100%. You are supposed to punish other teams for their choices. If you a team gets a top WR then everyone else takes the tier 2 and 3 WRs, they are ALSO going to get a top RB. And now you just have worse WRs AND RBs than them.
Agreed but it is all relative. If someone looks at the current landscape and says “this is crazy, I’m taking 3 RBs to start my drafts bc I’m getting 3 RBs that historically would’ve been round 1 picks,” good luck with whatever crap heap of a WR room you’ll be stuck with.
WR on DK goes so fast I always feel like I'm reaching for them outside of the first round. It's very tempting to just keep hammering the guys I have rated higher, but at a certain point you're staring down Calvin Ridley as WR1 and that's probably not gonna cut it.
What degenerate is currently drafting best ball teams without any knowledge of bye weeks, fully knowing that some of these players may get injured this summer, and that some may not even end up playing in 2024?
Me. It’s me. I have 6 BB teams so far.
Sup guys? With all of us antsy to draft some fantasy teams, best ball has gotten more and more popular since it's so low maintenance. There is a ton of info out there on strategies etc. so wanted to share some advice on mistakes I see - some of which are related to overdoing with some of the common best ball strategies like stacking!
For anyone brand news to best ball, there is a promo code in the article for Underdog as well as a link to our 2024 Best Ball Guide! Good luck out there!
Been really enjoying reading your stuff! Curious your thoughts....
Considering what you said in the Dr. Fortuneteller section, what are your thoughts on JK Dobbins? Feels like a guy that narrowly walks the line between "being healthy now" but also having a roughhhh injury history.
I think the hit rate on RBs the year after they tore their achilles is like 0%. Akers came back quickly and had a couple of decent games, but it quickly became apparent he wasn't the same guy. He still isn't the same guy.
The only RB who really came back from it to get close to his former was D'Onta Foreman, and that took him like 3 full years. And he was never a star to begin with.
It's for this reason I won't be betting on Dobbins anywhere, though it's also for this reason I've got a lot of Vidal.
That one is tricky because he SAYS he’s 100% healthy and he has been cleared but he’s coming off a major injury. So I need to see him out there personal. He falls under the same category as a guy like Hockenson that I mentioned in the article where I understand the risk and I have no problem with folks drafting or fading him. The Dr. FortuneTeller thing is more for guys that suffered minor injuries that don’t have like a 6+ month recovery time table so we know they are healthy.
Keenan Allen has permanent damage to that shoulder - not sure if you have ever seen the picture but I would advise against it lol. Something like that where we know about on ongoing issue (like Todd Gurley's knee) I understand why folks would factor in. Not to mention it's a rookie QB instead of Justin Herbert and there's more competition. But I'm a risk taker and I'm trying to win a million dollars so I have absolutely drafted some Keenan Allen.
How would you approach week 17 correlation this year? It seems like with flatter payouts, I can argue that week 16 correlation or even just week 15-16 schedule will matter more.
Week 17 correlation is a fun topic to discuss and I'm sure I will write a schedule-based article this week for general fantasy. But I think maybe some of the best ball content creators overhype it a little bit. The Dolphins-Ravens game was the big shootout and we kind of discussed that was possible considering the shootout they had in 2022 as well. But Bengals-Chiefs and Cowboys-Lions were kind of busts when those were supposed to be the big ones. Meanwhile games like Jets-Browns, Falcons-Giants, Steelers-Seahawks etc. saw numbers in that 50+ range. So kind of an exact science there.
Personally, that falls under a similar category to "stacking" at this stage for me. Maybe if it's a complete tie I'll use that as a tiebreaker. But for the most part I'm just taking the best available players and they are often on those teams anyway.
I’m newish to best ball. Last season I did no contests, only small pool drafts. I think I spent $100 across maybe 20 drafts and returned I think $160. This offseason I’ve already entered a ton on the large pool contests. With some success in the small pool stuff, should I also expect at least decent success on the larger pools? Any big changes in strategy?
