When it comes to best ball tournaments, threading the needle to try and win it all is an incredibly difficult task. Think about it, you have to typically beat 10 other teams in your 12-team pod over the first 14 weeks, then be one of the best one or two teams over the next couple of weeks before then hoping you have a lineup with enough upside, and enough differentiated players to beat anywhere from a handful to over a thousand other teams.
Some of the biggest contests have had over one million entries in recent years, and your team has to be the best, so how do we make that happen? One way is to ensure we draft the right archetypes of players.
Best Ball Draft Strategy: Winning Player Archetypes
Drafting the best players or those who score the most is a fine strategy. If you know who they’ll be for 2025, be sure to hit me up on Twitter (@NFL_Tstrack) and let me know. In place of that, though, we can look at the types of players we add to our best ball rosters. There’s no point in having six slot receivers who see good volume and have a nice floor if they don’t also have ceiling outcomes.
After all, we’re playing for first place, not a min-cash. The six categories below break down six different player archetypes we should consider depending on our roster build and draft capital available.
Pocket Passers When Stacked
By now, we know dual-threat quarterbacks offer a different level of upside to the pocket passing quarterbacks. Their ability to layer up a high floor through rushing yards and rushing touchdowns makes it hard for other quarterbacks to compete unless they pass for over 300 yards and throw for three or more touchdowns.
In 2024, there were 72 instances of quarterbacks scoring 25+ fantasy points — 35 featured quarterbacks rushing for 30+ yards. Of the 37 who didn’t rush for that amount, 28 threw for at least 300 yards. If we’re not drafting dual-threats, then we need to assume a pocket passer will bring along their teammates when they hit ceiling outcomes.
While Josh Allen can score 40+ points through scrambling for 60 yards and adding two tush push touchdowns, if Matthew Stafford is scoring well, he’s likely thrown multiple touchdowns to his receivers and gone high enough in passing volume to make a stack most optimal.
Rookies
Two things are true when it comes to rookies: They can see bigger roles as the season progresses and can be some of the best value picks in fantasy football when they hit. Take Brian Thomas Jr. in 2024, for example. The Jaguars drafted him with the 23rd pick overall, but still took things steadily, despite him notching 141 yards and a touchdown over the first two weeks combined. Thomas went on to hit double-digit touchdowns and finish third in receiving yards, but until Week 11, he averaged only a 76% route participation.
To put that into perspective, 62 different wide receivers averaged a higher rate during that period. From Week 11 onwards, though, Thomas averaged a 95% route participation, with only 10 receivers seeing a greater number. This isn’t unique, and shouldn’t be surprising. The rookies face a big task acclimating to the NFL, and their coaches have to learn how to utilize them and to trust them.
It’s not uncommon for rookies to find their way into bigger workloads due to injuries to veterans, with the veterans often the reason why an average draft position (ADP) might be suppressed. All the money in best ball is stacked at the top, with the backend of the season being the most important. We can’t afford to fall too far behind early on in the season, but if we build for both the front and back, we can prepare our rosters to go nuclear at the right time.
Every time we draft a rookie, we should consider the following:
- What is their path to relevancy?
- What does their relevancy look like when it happens?
- How can I prepare my roster to wait for them?
If we’re talking about the running back position in particular, we can balance the pick of a rookie by selecting a couple of veterans who perhaps lack job security or have had injury issues. For example, Bhayshul Tuten pairs well with a veteran like J.K. Dobbins or Rhamondre Stevenson. They may lose work to rookies themselves, but they could also potentially keep a role all season, and then we might end up with two serviceable running backs throughout the year.
Big-Play Threats
I don’t want to bring up the name Marquez Valdes-Scantling and trigger anyone, but there’s a reason he’s known as being a better in best ball type of player. Deep threats such as Valdes-Scantling, Rashid Shaheed, Alec Pierce or Darius Slayton can be infuriating to roster in managed formats, but in best ball, we can wait for their spike weeks and enjoy them when they hit.
Thirty-six players had an air yards per target of 23 or greater in any given week last year, and 12 of these performances finished with 12+ PPR points. We saw top-12 weekly finishes from this group, including Valdes-Scantling, Rashod Bateman, Calvin Ridley and Pierce. Only Ridley was drafted in the top 150 picks. These players also lend themselves to stacks, because if a deep play hits, it’s both the quarterback and wide receiver who benefit massively.
Big-play threats can also benefit us in another way. If a running back, wide receiver or tight end, for that matter, takes a pass 70 yards to the house, it changes the makeup of the game in an instant. This forces the opposing team to sit up and also attack, raise their pace or look for big plays of their own.
Players That Maximize the Format
Understanding the specific nuances of the format is essential for success. On FFPC, this might involve picking the right type of tight end who benefits from tight end-premium scoring (extra 0.5 points on top of the regular point per reception for tight ends). This greatly benefits the likes of Brock Bowers and Trey McBride, with Bowers scoring the 17th-most points among all non-quarterback skill players in 2024, while McBride scored the 28th-most.
Of course, this doesn’t benefit all tight ends, as some see far too little volume to make a huge difference. A similar theory could also apply to the differences between half-PPR and full PPR, with it benefiting volume receivers, like Wan’Dale Robinson, in full PPR, and half-PPR rewarding touchdown scorers.
Players With Bad Defenses
Players on bad offenses aren’t often great, but players on teams with bad defenses, now that’s a different story altogether. Take the most recent example of the Bengals in 2024, whose passing offense was ranked the fourth-best in defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA), which measures defensive value over average — essentially an efficiency stat.
Meanwhile, their passing defense ranked 27th and their run defense ranked 28th. The inability to stop literally anyone meant they had to keep their foot on the gas and keep the tempo up, two things that consistently contribute towards high-end outcomes. The Miami Dolphins could be a sneaky buy-low candidate for similar reasons in 2025, or the Jaguars, if you can put any faith in Trevor Lawrence.
The Right Type of Backup Running Backs
Lastly, the right kind of backup running backs can also make a huge difference. Players like Justice Hill can be a fine draft pick in isolation, after all, he’ll likely play the second-most snaps behind Derrick Henry on the juggernaut Baltimore offense. However, if you’re drafting him expecting massive upside in the event Henry misses time, you’re likely going to be disappointed.
Hill possesses some fun attributes, but he’s not a three-down workhorse, and it’s much more likely the Ravens will work another player in a two-headed committee. Considering backfields through this lens can help you massively when it comes to roster construction.
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