The Perfect Fantasy Football Draft-2023
This is now the 5th year I have written this article and it has become one of the most popular I write during the entire football season. I hear from a lot of people every year thanking me becaus it helped them win their leagues. I hope to keep the success going this year! The season long league has always been the most popular form of fantasy football, but now with the advent of the Best Ball format, it has been taken to a new level. I always wanted to draft a lot teams, because that is where I felt I had such a huge edge over my competition and frankly that is the most fun. However, I found myself not being able to manage all of my teams throughout the year with the waiver wire and weekly free agency. The Best Ball format takes all of that out of the equation. I get to use my edge during the draft and go through that process hundreds of times, but am not required to maintain all those teams throughout the year. For those of you unfamiliar with Best Ball, I would recommend checking them out. There are national leagues available like the FFPC or NFFC that have this format (as well as normal season long leagues) and Draftkings also offers large contests with this format at well ($1M up top in prize money). Regardless of whether you play regular season long or best ball, there is nothing more important than THE DRAFT and it is imperative that you prepare diligently for it.
Obviously, there is some luck involved in assembling a team capable of winning a fantasy football title, but there is no replacing research and preparation. Knowing who is primed for a breakout season, who will regress from previous years, and knowing who the deep sleepers are that you can nab late in the draft and help propel you to the crown, are necessary to draft the perfect team.
If you do not have hundreds of hours crunching numbers and breaking down film, do not fret, Football Insider Edge has your back. I have compiled all the data, scoured reports, analyzed game film, and present my findings in a step by step walk through of the perfect draft that will help you win a title this year.
I have won nearly $500,000 in season long and daily fantasy football over the course of my career. High stakes season long leagues like the NFFC and large field tournaments on Draftkings are just a couple of places I have won titles. After reading this article, you will be armed with all the information you will need and it will take you a fraction of the time than if you were to do all the research yourself.
I will talk a lot about Average Draft Positon (ADP) in this article. This is simply where guys have been drafted thus far in national leagues and around where they can be expected to go in your drafts. It is critical that you get as much value as possible and draft guys at or after their ADP. Even if you really like a player, do not stretch too far and take him too early. Drafting a guy in the 3rd round when he is projected to go in the 5th round is a waste. Be patient and don’t make mistakes.
A couple key points for best ball drafts:
Stacking- It is absolutely critical when it comes to large, national contests with thousands and thousands of entries. I will often target a QB with at least one pass catcher (mostly two or three) and runningback. We are looking for offenses that have great seasons and even better, go off when it comes play-off time. You can even go as far as stacking individual games during the playoffs as an advanced strategy.
Bye weeks- One key thing that you need to factor in when drafting best ball teams are bye weeks. Do not draft too many players on the same bye week. If you roster 2 QBs and they both have a bye the same week, you take a -0-. I never want to pass on a great value if one falls to me in a draft because I already have a guy at the same position on the same bye week. Just be careful not to own too many guys at the same position on the same bye week.
Championship Week Match-ups. Make sure to look closely at when your playoff and championship weeks are in your league. For Draftkings the playoffs start week 15 and run through week 17. Having good exposure to players and teams that have weak schedules during those weeks is nice way to increase your chances of popping a big one.
A few teams that I have found to have the most beneficial schedules during this stretch include:
Titans (Texans twice, plus the Seahawks at home)
Browns (Bears, at Texans, and Jets at home)
Falcons (Panthers, Colts, and at Bears)
Bears (at Browns, Cardinals and Falcons at home in weeks 16 & 17, yum)
If you want to take it to the next level and really play chess while others are playing checkers, go ahead and stack individual games in week 17 in huge best ball leagues like Draftkings.
A few of the games that should have the highest total of that week include:
Cincinnati @ KC
Green Bay @ Minn
LA Chargers @ Denver
Since things change often and fast these days, I will be updating this column throughout the summer right up until opening kick-off. The tough thing about drafting best ball teams now is you might have a player or two that goes down this summer, but everybody who you draft against now has that same problem. It can also go the other way and guys who you do not draft get hurt and you benefit from it. The good thing about drafting early however is being able to nab really get value. Guys tend to gain steam fast as the summer goes by and a guy that was maybe available in the 4th or 5th round in July now requires a 2nd round pick in August.
Nothing beats the feeling of cashing a large check and being able to say you are champion for an entire 7 months following a football season, so without futher ado, let’s get it!
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