Draft Strategy: Best Ball Leagues

Best ball leagues continue to boom, no pun intended. Best ball leagues are continuing to grow at a rapid pace, and fantasy owners are absolutely loving them during the offseason for several different reasons—keeping their interests piqued, taking a look at ADP practice, things of that nature. So, when it comes time for redraft leagues, they feel like they have a really nice strategy in mind. Let me make one thing very, very clear: redraft leagues and best ball leagues are completely different—ADP structure, how you should look at them, really everything. But that doesn't mean that you can't partake in some best ball leagues just to make sure that you're up on all the information. And once again, you have a little bit of a strategy knowing that you may have to adjust one way or another going from best ball to a redraft league.

Now, there is one common misconception about best ball leagues that I want to address right off the bat, and it's the fact that people try to tell you that you need to shoot for entirely upside in best ball leagues. That’s just not accurate. Do you need upside in best ball leagues to win? Absolutely you do. But you can bring in guys with really good safe floors and then supplement them with a lot of high upside after that. Because remember, with a best ball league, you never have to set your roster. It's always going to be the highest scorers every single week. So, taking risks later in your draft is absolutely a way to offset the fact that maybe you drafted a little bit safer at the beginning of it.

This was an example that I used last year—Amon-Ra St. Brown in best ball leagues. Amon-Ra St. Brown is considered to be a tier below guys like CeeDee Lamb, Justin Jefferson, obviously Ja'Marr Chase, because he has a little bit of a safer floor and doesn't create the big plays that some of these other guys do. But if you love Amon-Ra St. Brown the same way I do—not only in fantasy but as a Lions fan—draft Amon-Ra St. Brown if you want to, especially in the first round. Because if you do that, then you can spend the later rounds drafting a ton of high-upside wide receivers to help supplement that floor. And I mean, look how that worked out for Amon-Ra St. Brown and all of his owners last season.

So, when you get a little bit later into the draft, take a look at guys that give you a lot of upside at the wide receiver position. You could go with DeVonta Smith, Xavier Worthy. You could draft teammate Jameson Williams and be just fine—George Pickens, guys like that, Calvin Ridley—that are going to give you a whole lot of upside because of their big-play ability. So if you can guarantee every single week that Amon-Ra St. Brown will be in your lineup because he's going to give you a really safe floor, then your next couple of wide receivers after that are always going to switch in and out. Because one of those guys is likely to have a bigger week when other guys are likely to have a week where they just kind of disappear. And you never have to try and guess which one to start.

The same thing could be said for the running back position as well. If you love Derrick Henry, draft Derrick Henry. Maybe you look at him as being more of a floor play this season, but that doesn't mean that you can't find guys a little bit later on with a lot of upside at the running back position. Sometimes a good way to do that is to draft Derrick Henry—your safe floor running back to begin with—and then take a look at rookie running backs a little bit later. Especially guys with a lot of upside like Omarion Hampton and RJ Harvey. Because even if they're not the guys to begin the year, at some point if they do become the guy, they're going to have a whole lot of upside.

You could go with a guy like D’Andre Swift as well. Maybe he's going to have a lot of upside in Ben Johnson's offense, even if they're going to be throwing it a lot and maybe he doesn't get as many carries on the ground. Aaron Jones, Tyrone Tracy, Jaylen Warren—all of those guys could have really solid upsides every single week. Throw in a guy like Cam Skattebo as well to that rookie group that I just mentioned—guys that might not be the starter to begin the year, but at some point will. Tyrone Tracy and Cam Skattebo, pairing running backs together like that. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. That makes sure that yeah, you have some guys with some really nice upside, but if there's an injury, you've got their replacement as well.

Another common misconception about best ball leagues that I really don't love that people push is the fact that you have to draft wide receiver heavy and you have to draft wide receiver early. Now, the main argument for this by those individuals is that because you start three wide receivers and you only start two running backs, your wide receivers need to be the priority. But who cares? You can start three running backs in a majority of superflex leagues. You have two running back spots and a flex spot. I would much rather flex a running back than have to flex a wide receiver. I would much rather have running back depth than having wide receiver depth. Arguing that you have to have heavy wide receiver drafts because there's a third wide receiver spot will never make any sense to me—given how deep that position is and how much upside you can find later on in the draft at the wide receiver position that you can't at the running back position.

In best ball leagues more than any other format, late-round winners become league winners. Whoever drafts the late-round picks the best in any best ball league will likely go on to finish as a top-three player that season. Just imagine the fact that once again, you don't have to start a certain lineup every single week—your best players will be in your lineup no matter what. So for those of you that are able to find high-upside plays that break out in the later round of drafts, you're probably going to win your best ball leagues. Guys like Jameson Williams, Chase Brown, Terry McLaurin—was being drafted way too late last season. High-upside plays that put together huge weeks are going to make you a best ball savant.

So, make sure you sit down and you look through the late-round ADP, trying to figure out who you think are the best breakout candidates. When you find those guys and you're able to add them to your team, if they do end up breaking out, you’ll be walking away with a league-winning team that season.