Keepers must be texted to Ben 24 hours before the draft. Teams are allowed to keep up to 5 players from their previous-year roster or player traded for during the off-season. Players who were drafted in the 1st or 2nd rounds of the fantasy draft cannot be kept. All players are assigned a keeper value based on where they were drafted and their previous keeper status. Keeper cost can only be paid for with a team's original draft pick. Picks that have been traded for, can not be used to pay for a keeper cost. If a team does not have their original draft pick in the round that a keeper is valued, they must pay a higher-round pick: Value stacks up, not down. Undrafted players who were added as free agents during the season are valued as an 8th-round keeper the following year. Players are allowed to be kept for 2 consecutive years and then must return to the draft pool. The second year a player is kept, their value doubles and rounds-down, if needed. For example: A player kept in the 8th round then becomes a 4th round for year two. A player kept in the 11th round then becomes a 6th for year two. Trading or dropping a player does not reset their keeper status. The roster's designated IR positions can be used to stash a potential keeper player who was on your team before getting injured or used to keep a player who has been designated to return. Any player added from the free agent pool during the season, must play in at least 1 fantasy-active game in order to be a keeper. Teams cannot add players with a season-ending injury and then keep them the following year.

Each team may assign a franchise tag to one player on their team, counting as one of their keeper players. Only players drafted by that team and retained (not dropped or traded) for the entire season may be tagged. Only players drafted in the 9th round or later the previous season can be tagged. A tagged player can remain tagged for 3 years before returning to the draft pool. Teams can only have one player under the franchise tag at a time. If a team wants to apply their tag to a new player while an existing player is tagged, the existing player will return to the draft pool - they cannot become a keeper. If a team trades or drops a player who is under the franchise tag, they become an 8th round keeper the following year. Tagged players cannot be traded in the off-season.

As soon as the current season ends, teams can trade any number of players from their team and draft picks from the next occuring draft. The number of team assets (picks/players) being traded must be equal on both sides of the trade. When a team trades a player during the offseason, they will sacrifice the keeper-value of that player from their draft stock in order to trade them. Although they lose the draft pick, the player traded away does not count towards the team's total number of allowed keepers. A team who acquires a new player may choose to keep that player and will not have to pay the assigned keeper value, but the player will count towards the team's total number of allowed keepers. Trading a player in the offseason does not impact their current or future keeper value. Just like with in-season trading, there will be a 48 hour window following the completion of a trade in which all other teams are allowed to make counter-offers for any of the assets being traded in the original deal. If the original trade is made less than 48 hours before the start of the league draft, the trade will be finalized as soon as the draft begins.

Once any trade is accepted, there will be a 48-hour window in which the 8 teams who are NOT involved in the trade may privately negotiate with either of the teams in the trade for any of the players included in the trade. If one of the 2 teams involved in the trade agrees to accept an outside offer, the original trade will be voided, and the new trade will be processed. If a counter-offer trade is agreed upon between Thursday night kickoff and Monday night football, the new trade will be processed after the end of the week's games. In other words, players may contribute to their new teams during the fantasy week if the timing of the first trade allows.