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Adam Koffler highlights players that you should target for 2024 best ball fantasy football. Fantasy managers should consider these players for best ball leagues.
Best Ball season is back! All you have to do is draft the "best" team. Easy, right? Not so fast. But it's all about having fun, right? I know, I know, you want to win lots of money. But let's be realistic here. It's hard to draft the best team. That's where RotoBaller comes in. We're here to help you dominate your 2024 Best Ball drafts.
In Best Ball, you want players that score the most points. You want that in managed season-long leagues as well. However, in Best Ball, you want to identify those with huge ceilings. That's how you take down a large tournament anyway. Your lineup each week will be based on the highest-scoring players at each starting position, so shoot for the stars when making your selections.
In this article, we'll look at early Underdog average draft position (ADP) to determine which players to target in 2024 Best Ball leagues. Make sure you keep up to date with all your fantasy football needs by following RotoBaller on X and checking out RotoBaller.com. With that said, here are four players to target in 2024 Best Ball leagues.
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2024 Best Ball Players to Target
Drake London, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Editor's Note: Kirk Cousins has signed with Atlanta and will be the Falcons; starting quarterback next season.
London is a perfect example of the kind of player we want to target in Best Ball. He showcased an elite skillset as a 21-year-old rookie in 2022. However, his talent hasn't translated into elite fantasy production. At least not yet.
He's been held back by Arthur Smith, Marcos Mariota, and Desmond Ridder for two seasons. That's all about to change. Raheem Morris is the new head coach in Atlanta, and he's already gushing about London.
Morris brought in Zac Robinson to be the new offensive coordinator. He comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree. The Rams have passed at a rate of ~56% in the last two seasons. Meanwhile, the Falcons passed at a rate of just 42.5% and 50% in each of the last two seasons, respectively.
As a rookie, London posted the 5th-highest target share (29.4%), 2nd-highest target rate (32.4%), and 11th-highest yards per route run (YPRR) (2.40) of all wide receivers. If the Falcons throw the ball even 32 times per game, a 29% target share would equate to 158 targets. He's never seen more than 117 targets in a season. With an ADP of 36.9 (WR24), it's easy to see why you should be targeting London in 2024 Best Ball drafts.
Jaylen Warren, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Target Warren for the same reasons you're targeting London. He's immensely talented and now has the right coach to take his game to the next level. For as bad as Arthur Smith was for London, he'll be incredible for Warren in Pittsburgh.
Sure, Najee Harris is still a Steeler, but Warren was so much better in 2023. In fact, Per PlayerProfiler, he was 3rd amongst all running backs in yards created per touch (4.65), 7th in yards per touch (5.5), 5th in evaded tackles (67), 3rd in breakaway run rate (8.1%), and 6th in true yards per carry (4.9). Additionally, his 61 receptions were good for 5th amongst all running backs. Despite only a 43.1% opportunity share in 2023, Warren still managed to finish as a low-end RB due to his insane efficiency.
Smith may take a balanced approach when deploying Warren and Harris in 2024, but he'll be hard-pressed to keep Warren on the sidelines when he's out-producing Harris consistently. But, once again, Harris (83.5 ADP) is being drafted above Warren (92.7 ADP). Make sure to target the 3rd-year back in your 2024 Best Ball drafts.
Khalil Shakir, WR, Buffalo Bills
Gabe Davis is a free agent, making it unlikely he will return to the Bills in 2024. Deonte Harty was cut. That leaves Stefon Diggs, Trent Sherfield, and Khalil Shakir as the current wide receivers in Buffalo. Diggs had 160 targets last season, but there's no denying he's close to the age cliff. His 7.39 yards per target and 11.06 yards per catch were career lows for him in Buffalo. His YPRR in 2023 (2.03) also took a nosedive when compared to the 2022 season (2.87).
While it's possible (and likely) that the Bills bring in another receiver via the Draft or Free Agency, they also really like Shakir. His playing time picked up last season starting in Week 8. He went over 95 receiving yards three times and had a very respectable 1.93 YPRR (33rd amongst wide receivers) and 1.98 target separation (19th amongst wide receivers), per PlayerProfiler. Add that to his #1 overall target quality rating and target accuracy (thanks to Josh Allen), and the 3rd-year man out of Boise State could be in line for a breakout campaign in 2024.
Here's a clip from the "Built in Buffalo Founders Pod" talking about how well Shakir fits in Joe Brady's offense:
He's currently the 53rd wide receiver off the board in early Best Ball drafts with an ADP of 115.9. Get ahead of the curve and target Shakir in 2024.
Jaylen Waddle, WR, Miami Dolphins
Heading into the 2023 season, Waddle was being drafted around WR11/12 with an ADP of 24. Heading into the 2024 season, his current ADP is 31.8 as the 22nd wide receiver off the board. What changed? The answer is "not much." This is the exact thing we look for when determining value and what players to target.
If anything, Waddle was better in 2023 than he was in 2022. His target share and target rate were both up. The difference is he battled a couple of injuries, played part-time in a couple of games, and scored just four touchdowns compared to eight in 2022. His YPRR remained elite (2.68) and his route win rate of 62.7% was 2nd amongst all wide receivers.
While Cheetah was unstoppable in 2023, like Diggs, he isn't getting any younger. Not only that, but we shouldn't expect Hill to put up the video game-type numbers he did a season ago. Natural regression to the mean likely gives Waddle some of that volume. When that happens, you'll be happy you targeted him in 2024 Best Ball drafts.
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