Best ball has grown over the past few years into a big part of many fantasy footballers’ lives. For those of us who can’t stop drafting, best ball allows us to draft all offseason and since you don’t manage your roster in any way during the season, you can just draft again and again and again without worrying about the drudgery of managing all those teams! I believe best ball came about because people love doing mock drafts, but got tired of mock drafts giving them no skin in the game.
There are multiple platforms out there to play best ball on and the settings and leagues vary. As usual, do your own research into the roster and scoring parameters, as they do help dictate how you draft.
There is of course no perfect roster construction, but we do need to protect ourselves from injuries by not skimping too much at each position. Best ball rosters often consist of 20 players with 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE and 1 RB/WR/TE flex getting points each week.
A good ratio for picks would look something like 3 QBs, 6 RBs, 8 WRs and 3 TEs. This isn’t gospel by any means, but we can’t predict a 17-game season, so no matter how sure we are about a player or players, spreading risk out somewhat is a good idea. We will lose players during the season.
You want to take on risk, as you need to hit on multiple players outplaying their draft slot. This is of course how all fantasy works, but in best ball leagues, you are often up against thousands of other teams and you aren’t going to win with a solid team, you need a monster team. Yes, if you are in a single league and you’re up against 11 other teams, then consistency and safety makes a bit more sense. But best ball is often more analogous to filling out your March Madness bracket on ESPN than playing in your work league.
I understand trying to fill in some safe, boring picks with little upside so you don’t get zeros, but those guys aren’t going to win you big money at the end of the season. And don’t bet on players who are coming off their best season to repeat or surpass that season the next year. I see you Saquon, Ja’Marr, and Baker! We want some meat left on the bone!
Stacking is what it’s called when you draft a quarterback and a receiver from the same team to help you horde those fantasy points. Last season if you stacked Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, you made a good choice. But stacking doesn’t end there. Usually you’ll want to extend those stacks to other players on the team. And it doesn’t have to just be QBs with wide receivers and tight ends. Chase Brown would have been a strong addition to a Bengals stack last year as a he was cheap, a pass catching back, and if he’s getting into scoring position, so are the top players on the team.
This season you could look at the Bears and Jaguars as two teams who hired great offensive minds to take over their offensive units who also have a lot of ability. I love stacking these two teams, as you can get them at a discount still and there is real upside there if things break their way.
One thing not to do is reach for stacks. Sure, you might really want to get the QB for your early round receiver, but if you go a round early to draft him, you’re likely missing out on a non-QB in that round who holds more value than anyone in the next round. You can always stack your backup quarterback or have some correlation by taking multiple players from that same team. The QB doesn’t always have to be in the stack.
Stacking is risky because you are putting many of your eggs into one team’s basket, but you don’t often see winning best ball teams without some kind of stacking. No risk it, no biscuit.
Is Christian McCaffrey going to only play a handful of games again this year? Maybe, maybe not. But, we know he could easily be the top fantasy player once again. Sure, he’s still a first round pick, but his injury history has him a bit cheaper than usual, which could give your first two picks actual upside to be the top two fantasy players in the league.
“Injury prone” isn’t a real thing, as it is impossible to predict injuries.
If you grab Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, you are counting on them putting up big numbers because that’s what they do year in and year out. Instead of drafting two more quarterbacks late in the draft to mitigate risk, just draft one. You went big with your pick and you need to live with it. That move allows you to roster more players at positions that hold more risk. If you went running back heavy early, you’re likely going to have riskier wide receivers. Keep drafting upside receivers, but flood your lineup with them so your chances of hitting are better. The same thing goes if you draft a stud tight end or multiple top receivers early. You’ll want to load up on the positions you feel you carry the most risk.
When playing in best ball leagues, especially big, high payout tournaments, you aren’t going to win by playing it safe. You need to make risky, high upside stacks. You need to draft high upside studs and bench players. You need to predict teams that will take a step forward this year and mine those teams for players. You pretty much need to be clairvoyant. Sadly, none of us are, which means there is plenty of luck involved, but that doesn’t mean we’re throwing darts here. Do your research and make your bold predictions and win some money, maybe.
