As we patiently wait for the start of NFL training camps, you can scratch that fantasy football draft itch with some best ball fantasy football leagues. Fantasy Alarm has partnered up with our friends over at RT Sports to run a series of best ball drafts that we are broadcasting live every Friday at 6pm ET on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio. Each draft has a $20 entry fee (though we are running some on-air giveaways for spots) and we are tapping into two of RT Sports’ best ball draft offerings – Draft Masters which is a standalone best ball draft where the top two teams are paid out and the Best Ball Championships where the top two teams are paid out AND your team is eligible for their $25,000 overall grand prize. If you would like to join, you can either email me to get onto the wait list – rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.

In addition to the broadcasts, each of these drafts will also be written up here on the website. You should be able to use these write-ups for everything from player suggestions to choices in draft strategy to roster construction based on draft position. If you want to check out my first draft recap where I was drafting from the eighth spot, by all means. For this week, I actually had the No. 1 pick so let’s get to it.

 

 

Best Ball Fantasy Football Draft – July 15, 2022

  • Starting Rosters: QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, TE, Flex, K, DEF
  • Scoring: Full-point PPR

The Draft Strategy

The strategy was actually pretty simple this time around as I landed the first pick overall as opposed to last week when I had the eighth spot. What I wanted to see what just how much of a difference draft position matters in a 10-team best ball, so heading in, I wanted to try and land as similar a team to last week’s draft as possible. I wanted to try and stack both the Raiders and Packers again while mixing in as many guys from last week’s team as I could. Obviously, there should be some stark differences – I’m not grabbing Joe Mixon at No. 1 overall – but in a league this shallow, I feel like I should be able to draft according to plan from any spot without doing any major reaching.

Quarterbacks

 

 

Derek Carr, LV -- Pick 7.01

Last week, I grabbed Derek Carr in the fifth round and made him the fourth quarterback off the board, which was a bit of a reach. This week, I was able to wait until the seventh round but still grabbed him as the sixth quarterback off the board. You know I’m bullish on this Raiders offense and the AFC West teams are all going to battle with each other, but I’m going to have to back off him for a few drafts and see where he truly falls. His current ADP puts him as QB14, so let’s see what happens in future drafts. 

 

 

Aaron Rodgers, GB -- Pick 10.10 

I grabbed Rodgers again to land that Packers stack and was able to do it in the 10th round as QB12 which was one round earlier than last week where he came off the board at QB14. Pretty comparable for drafting, so if you’re waiting on quarterbacks, he’s going to make for a decent value pick.

Running Backs

 

 

Jonathan Taylor, IND – Pick 1.01

There’s not much analysis needed here, is there? Taylor seems to be the consensus 1.01 right now and there is very little deviation. I’m not a fan of the first overall pick because you seem to get pigeon-holed into taking that guy, despite the fact that we’ve seen so many first-round busts in recent seasons, particularly at that top spot. I don’t view him as the same injury-risk as Christian McCaffrey has been, but knowing defenses are keying in on him and he will get gang-tackled, makes you wonder if you always have to take him if you’re picking first. I may have to try an elite receiver next time if I get the top pick again and just see how things unfold.

 

 

Josh Jacobs, LV – Pick 4.10

With the pivot to receivers in the second and third round, I felt the need to hit the running back position during this 4/5 turn. Jacobs will work as part of my Raiders stack which means I won’t be eye-balling Darren Waller or Hunter Renfrow because I don’t want to over-invest. What I like about Jacobs is that he’s young, he doesn’t have a ton of mileage on him and he’s playing for a contract as the Raiders opted to decline his fifth-year option. In this day and age where players are betting on themselves more, I feel like Jacobs will be super-hungry. You also have the fact that Kenyan Drake is still hurt and Zamir White has plenty to learn at this level. You also have to love the fact that Davante Adams is going to draw a ton of pass interference calls in the end zone which means Jacobs will be there to punch in the one-yard touchdown runs.

 

 

Breece Hall, NYJ – Pick 5.01

The Jets rookie running back is expected to sign his contract soon which will put him in camp on-time and ready to jump head-first into the offense built by Robert Saleh and Mike LaFleur. While I don’t want to completely discount the presence of Michael Carter, I see Hall eventually pushing for at least a 60-percent share of the carries. He’s got the speed to be successful in this outside zone blocking scheme and can also catch passes. Hopefully his pass-blocking is up to snuff. He was fine at Iowa State, but guys move much quicker at this level. Just like last week, he is also my third running back, so I’m obviously not married to him as the starter each week.

 

 

Miles Sanders, PHI – Pick 6.10

Last week, I didn’t grab my fourth running back until Round 9, but with Sanders sitting there available and with back-to-back picks, I felt like I should hit the position one more time here for good measure. My usual M.O. in best ball drafts is to grab running backs early and play some more receiver roulette in the mid to late rounds. The hope is that late last season, Sanders showed Nick Sirianni he was capable of leading this backfield or, at the very least, should still see more work than Kenneth Gainwell or the miniature Boston Scott. 

 

 

Tyrion Davis-Price, SF – Pick 20.10

With four solid running backs, I felt like I could leave the position alone for the rest of the draft, but seeing Davis-Price just sitting there with the final pick of the draft, I had to do it. Forget about what 49ers beat writer Matt Barrows said the other day in The Athletic. His comment of “if the season started today, Jeff Wilson would be the primary back-up to Elijah Mitchell,” does nothing but confuse fantasy football people who are drafting right now. The season is not starting today nor will it ever start in late July, so it’s a stupid comment to make. Especially when Davis-Price sat for most of mini-camp and OTAs with an injury. We all know who Wilson is and yes, he’ll end up in the rotation at some point, but once Davis-Price starts taking that big 6-foot, 211-pound frame and hammering defenders in camp, Barrows will instantly regret his latest comments.

