RADIO
FFPC best ball drafts are a fun way to do best ball drafts and offer a variety of options. Zachary Krueger explains the format and offers quarterback and running back drafting strategies in part one for tackling the ever-growing Best Ball Slim for fantasy 2021 football.
Perhaps the most popular format in FFPC Best Ball leagues is their 28-round 12-team team formats. These leagues follow a relatively standard roster format, requiring you to start the following on a weekly basis:
- 1 Quarterback
- 2 Running Backs
- 2 Wide Receivers
- 1 Tight End
- 2 Flex
- 1 Kicker
- 1 Defense
They are a lot of fun to tackle, and start at $35/league. However, if you're looking for a cheaper option to get your FFPC fix in, or just something a little less tedious, the growing FFPC Best Ball Slims just might be a good place to start.
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The Skinny on Slims
These starting rosters shape up as follows:
- 1 Quarterback
- 2 Running Backs
- 2 Wide Receivers
- 1 Tight End
- 2 Flex
The key omissions in this format are kickers and defenses, which have become less sought after positions over the years, despite traditionalists claiming there is only one way to play. There's not and FFPC slims are here to prove it!
Consider this your introduction to the format, as we lay out some basic strategies for tackling your first best ball slim.
In part one of this article, we'll take a look at how to approach the quarterback and running back positions, with part two featuring wide receivers and tight ends.
Quarterbacks
To help us get a general grip on ways to succeed in this format, I'll be calling on the aid of the RotoViz FFPC Roster Construction Explorer which I would suggest you never head into any draft without. It offers a look at historical data that we can use to help optimize win rates.
As previously mentioned, best ball slims are a growing format at the FFPC, having just been introduced in 2020. As a result, the sample sizes for success rates can be small, but understanding a general build for leagues of similar size should be enough to give us some comfort in these holding beyond the format's inaugural season.
Taking a look at the FFPC RCE we see the following win rates for rosters that feature anywhere from one to four quarterbacks.
If you're familiar with Best Ball 10s (20-round drafts) or Underdog Fantasy (18-round drafts), you'll know that two-QB builds tend to be slightly more successful than 3QB builds. This is no different here, but only one step in successfully nailing down the QB position.
The second thing to consider while on your path to success centers around when you're taking that first quarterback. Setting the RCE to QB1 before Round 7, 2QB build win rates plummet to 7.6%, while 3QB build win rates fall to 7.3%. While you can certainly win by drafting players like Patrick Mahomes (27.2 ADP, QB1) and Lamar Jackson (52.5 ADP, QB4), selecting them at their ADPs is more likely to cap your upside than it is to boost it.
RotoViz Roster Construction Explorer - QB1 Before Round 7
If we instead set the RCE to QB1 before Round 10, we see things begin to shift as we now open ourselves up to taking a QB in the first nine rounds as opposed to the first six.
RotoViz Roster Construction Explorer - QB1 Before Round 10
In this case, both 2QB and 3QB builds feature stronger win rates, with even the overall win rates of teams who take their QB1 before round 10 jumping to an above average 8.6% (an average win rate is 8.3%).
If you simply can't help yourself and must draft one of the elite QBs early - perhaps to complete the unicorn stack of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill, - you aren't necessarily dead in the water. The ideal situation in this case would be to take your QB2 later in the draft than you normally would, hopefully allowing you to add upside at other positions that you sacrificed with the early QB selection.
Running Backs
Moving on to running backs, we see some relatively successful win rates stretched across the board.
With the exception of a 4RB build looking like the strongest, anything from a 5RB build to an 8RB build looks strong on the surface. In this case, it is worth noting that the top-2 percentile of teams however is the 6RB build, which also draws the second-highest win rate.
Why is this?
It could be a number of reasons, but generally the builds that feature fewer RBs are likely due to the early-round draft capital invested in the position. Drafters get their elite running backs and they get out.
If we set the RCE to RB2 in Round 2 (so drafting your second running back in the second round) we see 4RB builds jump to an 11.8% win rate. A 5RB build is the next strongest at 8.5% while the win rate only continues to drop with the more you add. Keep in mind that the overall win rate for an RB-RB start isn't particularly strong, sitting at only 8.4%.
RotoViz Roster Construction Explorer - RB2 In Round 2
If you're starting to think that RB-RB is decent, and you can get away with opening your draft with four-straight RBs, approach this with caution.
RotoViz Roster Construction Explorer - RB4 In Round 4
The 4RB win rate doesn't move from the 11.8% we saw with an RB-RB start, but the 5RB and 6RB builds drop significantly. The overall win rate of this strategy also takes a major hit, dropping to 6.2%. The kids would refer to this as a Robust RB approach.
Opening your draft with four straight RBs can prove detrimental, in large because you are essentially burning roster spots early if all four of these RBs aren't frequently finding their way onto your weekly roster by way of either the RB slot or the FLEX slot.
A more balanced approach to the RB position will allow your roster more flexibility, as the WRs and TEs who will inevitably find their way into your FLEX slots, won't be doing so at the expense of your high-capital picks.
Taking a quick look at a more balanced approach to the position, I set the RCE to RB2 after Round 6.
RotoViz Roster Construction Explorer - RB2 After Round 6
In this case, we see builds with more running backs lead to higher win rates with 6RB giving us an 11.0% win rate and 7RB giving us a 9.9% win rate. The overall win rate of 9.4% is also a full percentage point higher than the 8.4% win rate given to us with an RB-RB start. In this case, we have a single-elite RB holding the roster down while giving ourselves a number of other backs a chance to give us solid production without hindering our roster's upside.
That will do it for part one of this FFPC Best Ball Slim series. Check back for part two where we'll take a look at wide receivers and tight ends.
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