Bestball has seemingly become the offseason drug of choice for both draft addicts and DFS players, alike. You will see slews of articles, tweets, blurbs, etc. outlining roster construction, strategies, targets, and fades. But for those who have never delved into the format, it begs the question… “What exactly is Bestball?” Bestball is a format that takes, perhaps, the most enjoyable part of a fantasy league, the draft, and then cuts off your responsibility to that league as soon as that last pick of the last round is made. There is no lineup setting, no waivers, no FAAB, no injured reserve, no obligation. You put all of your faith in your draft aptitude to the test, by selecting a team of players, months and weeks in advance of the upcoming NFL season. The lack of in season activity sets up a format where you accrue points weekly, based on your optimal lineup from the pool of players drafted, most often this amounts to 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX and potentially 1 DST, based on your site of choice.
The Formats
Within Bestball itself, there are two formats – Fast Draft and Slow Draft. The names, quite literally, explain their difference. A fast draft is very quick, with about 30 seconds per pick, the entire draft takes about 30-45 minutes. In a Slow Draft, you are on an 8 hour timer, and usually get notification by email. There are pros and cons to both, though at the end of off season, I usually find my portfolio is made up considerably of more fast drafts, as I enjoy the convenience and the half an hour obligation to a league.
How to Play?
There are many options to choose from to kick off your journey into best ball. First pick your site, and familiarize yourself with the specific scoring for that site. Just as season long leagues have fun wrinkles and sets of scoring, so do the different best ball hosts. Once you’ve picked your site, choose a format and a buy in level. Once your draft is full, it will begin, and depending on if you have chosen the fast draft or classic slow draft format, you’ll have 30 seconds per pick or 8 hours. Draft your team and… well that it’s it. Now you’re done. Hope you’re not sentimental!
Why Best Ball?
Perhaps the most obvious reason to delve into this format are the prizes. DRAFT just announced its massive 2019 tournament, with 3 million dollars up for grabs, and a million dollars to first place, it’s the largest Best Ball prize pool to date. A five round tournament, scoring you from weeks 1 to 12. Come out on top for your draft those weeks and move bracket style into a 27 man final. Not only is it an enticing amount of money, but it’s also a great deal of fun, as you’re not limited to one entry. Draft as many teams ($25 buy in) as you’d like and employ different strategies to see how far they take you. If battling with thousands in a tournament style environment isn’t your thing, BestBall10s offers different styles of contests to suit your desired ROI and buy in. You can play a classic style draft, where 1st place is 10x your buy in, a Top 3 League, which offers a flatter payout structure, or a 2x League which is comparable to a 50/50. No matter your buy in level, or desired level of risk- reward, best ball really does have something for everyone.
Aside from just the cold hard cash, there just isn’t a better venue than best ball to prepare yourself for the upcoming season. The landscape of fantasy completely changes from season to season, through the draft, free agency, coaching changes, etc. No one season is really comparable to the next. A format where you’re quite literally drafting for the entire season is the perfect baptism by fire to learn depth charts, coaching schemes, strength of schedule, etc. After spending the offseason learning about the upcoming season, instead of just anticipating it, I promise you will find yourself much more prepared for not only season long, but also DFS and football in general.
How Does Strategy Change from Season Long to Best Ball?
There are a few stark areas of contrast between bestball and season long leagues. Let’s start with bye weeks. In season long, you are able to maneuver bye weeks through trades or waivers. In a format that rids itself of both of those options, you are obligated to plan ahead. This sentiment correlates most closely with the “onesie” positions, the quarterback and tight end. While you are drafting, you need to be aware of bye weeks, but they are not the end all, be all. If you have found yourself late in the draft with two quarterbacks that share the same bye week, you just need to stay aware and plan to take a third quarterback at some point with a different schedule. However, I try to avoid this, as with every pick, there is opportunity cost, and you are going to be giving up value at another position.
