Best Ball league formats continue to grow in popularity among fantasy football players. A Best Ball league allows players to enjoy all of the draft-day fun with none of the in-season management work. The team you draft is your team for the entire season, and each roster’s highest-scoring players are automatically started every single week. Completing Best Ball drafts throughout the offseason is a fun, low-risk way to start understanding the value of certain players before actual redraft fantasy football drafts start.

For this exercise, I used FantasyPros’ Draft Wizard, which you can also use to prepare for your drafts this offseason. Below are specifics on the league format that I used for the mock draft from the 10th spot:

• 12 teams
• Half point per reception, 4 points per passing touchdown scoring
• 1 QB
• 2 RB
• 3 WR
• 1 TE
• 1 RB/WR/TE flex
• 10 bench spots

What follows is the team that I ended up with, including some thoughts and analysis of each pick that I made.

Practice mock drafts with our FREE Dynasty Draft Simulator

1.10 (10th overall): DeAndre Hopkins (WR – HOU)
Going with DeAndre Hopkins as my first pick was a pretty easy choice as I just went with the best player available. Hopkins has been one of the best receivers in fantasy football over the past half-decade, finishing as a top-five wide receiver in four of the past five seasons. Part of what has contributed to his continued success is the elite target share he commands. Over the past three seasons, Hopkins has averaged a 30 percent target share, the best rate in the league. While last year may have been considered a down year for Hopkins, I’m confident he can continue to return elite value and be a top-five receiver once again.

2.03 (15th overall): Tyreek Hill (WR – KC)
I considered taking Hill with my first pick because of his high ceiling, which should be an emphasis when building a Best Ball team. Ultimately, I went with Hopkins because of his consistency and near-perfect health. Fortunately, Hill fell to me in the second round and leaving me with two of the best fantasy wide receivers as the anchor of my roster! Speaking of having a high ceiling, since 2017, Hill has scored at least 20 fantasy points in 29 percent of his games. Even though he’s competing for targets with Travis Kelce, Hill is still among the top receivers in routes run per target – per Jarad Evans, Hill was tied for fourth in 2019 with 4.0 routes run per target. Plus, it doesn’t hurt having Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball!

3.10 (34th overall): Kenyan Drake (RB – FA)
In picking Kenyan Drake, I’m banking on him returning to the Arizona Cardinals, where I believe he has the most value. As a member of the Cardinals last year, Drake averaged 19.8 opportunities (carries plus targets) per game and 101.8 total yards per game. From Weeks 9 through 17, Drake ranked third in points per game among running backs, which includes three games with at least 26 fantasy points. His finish with the Cardinals is a big reason why his average draft position (ADP) has shot up from what it would have been if he was still with the Miami Dolphins. If Drake ends up signing elsewhere, this pick could come back to haunt me, but for now, I’m comfortable having him as my RB1.

4.03 (39th overall): Calvin Ridley (WR – ATL)
I’m fully expecting a Calvin Ridley breakout in 2020, so I was thrilled when I was able to get him in the fourth round. I may have been reaching a bit, but I was pretty confident that he wouldn’t fall to me in the fifth round – the FantasyPros Draft Wizard Predictor indicated there was an 82 percent chance he’d be taken in the next round. Ridley displayed his ceiling in his rookie season with 10 receiving touchdowns and has the opportunity to hit that mark again in his third year. With Mohamed Sanu gone for the full year, Austin Hooper likely heading elsewhere in free agency, and Devonta Freeman a potential cut candidate, over 200 targets could be up for grabs. Ridley is primed for a career year!

5.10 (58th overall): Devin Singletary (RB – BUF)
Devin Singletary was one of the most explosive running backs in his rookie year – of running backs with at least 100 carries, Singletary ranked tied for third in yards per carry with a 5.1 average. This helped him work his way into a bigger role in the offense. From Week 11 through the end of the season, Singletary was given at least 13 carries while also adding on nearly 4 targets per game. With the Buffalo Bills unlikely to bring back veteran Frank Gore, there have been whispers swirling that the Bills are considering bringing in another running back to complement Singletary. While this is rather unsettling, Singletary showed how productive he can be with limited opportunities.

