If you haven’t tried best ball yet, it’s time to jump in! It’s a great way to practice for your drafts in late August and early September.
The great thing about best ball is that there is no in-season management. Just set it and forget it. There’s no worrying about making the best start/sit decisions. The software automatically sets your highest-scoring lineup for the week.
At the end of the season, the team with the most points wins the pot. There are no head-to-head matchups. You are simply looking to accumulate the most points for the season.
And don’t worry – in this format, you can’t accidentally leave a three-touchdown game on the bench. If a bench player you’d consider starting in a traditional league has a huge week, it counts!
So, as you may have guessed, there are a few players that have more value in best ball than they might in a regular seasonal league.
Here are five wide receivers to take a shot on in best ball leagues:
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Gabriel Davis, Buffalo Bills
Remember the postseason shootout between the Chiefs and the Bills? Davis would have racked up 52 PPR points in that game alone. Josh Allen has so many weapons, who will he choose? Stefon Diggs remains the WR1, and Jameson Crowder and Isaiah McKenzie will get targets, but odds are good that in any given week, Davis could finish as a top five WR in the league.
Davis is a best ball gem. He will likely give you a solid floor as the WR2 in an offense that threw for the eighth-most yards in 2021, and he will almost certainly give you a few monster weeks. Davis is currently going at pick 44.
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Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings
Touchdown regression has to be coming, right? Nah. We said that last year, and guess what? Thielen had 10 TDs in just 13 games in 2021. Justin Jefferson had 10 TDs in 17 games. Sure, Jefferson gets more targets, but Thielen remains a red-zone threat, and that means he can give you big weeks.
If you haven’t been drafting Thielen because you’re worried about his age (he turns 32 in late August), his injury, or his touchdown regression, I get that, but this is the perfect best ball spot. At best, he will give you a solid floor, at worst he will have one two-touchdown game.
And don’t forget, Thielen and Jefferson had all their success with a run-first team. With new head coach Kevin O’Connell -- the OC that helped oversee Cooper Kupp’s breakout season with the Rams -- this is a bet worth making.
Thielen is coming off the board at pick 68.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Kansas City Chiefs
With Tyreek Hill now in Miami, it remains to be seen who will emerge as Mahomes’s favorite wide receiver, but at an ADP of 93, MVS is good value. At best, he could become a WR1 and give you a solid floor, at worst, he could be the field-stretcher that pops off in shootouts in that dangerous AFC West.
Julio Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
If you’ve been burned by Jones before, it’s time to shake it off. Jones is a perfect late best ball pick. Why? Because he can’t hurt you if he starts a game and leaves early. I completely understand not wanting to take the risk in redraft when you have to make those tough lineup decisions every week trying to guess if this is the week he is going to pop off. But, in best ball, you’re only getting points if he’s among the best of your receivers that week. And the possibility of that, on any given week, is sky high.
When healthy, Jones has proven himself to be one of the best receivers in the league. Across 11 NFL seasons, Jones finished with 1,198-plus yards in seven of them. Injuries have held him back the last two years, but in his six healthy games played last year, Jones ranked top 10 in yards per route run. Last year was a tough one for the Falcons in general, as they transformed into a run-first team. That’s not the case in Tampa Bay.
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Jones, a seven-time Pro Bowler, will join an offense that threw for 5,229 yards and 43 passing touchdowns in 2021, leading the league with 307.6 passing yards per game.
Chris Godwin could be slow to return to full strength, the Bucs lost Rob Gronkowski, and Jones should be able to at least approximate Antonio Brown’s numbers in 2021. Brown had four games of 20-plus PPR points in 2021, playing in only seven contests. Brady to Jones is something I can get excited about in this format.
Jones is currently coming off the board at pick 134.
Parris Campbell, Indianapolis Colts
The knock on Parris Campbell has never been talent, just that he can’t seem to stay healthy. We expect Michael Pittman Jr. to be the WR1 for Matt Ryan in this Frank Reich offense, but who is going to be the WR2? Early reports out of camp say Ryan and Campbell have found immediate chemistry.
But, let’s put those early reports aside.
Here’s what we know: Ryan has a career 65.5% completion rate, and he's thrown for 4,000 or more yards in 10 of his 14 seasons in the league. Despite a down fantasy season in 2021, Ryan had the second best deep-passer rating in the league, behind only Josh Allen.
Here’s what else we know: Campbell was drafted in the second round, and he has speed that can take the top off the defense. If he can stay healthy, he could be a home-run threat.
Campbell is coming off the board at pick 172.
