Have you ever tried to fire up a mock draft on ESPN or Yahoo to practice for your upcoming fantasy draft(s), only to watch some jamoke take Tim Tebow 1.01 overall for the lulz?

Another scenario: Half the drafters peace out after just a few rounds because they got bored, effectively destroying the usefulness of the mock draft to simulate your actual draft.

What if I told you that those days are over … that you could compete for massive prizes while also practicing for your own leagues at the same time?

Well, that’s exactly what the “best ball” fantasy format provides.

What is best ball?

Best ball is arguably the fastest-growing fantasy format right now. It takes everything that is great about season-long leagues (drafting), removes all of the time-consuming elements (setting lineups, scouring the waiver wire, haggling for trades) and delivers prizes that rival the biggest DFS contests (tournaments at Underdog Fantasy and DraftKings feature top prizes of $1 million or more).

Many people get turned off or intimidated by the words “best ball,” but it’s far less complicated than it sounds. In fact, it is the easiest format to play.

The draft is extremely similar to what you are used to in a typical league. At Underdog — the most popular best ball platform — you draft 18 players to fill out a weekly starting lineup of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE and 1 FLEX. There are no defenses or kickers. 

Then you’re done. There are no trades or waiver adds, meaning the team you’ve drafted is the team you’ll have for the entire season. Then it’s time for the best ball gods to take the wheel.

FL Mag

Wait, you mean I don’t have to set a lineup?

Each week, your best lineup will be calculated automatically, meaning you don't have to wrestle with any start/sit decisions or roster moves. 

Have you ever agonized over which WR to start, only to watch the guy you benched go off for 25 points? That wouldn't happen in best ball, because your top scorers are automatically placed into your lineup. It’s a beautiful thing. 

How to construct a best ball team

Because owners can’t make any moves throughout the season, best ball requires drafters to be calculated regarding strategies and structure. Drafting a best ball team is all about balancing depth and upside. Rosters need to be able to cover bye weeks — as well as potential injuries — while also working under the constraints of limited roster spots. 

In general, drafters should select 2-3 QBs, 4-6 RBs, 7-9 WRs and 2-3 TEs. The exact number of picks devoted to a specific position should be determined by when you draft that position. The earlier you select a position (quality), the fewer players at that position you need to take (quantity). 

Josh Allen

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) runs into the end zone on this 52 yard run.

The No. 1 thing to remember when drafting is to think quantity or quality at each position, not both.

For instance, If you start your draft with three straight RBs, you should take only 1 or 2 more, at most, and those selections should be made much later in the draft. In this scenario, you want to draft as if those three premium picks at RB will carry your team at the position. You’ll now need to devote a higher quantity to WRs because you don’t have any from the top few tiers. 

You can apply the same thought process to every position. If you take the great Josh Allen with one of your early picks, you don’t need to take two more QBs. You should wait until the double-digit rounds to grab a second QB, working under the assumption that you'll be using Allen’s score most weeks; the other QB(s) will rarely crack the starting lineup.

Best ball tournaments

Some best ball contests are single, self-contained 12-person leagues, but the most exciting aspect of best ball is the availability of large-field tournaments in which drafters can turn a small buy-in into millions of dollars.

And because there's no management of the teams during the season, one person can draft a bunch of teams with no additional time commitment outside of the draft itself (typically around 45 minutes for an 18-round draft).

Most best ball tournaments have a similar structure that make them a fun puzzle to solve from a strategy standpoint. Not only will you need a team good enough to advance from your 12-person draft in the regular season (Weeks 1-14) to the fantasy playoffs, but you’ll also need a top score in the subsequent rounds when it matters most (Weeks 15-17).

Each of these rounds functions as its own mini-tournament, as the points reset in the following round:

  • Weeks 1-14 (Round 1)
  • Week 15 (Round 2)
  • Week 16 (Round 3)
  • Week 17 (Round 4 - Finals)

Because a majority of the prize money is distributed to the Week 17 finalists, it’s crucial that drafters prioritize players with late-season upside. Last year, veteran WR Adam Thielen was a great pick for the regular season, but he did nothing in the fantasy playoffs. On the flip side, late-round rookie WR Jayden Reed delivered a tournament-winning performance in Week 17 and won an Underdog drafter $3 million in the Best Ball Mania IV contest. 

Best strategy when competing for large-field tourney prizes: chasing upside

Here are my favorite ways to draft for late-season upside:

Target Rookies. Rookies are one of the skeleton keys to drafting high-upside best ball teams. Because they are a mystery box, so to speak, rookies are often discounted relative to their true upside (think Puka Nacua and Tank Dell last season). And, most importantly, rookies traditionally see their roles and production increase as the season moves along (think Rashee Rice last year or Amon-Ra St. Brown in 2021), which perfectly aligns with giving our best ball teams a boost during the fantasy playoffs.

Load up on backup RBs. In addition to rookies, one of the best cohorts of players to reach upside scenarios are backup and handcuff RBs. These backs are often considered “contingency-based” players because they don’t project to get a ton of opportunities on paper but would possess massive upside in the event of an injury to the starter. 

Not all of these backs will hit, of course, but when they do, they hit in a big way because they can serve as a one-for-one replacement for the back in front of them. Injuries are one of the biggest drivers for backup RBs thrusting into a starting role (such as Zack Moss in Indianapolis last year), but late-round RBs can emerge for a variety of reasons, including trades (Kyren Williams), ambiguous backfields (Raheem Mostert), efficient play (De’Von Achane) or simply outplaying the starter (Chuba Hubbard and Devin Singletary). 

Jan 7, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane (28) runs with the football for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

Stack up your players. Stacking or, more generally speaking, correlation reduces the number of things we must get right to win. If Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase has a big year, it’s likely that his QB, Joe Burrow, will as well. Stacking isn’t just about QBs and pass-catchers from the same team, though. It can be a concentrated bet on a single offense, and this can be accomplished by any pairing of players from the same team regardless of their position. 

Drafters who took the plunge on multiple undervalued Texans in 2023 — Nico Collins, Tank Dell, Dalton Schultz, Devin Singletary and C.J. Stroud — enjoyed huge returns thanks to the correlation of all those players succeeding in tandem. 

Just be patient with stacking and don’t reach too much to secure the stack. Think of correlating your players as a boost and reaching ahead of a player's ADP (average draft position) as a negative.

Buy the dip on discounted players. The final group of players we should be targeting are injured players with an imminent return. These players are often discounted by multiple rounds in ADP because of the expected lack of production at the beginning of the season. But as we discussed earlier, the production we care about the most is in Weeks 15-17.

If there is ever a time for our team to survive a lack of production from injured players, it’s at the beginning of the season when the rest of our teams are the healthiest they’ll be all year and the bye weeks have yet to begin.

Odell Beckham Jr. missed the first four games of his rookie year due to a hamstring injury, then set the league on fire down the stretch and finished as the overall WR6 in just 12 games. 

When making these kinds of bets, we just want to make sure the players have the talent and pedigree to take advantage of their opportunities by the end of the season. 

Time to start drafting

You now possess the playbook for drafting best ball teams with tournament-winning upside.

Be sure to review the scoring and settings for whichever best ball contest you register for. Subtle differences in scoring (PPR vs. half-point PPR) and tournament structure can impact optimal strategy.

Of course, the real benefit to drafting a few best ball teams is cutting your teeth in the ultimate fantasy training ground and preparing to crush your buddies in your season-long league.