Josh Shepardson | Wed, Aug 7th 2024, 6:09am EDT

Drafters Best Ball Strategy & Advice (2024 Fantasy Football)

Knowing the scoring and roster format for any fantasy football platform is crucial, and Drafters has notable differences in their best ball contests than Underdog and DraftKings. Drafters has 20-round drafts, with one starting quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, one flex (running back, wide receiver or tight end) and 12 bench spots.

Drafters has point-per-reception (PPR) scoring like DraftKings features, but the former doesn’t have the latter’s yardage bonuses. Thus, gamers shouldn’t necessarily copy and paste their rankings from Draftings to Drafters.

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The most critical difference between Drafters and the duo of DraftKings and Underdogs is the former’s lack of playoffs. Drafters has cumulative scoring for Week 1 through Week 17. Therefore, no singular week is more important than another. Gamers shouldn’t punt any weeks if they want a shot at the top prizes in any large-field tournaments at Drafters. So, let’s look at some subtle and unsubtle considerations when drafting best ball rosters at Drafters.

Drafters NFL Best Ball Strategy

Roster Construction

There’s no singular perfect formula for drafting best ball teams. Gamers can build hero, zero or robust running back teams, as they can at the other best ball outlets. Still, the wide receiver thirst at Drafters is similar to elsewhere, and gamers who don’t pick wide receivers early often risk getting burned by an avalanche of wide receiver picks burying them and leaving them thin at the position.

Regardless, going overboard on early wide receivers can leave gamers light on scoring at running back, quarterback and tight end. The moral of the story is to be aware of draft capital spent on positions and act accordingly. For example, gamers who spend their first three picks on wideouts would be wise to take some detours for other positions and count on their assessments of their top three wide receivers being difference-makers coming to fruition. Conversely, when waiting on positions, a way to offset questionable quality is through quantity. For instance, gamers who wait until the 10th round or later to pick a quarterback should, in most instances, choose at least three, and even selecting four isn’t outrageous.

Stacking is also an obvious way to increase a team’s scoring potential. If a quarterback has a massive season as a passer, they’ll likely help one or more of their pass-catchers make sizable fantasy-scoring contributions. However, since Drafters has cumulative scoring, selecting a running back and quarterback from the same offense makes sense if it projects to be elite, even if the running back isn’t a pass-catching asset. Essentially, a high tide raises all ships, and an elite offense can help a quarterback and running back outproduce their average draft position (ADP) throughout the full season.

Handling Injuries/Suspensions

Since Week 1’s fantasy scoring is equally important to Week 7, Week 11 or Week 17, injured players and suspended players are less appealing at Drafters than elsewhere. Of course, injuries and suspensions are baked into ADP. Still, back-weighted scoring for the fantasy playoffs isn’t a thing at Drafters, and any games a player misses for any reason reduce a roster’s bites at the apple for scoring outputs hitting the lineup. Thus, drafting too many injured or suspended players is foolish. While there’s a benefit to sneaking a team with a few injured or suspended players through to the playoffs at DraftKings and Underdog, that benefit doesn’t exist at Drafters.

Bye Weeks

Bye weeks can be overrated in managed season-long leagues and at DraftKings and Underdog. Yet, once again, since every week’s scoring output contributes to a team’s final finish at Drafters, it makes intuitive sense to avoid overloading on the same bye weeks at the same position. For example, a team that selects six running backs and four have the same bye week will limit themselves to only one possible running back duo during that bye week. Furthermore, if one of the running backs who doesn’t have a bye that week is injured, that Drafters roster is eating a zero at the position. Gamers don’t need to go overboard and avoid overlapping bye weeks at all costs, but it’s a more significant consideration at Drafters.

Rookies

A substantial portion of the appeal of drafting rookies in managed leagues and at DraftKings and Underdog is their late-season contributions during the fantasy playoffs after they’ve climbed the depth chart and adjusted to the level of competition in the NFL. Josh Norris and Hayden Winks of Underdog and JJ Zachariason of Late-Round Fantasy, as well as many other sharp analysts in the fantasy football industry, have discussed the post-bye rookie bump and late-season surge in production for rookies.

Rookies can help teams at Drafters, too. Yet, gamers mustn’t get over their skis with rookie fever at Drafters and tank their early-season production with too many buried on their respective depth charts. For instance, if Kimani Vidal is projected to start the year as third on the depth chart for the Chargers, gamers should consider pairing him with someone such as Chuba Hubbard, who could have a more prominent role early in the season while the Panthers ramp up Jonathon Brooks. In summation, gamers at Drafters should draft their team with a plan to maximize their scoring potential from Week 1 through Week 17.

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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.

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