Fantasy Football Keepers Guide: Values for 2026 Drafts (June)

Deciding who to keep is the highest-leverage call you’ll make before your keeper fantasy football draft even starts. Keep the right player at the right cost, and you’ve effectively won a round before anyone’s on the clock. Keep the wrong one, and you’ve handed away a pick for nothing.

Fantasy Football Keepers & Keeper Values for 2026 Drafts

The charts below turn that judgment into a number. For every player, in every common format, you can see exactly how much value you’d bank, or give up, by keeping them at a given round. Pick your scoring format and league type, find your player, and read the value.

How to read the keeper value chart

Find your scoring format and league type, then locate your player. Read across to the round you’d keep them in, and the cell shows the value you’d bank at that cost. The numbers are color-coded so you can scan a roster fast:

Elite (40+): A premium discount. Lock it in.
Strong (22–39): A clear win at this cost.
Good (8–21): A solid edge on the pick you spend.
Fair (−7 to 7): Roughly what they’re worth, a coin flip.
Overpay (−8 or worse): You’d likely get this player later in the draft anyway.

If you’re choosing between several keeper candidates, compare their values at the rounds you’d actually keep them and rank them by who banks the most. The highest number is your best keeper, full stop.

Fantasy Football Keepers: Values for 2026 Drafts

We update these keeper values throughout fantasy football draft season as expert rankings move, so check back as you get closer to your draft.

What is a fantasy football keeper?

A keeper is a player you carry over from last season’s roster onto this season’s team instead of returning them to the draft pool. Keeper leagues let each manager retain a set number of players, usually one to three, and then draft the rest of their roster as normal. It’s the middle ground between a standard redraft league, where everyone starts fresh every year, and a dynasty league, where you hold your entire roster indefinitely.

The catch is that keeping a player costs you something, almost always a draft pick. So a keeper is only worth holding if the player is worth more than the pick you give up to keep them. That trade-off, player value versus pick cost, is the entire keeper decision, and it’s what these charts are built to measure.

How are keeper values determined?

Every value on these charts comes from the same four-step process.

1. Start with expert consensus rankings (ECR). Rather than trust any single analyst, we aggregate dozens of expert rankings into one consensus number for each player. That consensus smooths out individual bias and gives a stable read on where a player should come off the board. We run it separately for each format, 1QB and Superflex, because a player’s value shifts depending on how your league scores. 1QB is based on half-PPR scoring. Superflex is based on PPR scoring.

2. Translate that rank into a draft slot. A player’s overall rank tells you roughly where they’d be drafted. In a 12-team league, the top 12 ranks go in round 1, the next 12 in round 2, and so on. So a player ranked 16th overall lands early in round 2, that’s their “true” draft cost on the open market.

3. Weight each pick by what it’s actually worth. Here’s the part most simple keeper math gets wrong: not all rounds are equal. A first-round pick is worth far more than a sixth-round pick, which is worth far more than an eleventh. We assign each pick a relative value on a curve where the 1.01 is worth 100 and value falls off steeply from there. We also interpolate within each round, so the first pick of a round is valued higher than the last, the 1.01 and the 1.12 are not the same asset.

4. Subtract the cost from the value. A player’s keeper value is what they’re worth (the pick value at their consensus rank) minus what you pay (the round you’d keep them in). A positive number is surplus value, you’re getting more than you give up. A negative number means you’re overpaying.

Because pick value is weighted, the chart captures something a simple “rounds saved” model can’t: a four-round bargain early is worth far more than a four-round bargain late. Keeping a round-2 talent in round 6 banks far more real draft capital than keeping a round-6 talent in round 10, even though both are “four rounds” of savings. The chart reflects that difference.

Fantasy Football Keepers Value FAQ

What counts as a good keeper value?

Any positive value means you’re getting the player for less than they’re worth, but the bigger the number, the better the keep. As a rule of thumb, anything in the “Strong” tier (22 points or more) is a keeper you should feel great about, and “Elite” keeps (40+) are the kind of edges that can swing a season. A value near zero means you’re paying about fair price, which is fine but not an advantage. Negative values mean you’d be better off letting the player go back into the pool and drafting them, or someone comparable, at their natural cost.

How do keeper rules and costs work?

The most common setup charges you a draft pick to keep a player, but leagues handle the exact cost differently. Some keep a player at the round they were drafted in; some bump the cost up a round each year a player is held; some assign a flat round cost regardless of where the player was drafted; and auction leagues use a salary or contract instead of a pick. These charts work with any round-based system, just look up the round your league would charge you and read the value. If your league uses escalating costs, check the value at next year’s higher round to see whether a player is still worth holding long-term.

Why do keeper values change in Superflex and different scoring formats?

Because a player’s worth depends on how your league is built. In Superflex leagues, where you can start a second quarterback, top QBs rocket up the rankings, a quarterback who’s a mid-round pick in a standard 1-QB league can be a first- or second-round value in Superflex, which dramatically changes whether keeping them is a steal. Scoring matters too: in PPR (point per reception), pass-catching backs and high-volume receivers gain value, while in Standard scoring, that edge shrinks and early-down runners hold up better. That’s why we publish separate charts for each format rather than a one-size-fits-all list.

Does league size affect my keeper decision?

Yes. League size changes which round a player’s rank falls into, which changes their cost. In a 10-team league, the top 10 ranks go in round 1; in a 12-team league, it’s the top 12. The same player can land in a different round, and carry a different keeper value, depending on how many teams are in your league. Make sure you’re reading the chart for your league size.

How often are these keeper values updated?

We refresh these charts throughout draft season as expert rankings move, injuries land, and depth charts settle. Rankings can shift meaningfully between June and your actual draft, so treat any single snapshot as a current read rather than a final verdict, and check back as your draft approaches.

Should I keep a player I could just draft late anyway?

Usually not. If a player’s keeper value is near zero or negative, you’d likely be able to draft them, or a comparable player, at roughly the same cost, which means the keeper slot is better spent on someone who delivers real surplus. The exception is certainty: if a late-round keeper is a player you specifically want and don’t want to risk losing in the draft, a small overpay can be worth the peace of mind. But on pure value, save your keeper spots for the biggest positive numbers.