<— return to 2023 Playbook
I have done 133 best ball drafts in June across the three main sites in Drafters, Underdog and DraftKings. There are so many more things I learned throughout this month, but here are the Top 5 things that stuck out the most.
- I love the late round Tight Ends.
- I prefer one Elite RB early.
- Some teams are easier to stack than others.
- You want 5 pass catchers in the Top 100.
- Stockpile RBs in the 9th-12th Rounds.
1.) Late Round Tight Ends
We all know the TE position is the least important. After Kelce, it really doesn’t matter who you have. I do like Mark Andrews in the late third, and guys like Hockenson, Kittle and Goedert are fine at ADP as well, especially when I can stack them. Instead, I prefer loading up at the other positions and the first group of TE’s I like at ADP are Pat Freiermuth and David Njoku. They are both locked into Top 10 TE roles and can be drafted after the WR dead zone, starting in the 9th round. Grabbing one of these guys as your anchor allows you to wait until the late late rounds and tack on two or three sleepers to round out your group. Guys like Chig Okonkwo, Gerald Everett, Jake Ferguson, Trey McBride, Hunter Henry, Juwan Johnson, Taysom Hill, Tyler Conklin, Noah Fant, Irv Smith, Dawson Knox and even some of the rookies will do. I usually prioritize Everett and Irv Smith because they are fixtures in explosive offenses. You can even wait forever to make a super late trio and it still looks OK.
2.) One Elite RB Early
It all depends on what draft slot you are drafting from, but I really like securing one of the following Top RBs: CMC, Ekeler, Bijan, Barkley, JT, Chubb, Pollard, Stevenson, Henry, or Jacobs. These guys are all Anchor RBs and allow you to lock down that RB1 spot for the entire season, assuming they stay healthy. You can ignore RB in rounds 4 through 8 and then start hammering them in the 9th-12th rounds. See #5.
3.) Stacks
I typically don’t worry about stacking until the 3rd or 4th rounds. Let the draft come to you early and from there you can begin to queue in on what your build will be. It’s quite easy to make back end stacks with lesser offenses like Houston, Green Bay, Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Denver. It’s more difficult to stack the Elite offenses, but there are a few that really stick out. The Chargers are my favorite Elite stack. You can start out with Ekeler in the first, grab one or both of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams in the 3rd/4th, Herbert in the 5th, Quentin Johnston in the 7th and cap it off with Gerald Everett in the 13th. My next favorite Elite offense is the Cowboys, starting with CeeDee Lamb in the late 1st. You don’t have a chance at getting Pollard with Lamb unless you reach, but it’s not necessary to stack your RB. You can then grab Brandin Cooks in the 7th/8th, Prescott in the 8th/9th, Gallup in the 10th/11th, and finish it strong with TE Jake Ferguson late. I don’t know if the Browns will be an Elite offense, but it has been easy to acquire a heavy Browns stack. Amari Cooper in the 3rd, Deshaun Watson in the 7th, Elijah Moore in the 8th, David Njoku in the 9th, and Donovan Peoples-Jones in the 13th. I’m probably missing some team stacks, but these three have been my most acquirable so far.
4.) 5 Pass Catchers in the Top 100
Beware the WR Dead Zone in the 9th-12th Rounds. You can find some gems in there, but they are scarce and typically only interest me if I can get them stacked. I’ve seen most best ball bro’s say you need 5 WRs in the Top 8 Rounds, but I think you can get by with 5 Pass Catchers, meaning 4 WRs and 1 TE at worst. If you can hit the 5 WRs, cool, but the 4-1 works as well. Getting an Elite TE in Kelce, Andrews, Hockenson, Kittle, Goedert or Pitts is always a good idea to anchor your TE room, especially if they fit within your stack. You can snag a few decent WRs in the dead zone like Boyd, Rondale, Skyy, Nico, Doubs, Gallup and Osborn. I prefer grabbing RBs in this zone and coming back to the late WRs to finish my WR groups.
5.) Stockpile RBs in the 9th/12th
This fits with my One Elite RB strategy. I think any of these guys can be put as your RB2 and it feels OK: James Cook, Javonte, Gibson, Dillon, Perine, Charbonnet, Harris, Brian Robinson, Herbert, Jamaal Williams. Even better, you can sometimes grab 2 or 3 of these guys to create a competition at your RB2 spot. RB3/4’s in this range can include Kamara, Penny, Achane, Mitchell, McKinnon, Warren, Miller, and Tank Bigsby. You want at least 4 RBs through this 12th Round and you can finish your RB Room a few rounds later.
You can follow me on Twitter here and check out my YouTube channel.
Leave a Reply