6.03 (63rd overall): James Conner (RB – PIT)
My round-six pick was the first difficult decision I faced. Having already solidified my starting wide receiver group, I decided to load my roster with more running backs knowing that they are more susceptible to injuries. Granted, Conner’s bill of health hasn’t been perfect over the past couple of years, but he’s been near-elite when on the field. Through the first eight weeks of 2019, Conner was a top-ten running back – he was also top ten in points per game the year before. Since I don’t need to worry about starting Conner in games in which he leaves early due to injury, I’ll take the high level of production from him when he is on the field.

7.10 (82nd overall): Damien Williams (RB – KC)
Continuing along the path of stockpiling running backs, I went with Damien Williams as my next pick to fill my first bench spot. Williams is most known for his dominance in the playoffs the past two years, during which he’s scored ten total touchdowns. Williams has also struggled to stay healthy, but he’s on one of the best offenses in the league. Over his final five games, Williams averaged over 16 opportunities per game and nearly 100 total yards per game. If this backfield belongs to Williams entering the 2020 season, this could be one of my most valuable picks.

8.03 (87th overall): Aaron Rodgers (QB – GB)
Getting Aaron Rodgers as my QB1 in the eighth round felt like a steal. If it holds, a round-eight draft price will be the lowest that Rodgers has had over the past decade. This lower price is warranted because Rodgers, despite finishing as QB9 overall, was not nearly as consistent last year as years prior. That said, Rodgers still displayed an elite ceiling with four games of at least 25 fantasy points, along with the fourth-highest fantasy performance of the year last season. I fully expect the Green Bay Packers to add more weapons for Rodgers, which could push his floor back up to pre-2019 levels.

9.10 (106th overall): Robby Anderson (WR – FA)
Robby Anderson is perhaps the definition of boom or bust. Over the past two seasons, Anderson has as many games with more than 15 fantasy points as he has games with fewer than 3 fantasy points. Recent reports indicate that Anderson will be back with the New York Jets, as he said that the two sides share a mutual interest in getting a long-term deal done. Even with Adam Gase at the helm, I believe that Anderson carries the most fantasy football value by staying with the New York Jets. Continuity is key in fantasy football, and Anderson has posted some of his best numbers with Sam Darnold at quarterback. Per Ian Hartitz, Anderson has averaged 8.25 yards per target with Darnold throwing him the ball, the second-most of the five quarterbacks that Anderson has played with.

10.03 (111th overall): Curtis Samuel (WR – CAR)
Curtis Samuel is potentially one of the biggest regression candidates entering 2020, which is a reason why I’m happy to get him at this point in the draft. Per RotoUnderworld, Samuel led the league in unrealized air yards (total target distance – actual receiving yards) with 915 yards. A good portion of Samuels’ performance in 2020 could be dictated by who is starting at quarterback for the Carolina Panthers – he certainly wasn’t playing with world-beaters in 2019. An example of that is the fact that despite seeing the 10th-most deep targets among 70 wide receivers, only 19 percent were catchable (the 3rd worst rate).

11.10 (130th overall): Noah Fant (TE – DEN)
As my first tight end, I went with second-year player Noah Fant. Throughout his rookie season, Fant displayed a burst similar to that of the elite tight ends. Not only was Fant fourth in tight end yards after catch (YAC) per target, but he was also seventh among tight ends in total YAC. Furthermore, despite failing to reach 40 receiving yards until Week 9, he still recorded the fourth-most receiving yards by a rookie tight end in the last ten years. The momentum from his late-season surge will hopefully carry into 2020, especially since fellow rookie Drew Lock started for the majority of those games. Though his floor may be as low as any tight end in this area of the draft, he has clearly demonstrated the ability to put up some monster weeks.

12.03 (135th overall): Alexander Mattison (RB – MIN)
While I considered taking a backup tight end right away or a backup quarterback, I didn’t want to pass up one of the league’s premier handcuffs. Dalvin Cook’s injury history over the first three years of his career is well documented, which makes his backup Alexander Mattison so valuable. In the event that Cook suffers another injury, Mattison would step right in as one of the top fantasy football running backs. Though we didn’t get to see that play out in full last year (Mattison coincidentally missed the two games that Cook was injured for), the coaching staff was keen to give him some work in relief of Cook throughout the season, and rightfully so. Mattison was one of the more explosive running backs last year, with 41.3 percent of his rushing yards coming on carries of at least 15 yards (per PFF), which was second-best in the league.

13.10 (154th overall): Baker Mayfield (QB – CLE)
The strategy to draft multiple quarterbacks in a Best Ball league is encouraged since they’re typically the highest-scoring players in a given week. If one goes down to injury (or is on his bye week), having a second one to fill in won’t crush your teams’ hopes. The other week I wrote about how I thought Baker Mayfield was one of the most underrated players by ECR. Last year was certainly a disappointing year for Mayfield and the entire Browns organization. Following his rookie season, when he posted at least 20 fantasy points in five games, Mayfield did so only three times in 2019. For a number of reasons, including improved strength of schedule and a new head coach, I’m confident that Mayfield can out-perform his current QB19 ranking.

14.03 (159th overall): Gus Edwards (RB – BAL)
Following a productive and efficient 2018 season, it’s a shame that Gus Edwards got the short end of the stick. When the Baltimore Ravens brought in free-agent running back Mark Ingram, Edwards was demoted to the backup position. Even on a limited workload, though, Edwards continued to be one of the most effective running backs. Of the 48 running backs that had at least 85 carries last year, Edwards was the only one to finish without a run that lost more than one yard. Edwards isn’t that involved in the passing game, but that doesn’t concern me this late in the draft, especially since he’s averaged over 5.0 yards per carry in each of the past two seasons. With Ingram entering his 10th year at 30 years old and having suffered a calf injury at the end of last season, there’s an increased likelihood that Edwards could be called on for more work.

15.10 (178th overall): Ian Thomas (TE – CAR)
With Greg Olsen no longer on the Carolina Panthers, Ian Thomas will enter the year as their starting tight end. Over the past couple of years, when Olsen has missed games we have gotten a glimpse of what Thomas has to offer. Over the past two seasons, Thomas has averaged 6 targets per game, 3.8 receptions per game, and 38 receiving yards per game in the nine games that Olsen has missed. These aren’t lights-out numbers by any means, but the attention he has gotten is near the top of the league among tight ends. Last year, only eight tight ends averaged at least six targets per game. One just has to hope he can turn those opportunities into more production in the future.

16.03 (183rd overall): Hunter Renfrow (WR – LV)
In addition to Gus Edwards, Hunter Renfrow made Daniel Cormer’s list of late-round Best Ball targets. If Derek Carr returns as the Raiders’ starting quarterback in 2020 (which is all but certain at this point), Renfrow could see a major boost in his stock. In the 13 games that Renfrow played as a rookie, he commanded a 17.5 percent target share, which was second on the team. Albeit in limited sample size, Renfrow also finished the year off strongly with at least 19 fantasy points in his final two games. As a top option in an offense that will likely need to throw the ball a lot, I’m satisfied with the value at which I got Renfrow.

17.10 (202nd overall): Auden Tate (RB – CIN)
While Auden Tate is listed as a wide receiver, at 6’5″ and 228 pounds he’s a glorified tight end and a beast of a man physically. That showed last year as he was peppered with targets in the red zone – Tate led the Cincinnati Bengals in red-zone targets with 14. If he’s able to convert more than one of those into touchdowns next year, he’ll be a great late-round value. Obviously, the return of A.J. Green could impact Tate’s playing time, but the Bengals used 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers) on 76 percent of plays last year, the highest rate in the league (per Sharp Football Stats). Additionally, the Bengals could very well be one of the worst teams again in 2020 and may find themselves continuing to chase points by passing the ball and opening up more opportunities for everyone.

18.03 (207th overall): Joe Burrow (QB – FA)
With my last pick in the draft, it’s all about shooting for upside. I already had six running backs and wide receivers each, so I was between choosing a third tight end or third quarterback. With the plethora of weapons that Joe Burrow will have (assuming he goes to the Cincinnati Bengals as the number one overall pick in the draft), he has the ceiling of a top ten fantasy quarterback, which is appealing given the nature of Best Ball.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the way this draft turned out. The Mock Draft Simulator graded me with an A- as the second-best team overall, leaving me with lots of hope that this could be a league-winning team!

Practice mock drafts with our FREE Dynasty Draft Simulator

Subscribe: iTunes | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | TuneIn | RSS

Sam Hoppen is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Sam, check out his archive and follow him @SamHoppen.