Winning your Best Ball draft with any strategy: Target Jahmyr Gibbs and Travis Hunter

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5 hours ago

There are endless debates in the Best Ball streets about which strategies are best and which ones are doomed. Smarter drafters than I have spent more time than I can imagine trying to get to the bottom of that endless pit. Instead of telling you how you should draft, why don't you tell me? These are my favorite ways to execute every type of draft I can think of.
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ZeroRB
A classic draft strategy that aged like fine wine before rotting in the cellar last year. Even after a down year for ZeroRB, there are still plenty of late-round gems that make this strategy viable. If you spend the first eight or more rounds loading up on other positions, these are my favorite late-round backs.
The biggest flaw with a ZeroRB approach last year was the lack of early-season production to pair with the breakout bets. Rico Dowdle, Bucky Irving, and Chase Brown were all massive hits. All three also languished on your bench for a month or more before breaking out. If you need a veteran bridge to make it until your fun clicks pan out, Jaylen Warren is your guy. Kaleb Johnson has struggled in pass protection during camp while Warren has made his bones in the NFL protecting quarterbacks. Warren was rested with the starters in Pittsburgh's first preseason gam. Johnson played behind Kenneth Gainwell. I still expect Johnson to take over this backfield in the long run, but Warren should be the team's lead back through October.
The rookie from Tennessee was initially slated for RB3 duties behind fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins and veteran Jerome Ford. Judkins is currently unsigned and awaiting trial for a domestic violence charge. It's unclear when or if he will play for the Browns. Ford is a capable starter but not doesn't factor into the Browns' long-term plans at running back. That leaves Dylan Sampson in line for a backup role early in the year with the ability to earn more reps if he can earn them. Sampson was an explosive runner at Tennessee, logging 22 touchdowns and 1,491 yards on 258 attempts in his final season. He strikes me as the type of player who can quickly out-play a replacement-level runner ahead of him on the depth chart.
Another rookie, Bhayshul Tuten heard his name called at pick 104, 22 spots ahead of Sampson. Unlike Sampson, there might not be much of a role for him out of the gates. Tuten was a distant third on the depth chart in Jacksonville's first preseason game and the presumed backup Tank Bigsby has been drawing rave reviews in camp. In Best Ball, at the cost of RB44, I don't care. Tuten was a dominant runner in college with 1,159 yards and 15 scores on 183 attempts. No other Virginia Tech back ran for more than 179 yards. Tuten then crushed the combine with a 9.55 RAS.
Now he is the only back with ties to the current Jaguars regime and has been getting reps with the first-team offense as of late. Even if it's an end-of-season play, the Tuten bet is one I plan on making all summer.
Rotoworld Staff,
HeroRB
'HeroRB' is ZeroRB's pragmatic cousin. If you're afraid to leave the first six rounds without a running back but still like the idea of racing to the FLEX with wide receivers, take one back early and then load up on wideouts. The key for the hero pick is ceiling. You can find floor bets later in the draft, but there are only a few rounds where legendary running backs are forged.
If you're going to swing, swing for the fences. Jahmyr Gibbs averaged 32.6 fantasy points per game in three contests with David Montgomery out of the lineup last year. He posted 122 rushing yards and 41 receiving yards per week in those contests. Montgomery returned for the playoffs in a diminished role. Gibbs turned 20 touches into 175 yards and two scores in Detroit's upset loss to Washington. I'm not expecting Montgomery to disappear entirely, but it wouldn't shock me if his role takes a backseat this year. If that happens, Gibbs is the 1.01 in 2026.
Bucky Irving fits the same mold. His role ascended as the season progressed and he cemented himself as an RB1 in the final weeks of the season. Irving averaged 18.3 carries for 90 yards and three receptions for 32 yards over his final three regular season appearances. Rachaad White logged nine carries and eight receptions during that stretch. He touched the ball three times in their lone playoff appearance. Irving was incredibly efficient both on the ground and through the air as a rookie. His team then fully committed to him as a workhorse down the stretch. Now he goes at the end of the second round in fantasy drafts? Make it make sense.