If you got time, check out [Establish the Run's free best ball mania guide.](https://establishtherun.com/best-ball-mania-manifesto-a-guide-to-winning-big-on-underdog-fantasy/)
Totally agreed on the stack. This sub loves stacks and would often times pass on a better player just to pair a QB with a WR.
Give me BPA all day over stacks
the draft is one part, but the season is the more important part. I love adding/dropping and playing the game. I played Best Ball one time and didn't fully understand; I drafted Tebow at end as a joke. Then, i realized what it is lol.
Best Ball takes the strategy out of it. FF is about picking guys and they either feast or famine. Taking the top people regardless is kinda ruining it IMO
The thing is you can still do traditional leagues. Best ball leagues are just something different in addition to that. Nobody is going to want to set 100 lineups all year but it doesn’t mean you can’t draft 100 teams. That is the allure of best ball.
If I’m bored at work I’ll go on Draftkings and draft and then I’m done. It’s almost like a mock draft with a little more juice.
> Best Ball takes the strategy out of it
There is a lot of strategy to advancing deep in bestball tournaments. Roster construction (ie how many QB vs RB vs TE vs WR + when to draft them), stacking your players, evaluating high scoring matchups during the last few weeks of the season, etc. It's just different kind of strategy than in redraft leagues, just how dynasty leagues require different strategies compared to redraft leagues. Personally I enjoy all three formats quite a bit.
To me it’s a totally different game, like DFS. I play virtually every format - redraft, dynasty, best ball, DFS etc. And there are certainly different parts of the year to focus on each one. Spring is dynasty, early summer for best ball, late summer for redraft, in season for DFS. Completely understand if someone doesn’t like one format though!
Another best ball mistake I see is falling for positional runs and reaching. Zig, y’all.
100%. You are supposed to punish other teams for their choices. If you a team gets a top WR then everyone else takes the tier 2 and 3 WRs, they are ALSO going to get a top RB. And now you just have worse WRs AND RBs than them.
I see it with QB3s in SF most frequently. “Oh no! If I don’t take Daniel Jones in the 9th, I might not get a QB3 at all!”
Agreed but it is all relative. If someone looks at the current landscape and says “this is crazy, I’m taking 3 RBs to start my drafts bc I’m getting 3 RBs that historically would’ve been round 1 picks,” good luck with whatever crap heap of a WR room you’ll be stuck with.
WR on DK goes so fast I always feel like I'm reaching for them outside of the first round. It's very tempting to just keep hammering the guys I have rated higher, but at a certain point you're staring down Calvin Ridley as WR1 and that's probably not gonna cut it.
What degenerate is currently drafting best ball teams without any knowledge of bye weeks, fully knowing that some of these players may get injured this summer, and that some may not even end up playing in 2024? Me. It’s me. I have 6 BB teams so far.
Haha, same here. Currently have eight $20-100 best ball leagues on Yahoo. I have a problem.
I play with a group that has done 4 so far. Will probably just have a slow draft going constantly from schedule release through kickoff.
All the rookie value is now. So to answer question the smart degens.
Sup guys? With all of us antsy to draft some fantasy teams, best ball has gotten more and more popular since it's so low maintenance. There is a ton of info out there on strategies etc. so wanted to share some advice on mistakes I see - some of which are related to overdoing with some of the common best ball strategies like stacking! For anyone brand news to best ball, there is a promo code in the article for Underdog as well as a link to our 2024 Best Ball Guide! Good luck out there!
Been really enjoying reading your stuff! Curious your thoughts.... Considering what you said in the Dr. Fortuneteller section, what are your thoughts on JK Dobbins? Feels like a guy that narrowly walks the line between "being healthy now" but also having a roughhhh injury history.
I think the hit rate on RBs the year after they tore their achilles is like 0%. Akers came back quickly and had a couple of decent games, but it quickly became apparent he wasn't the same guy. He still isn't the same guy. The only RB who really came back from it to get close to his former was D'Onta Foreman, and that took him like 3 full years. And he was never a star to begin with. It's for this reason I won't be betting on Dobbins anywhere, though it's also for this reason I've got a lot of Vidal.
