Best ball is a growing fantasy football format, and it’s easy to see why. Draft a team. No roster worries or management. Done. That’s it. Not only can this format help you sharpen your redraft skills by drafting teams against others with “skin in the game” and money on the line, but it’s also incredibly fun.
Drafters Fantasy is one of my favorite places to play best ball. Yes, maybe I’m biased after finishing fourth in their $11 buy-in Best Ball Championship ll last season.
That doesn’t change the fact that everything I’ve told you to this point is 100% true. In this article, I’ll discuss the platform, strategy, and how I approach the Drafters Million NFL Best Ball Championship and the Mini NFL Best Ball Championship.
Best Ball Tournaments
Drafters’ two main large field tournaments are Million and the Mini. The Million carries a 250k payout up top against a field of over 55,000 people. The Mini is a cool $2.22 to enter with a $10,000 payout to first place against about 25,0000 entrants. Both are multi-enter tournaments with the ability to max out at 150 entries.
Unlike other best ball platforms, Drafters is PPR scoring. Another difference from popular best ball platforms is the winner is decided by total points after Week 17. There’s no playoff system late in the season to strategize around. That doesn’t mean that these late-season matchups aren’t important. If you want my take on how I’m approaching the last few weeks of the regular season, I dove into the deepest recesses of degenerate thinking for best ball here.
Best Ball Strategy
Best Ball can be approached from various angles strategy-wise. We have an amazing wealth of information regarding the millions of ways to tackle these tournaments in our best ball draft kit. Above is my team last year that finished fourth, taking home the $2,500 prize. Looking through this roster, there are a ton of strategy nuggets that I still deploy today.
Best Ball Stacking
Stacking is something that is discussed at length in any best ball content you’ll find. Making correlated bets on offenses you like and players tied to those quarterbacks is the way to go. On this squad, you’ll notice that both of my quarterbacks are stacked. I teamed Jalen Hurts with DeVonta Smith and piled up Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson‘s pairing with Tyler Lockett doesn’t need much discussion. Similar weekly target share and upside as D.K. Metcalf, but Lockett was the cheaper option in many drafts.
Stacking doesn’t only mean pairing up pass catchers with your quarterback. Offenses that project to be explosive, especially ones where you think the players are mispriced, are easy to load up on. Here I grabbed Rashaad Penny and Gerald Everett late. The bet was if Seattle can be that top-tier offense, then a player like Penny is going way too late. Everett was a correlated bet on Wilson remaining a passing touchdown savant. Touchdowns are the lifeblood for fantasy tight ends. If Wilson stacks another impressive season, then Everett could benefit. While Wilson was disappointing overall last season, Penny and Everett crushed late in the season. Wilson also didn’t have to do the major lifting for this squad when I also grabbed Jalen Hurts.
Late Round Running backs
Gobbling up late-round running backs and diversifying exposures with them. This is the way. In the final rounds of best ball drafts, the wide receiver well, in many cases, has run dry. Finding a wide receiver with a pathway to emerge with a substantial target share or multiple spike week potential can be tough. Not impossible, as I highlighted here with my selection of Kendrick Bourne, but tough. Grabbing players like Rashaad Penny, who, if opportunity breaks right or injuries strike, can take over a backfield, are much easier to find. Especially with the wrinkle of PPR scoring, passing down backs that can pop off with big weeks can be pivotal.
Rookie Wide Receivers
Wide receivers are breaking out sooner. Rookies and second-year players at this position that have flashed talent can be major difference makers. While DeVonta Smith was good and Rondale Moore was a bust, Jaylen Waddle was a game changer last year. Even if you’re skeptical of the talent, chase draft capital, first-round wide receivers and often second-round guys will be given early opportunities to establish themselves. Many people are still leery and stuck in the past with worries about rookie wideouts. This is an easy avenue to capitalize on market inefficiencies.
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