Robust RB
With Best Ball drafters still receiver-crazed, taking running backs with four of your first five or six picks is more viable than it's ever been. It's also not about the running backs themselves. With four early backs, you can mix and match upside plays like RJ Harvey and TreVeyon Henderson with floor bets from Josh Jacobs to Jonathan Taylor with ease. Much like ZeroRB, when you start your draft by loading up at one position, you're doing so with the belief that you can backfill the other later. These are three wide receivers who can help you cover your bases for a variety of different archetypes.
I'll keep this really simple. The No. 2 overall pick just played every snap but one with the starting offense in his first preseason game. He also played on defense, but not until later in the match. All signs point to Hunter playing a relatively normal role on offense. You can get him after taking four straight running backs and his upside is WR1 production down the stretch, maybe even out of the gates.
DJ Moore, Caleb Williams, and Rome Odounze all get drafted far earlier than where they finished in the standings last year. The latter two have a chasm between what fantasy managers project for their 2025 seasons and what they did in 2024. Even Chicago's rookie tight end is surging into the TE1 ranks. Despite all of the hype surrounding the Bears, drafters can't find it in their hearts to make Luther Burden — the No. 39 overall pick — a top-100 pick. Burden was dominant as a sophomore in college with an 86/1,212/9 receiving line. He posted 3.3 yards per route run and 3.2 yards per team pass attempt. Even in a down 2024 season, Burden accounted for 38 percent of his team's receiving output. Burden is comically cheap on DraftKings, going a few picks into the 12th round. I'll click him until the app stops me.
Wide receiver picks you can dream on aren't hard to find, even in the later rounds. On the other end of the spectrum, wideouts who project for meaningful roles generally cost a premium. If you conceded some ground on the ceiling outcomes, Wan'Dale Robinson offers an outstanding floor. Robinson finished the 2024 season ranked top-10 in targets (140) and catches (93) among all wideouts. He was the WR41 and now goes as the WR63. Both he and Demario Douglas fit the bill of PPR scams who will get you through some quiet weeks at receiver if you went RB-heavy early.
Hyper Fragile
This is possibly the most extreme drafting strategy of them all. The definitions of these strategies change over time, but I would call Hyper Fragile a team where you take three early running backs and draft no more than four total. I'm not sure I have drafted a true Hyper Fragile team yet, but it's more interesting the smaller your roster is. Fast Draft has a Best Ball format with just 15 roster spots. If you want to try a Hyper Fragile build, that's your place.
The problem with a Hyper Fragile team is that you still want an elite weekly floor because of how few running backs you have, but skipping out on a season-long ceiling to chase safety is a great way to get passed by other teams. This is to say, when you only have three running backs, you want them to all be superstars every week. Lucky for you, there's one game-changing fantasy back who regularly goes in the back half of the first round. Christian McCaffrey has the first, third, and fifth-best fantasy seasons for a running back over the past decade. When healthy, McCaffrey is the best fantasy asset in the league.
Another click I don't make often, but Josh Jacobs undoubtedly fits this build. Going at the 2/3 turn, Jacobs finished last year as the RB6. He scored more than 20 PPR points eight times. Only Bijjan Robinson hit that mark more often. In a similar vein, Kyren Williams, fresh off a three-year extension, offers a solid combination of a high floor and the potential for touchdown-based spike weeks.
Elite QB
This strategy is as simple as the name implies. Being the first drafter to take a quarterback was taboo in fantasy for years. The last half-decade has blessed us with multiple league-defining options at the position who lap the field in fantasy points and on an annual basis.
Going as the QB4, Hurts has advance rates — the rate at which you made the Best Ball playoffs if you drafted him — of 17%, 34%, 21%, and 20% over the past four years. Given that 2/12 teams move on, Hurts has been underpriced for nearly half a decade. I'm betting on that to happen again this year. Philly had the lowest pass rate over expected of any team last year.
Their 450 pass attempts through 17 weeks were the ninth-lowest mark of the past decade. For a quarterback, that level of passing volume should be a death blow. It wasn't for Hurts because he can paper over sleepy passing days with Tush Push touchdowns. Hurts will get to combine his free touchdown play with an uptick in passing volume if anything about last year's setup, from the elite defense to a record-setting rushing attack, changes.
