Fantasy football best ball season is kicking it into high-gear with 2022 NFL training camp opening its doors. Are you ready? Have you been studying your fantasy football player rankings? Have you done any fantasy football mock drafts? Have you been reading my best ball draft recaps? Have you been reading the FREE fantasy football draft guide here at Fantasy Alarm? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then let’s get to it!

First off, a huge shout-out to our friends over at RT Sports who have been so incredibly helpful in our quest to help you crush your fantasy football best ball drafts. Every Friday, we’re doing best ball drafts live on the Fantasy Alarm Show on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio and RT Sports has been kind enough to allow us to do draft in both their Best Ball Championship which carries a $25,000 grand prize and their Draft Masters leagues which are standalone best ball drafts where the top two teams get paid out. We’ve done two Draft Masters so far, so this past week, we dipped into the Best Ball Championships.

 

 

Best Ball Fantasy Football Draft – July 22, 2022

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

The Draft Strategy

What is the first thing I say to everyone every year during draft season? Know your league rules! I say it every year, like a mantra. I even write it as an article every season. So imagine your surprise when you learn that about halfway through this draft I realized that we didn’t need to draft a defense or a kicker, nor did I know exactly what the starting rosters were. I’m an idiot. 100% idiot and there’s really no nice way to say it. It didn’t change my draft strategy, but I just wanted to be up front about it. Maybe give you a good laugh or just a reason to roll your eyes at me.

Heading into this draft, I wanted to go the more traditional route and avoid the stacking that I did in the first two drafts. I wanted to go running back heavy with at least the first three or four picks, grab a high-end quarterback, a top-five tight end and then play receiver roulette with my remaining picks. But two things happened that caused me to pivot. No, it wasn’t the “roster construction, the idiot didn’t read the rules” part. The first was how the wide receiver value fell to me early on and second was that this draft was part of the Best Ball Championships and thus, I wanted to build a team that could compete for the overall. That meant stacking was something I did want to look at further. So now that my draft strategy plan blew up, how did I pivot and recover?

 

 

Quarterbacks

 

Jalen Hurts, PHI – Pick 7.09 

 

 

Most of the top quarterbacks were off the board and since my original draft plan had already gotten blown up, it was time to switch gears and think about stacking. Joe Burrow was already off the board so I couldn’t pair him up with my No. 1 receiver and it seemed too early to pair Trey Lance with my tight end, so I paid tribute to my good friend Andy Spiteri, who passed away around this time last year, and took Hurts with the intent to stack some Eagles. Hurts is a better fantasy quarterback than he is a reality quarterback, so there’s no need to fight me for passing up Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson. I have Hurts ranked sixth right now and fully expect an improved passing game on top of the rushing yards and touchdowns.

Trey Lance, SF – Pick 12.02

 

 

Well, all right! This definitely looks like a good spot to grab Lance and pair him up with my tight end. Lance, like Hurts, will rack up some decent rushing yards and will also likely poach some goal-line work as well. Head coach Kyle Shanahan eliminated any further talk of a quarterback controversy when he announced that “This is Trey’s team,” so I feel good about moving forward with setting proper expectations for this 49ers offense and the roles for all of the relevant fantasy players.

 

 

Running Backs

 

Derrick Henry, TEN – Pick 2.02

 

 

Not every day you see a guy of Henry’s talents slipping to the second round, so this felt like an easy no-brainer. I get people being gun-shy about him though. As I’ve said before, it’s not the injury he suffered last year. A Jones fracture is fairly common, especially for a guy who cuts back and forth on the field. He’s past it and it’s not something that seems like it will be a recurring problem. It’s the heavy mileage on him as well as the changes to the offensive line. He’s not going to be devoid of fantasy production, but he’s not going to be what he was over the past few seasons when Rodger Saffold was blocking for him.

Kareem Hunt, CLE – Pick 5.09

 

 

Have we discussed the problems with drafting while broadcasting before? I won’t lie. I lost track of the draft at this point. I knew I needed RB help because my original plan got blown up, but Hunt wasn’t really the guy I wanted. I still think he sees a fair amount of work, especially if Deshaun Watson is suspended for a lengthy period of time, but I should have taken someone like Damien Harris or even Miles Sanders here. Both have a strong opportunity to be the lead back in their respective offenses.

Chase Edmonds, MIA – Pick 6.02

 

 

I actually really like Edmonds. I get that Mike McDaniel has history with Raheem Mostert, but given the injury history, I’m not sold on him being the guy. Edmonds has been buried behind James Conner in a system that sucks for running backs, so this is a nice fresh start for him. McDaniel is likely to rotate his backs just like he learned from Kyle Shanahan, Edmonds, to me, has some legitimate upside.

