Best Ball Strategy: Underdog Fantasy Mania III
What is Best Ball Fantasy?
Best Ball drafts have become the new Mock Draft. Best Ball is a fantasy football format where league managers draft their team but there is no in-season management required. There is no waiver wire, no trades, and no setting lineups. Instead, your highest-scoring players are automatically optimized for you to form your highest-scoring starting lineup every week. Leagues are decided by cumulative season points rather than head-to-head matchups.
Who is UnderDog Fantasy?
Underdog Fantasy is the best and easiest way to play fantasy sports; with an emphasis on Best Ball leagues and Best Ball tournaments, they have become wildly popular in the daily fantasy space. Underdog Fantasy has drafts available in every major sport, including NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, ranging from three-team serpentine drafts up to 12-team drafts. From confined leagues to mass-filled tournaments, UnderDog Fantasy offers it all for the Best Ball community with various price options to boot. Read More Site Review here
What is Best Ball Mania III?
Underdog Fantasy has put together a huge Best Ball tournament for the 2022 NFL Season.
- $25 Entry
- 451,200 Entrants
- $10M in Prizes (including $2M for first place and $1M for 2nd place)
Draft Details
- Draft Size: 12
- Rounds: 18
- Scoring: 0.5 PPR
- Starting Lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, Bench 10
- Click Here to Learn More
Best Ball Mania III Draft Recap
I had the first overall pick in this Best Ball Draft, which I’m getting quite often this year. Normally, I prefer a middle pick but I’ve learned to like the first overall pick. I’ve drafted 34 teams in the Underdog Fantasy Mania III tournament. I have tried many different formats. The Hyper Fraggle strategy, The Zero RB strategy, The Balanced Draft strategy, you name it, I’ve tried them all. While I do like a lot of teams where I go heavy RB for 3 or 4 rounds, I do think the modified ZERO RB approach is best. That’s where you get one elite RB and then go WR for a few rounds. As you can see I did take a detour at one point in this draft which I speak of in this draft breakdown.
- Jonathan Taylor (1.1) – I’ve seen CMC go here, or Justin Jefferson, but for me, I’m not going to overthink it. I get a top RB locked up so I can then focus on loading up on wide receivers.
- Mike Evans (2.12) – I really can’t believe Evans fell to me here. I’m not sure if people are cooling on the Buc’s due to the injuries to the Offensive Line, or Tom Brady missing time during training camp, but Evans being a little ahead of his ADP (22) is always a nice way to start a draft on the corner.
- Tee Higgins (3.1) – I love Higgins this year. The Bengals have one of the most improved offensive lines in football according to PFF and I feel the Super Bowl hangover is an outdated myth like the Madden Curse. Higgins had a 20.4% target share last year, and I don’t see any reason why that would change.
- Michael Thomas (4.12) – Not everyone is going to love this pick. I took Michael Thomas ahead of his ADP slightly, but I’m not an ADP slave. This is a Best Ball Tournament with 450K people. I can’t play it safe. I need to believe that MT will regain 2019 form and become one of the best value picks of the draft. Go big or go home.
- DK Metcalf (5.1) Same logic as the MT pick, I need to overlook the Seahawks QB change and bank on pure talent. Metcalf knows the situation. He was handed a monster 3-year content in July and you have to figure there was a conversation about being patient as the team is in a soft rebuild. The Hawks will likely move up the board to draft QB C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, or Will Levis next year. Fun Fact: In the 3.5 games that Geno Smith played in last year, he threw 5 touchdown passes, and 4 of them were to Metcalf.
- Elijah Mitchell (6.12) – Ooh look what I found. You’re not supposed to be here. Mitchell was a gift 72nd overall, he’s usually gone with an ADP of 65. Normally I take Allen Lazard here, but he went two picks before and I’ll happily add Elijah Mitchell who may be this year’s mid-round breakout player.
- DeVonta Smith (7.1) – There were a lot of great options to choose from. I almost went TE Dalton Schultz with this pick, but considering I wasn’t planning to have my second RB yet, I felt I needed to get back on the WR train. The Eagles should be in for a great season, I think Hurts takes the next step and improves his pocket awareness.
- Rashaad Penny (8.12) – Kenneth Walker just underwent a procedure for a hernia. He will (likely) miss the first week of the season but it’s the missing camp time that I think will force Pete Carroll to lean more on Penny. Carrol is old school and he won’t give a rookie snaps if he missed camp. I also think the Seahawks have a sneaky-good schedule this year, they play the Falcons, Lions, Giants, Panthers, and Jets. They also play tough at home and will always be competitive within their division.
- Dawson Knox ( 9.1) – Some will say there was no need to go TE here, but I think Knox’s ADP is a massive value this season. I have him ranked over Hockenson and Goedert. Josh Allen is going to feast this season and despite all the hype on Gabe Davis, I think Knox is the biggest recipient of former Bills receiver Cole Beasley’s 112 targets from last season.
- Aaron Rodgers (10.12) – Back to Back QB picks is not something I normally do, but I don’t love the idea of only having a QB2 just to cover a bye week. I want two solid, proven gun-slingers.
- Kirk Cousins (11.1) – Cousins is in for a big season as the offense switches to a more pass-happy attack.
- Irv Smith (12.12) – Stacking wasn’t my plan, I just really like Irv Smith. If you’ve read anything about Wes Phillips taking over as the Vikings OC job, you’d be targeting him too.
- Romeo Doubs (13.1) Did my selections of Doubs have anything to do with drafting ARON a few rounds earlier? – maybe. Is Doubs a preseason wonder that could fall off the map once the season starts? Probably. Do I regret this pick? Only time will tell.
- Wan’Dale Robinson (14.12) Summer hype player. He has a huge ceiling and to be honest, he can take the whole first half of the season to figure it out, I need production in the second round of this tournament so I’d love for him to turn it on down the stretch.
- J.D. McKissic (15.1) I love McKissic, he’s a PPR machine. I don’t think Wentz has the talent to make the tough throws and will check it down to him a lot. Last season, McKissic averaged 4.8 targets a game, he only played 11 games so he’s flying under the radar. Perfect Zero RB complement player.
- Marlon Mack (16.12) Everyone is waiting for Dameon Pierce to steal the starting job, which could seriously happen. But in the meantime, I just got a starting RB in the 16th round.
- Brevin Jordan (17.1) In hindsight, I should have taken Boston Scott here, who went with the very next pick, but I felt like my team was very balanced and I felt one more tight end could help me late in the season. Usually, I’ll only draft two QBs and two Tight Ends.
- Jamison Crowder (18.12) Crowder is usually gone by now. His ADP is 194 and I got him 216. He’s in a camp battle for the number three WR spot, but I feel his veteran skillset should emerge and he could help during bye weeks.
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