The theme with both of my elite quarterback bets is the price. Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are both strong clicks, but what if you could get the same fantasy output in the next round? Including the playoffs, Daniels completed 18 games and left two contests early, one because of an injury and the other when Washington gave their starters most of Week 18 off. Looking at just the games he finished, Daniels averaged just over 23 fantasy points per game. That would have trailed only Allen. His team has since added Deebo Samuel and bolstered their offensive line. If anyone is going to break out as a new QB1 overall, it's Daniels in his second season.
Three QB
The three-quarterback meta has taken over this year and for good reason. Even in an era of elite quarterbacks dominating the fantasy landscape, building around three cheap options has been profitable if you spend your draft capital properly.
This graphic from RotoViz shows the advance rates of Underdog teams since 2021 based on how many quarterbacks you drafted if your first QB was taken after Round 10. Three and even four-quarterback builds both outkicked the coverage on advance rate and playoff success. If you want to get weird with a four-quarterback build, the extra roster spots on DraftKings make it even more viable.
The Jags nailed their first-round pick last year with Brian Thomas Jr. and followed it up with Travis Hunter at No. 2 overall. They replaced Doug Pederson with Liam Coen, who just got a career-year out of Baker Mayfield in his first and only season as the Bucs' offensive coordinator. If it was ever going to happen for Lawrence, this would be the year.
Jordan Love dealt with knee, groin, and elbow injuries last year. Head coach Matt LaFleur dialed up his most run-heavy offense as a head coach and Love's fantasy stock tanked. The Packers went out this offseason and spent first and third-round picks at wide receiver. If Love can stay healthy, I'm betting on the team letting him air it out far more often.
Post-benching Bryce Young was a different man. He made the highlight-reel throws but also protected the ball better than ever. He also ran more than he did as a rookie, totaling five rushing scores in his final 10 starts. Young averaged 20.6 fantasy points per game in those contests.
The Raiders' new quarterback is the lowest-drafted quarterback with a clean bill of health and no job security concerns. He is getting both offensive line and coordinator upgrades via his trade to Las Vegas. Geno Smith has finished as the QB14, QB20, and QB5 over the past three years. He currently goes off the board as the QB25.
Elite TE
There was only one choice for this strategy. Brock Bowers set the record for receptions by a rookie of any position at 112 and went for over 1,200 yards from scrimmage. He caught more passes than Justin Jefferson, went for more yards than Ladd McConkey, and averaged more yards per route than Tyreek Hill. Now he's entering his second year while getting a massive situational. Bowers will break fantasy if he takes a year-two leap like we're projecting for Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers.
Punt TE
This strategy isn't just about spending less at tight end. It's based on spending nothing. Over the last five years, drafters who didn't get their first tight end until Round 15 or later and drafted three advanced 18.9 percent of their teams.
Like quarterback, even taking four of this position has been profitable as long as you do it late in the draft. All three of my punt TEs have ADPs outside of the top 14 rounds.
This pick is a Denny Carter special. Chig Okonkwo had impressive peripheral metrics for two seasons, but Will Levis failed to target our late-round hero and his fantasy output plummeted. Okonkwo rose from the ashes when Levis was benched, delivering seventh-place finishes to everyone still holding onto him.
He averaged 9.8 PPR points per game in five contests without Levis. You can even make an end-of-draft stack by getting Cam Ward and Okonkwo.
Sometimes you just need a guy who runs routes at tight end. In fact, you can get the guy who led all tight ends in route rate last year in the final rounds of your draft. Cade Otton ran a route on 87 percent of Baker Mayfield's dropbacks and finished as the TE11 in points per game. A late-season surge pushed him into the top 12 at the position. Even if that isn't likely to happen again, Otton is going off draft boards at a TE24 cost. He's a value as nothing more than a bet on routes.
I have always been a skeptic of rookie tight ends and that has led me to success more often than not. However, for any great rule there are even greater exceptions. Taylor has already overcome the biggest hurdle for rookie tight ends: playing time. He is reportedly the team's clear TE1 and is now back at practice after suffering an ankle injury early in camp. Barring a setback, he's priced as a rotational tight end with no upside. In reality, he has a stranglehold on the routes and has the upside of being a complete unknown with second-round draft capital.
