With Underdog, Draftkings, and Drafters all releasing their 2022 regular-season best ball tournaments, now’s the perfect time to go over the many different approaches for building a winning best ball roster. Best Ball is arguably the fastest-growing fantasy football format out there right now. All you need to do is draft your team and you’re good to go, whoever your top scorers are will be your starters for the week. Sounds easy right? Well, it’s not that simple. With best ball all you get to do is draft, once the draft is over that’s your team for the rest of the season. That means if one of your early draft picks gets injured there is no using the waiver wire to try and patch up your roster. I will now go over the pros and cons of each different best ball draft strategy.
Best Ball Draft Strategy
Robust RB
The idea behind a robust running back draft strategy for best ball is to draft running backs early and often. With no access to a waiver wire, having an injury to your running backs can be a fantasy death sentence. So, the idea here is that you draft running backs early and often so that even if one of your running backs get injured, you still have many viable options.
Pros
- Very strong at running backs
- Limits risk to running back injuries
Cons
- Weak at wide receiver
- Not as likely to get a top tier quarterback
- Not as likely to get a top tier tight end
- Unable to take advantage of running back value later in the draft
- Wasted draft picks on running backs not likely to ever make your starting lineup
- Low best ball advance & win rate
Hyper Fragile RB
The strategy behind a hyper fragile roster construction for best ball is to draft no more than three running backs through the first five rounds of the draft, and to end the draft with only four or five running backs total. Then draft multiple wide receivers later in the draft to make up for missing out on the top receivers earlier. With the idea being that quantity over quality at wide receiver should win out in the end.
Pros
- Strong at running backs
- Access to top tier quarterbacks
- Proven to be a winning best ball strategy
Cons
- Injury to running back ruins team
- Limited wide receiver upside
Hero RB
The strategy behind a hero running back construction for a best ball roster is to draft an elite running back in the first two rounds of your draft and not to draft another running back until much later in the draft. With the idea being that you will build a strong roster and you will have access to the top tier quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends to help fill out the rest of your roster.
Pros
- Access to top tier quarterbacks
- Access to top tier tight ends
- Roster may contain multiple high upside wide receivers
Cons
- You must hit on your early running back
- Team is dead if early running back gets injured
- A mainstream strategy
Superhero RB
A superhero running back draft strategy for a best ball roster pretty much follows the same sort of rules as a hero running back roster construction. With the only difference being that two early running backs are drafted instead of one. The main benefit to drafting two running backs early is that you are always going to need at least two starting running backs to fill your roster. Drafting two running backs early allows you to meet that requirement with two high upside guys, while still taking advantage of the same benefits as a hero running back roster construction.
Pros
- Strong at running back
- Roster multiple high upside wide receivers
- Access to top tier quarterbacks
- Access to top tier tight ends
- Proven to be a winning best ball strategy
- More running back stability than a hero RB build
Cons
- Must hit on your early running backs
- Most likely will have to choose between a top tier quarterback or tight end
- A mainstream strategy
Zero RB
Lastly, we have the controversial zero running back roster build. If it wasn’t already obvious by its name the zero running back strategy means you do not a draft a single running back until later in the draft. There isn’t really a set rule as to when you should draft your first running back, but the main idea is to not use any of your early premium draft picks on a running back. The reasoning for this is that running backs are the most volatile position in the league mainly due to injuries, mid-season trades, or a coach deciding to switch up their game plan. You are ideally setting yourself up for success by drafting a top tier quarterback, top tier tight end, and multiple high ceiling wider receivers to start out your roster.
Now when it comes to drafting your running backs there are certain types of running backs to target. The first type is a running back that is in a committee but is the cheaper of the two options. Next, a pass-catching running back to give you some floor points early in the season. Next, is a backup running back that is the handcuff to a bell-cow running back. With the idea being that if the starter gets hurt then you have yourself a bell-cow running back that you picked up late in the draft. Lastly, would be unproven rookies that are going towards the tail end of the draft. Every year there seems to be at least one rookie running back that comes out of nowhere and takes the fantasy world by storm, so it’s worth a late-round dart throw to hopefully get someone like that on your roster.
Pros
- Roster multiple top tier high ceiling wide receivers
- Access to top tier quarterbacks
- Access to top tier tight ends
- Takes advantage of running backs falling past ADP
- Running back injuries throughout the season might be beneficial to your roster
- Underutilized roster construction strategy
Cons
- Weak at running back
- Needs a lot of things to go right for running back picks to pay off
- For tournaments, it has a low likelihood of making the playoffs
There is no right or wrong answer as to which strategy to use for a best ball roster, because a lot of it is dependent on your draft room. These roster construction strategies are more so loose templates to help you piece together a potentially winning roster. You should never be so tied down to a particular strategy that it doesn’t allow you to be flexible, because you never know what the draft may give you. Perhaps you may go into a draft wanting do a zero running back team, but if you end up with the first overall pick of the draft. If that happens you’re better off just taking Jonathan Taylor and figuring out what to do later as you see how the draft plays out. Use these strategies as a road map, but don’t be afraid to make some detours along the way if it makes sense.