Ronald Jones, KC – Pick 9.09

 

 

You’ve seen me take RoJo before, so this pick shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Just like Edmonds, RoJo is getting a fresh start in a system that favors running backs and uses an outside zone scheme. He needs a strong camp, but should be able to carve out a decent role for himself as Clyde Edwards-Helaire is not a bell-cow back right now.

Kenneth Gainwell, PHI – Pick 11.09 

 

 

If you look closely at the draft board, you’ll see a little clock right after the “Kenneth.” That signifies that I timed out and this pick was auto-drafted. I’m a total noob for not having players in my queue, especially when I’m broadcasting during a draft. I never would have taken Gainwell. Not in a million years, especially with Mostert (handcuff) and Isaiah Spiller still on the board.

Brian Robinson, WAS – Pick 18.02

 

 

I certainly don’t live or die off what an NFL beat writer says, but it’s nice to know that Ben Standig of The Athletic agrees with my assessment that Robinson is likely to handle the short-yardage work which also means potential goal-line work. If he does become the Commanders touchdown vulture, then he’ll pay off in a best ball format. He’s basically free according to fantasy football ADP, so why not?

 

 

Wide Receivers

 

Ja’Marr Chase, CIN – Pick 1.09

 

 

I just couldn’t pass him up. I know, my strategy coming in was to go running back heavy early, but looking at Chase vs Henry, I had to go for the ceiling of Chase. Not that Henry doesn’t have a high ceiling as well, but as I stated up above, there are some concerns regarding mileage and the offensive line.

A.J. Brown, PHI – Pick 3.09

 

 

I could have gone David Montgomery, Breece Hall or even Kyle Pitts with this pick, but I opted to go for Brown as the new featured receiver in Philadelphia. He’s going to see a ton of targets as he will run routes all over the place. You want a guy to catch the ball underneath and pick up chunk yardage after the catch? Brown’s your guy. You want a guy who can stretch the field and beat a cornerback with his speed? Brown’s your guy. You want a guy who can yank the ball out of the air in a vertical passing attack? Brown’s your guy. Health might be a factor at some point but that’s a risk I am willing to take.

DeVonta Smith, PHI – Pick 8.02

 

 

I added Smith to complete my Eagles stack. I think he’s got some solid fantasy value, but he does lose targets as the No. 2 receiver in an offense that still likes throwing to its tight end. 

Treylon Burks, TEN – Pick 10.02

 

 

I like getting Burks here in the 10th round as his ADP continues to drop while he’s sidelined at camp. The asthma thing doesn’t bother me. It’s not like he just contracted asthma suddenly, so it’s clearly something he’s managed his entire football career. Keep dropping, my man. Excited to see the high-level production everyone else is going to miss out on.

Brandon Aiyuk, SF – Pick 14.02 

 

 

So here’s my 49ers stack nice and complete. Obviously you prefer to have Deebo Samuel in your stack, but adding Aiyuk to the Lance/Kittle combo should have me near the top in points should my Eagles stack suffer at all.

DJ Chark, DET – Pick 15.09

 

 

Do do doo doo do do! He’s going to stretch the field a ton and be the deep threat for Jared Goff and the Lions. At least until Jameson Williams is ready for prime-time.

Christian Watson, GB – Pick 16.02

 

 

Another rookie who is falling down draft boards due to an absence from camp. Watson felt discomfort in his knee at OTAs and underwent surgery to address it. We’ll monitor him closely to see what happens, but this is valuable time in camp with Aaron Rodgers that he is missing, so I may have to pull back on my love for him. Of course, that’s also what I said when both Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase were dropping passes in camp.

Jalen Tolbert, DAL – Pick 17.09

 

 

Good upside for the rookie in Dallas as we wait to get a clearer timeline for Michael Gallup. He’s got the speed to stretch the field and should be able to complement CeeDee Lamb on the opposite side of the field. What his second-half target-share will be is likely more dependent on his performance than it is Gallup’s health though.

David Bell, CLE – Pick 19.09

 

 

Rookie upside in Cleveland? Why not? He only needs to outplay Donovan Peoples-Jones for a strong target share, so we’ll watch in camp and hope Bell has a few weeks down the road that really pop for best ball purposes.

Joshua Palmer, LAC – Pick 20.02

 

 

He’s the No. 3 receiver in Los Angeles. Whether he’s No. 4 or 5 on the receiving targets list is a different story. He’s got Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler in front of him. But will he stay in front of Gerlad Everett? We shall see!

 

 

Tight Ends

George Kittle, SF – Pick 4.02

 

 

Outside of the injury history, there’s nothing but positivity for Kittle. The guy runs solid routes, he’s got great hands and he can muscle his way to yards after the catch. He’s be a no-brainer second-round pick if it wasn’t for the health factor.

Hunter Henry, NE – Pick 13.09

 

 

You know he’s my guy in the later rounds. I’m not looking for some crazy 1,000-yard season, but 600 yards and 6-8 touchdowns? I’ll take it!

 

 

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