When it comes to perfecting your fantasy football draft strategy there are few approaches you can take. The first is to create your fantasy football player rankings and break down each position by tiers. Next you can research fantasy football player projections to help optimize your draft strategy. Lastly, you can participate in fantasy football mock drafts to test out different strategies and get a feel for player ADP. In recent years Best Ball fantasy football formats have largely taken over and some use them in place of the “traditional mock draft”. 

Each week I will be hosting Best Ball drafts over on BB10s which is a 12-team, 20-round draft to test out different draft strategies, get a feel for different draft slots and see how the public feels about certain players and see who the risers and fallers are in each draft.

The Draft Strategy

For this first draft I drew the second overall pick. With this being the first draft I did not have a set draft strategy, instead, I wanted to get a feel for how players would fall in each round but because this is a best ball draft format I knew I wanted to find guys that have the ability to produce top overall scoring weeks at each position. Here is how my draft played out by position.

Quarterback

 

Josh Allen, BUF QB – Pick: 3.02

Best Ball is a unique format, especially when it comes to strategy. You don’t have to set your lineup and the highest scoring players at each position on your roster have their points count towards your total score. There are different approaches when it comes to the QB position here as you can wait and take a few QBs, or you can do what I did and grab the top QB on the board and just know that week-in-week-out I have a chance to have the highest-scoring QB in the league on my roster. Last season Allen finished first in total fantasy points at the position after throwing for 4,407 yards with 36 touchdowns and 15 interceptions while adding 763 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

 

Justin Fields, CHI QB - Pick: 12:11

I wrote up my opinions on Justin Fields in my Late-Round QB feature in the FREE Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide. Like I wrote above, drafting in best ball formats is all about upside and QBs with mobility have some of the highest ceilings when it comes to fantasy scoring. During Fields’ rookie season we saw just what that ceiling looks like when he faced off against the 49ers and rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown to go along with 173 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. Fields finished with 25 fantasy points that week. Now in year two, the Bears made a coaching change and a new offense is being implemented. The new offensive coordinator for the Bears is Luke Getsy who, when he was the offensive coordinator at Mississippi State, ran an offense that saw its QB run for over 1,100 yards. Now, I’m not suggesting that Fields is going to be running THAT much but he was on a per 17-game pace last season to run for nearly 700 yards in his 10 starts. While I am bullish on Fields, I’m also hopeful the only time he ever registers a score for this roster is when Josh Allen is on a bye, otherwise, the early-round investment on the QB won’t be looking so good.

Running Backs

 

Austin Ekeler, LAC RB – Pick: 1.02 

Heading into this draft I had been looking to take Christian McCaffrey with the second overall pick but to my surprise, McCaffrey was taken first. With CMC off the board, I made the decision to bypass Jonathan Taylor and instead grab Austin Ekeler with the second overall pick. The format here is full-point PPR and in PPR formats last season Ekeler averaged the second-most fantasy points per game and was second in total scoring in PPR while appearing in 16 games. Now, the man I did not draft, Jonathan Taylor, was the leader in points and points per game in PPR formats last season but it was close with Taylor averaging 22.0 PPG and Ekeler averaging 21.5 PPG. Ekeler finished 2022 with 911 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns while adding 70 receptions for 647 yards and eight touchdowns. I actually think Ekeler has more to give us in the passing game in 2022. In 2019 we saw him finish the year with 92 receptions for 993 yards and eight touchdowns receiving. I think we’ve likely seen the ceiling when it comes to rushing for Ekeler, he has low-1,000-yard upside and the touchdowns are probably going to sit in a similar range of 8-to-12 but I don’t think it is impossible to see his receiving totals increase and that is where my bet is being made. If Ekeler goes out there and threatens a 2,000 total yard season with 80+ receptions and 15-to-20 touchdowns, then he would rival as the top overall running back in PPR scoring.  

 

Leonard Fournette, TB RB- Pick: 2.11

Fournette is one of my favorite targets this season in all formats.  The Buccaneer's offense is heading into the season missing key pieces like Chris Godwin (ACL injury) and Rob Gronkowski (retired). The team also let Ronald Jones leave in free agency. The running back room in Tampa currently consists of Fournette, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, Giovani Bernard and rookie third-round pick Rachaad White. We know Tom Brady has “his guys” and it has been pretty clear over the past two seasons that Fournette is in that inner circle of trust with Brady. In just 14 games last year Fournette finished with 812 yards and eight touchdowns rushing while adding 69 receptions for 454 yards and two more scores. Fournette is no stranger to catching the football as we saw him catch 76 passes back in 2019 with Jacksonville. Durability can be a problem with Fournette who has never played a full season but when on the field he possesses elite scoring upside in this Buccaneers offense. Fournette ranked third last season in PPR points per game for running backs that appeared in at least 10 games last season behind Jonathan Taylor and Austin Ekeler. 

 

Chase Edmonds, MIA RB - Pick: 8:11

The Dolphins have a new head coach this season and have made some big moves to improve their offense which included a trade for Tyreek Hill. Edmonds will benefit big time if the Dolphins plan to spread their offense this season, much in the way Edmonds has benefited from how the Cardinal's offense was handled over the past few seasons. Edmonds is an elite pass-catcher out of the backfield and can break off some nice runs against softer defenses that are forced to play extra defensive backs instead of stacking the box. The injury limited Edmonds to just 12 games last season but was on pace to set a career-high in targets, receptions and total yards. With this being a full-PPR format Edmonds has the potential to be a nice high-floor play week-to-week.

