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Ryan Kirksey reviews a best ball mock draft from the RotoBaller team, assessing key early picks and the several roster construction strategies that were used.
Best Ball fantasy football drafts are quickly becoming some of the most popular formats in the fantasy space, especially for those managers looking to get some action before training camps and drafts in their home leagues begin. Many sites such as Underdog, DraftKings, and Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC) begin offering Best Ball drafts mere days after the actual NFL Draft. The proliferation of the format and hands-off style make it a game exploding in popularity.
Twelve members of the RotoBaller staff conducted a 1QB, PPR, and Best Ball mock draft over the past two weeks. In this league, our starting lineup consists of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, two flex spots, 13 bench spots, and a kicker and defense. The larger roster sizes (24 total in this draft) are a product of the Best Ball format auto-generating a manager's best possible lineup week to week. No trades or waiver adds are allowed in these leagues.
In this piece, I will highlight a handful of picks from the first few rounds that are relevant based on our in-house Best Ball ADP rankings (those ADP rankings can be found here) and analyze different roster construction strategies. We will close by looking at some potential late-round, league-winning picks for this format. Be sure to bookmark our free fantasy football mock draft simulator tool and practice as many mock drafts as you'd like with different draft strategies.
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Mock Draft Format Details
As mentioned above, each of the format variations impact your draft strategy in a different way.
Best Ball - Best Ball formats are essentially "draft and you're done" leagues. There are no adds, no drops, no trades, and no setting lineups. Whether you play on popular sites like FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog, or other smaller sites, the fantasy platform generates your best possible lineup each week and that is the score you receive.
Full PPR - This creates a higher ceiling for wide receivers, tight ends, and pass-catching running backs, which tends to promote playing wide receivers in your flex spot, making it beneficial to roster more of them. This is similar to Best Ball games on DraftKings and FFPC.
Single QB - Only one quarterback will start on a manager's roster for each week, which minimizes the importance of drafting multiple quarterbacks early. The Best Ball format essentially requires that managers have multiple quarterbacks to cover bye weeks, but only one is started at a time.
Kicker and Defense - Unlike many Best Ball sites, this Sleeper mock draft included kickers and defense as part of the large, 24-round format. As a result, you will see that many managers drafted more than one kicker and more than one defense so bye weeks would not be left with a zero for that roster position.
Below you'll find the draft board, showing every player selected.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft Board
Click image to zoom in and enlarge
Below is the draft order for each RotoBaller writer who participated in this year's Best Ball mock draft.
Team No. 1 - Andy Smith
Team No. 2 - Ellis Johnson
Team No. 3 - Kevin Tompkins
Team No. 4 - Robert Lorge
Team No. 5 - Brad Camara
Team No. 6 - Brian Buckey
Team No. 7 - Dan Larocca
Team No. 8 - Corbin Young
Team No. 9 - Ryan Kirksey
Team No. 10 - Dan Fornek
Team No. 11 - Josh Constantinou
Team No. 12 - Kasey Kasem
In the next section, a player or two from the early rounds will be highlighted for their contributions to the Best Ball format.
Round 1 - Best Ball Fantasy Football Mock Draft
Tyreek Hill, WR, Miami Dolphins
Pick: 1
RotoBaller Rank: 2
Of the dozens of mock drafts I have done since the end of May, typically CeeDee Lamb or Christian McCaffrey are the first players taken, so Tyreek Hill is a bit of surprise for this PPR format. However, for spike weeks, there is no one better. Hill had five games with over 30 PPR fantasy points last season and another game with 28. He did also have five games under 15 points because Tua Tagovailoa has a tendency to disappear sometimes in games. Hill missed only one game last season and ended up only 0.2 fantasy points per game behind Lamb in PPR formats last season, so this pick is certainly justified.
🎥 Tyreek Hill gearing up for training camp 🐆 (@cheetah) #GoFins pic.twitter.com/j7N3g9B2Mm
— FinsXtra (@FinsXtra) July 18, 2024
If we had to choose one player in all of football that could be described as a Best Ball "week winner," it would certainly have to be Hill. The best part about Hill, however, is that he is not just a deep-ball specialist (even though he had the second-most deep targets in the league last year (35). He also had the third-most red-zone targets in football (25) as Tagovailoa looked his way early and often in games.