Week 17 Stacks
If you're new to Best Ball and don't know what stacking is, boy do I have the article for you. This article explains stacking in general and has some teams to target. It focuses on grouping up players who face each other in the final week of the season, with the hopes that their games erupt in a flurry of points, bringing everyone involved to fantasy glory. Because all of the million-dollar prizes are given out to whoever scores the most in Week 17, finding ways to gain even small edges for the final week of the season can have an outsized impact.
This stack is about as obvious as it gets with the No. 1 scoring offense from 2024 taking on the No. 9 offense. The game is also indoors, preventing any winter weather shenanigans from snowing on the parade. The other two top-10 matchups are Eagles vs. Bills and Packers vs. Ravens. Both games are outdoors and feature a pair of bottom-five offenses in 2024 pass attempts per game. I still like targeting both games because good offenses make for shootouts, but Vikings vs. Lions is the gold standard for 2025.
Both Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison have seen their ADPs fall since the start of training camp. Addison's tumble is due to his three-game suspension, though that has been nearly a known outcome for months. Jefferson is dealing with a minor injury that isn't expected to be an issue for Week 1. On the other side of the ball, the Lions are all but certain to score fewer touchdowns this year, making them a tricky team to pay full price for. However, adding one of their star players to up the correlation for a Week 17 shootout is far more appealing.
I've already talked about Jayden Daniels, though I will add that one of my favorite ways to play this game is with him and a falling Terry McLaurin versus as many Cowboys pass-catchers as I can fit in my lineup. Both teams were outside the top 20 in EPA per play allowed on defense in 2024. Both offenses, in turn, did their part in creating shootouts. Cowboys games went over the Vegas total in 11 of 17 contests. The Commanders were 13-7 to the over.
The Cowboys are built to throw early and often. They have the highest-paid quarterback, the third-highest-paid wide receiver, traded for a phenomenal No. 2 receiver, and just made Jake Ferguson a top-10 tight end by annual salary. The veterans of their backfield — Miles Sanders and Javonte Williams — are making a combined $4.2 million this year. Their rookies — Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah — were both Day Three picks. No team is more pot committed to playing for barn burner victories than Dallas.
Scroll Down
The art of scrolling down is simply taking players at the end of your roster that aren't drafted in every league. Just like in DFS, getting a player who scores 30 points is exponentially more valuable when you're the only person who took them. In Best Ball finals with potentially hundreds of other managers vying for the crown, this is another small edge we can push.
Bill, as he goes by, is drafted more often than not nowadays. He went undrafted for months following the NFL Draft, meaning he might max out at a 50 percent roster rate even if fantasy managers universally agree he should be taken every time in August. Bill missed most of his final season at Arizona because of an eligibility issue. He was a star at New Mexico in his prior season. JCM ran for 1,185 yards and 17 scores on 189 attempts. He ranked top-10 in the nation in:
Yards after contact per carry (3.9)
PFF rushing grade (92.5)
Missed tackles forced per carry (.34)
JCM has been making noise in camp and getting occasional reps with the 1s. His only competition for an early-down roll is plodder Brian Robinson.
This time it counts, I swear. At this point, the most notable sales pitch for Kendre Miller is that he's a healthy backup. Rookie Devin Neal is hurt and the next man up appears to be converted wide receiver Velus Jones. Needless to say, Miller might run away with the RB2 job.
Kendre Miller clearly the RB2 based on usage today.
If anything happens to Alvin Kamara or the Saints simply want to keep him fresh, Miller could be in line for a role that far exceeds what fantasy managers are expecting of any 18th-round pick.
Bowling Green's Harold Fannin Jr. was a mind-bendingly good prospect. He set the NCAA record for receptions (117) and receiving yards (1,555) by a tight end in a single season. The Browns took him in the third round to sit behind David Njoku for a year, but it sounds like the rookie is forcing Cleveland's hand for playing time already. Per The Athletic's Zack Jackson, 'Fannin is going to play for this team. He's going to play receiver. He's going to play fullback. He's going to play for this team. He might be the reason David Njoku moves on from this team three months from now.' A superstar college prospect got good draft capital and is already carving out a role in training camp? And he's free in all formats?! I'm in.
Matthew Berry and the Fantasy Football Happy Hour crew give their deep sleepers for the 2025 season, naming Washington Commanders rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer.