Fantasy Football Draft Targets: De’Von Achane, Calvin Ridley, Lamar Jackson (2024)

You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘better in best ball’ thrown around when talking about some players in fantasy football. It’s often used for players with higher ceiling outcomes but low floors. The annoying types for redraft leagues where you can never trust them from one week to the next. In best ball, with optimized rosters every week, that’s much less of a pain. This article will cover players that gain value in best ball formats.

Undervalued Best Ball Players

De’Von Achane (RB – MIA)

A few months after De’Von Achane took the NFL and fantasy football by storm, drafters aren’t getting a discount on him in early 2024 drafts with his average draft position (ADP) at 16.7. Achane led all running backs with 8.0 yards per carry (min. 50 attempts) and his Week 3 score of 51.3 points was the third-most of any player this season (most of any running backs). When we zoom out, though, Achane played in 10 games and finished as a top-eight running back in five. He finished as the RB24 or worse in the other five, including three games with less than five points. The knock on Achane coming out was that his 190-pound frame might not hold up to the difficulties of the NFL RB position, which proved correct with Achane missing seven games of his rookie season. In redraft, losing a second-round pick for seven games can be a killer blow, but in best ball, it’s possible to survive it, as long as Achane delivers when on the field.

Lamar Jackson (QB – BAL)

The 2023 almost-undisputed MVP, Lamar Jackson finished as the QB1 overall on three occasions in 2023, including 10 top-10 finishes, but there were a few weeks where things weren’t so pretty. Jackson finished as the QB20 or worse on three occasions and scored 15.0 points or below in 37.5% of appearances. With Gus Edwards becoming an excellent threat around the goal line there were occasions when the Ravens didn’t need Jackson to throw the ball, harming his fantasy output. Jackson is still a fine play in managed leagues but his value increases in best ball where we can build around the possible downside.

Most rushes of 10+ yards in the last two seasons:

? Christian McCaffrey – 72
? Lamar Jackson – 60 pic.twitter.com/8eLWdTODEd

— PFF Fantasy & Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) February 25, 2024

Calvin Ridley (WR – JAX)

Expectations were probably too high for Calvin Ridley coming off almost two full years without playing. The Jaguars could have done a better job of scheming him some easier catches at times, instead of everything being on the boundary in low-probability catch situations. Until we see otherwise, however, Ridley feels like a volatile asset. In 2023, Ridley had only one two-week stretch where he finished as a top-24 WR in back-to-back weeks. Aside from this, his weekly finishes ping-ponged between top-10 to WR81, WR9 to WR56, and so on. Ridley’s ceiling is WR1 on any given week, as he proved in Week 11. His catch rate of 56% was tied for bottom among top-30 WRs in 2023, which needs to change to make him reliable enough for redraft, whereas in best ball, the ceiling is still worth chasing.