Round 2 -Best Ball Fantasy Football Mock Draft
Travis Etienne, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Pick: 21
RotoBaller Rank: 21
Initially, I was surprised to see Travis Etienne go so high in this mock draft. The most recent Best Ball draft I participated in on DraftKings saw Etienne go with the second pick in the fourth round and his ADP is 33.3 on that site. However, the more I look into it, the more I can see that this pick is justified, especially in a full PPR league like this one. Etienne was the model of consistency and strong production last year, and at just 25 years old, there is no reason to think he can't repeat his 2023 success.
Etienne was actually third in total running back fantasy points behind only McCaffrey and Breece Hall last season. He played every single game and only scored under 10 PPR points four times in 17 contests. He may not provide the massive weeks of a McCaffrey or a Bijan Robinson, but he still finished seventh in fantasy points per game at the position. He was seventh in running back targets and fifth in running back receiving yards, making him an ideal candidate for this format and not at all a wild selection in Round 2.
Round 3 -Best Ball Fantasy Football Mock Draft
Sam LaPorta, TE, Detroit Lions
Pick: 30
RotoBaller Rank: 22
With a start of Justin Jefferson, Saquon Barkley, and Sam LaPorta, there is a realistic chance Brian Buckey drafted the top-3 players at their respective positions. LaPorta looks like exceptional value relative to our Best Ball rankings and he is likely to take a step up after his record-setting rookie season in 2023. To corner the market on a position like tight end, securing a player like LaPorta after you already have two elite players is a smart move for a number of reasons.
brb enjoying some Sam LaPorta highlights
pic.twitter.com/r8BvVu0SmL— Barstool Detroit (@BSMotorCity) July 18, 2024
First, LaPorta's usage is elite. His 851 air yards were fourth among tight ends and it coincided with the fourth-most red-zone targets (16). He turned all of that into 10 touchdowns, which were the most of any tight end last season. The next thing a player like LaPorta can do for your roster is allow you to focus on other positions besides tight ends for at least 12 rounds. Buckey did just this as his next tight end was Ben Sinnott in Round 14.
Round 4 - Best Ball Fantasy Football Mock Draft
Derrick Henry, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Pick: 42
RotoBaller Rank: 30
Derrick Henry is a very polarizing player in fantasy circles this year after a down year by his standards in 2023. Now with the Baltimore Ravens, Henry joins the most run-heavy team in the league (50% rushing last year) but also one that likes to call Lamar Jackson's number at the goal line. But all that aside, Henry is an absolute steal at pick 42, even if he doesn't catch a lot of passes.
Our Best Ball ranks have Henry much earlier in Round 3 and his ADP in full-PPR DraftKings drafts is all the way up at 22.5. Grabbing him in Round 4 allows Dan Larocca to use Henry as his RB2 and still get Patrick Mahomes coming back around in Round 5. Even in a rough year, Henry was still RB8 in total points in PPR formats.
Round 5 - Best Ball Fantasy Football Mock Draft
Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts
Pick: 56
RotoBaller Rank: 50
Speaking of Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was taken at pick 55 and Richardson went off the board one pick later. That juxtaposition represents one of the most interesting debates about the quarterback position in Best Ball drafts this year. Go with the proven MVP and the high-floor, high-ceiling pocket passer in Mahomes or go with the immense upside with a relatively unproven player like Richardson.
Make no mistake about it, Richardson and his ability with his legs can absolutely win some weeks. But his YOLO style of play and injury/concussion history from 2023 does raise some flags. I do prefer Richardson after pick 60 in Best Ball drafts, which probably means I won't be rostering him much this year. Corbin's only other starting quarterback is rookie Drake Maye, so he is certainly counting on Richardson to stay healthy.
Fantasy Football Best Ball Stacking Roster Construction
Let’s take a look at some Best Ball stacking roster construction strategies that some of the RotoBallers used in this draft.
Ryan Kirksey: Kirk Cousins/Bijan Robinson/Drake London/Kyle Pitts, Caleb Williams/Cole Kmet, Trevor Lawrence/Brian Thomas Jr.
It's safe to say that if the Atlanta Falcons offense crashes and burns this year, there is no way I can win this league. However, I am all-in on this offense this year under Raheem Morris and Kirk Cousins. They should take an offense that was bottom five in passing rate and pass attempts and make it into a modern, pass-happy affair. And I have all the primary pieces of the offensive pie.
Tight ends can sometimes be a rookie quarterback's best friend, so I'm hoping for a couple of spike weeks from the Caleb Williams-Cole Kmet connection. There are a lot of mouths to feed in Chicago, but I'm not counting on this connection as my primary stack.