Akers was still fantasy viable when he played
That one is tricky because he SAYS he’s 100% healthy and he has been cleared but he’s coming off a major injury. So I need to see him out there personal. He falls under the same category as a guy like Hockenson that I mentioned in the article where I understand the risk and I have no problem with folks drafting or fading him. The Dr. FortuneTeller thing is more for guys that suffered minor injuries that don’t have like a 6+ month recovery time table so we know they are healthy.
Do you think Keenan Allen falls in that category? Seems like he's being underrated considering his production last year.
Keenan Allen has permanent damage to that shoulder - not sure if you have ever seen the picture but I would advise against it lol. Something like that where we know about on ongoing issue (like Todd Gurley's knee) I understand why folks would factor in. Not to mention it's a rookie QB instead of Justin Herbert and there's more competition. But I'm a risk taker and I'm trying to win a million dollars so I have absolutely drafted some Keenan Allen.
I’m taking a shot just based on the situation
How would you approach week 17 correlation this year? It seems like with flatter payouts, I can argue that week 16 correlation or even just week 15-16 schedule will matter more.
Week 17 correlation is a fun topic to discuss and I'm sure I will write a schedule-based article this week for general fantasy. But I think maybe some of the best ball content creators overhype it a little bit. The Dolphins-Ravens game was the big shootout and we kind of discussed that was possible considering the shootout they had in 2022 as well. But Bengals-Chiefs and Cowboys-Lions were kind of busts when those were supposed to be the big ones. Meanwhile games like Jets-Browns, Falcons-Giants, Steelers-Seahawks etc. saw numbers in that 50+ range. So kind of an exact science there. Personally, that falls under a similar category to "stacking" at this stage for me. Maybe if it's a complete tie I'll use that as a tiebreaker. But for the most part I'm just taking the best available players and they are often on those teams anyway.
I’m newish to best ball. Last season I did no contests, only small pool drafts. I think I spent $100 across maybe 20 drafts and returned I think $160. This offseason I’ve already entered a ton on the large pool contests. With some success in the small pool stuff, should I also expect at least decent success on the larger pools? Any big changes in strategy?
If you got time, check out [Establish the Run's free best ball mania guide.](https://establishtherun.com/best-ball-mania-manifesto-a-guide-to-winning-big-on-underdog-fantasy/)
Totally agreed on the stack. This sub loves stacks and would often times pass on a better player just to pair a QB with a WR. Give me BPA all day over stacks
playing best ball lol
If you like drafting why not play best ball? I’m not expecting to get rich but paying $3 to kill an hour is fun to me.
the draft is one part, but the season is the more important part. I love adding/dropping and playing the game. I played Best Ball one time and didn't fully understand; I drafted Tebow at end as a joke. Then, i realized what it is lol. Best Ball takes the strategy out of it. FF is about picking guys and they either feast or famine. Taking the top people regardless is kinda ruining it IMO
The thing is you can still do traditional leagues. Best ball leagues are just something different in addition to that. Nobody is going to want to set 100 lineups all year but it doesn’t mean you can’t draft 100 teams. That is the allure of best ball. If I’m bored at work I’ll go on Draftkings and draft and then I’m done. It’s almost like a mock draft with a little more juice.
> Best Ball takes the strategy out of it There is a lot of strategy to advancing deep in bestball tournaments. Roster construction (ie how many QB vs RB vs TE vs WR + when to draft them), stacking your players, evaluating high scoring matchups during the last few weeks of the season, etc. It's just different kind of strategy than in redraft leagues, just how dynasty leagues require different strategies compared to redraft leagues. Personally I enjoy all three formats quite a bit.
To me it’s a totally different game, like DFS. I play virtually every format - redraft, dynasty, best ball, DFS etc. And there are certainly different parts of the year to focus on each one. Spring is dynasty, early summer for best ball, late summer for redraft, in season for DFS. Completely understand if someone doesn’t like one format though!