trade, it happens then and there. We trust all of our coaches to work in the best interests of their teams.
If a trade is deemed by the Commissioner to be made in bad faith (aka, collusion), both coaches will be banned from the CKL. Make trades! Make a crapload of them! But never make a trade for any other reason than you think it makes your team better, either now or in the future. We trust you completely... please never do anything to damage that trust.
We have three trading periods:
- Pre-draft, which runs from early Summer (after the CKL random schedule drawing) to the CKL Draft in mid-August. During this time, you can freely trade keepers, redshirts, and draft picks.
- Post-draft, which runs until the trade deadline, usually the week of Thanksgiving.
- COMING IN 2020: Post-season / pre-keeper trade period! Here's your chance to convert your five vaguely keeper-worthy players into three better keepers. Here's your chance to overcome the devastating injury suffered by one of your long-term keepers. Here's your chance and reason to stay involved in CKL fantasy football well after the end of the NFL season!
FAAB
Prior to the 2011 season, we chose to scrap our old-school waiver/free agent system in favor of a Free Agent Acquisition Budget (“FAAB”) system. Here is a brief synopsis of how FAAB works:
Each team has a season-long FAAB budget of $100. You submit a blind bid on any unowned players you wish to pick up and add to your roster. Your bids can range anywhere from $0 to the full remainder of your FAAB cash pool. The highest bidder is awarded the player, and the amount he bid is deducted from his FAAB pool. If there is a tie bid, the player is awarded to the team with the worst record at the time of the bid. Bids will be processed on Wednesday at 12:00 noon (EST), then again on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 12:00 noon (EST) to allow everyone the chance to fill out a complete roster.
In a nutshell, FAAB is a blind auction of free agents. It’s the best system for free agency / waiver claims, and has spawned a weekly CKL column written by Kendall -- "Wednesday FAABnalysis."
The Keeper and Redshirt System
Keepers… Each team must keep three players from their roster, to carry over from one season to the next. The keeper decisions are announced to the rest of the league in late Spring / early Summer, in an order determined by the consolation tournament winner.
Redshirts… Any player drafted in the double-digit rounds (10th thru 15th) may be declared the team's redshirt. That redshirt declaration process occurs directly following the draft. If a redshirted player is never dropped from a roster or inserted into a starting lineup, then he eligible to be carried into the next season as an additional keeper, forfeiting the pick from one draft round earlier than when he was selected. FOR EXAMPLE: The Magic Stick drafts John Ross III in the 10th round of the 2017 CKL Draft. Immediately following the draft, Russ declares JR3 to be his redshirt candidate for the 2017 season. Russ keeps JR3 on his bench all season, never drops him, never starts him. Russ then declares JR3 as his cultivated redshirt during the keeper declaration process in the spring of 2018, and Russ rolls into the 2018 season with four keepers instead of three! However, Russ must forfeit his 9th round pick in the 2018 CKL Draft, as he drafted Ross in the 10th round prior to redshirting him.
Redshirt candidates can be traded freely from team to team, but once a player is dropped from a roster altogether or inserted into a starting lineup, the redshirt is burned, and that player is no longer eligible to be carried into the next season as an additional keeper. Redshirts are only eligible to be kept for the season immediately following the season for which they were drafted. If a team acquires extra redshirts from the same draft round, then the fofeit picks rise another level. FOR EXAMPLE: If Russ trades in Cooper Kupp, who was Kendall's 10th round pick and subsequent redshirt candidate, then Russ would need to forfeit his 9th round pick to keep John Ross and his 8th round pick to keep Cooper Kupp. This makes sense, right? If not, ask Kendall.
The CKL Draft
The CKL Draft is typically held on a Friday night / Saturday afternoon in mid-to-late August, with rounds 1-5 on Friday and rounds 6-15 on Saturday.
Redshirt candidates can be traded freely from team to team, but once a player is dropped from a roster altogether or inserted into a starting lineup, the redshirt is burned, and that player is no longer eligible to be carried into the next season as an additional keeper. Redshirts are only eligible to be kept for the season immediately following the season for which they were drafted. If a team acquires extra redshirts from the same draft round, then the fofeit picks rise another level. FOR EXAMPLE: If Russ trades in Cooper Kupp, who was Kendall's 10th round pick and subsequent redshirt candidate, then Russ would need to forfeit his 9th round pick to keep John Ross and his 8th round pick to keep Cooper Kupp. This makes sense, right? If not, ask Kendall.
The CKL Draft
The CKL Draft is typically held on a Friday night / Saturday afternoon in mid-to-late August, with rounds 1-5 on Friday and rounds 6-15 on Saturday.