Wide Receivers

 

 

Davante Adams, LV – Pick 2.10

I was actually a bit surprised that Adams fell to me at the 2/3 turn, but I’m not complaining one bit. The guy will be a stud and, once again, the focal point of his team’s passing attack. I know you’re reading this out of order of when guys were actually drafted, but I knew grabbing him in the second round would open the door wide enough for me to get that Raiders stack I was looking to double-down on. 

 

 

Deebo Samuel, SF – Pick 3.01

Sorry. I just couldn’t let a talent like Deebo fall any further. If it was Jimmy Garoppolo under center, this guy would likely be a first-round pick. Maybe an early-second in a shallow league like this, but still an immense talent. Having Trey Lance under center, combined with the fact that Deebo didn’t want to have the same running back workload he had last season, he’s not as automatic a pick for me, but he’s still immensely talented and can rack up chunk yardage with his ability to not only run well out in space, but to also bounce off defenders and add yards after the catch. At the time of making this pick, I wavered with the idea of grabbing another running back, but I just couldn’t let him go. 

 

 

Adam Thielen, MIN – Pick 8.10

I needed to start loading up on my wide receivers and Thielen looks like the best option out of the group that was available to me. Yes, he is coming back from season-ending ankle surgery, but he’s had plenty of time to heal and the injury wasn’t as severe as say an ACL or a ruptured Achilles. With Kevin O’Connell’s new pass-heavy offense in Minnesota, I expect Thielen’s targets to be a little higher than what they had been under Mike Zimmer’s run-first scheme the last few seasons.

 

 

Allen Lazard, GB – Pick 9.01

I grabbed Lazard for my Packers stack with the final pick of the ninth round. He could have been the first pick of the 10th round (something you ADP sticklers need to be careful of when talking draft value) as I grabbed him in tandem with Rodgers. I took him in the 10th round last week, so the value is pretty much the same. Considering Rodgers has a bunch of new weapons to build a rapport with, I’m pretty surprised Lazard isn’t garnering attention earlier in drafts. The name isn’t sexy to people for whatever reason, but what are they basing their evaluations on? The guy has been stuck in the shadow of Davante Adams for his entire career. You don’t think he’s capable of breaking out? I do!

 

 

Christian Watson, GB – Pick 11.01

And this now completes my Packers stack. There’s a good chance I could have taken him a round or two later and I probably should have gone after a tight end like Zach Ertz or Dallas Goedert instead, but I figured I should just complete the stack now while I could rather than do it with Robert Tonyan or even Romeo Doubs. I’m still bullish on Watson, but his ADP is dropping over the past few weeks, so it doesn’t look like there’s going to be some mad rush. We’ll see what happens in camp, though.

 

 

DJ Chark, DET – Pick 14.10

Again, I am trying to see how relevant draft position is in a 10-team best ball and whether or not I can grab virtually the same team at one end of the draft as I did at the other end. Jarvis Landry was unavailable to me, but Chark was sitting there waiting for me at the 14/15 turn so I’m grabbing him in a similar spot. I think we’re still sleeping a little too much on Chark, but I won’t scream it too loud for fear of driving his ADP up further north. And also just a nod to our Dynamic Tier Rankings – Chark serves as a nice upside play for me.

 

 

Tyler Boyd, CIN – Pick 15.01

And as solid as an upside pick Chark was, we can look at the Dynamic Tiers for wide receivers and see that Boyd makes for a nice, safe WR3. He could have some upside should either Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins gets hurt, but that’s not why I drafted him. I did it just on the chance one of my stacks misses for the week. Having a guy with a safe floor like Boyd has makes it easier to accrue decent points each week.

Tight Ends

 

 

Dawson Knox, BUF – Pick 12.10

As you can tell by my tight end rankings, I’m not all that bullish on Knox this season. I don’t hate him, but I do expect some touchdown regression from him this season. But when you’re waiting on the position in your drafts, you really cannot expect more than 500-600 yards and a half-dozen touchdowns anyway, so this fits the mold. He’ll be fine. Just don’t go in expecting a repeat performance, especially when the team adds a pass-catching running back like James Cook and a strong slot-receiver in Jamison Crowder. 

 

 

Gerald Everett, LAC – Pick 13.01

Like I said, close to 600 yards and half a dozen touchdowns from the tight end spot, right? That’s what Jared Cook did in this Chargers system last year and Everett is likely to do something similar. He does profile as a better pass-catcher than Cook was, so I do think there’s a bit of upside here, depending on how much they utilize Joshua Palmer in the passing attack. We’ll monitor his targets early on for season-long leagues, but for best ball, he’s as good an option this late as any. Hunter Henry, my target last week, went off the board the round before, hence the change-up!

Kicker

 

 

Daniel Carlson, LV – Pick 16.10

Got my AFC West kicker and one who has a very strong leg and even stronger accuracy numbers.

 

 

Rodrigo Blankenship, IND – 19.01

The Colts should have a more prolific offense this season with Matt Ryan under center, so why the heck not?

Defense/Special Teams

Pittsburgh Steelers – Pick 17.01

Hopefully they’ve patched up this run defense, but for turnovers in the secondary? Oh baby!

Miami Dolphins – Pick 18.10

There’s a reason Mike McDaniel insisted on retaining defensive coordinator Josh Boyer. 

Fantasy Alarm is the home of all things Fantasy Sports. Bringing you the best Fantasy Football content all year long. Be sure to also check out the best fantasy promo codes on offer today!

 

 

Related Articles: