If you’re not familiar with best ball leagues yet, you are truly missing out. It is one of the most interesting and exhilarating things you can do for fantasy football. You draft your team(s) and come back at the end of the year to claim your prize money. Drafting is one of the most fun parts of fantasy football, so why not do it all the time? Therefore, without further ado, let’s get into the stacks that could help you dominate your best ball leagues!
Baltimore Ravens
Lamar Jackson, Quarterback (Best Ball ADP:53)
One year removed from his MVP season in 2019 where he finished as the overall QB1, Jackson could potentially be the greatest value quarterback off boards. He had a rough start to the 2020 season and left most people with a bad taste in their mouth after he was not able to live up to his QB2 Average draft position (or ADP). He’s currently being drafted as the QB4, which is a late fifth or early sixth-round pick. He was also able to turn it around towards the later second half of the 2020 season.
In the last seven games that he played, including the two playoff games, Jackson averaged 85.7 rushing yards on 11.5 attempts and had five total rushing touchdowns. Although Jackson only averaged 17.8 pass attempts in these games, he still produced an exceptionally efficient passer rating of 98.7.
Given nine of the top ten games from a quarterback in 2020 consisted of either 75 yards rushing or a touchdown shows the importance of mobility from a quarterback. Jackson is the most effective in the league. He has rushed for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons and is the only quarterback to ever rush for two 1,000 yard seasons. He is as safe as quarterbacks come this season and has huge upside with the weapons surrounding him.
Mark Andrews, Tight End (Best Ball ADP:59)
The only way to accomplish this Jackson and Andrews stack would be to draft both players back-to-back. It would be worth it, however, because Andrews is the most consistent pass-catcher for the Ravens. According to Rotowire, Andrews owned 22.7% of the Baltimore Ravens team’s targets in the 2020 season. He has now managed to put together two consecutive seasons of at least 88 targets, 58 receptions, 700 yards, and seven touchdowns. Grabbing Andrews to pair with Jackson in the sixth round of a best ball league would be the correct move.
In addition to Andrews being the most reliable target for Jackson, another reason he holds so much value is the lack of competition behind him. Andrews doubled the backup tight ends in both snap count and route run. Yet, Andrews didn’t hit his full potential. One of the primary issues was he only had a 77.7% catchable target rate. If Lamar Jackson improves his accuracy and if Andrews can continue to garner over 20% of his teams’ targets on his way to over 60 air yards per game, he will be a fantasy gold mine in 2021.
Marquise Brown, Wide Receiver (Best Ball ADP:104)
Since coming into the league, Marquise Brown has been somewhat of a boom or bust player. However, unlike redraft leagues where consistency matters, this trait makes him a great asset to your best ball team. If you miss out on Andrews, another good method of stacking the Ravens is to target Brown to pair with Jackson. He is currently being drafted in best-ball formats as the WR45 and is a speedy receiver who offers legitimate deep-ball opportunities.
Marquise Brown manages to get both feet inbounds after he beats his defender to make an end zone touchdown grab
According to Ravenswire, Jackson was one of the best deep-ball passers during the 2020 season, making Brown much more valuable. Furthermore, Rotowire states that Brown’s aDOT was 13.2 on 80 targets during the course of that year. This was slightly higher when compared to the league’s aDOT of 10.6, as explained by Sportsline. His aDOT was also significantly higher than that of some elite receivers such as A.J. Brown, Mike Evans, Stefon Diggs, Justin Jefferson, Terry McLaurin, Devante Adams, and DeAndre Hopkins.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tom Brady, Quarterback (Best Ball ADP:97)
Rotowire mentions that Brady finished the 2019 season in the bottom ten in the league in completion percentage (27th), YPA (27th), and Touchdown pass percentage (25th). Many people thought Brady’s career was over. Instead, he decided to move his talents down south to the sunshine state, where he would look yet again to prove the haters wrong.
In Tampa Bay, Brady is currently surrounded by his greatest receiving core. Last season, he passed for over 4,600 yards and had 40 touchdowns. 2020 was Brady’s first 40 or more touchdown season since 2007 and also his first season of 4,600 passing yards since 2015. The impressive part of these career numbers as he had a slow start in a new system after spending the previous 20 years in the same one. Brady did all this while not having the dynamic receiving core of Mike Evans, Antonio Brown, and Chris Godwin together the whole season. It will be fun watching these guys play 17 games together for the 2021 season while your best ball team prospers.
Chris Godwin, Wide Receiver (Best Ball ADP:40)
In 2019, Godwin averaged 6.0 receptions on 8.6 targets and had six games of 120 or more receiving yards. According to Rotowire, Godwin only appeared in 12 games during the 2020 season but managed to outproduce his 2018 numbers where he appeared in all 16 games.
Godwin is now coming into the 2021 NFL season fully healthy and just one year removed from finishing as the WR2 when he played just 14 games. Godwin has a great chance of producing WR1 numbers for the Buccaneers in 2021. He is only 25 and just now entering his prime.
Antonio Brown, Wide Receiver (Best Ball ADP:115)
Brown only appeared in eight games for the Buccaneers last season, but he was the wide receiver who stood out the most. During the 2020 season, Brown averaged 5.6 receptions and 60 yards per game. Since 2011, he has averaged over 15.6 points in half-point PPR per year and over 18.7 points in full-point PPR. Last year alone in only eight games, AB averaged 11.8 half-point PPR points per game and 14.6 full-point PPR points per game. His current ADP has him being drafted as the WR42, which screams value in any draft!
Los Angeles Rams
Matthew Stafford, Quarterback (Best Ball ADP:83)
What can I say about my man Matt Stafford other than the fact that he is elite? According to Rotowire, Stafford managed to throw over 4,000 yards for the eighth time in his 12-year career last season but unfortunately missed the playoffs once again for the ninth time. Pretty impressive, considering some quarterbacks go their whole career without passing for 4,000 yards. There have even been two teams (Bears & Eagles) who never had a quarterback pass for 4,000 yards in a single season. Stafford is set up to have his best career year because he is playing alongside the most talented pass catchers he has ever had—outside of Calvin Johnson.
In the last ten seasons, Stafford has only missed a total of eight games. In 2020, he threw for 4,000 yards and 26 touchdowns without the benefit of having a true WR1. Coming into the 2021 season, Stafford is surrounded by Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Tyler Higbee, and Darrell Henderson—all of whom thrive in yards after the catch. If Stafford can get the ball in the hands of his playmakers, there’s a chance to break his current career highs in yards (5,038) and passing touchdowns (41). With the NFL deciding to add one more game to the regular season, breaking his personal record is even more likely.
Robert Wood, Wide Receiver (Best Ball ADP: 40)
In the last three seasons, Woods has averaged at least 15 or more PPR fantasy points. Woods dominated in the receiving game, commanding 23 percent of his team’s targets in 2020. Although it’s still too early to tell who the favorite pass-catcher of Stafford will be, I have an idea it could very well be Bobby Trees. Last year, Woods had more targets, air yards, and touchdowns than any other receiver on the Rams. He is currently being drafted as the WR15 in best-ball formats and should be considered a safe pick with immense upside.
Cooper Kupp, Wide Receiver (Best Ball ADP: 45)
The target and reception numbers were good last season for Kupp. However, his three touchdowns were the lowest of his career. The lack of touchdowns really limited his upside during the 2020 season. As shown in a chart found on The Rams Wire, Kupp gets open more than any other wide receiver in the league. Cameron DaSilva goes on to say, “Kupp has been deemed “open” on more than 50% of his targets, and he gains an average of 4-plus yards after the catch — the only receiver to eclipse both thresholds.” Kupp finished fifth overall in most yards after catch (533). If Kupp could repeat these numbers with a more efficient Stafford at quarterback, he has the potential to be an “elite” fantasy wide receiver.
Tyler Higbee, Tight End (Best Ball ADP:106)
During the 2019 season, where Gerald Everett missed three games, Higbee had a career year. Higbee averaged 10.7 PPR points per game and pulled in 69 receptions on 89 targets for 734 yards. With the departure of Everett, there are now over 60 vacated targets. Even if only half of those go to Higbee, he would still finish in the 80-plus target threshold, which is amazing for a tight end. Seeing an increased efficiency in the offense with Stafford will lead to more red-zone targets and scoring opportunities for Higbee.
Conclusion
While most people are spending high-round picks on stacks like Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, you may have noticed all the stacks provided were 40th in ADP or deeper. Stacking players gives you a significant advantage, but only if you can locate where the value is. Value is found when a player exceeds their overall fantasy points based on their ADP projection at their current position.
I hope you find this information useful, and be sure to spread the wealth to friends and fellow best-ball players. As always, be sure to follow on Twitter (@LuckyChuckie_FF) for more NFL stats, news, and content!
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