Kirk Cousins’ WR1 PPR Overall Fantasy Finishes
2022: WR1
2021: WR4
2020: WR6
2019: WR24
2018: WR7 AND WR10!!!Drake London to the MF-ing Moon in 2024. 22 Years old, and his production is set to EXPLODE 💥💥📈📈🔥🔥. pic.twitter.com/D346pyvV2n
— TheOGfantasyfootball (@TheOGfantasy) March 12, 2024
With Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones gone, there are 200 targets up for grabs for players like Brian Thomas Jr. Trevor Lawrence was the unluckiest quarterback in the league last year in terms of drops from his receivers, so some positive regression is coming.
Dan Fornek: Jalen Hurts/A.J. Brown/Dallas Goedert, Bryce Young/Xavier Legette
Despite the horrific end to the 2023 regular season for the Philadelphia Eagles, they were ninth in yards per game, fifth in third-down conversion percentage, and eighth in touchdowns per game. The Hurts-Brown-Goedert stack is potentially the best in this league and should provide for some extremely high scores in many weeks.
The Bryce Young-Xavier Legette stack is an example of how, even if you miss on stacks early, you can build them late in the drafts. Legette was taken in the 11th round and Young went off the board in the 16th. With an Eagles stack on board to carry the majority of the load, a late stack like this is a great idea.
Kevin Tompkins: Lamar Jackson/Mark Andrews, Tua Tagovailoa/Jaylen Waddle
Kevin added two stacks from some of the best offenses in the NFL to his roster, and both have the potential to be league-winners. Andrews missed six games last season, but he still ranked fourth in tight-end fantasy points per game. Even in weeks where he doesn't target Andrews (Andrews was fourth at the position with a 22.2% target share), Lamar Jackson can win weeks by himself as the one true quarterback who can possibly get 100 yards on the ground on any given Sunday.
MARK ANDREWS TOUCHDOWN 🚨pic.twitter.com/KFnriGu6bJ
— PFF Fantasy & Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) October 22, 2023
We know the Miami Dolphins offense was the best and fastest in the league last year, and Kevin was able to wait until Round 12 to secure Tagovailoa and his stack partner, Jaylen Waddle. That's the kind of pick that can end up being the best in a draft if the Dolphins get some of that offensive magic back this season. Waddle was eighth at the position last season with 2.69 yards per route run.
Other Factors To Consider When Drafting In Fantasy Football Best Ball
Let's take a look at other trends and factors brought out by this mock draft that you might want to consider as you begin your own draft prep.
How Many Stacks Do I Need On My Roster?
The easiest way to answer this question is just to say "more than zero." Various Best Ball strategies have won huge tournaments and taken down countless prizes, but stacking players from the same offense proves over and over again to be valuable. Best Ball is much more about how you start rather than how you finish, and the number of players who remain healthy on a roster and their scores in the final weeks of the season often dictate winners of leagues or tournaments.
I prefer to have 2-3 stacks on my teams, assuming I don't have to go wild with ADP in the early rounds to make them happen. What we are looking for in stacking are teams who can hopefully provide explosive offensive weeks (especially toward the end of the season) and have as many pieces of that offensive explosion as possible. Traditionally, quarterbacks and their receivers are the most logical stacking partners since running backs and quarterbacks can cannibalize production from each other. Quarterbacks and pass-catching running backs are a good stack, however.
The next level of stacking is game correlation. For example, Baltimore and Houston play each other in Week 18 this season. The implied total for that game right now is 46.5 points with a two-point spread. That means there will be a lot of points on each side. It might then be advantageous to create a stack of Lamar Jackson and Zay Flowers, maybe bring it back with someone like Tank Dell or Stefon Diggs, and hope for an offensive bonanza in that game.
What Is The Optimal Number of RB/WR/TE To Take?
Let's remove four spots for the two kickers and two defenses that were used for this mock draft. That leaves 20 roster spots, which is what a site like DraftKings uses, and is just two more than Underdog. On a full-PPR format, I am almost certainly going to use 12 of my 20 roster spots on pass-catchers. My ideal roster construction on 20-roster, PPR sites is 2 QB/6 RB/9 WR/3 TE. If I waited a long time to take my first quarterback, I might sacrifice a running back or wide receiver to get a third quarterback to create a slightly stronger foundation.