Most of what can be said about bye weeks, translates over to injuries. Although unlike bye weeks, injuries are simply not predictable. All it takes is one injury to for a first round stud to be a first round dud. However, where there is injury, there is always opportunity. In season long, most advise against drafting a handcuff in the initial draft, as it potentially limits upside. Additionally, in the midst of the offseason, do any of us ACTUALLY know who the handcuffs are? There are two major points to be said about injuries and best ball. The first is depth. You need to tackle each position with enough depth to carry you through a season. You need to embrace variance and you need to remember that waivers will not be able to save you. The second matter is handcuffs make great late round fliers, but you don’t necessarily want their counterpart. In season long, the safety of grabbing Austin Ekeler if you drafted Melvin Gordon earlier provides a great floor. In Bestball, the ceiling of grabbing Ekeler late if you didn’t grab Gordon at all is even better. One tweak of Melvin’s knee, and you’ve got yourself a starting running back on the cheap, in Ekeler. Bestball is all about potential ceiling, and you need to draft as such.
Speaking of ceiling, not only should draft strategy be tailored for it’s achievement, but the type of players drafted also need to be approached appropriately. In the early rounds, you’re going to get your studs. You’re going to get the players that are going to carry your roster one way or another. They’re going to have a high target share, going to own their backfield, and they’re going to be playing the majority of the snaps. This is where you’ll get your floor. In the coming rounds, you need to be swinging for the fences. So what does that mean? That means you don’t want Jarvis Landry. You don’t want 9 for 65. You don’t care about consistency in this format. In any season long league, Landry is a great safety net. He’s a respectable wide receiver who’s going to get you there with PPR points. In bestball, you want the DeSean Jackson’s. The volatility is much more valuable than it is frustrating when you don’t have to worry about setting a lineup.
The last point to touch on here is the matter of stacking. In season long, we have been conditioned to not put all of our eggs in one offensive basket. You don’t generally head into a draft, or auction, ready to draft multiple players from the same team. However, in bestball, this is a common practice. In season long, it’s generally shied away from because it lowers the floor of your team. In bestball, again, say it with me, it’s all about ceiling. In stacking, you want a good correlation from at least two players from the same team. Most commonly, this translates to a QB and WR. Stacking doesn’t always need to be intentional, but can also be a great tie breaker later on the in the draft. If you’re deciding between quarterbacks, consider stacking the correlation with the first WR you took earlier on. You can benefit from the spike weeks in this particular offense. The more powerful the offense, the more viable it is to take multiple players. There were plenty of weeks last year where Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Damien Williams stacks amounted to massive fantasy points. While stacking players is risky, the risk is often worth the reward. Remember, these leagues are tournaments, and if you’re not first, you’re last.
When is the best time to draft?
From my experience with bestball, there a few peak times during the offseason where ADP simply has not adjusted in the world of drafting. The first opportunity is before Evan Silva starts tweeting about ADP. Kidding. The first is before the NFL Draft. The fantasy landscape has not yet changed, players have not been unseated, and most importantly, rookies do not have their landing spots. If you’re one to stay up to snuff on collegiate prospects and their potential NFL homes, the pre-NFL Draft window is a great time to snag the new inductees before the masses have more information and the ADP’s inflate. You can also grab some great values directly after the NFL draft. Once the rookies have homes, their ADP is not very quick to adjust. It takes many drafts and many reaches to pull the rookies from their pre draft ADP into post draft hype. In the days directly after the NFL draft, the rookie players are still fairly far down the draft list, and are often forgotten about in the bestball draft rooms. Use that to your advantage. My personal favorite time to up my volume on bestball is just before the NFL season begins. Football is in the air, casual fans are looking for something to do, and the bestball drafts are filled with players who haven’t paid a lick of attention in the offseason. ADPs are fairly set at this point, but your caliber of opponent will more often than not, make up for that. And of course, if you’ve been playing bestball all summer, which you should have been after reading this, then you’ll absolutely have a leg up on those who wander into draft room unprepared.