First and foremost, the CKL Draft is an annual EVENT; a celebration of the brotherhood that is the Cavalier Keeper League. You are expected to make any and all realistic and reasonable efforts to attend the live draft in person. To date, we have had one of our coaches - Ben - fly in from Missoula, Montana to attend the CKL live draft, NINE TIMES! And Corey flew in from Iowa twice, as well. That's the testament to how committed we are to the CKL Draft event. We also have folks driving in from DC, Virginia Beach, the Roanoke Valley, and Durham NC. We are serious about live drafting, face to face.
CKL Draft weekend usually includes activities on Friday night (bowling, beer pong, Risk, Settlers of Catan, etc.), Big Breakfast Saturday morning, the draft on Saturday (usually runs from 11:00 AM to around 4:30 PM), activities on Saturday night (bowling, Durham Bulls baseball game, brewery visit, $20 no-limit Texas Hold'em Tournament, etc.), and then Sunday morning departures. It's an action-packed weekend, and the event has grown to near-epic proportions.
Our history of draft weekend sites...
- 2001-2009 - Charlottesville, VA
- 2010 - Kendall's House in Charlottesville
- 2011 - Rookie's House in Durham
- 2012 - Rookie's House in Durham
- 2013 - National Harbor!
- 2014 - Kendall's House in RVA
- 2015 - Smith Mountain Lake!
- 2016 - Smith Mountain Lake!
- 2017 - Wintergreen and Breweries along the Nelson 151
- 2018 - Airbnb then Circuit Arcade Bar in Richmond
- 2019 - Airbnb then A Few Old Goats Brewing in Roanoke
- 2020 - Tang & Biscuit in Richmond
(((Where are we going next? Las Vegas? Missoula? Seattle? Baltimore? Charlotte? New Orleans?)))
If you can’t attend the draft in person, you must plan to participate remotely, via Google Doc.
If you can’t attend the draft in person, you must plan to participate remotely, via Google Doc.
Missing the draft altogether is grounds for immediate removal from the league.
The draft is 15 rounds long, which means up to 210 picks, plus redshirt declarations. This process is loooooooong. Allow for at least 5+ hours for the draft.
Come prepared! Please don’t spend much more than 45-60 seconds making each of your picks.
Just prior to the draft, all former CKL Cup winners come together to toast one another’s greatness and bask in the glory of the “Champions’ Toast.” (The liquor is chosen by and supplied by the previous season’s Cup winner.) All those who have yet to win a Cup look on with envy and hidden rage. One non-winner will be invited to partake in the Champions' Toast. It is up to that individual on whether to accept the toast and experience the good juju smiling down upon them, or be foolhardy and deny the toast and forsake the good graces of the league's former champions.
The Draft… We use a snaking draft, the order for which is determined by a combination of end-of-season final standings and a lottery system using odds dictated by those final standings (see the “Draft Lottery” section of the charter, below.) The order is for odd-numbered rounds, and reverses for even-numbered rounds. For example, if you pick #3 in the 1st round, you will pick #12 in the 2nd round, #3 in the 3rd, #12 in the 4th, etc.
Drafts from the Past:
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| These are slips of paper, not ping pong balls! But you get the idea. |
The Draft Lottery
Playoff teams are awarded the following picks in the upcoming draft:
- 1st place (CKL Cup Winner!) -- #13 overall pick
- 2nd place -- #14 overall pick
- 3rd place -- #11 overall pick
- 4th place -- #12 overall pick
- 5th place -- #9 overall pick
- 6th place -- #10 overall pick
The winner of the consolation tournament receives the #1 pick in the upcoming draft, along with the power to decide the keeper declaration order.
Otherwise, your draft lottery odds are based on "ping pong balls" (ala the NBA draft lottery), as follows:
- 7th place, conso winner -- #1 overall pick
- 8th place -- 5 balls, 20% chance for the #2 pick
- 9th place -- 5 balls, 20% chance for the #2 pick
- 10th place -- 3 balls, 12% chance for the #2 pick
- 11th place -- 5 balls, 20% chance for the #2 pick
- 12th place -- 3 balls, 12% chance for the #2 pick
- 13th place -- 3 balls, 12% chance for the #2 pick
- 14th place -- 1 pity ball, 4% chance for the #2 pick
Obviously, it behooves you to win as many games as possible if you fail to make the playoffs and are relegated to the conso tourney. Good luck! It’s a mess.
The CKL Draft Lottery is conducted after the conclusion of the new post-season / pre-keeper trade window.
Up Next: Part IV -- CKL Style and History
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