With the roster spots available for this draft, we are only forced to start two running backs. That leaves potentially six starting roster spots for wide receivers and tight ends (who clearly catch more passes), and thus the need for far fewer running backs than receivers and tight ends. Do running backs get injured at a higher rate, making them riskier? Yes, but in a format like this, if we go with a Hero RB strategy and get someone like Christian McCaffrey or Bijan Robinson, the chances of us making up their production from late-round running backs is very slim.
Should I Handcuff My Running Backs In Best Ball Formats?
The short answer here is no. The reason is fairly logical. If I roster Jonathan Taylor and Trey Sermon on the same team, the chances that both of them have a massive offensive game is very slim. If Taylor is healthy, he will get 80% or more of the work and most (if not all) of the goal-line work. If Taylor is out, Sermon would jump in as a lead back and get most of the work.
But with both on our roster, we eliminate the possibility that both Sermon and Taylor could fill a spot in our optimal lineup for any given week. However, what we do want to do is roster someone like Taylor and then several handcuffs for OTHER running backs. Think about it. If Taylor stays healthy and Alvin Kamara goes down in Week 3 and we rostered Kendre Miller, all of a sudden we have two starting running backs who won't take work away from each other.
Favorite Late-Round Fantasy Football Best Ball Targets
Let’s close things out by looking at some of the best late-round Best Ball targets at each position.
Daniel Jones, QB, New York Giants
Pick: 279
RotoBaller Rank: 175
Daniel Jones has been slipping in all draft formats lately after there have been whispers that his recovery from ACL surgery might keep him out to start the season. But this grab in the last round is absolute highway robbery. Jones was given Malik Nabers as a new weapon, Jones likes to run, and -- if you've been watching "Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants" -- you will know the Giants are committed to Jones this year to see if he is the long-term answer.
Bucky Irving, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Pick: 190
RotoBaller Rank: 204
Rachaad White may have been a volume king in 2023, but when it comes to efficiency, he was more of a little puppy than an alpha dog. White was 33rd at the position in yards per touch and saw just a 12% target share in 2023. Enter Bucky Irving, who is a 22-year-old rookie who caught 53 balls for 395 yards to go along with 12 total scores in his last year at Oregon. He might immediately step into the third-down role for Tampa Bay and it's not a stretch to see him in the two-minute drill and hurry-up offense.
Bucky Irving had some of the best tape of any running back in the Pac-12 last season. pic.twitter.com/N2tDO5pGMf
— Kevin (@Daboys_22) May 11, 2023
Jalen Tolbert, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Pick: 204
RotoBaller Rank: 227
Dak Prescott can't throw every ball to CeeDee Lamb, right? Brandin Cooks and Jake Ferguson are around again, but the Cowboys were tied for 10th in the league with their 59.3% pass rate and should have plenty of passing volume this year with a less-than-exciting running back room. It's almost a certainty that Tolbert's 39% snap share, 15% target rate, and 474 air yards will all go way up this season.
Greg Dortch, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Pick: 170
RotoBaller Rank: 249
Is grabbing Greg Dortch 70 picks ahead of our own rankings a wise move here? It could be if Dortch wins the slot role for the Cardinals and gets a plethora of easy dump-offs from Kyler Murray all season. Neither James Conner or Trey Benson profile as high-profile receiving backs, so Dortch might be the third-best option after Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride. Even with just a slight uptick to his 17% target rate from 2023, Dortch can excel for a Cardinals squad that figures to be in a lot of shootouts in 2024.
My Top 5 Players past ADP 200 that you should also be targeting.
+ 5 Best Handcuffs past ADP 200- Greg Dortch (my absolute FAVORITE, so under valued and my most owned Best-Ball player as well.)
- Greg Dulcich
- Michael Mayer
- Javon Baker
- Devontez Walker (0 faith in… pic.twitter.com/7a19AWhKr4— SleezBallFF (@SleezBallFF) July 20, 2024
Jonnu Smith, TE, Miami Dolphins
Pick: 193
RotoBaller Rank: 218
Mike McDaniel is already praising Jonnu Smith for his athleticism and ability to gain yards after the catch, which is exactly what the Miami Dolphins offense is all about. Splitting time with Kyle Pitts in Atlanta last year, Smith was eighth at the position in yards after the catch (357) and he was seventh in yards per target (8.4). For a pick close to No. 200 in Best Ball drafts, Smith has that offensive upside that is hard to find after Round 16.
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