 

Ronald Jones, KC RB - Pick: 9:02

I double-tapped the running back position, following up my selection of Chase Edmonds in round eight with this pick of Ronald Jones in round nine. Jones was signed during free agency and has a real shot at being the Chiefs primary running back when it comes to early-down and red zone formations with Clyde Edwards-Helaire filling in more as a change of pace and pass-catching back in this Chiefs offense. We saw Jones breakout in 2020, rushing for 978 yards and seven touchdowns for Tampa Bay but he eventually lost his job to Leonard Fournette as Jones went down with an injury heading into the playoffs and Fournette helped lead the Buccaneers offense to their Super Bowl title. In 2021 Jones was active for 16 games but saw little work as the primary backup for Leonard Fournette. Jones could see himself with a double-digit touchdown upside this season as part of this Chiefs offense that will look a bit different this year but still has Patrick Mahomes under center.

 

Darrell Henderson, LAR RB - Pick: 17:02

Depth add right here. I’m not 100% sold on Cam Akers heading into the 2022 season. Akers suffered the torn achilles prior to the 2021 season and was expected to be done for the year. To everyone’s shock however Akers did return but he looked awful, averaging just 2.6 yards-per-carry during the playoffs for the Rams. Henderson is going to start the year as the backup and fill in as a third-down option but if Akers doesn’t seem to have the same explosiveness it’s not inconceivable to think Henderson takes on some of the workload. Henderson averaged 4.6 yards-per-carry last season and if not for a few injuries that he himself suffered, was on pace for nearly 1,000 yards rushing in this Rams offense.

Wide Receiver

 

Mike Williams, WR LAC - Pick: 4:11

In best ball I’m not opposed to grabbing multiple players in the same offense so grabbing Williams here after taking Ekeler in the first round is not a bad play. The Chargers have one of the highest-scoring offenses in football and Williams last season set career highs in receptions and yards while pulling in nine touchdowns. He did all of this while largely disappearing for a four-game stretch in the middle of the year while he played through what may have been a minor injury. During those four games Williams averaged just 2.5 receptions for 34.5 yards. In the other 12 games he played he averaged 5.5 receptions for 84.1 yards-per-game. Quarterback Justin Herbert is currently coming off the board as QB2 which should only mean big things for Williams this season as long as he can stay healthy.

 

Jerry Jeudy, WR DEN - Pick: 5:02

These Broncos receivers have had their ADPs shoot up the board with Russell Wilson now at quarterback. While many are loving Courtland Sutton, I’m taking the slight discount and going with Jeudy here. Jeudy was considered the top receiver in his draft class and the Broncos were thrilled to see him drop to them. Unfortunately, Jeudy has gotten off to a slow start but I’m going to attribute a lot of that to the team’s poor QB play. As a rookie, Jeudy finished with 52 receptions and 856 yards. Last season he was limited to just 10 games due to injury. I’m buying in on the talent here now that he has a pro bowl caliber QB throwing him the football. 

 

Darnell Mooney, WR CHI - Pick: 6:11

I hit the receiver position with four straight picks in this draft and Mooney was the third receiver to be taken. In his sophomore year he broke out, leading the Bears with 81 receptions and 1,055 yards all while catching the football from Andy Dalton and Justin Fields who were far from efficient passers last year. Now, as you know, I took Fields as my backup QB but not before securing his top receiving target in Mooney. I’m expecting big improvements in this Bears offense this year and Mooney was the one receiver who spent extra time with Fields last year to help those two develop the clear chemistry they displayed while on the field together. If Fields ends up having that big step forward in year two then you can certainly bet that Mooney will improve upon his 2021 production. 

 

Amari Cooper, WR CLE - Pick: 7:11

A high-risk, high-reward type of pick here in my opinion. We know the talent that Cooper has as a receiver but he has struggled with inconsistency and injury at times during his Cowboys tenure. Dallas traded him to the Browns in the offseason who have a big question at the quarterback position. IF Deshaun Watson isn’t suspended for the entire season then Cooper will have one of the top quarterbacks in football throwing him the ball for some portion of the year. IF Watson is suspended for the entire year then Jacoby Brissett is going to be the QB and that would be a big downgrade for Cooper with the Browns offense likely being more conservative with a higher focus on the running game with Nick Chubb. I was happy with my first three-receiver picks and felt Cooper, at this ADP was worth the risk in a best ball format.

Rest of Wide Receiver Depth: Chase Claypool, PIT (10:11), Jameson Crowder, BUF (13:02), D.J. Chark, DET (14:11), Rondale Moore, ARI (15:02)

Tight Ends

 

Hunter Henry, TE NE - Pick: 11:02

Tight end was a position I planned to wait on in this draft and Henry was a target of mine here. Henry tied for the league lead in touchdowns for tight ends last season and was one of the top targets for rookie Mac Jones in the red zone. Heading into 2022 there is a feeling around Patriots camp that Mac Jones is going to have the kid gloves taken off and we could see the team look to pass more now that Josh McDaniels is no longer calling plays and the team is seemingly no longer rostering a fullback. Henry was one of the league's better pass-catching tight ends during his years with the Chargers but injuries tended to limit his upside. With Jones entering year two I’m looking for Henry to continue to be that security blanket and a player he looks for in the end zone this season often.

Rest of Tight End Depth: Evan Engram, JAX (16:11), Austin Hooper, TEN (18:11)

Defenses

Baltimore Ravens (19:02,) Arizona Cardinals (20:11)

 

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