The offseason has never been more about best ball than it is now with drafts starting almost as soon as the season ended. All the major best ball platforms have now launched their pre-draft contest selections, with Drafters having games for as little as $2 per entry. ADP is still fluctuating massively with the fallout of free agency, along with the NFL Combine and Pro Days throwing spikes in ADP in the direction of rookies in particular, but with so much unknown about their landing spots they can be huge values at this early point in the offseason. Before you dive in, though, why not try a few fantasy football mock drafts through our FREE Mock Draft Simulator so you can get a feel for early 2025 ADP.
Drafters is a total points format, rather than the tournament-style progression many best ball platforms have. This means we want a high-floor team, that doesn’t take many zeroes which could cause us to lose ground on the top of the leaderboard. Stacking is slightly less important in this format, but the principle of betting on good players scoring lots of points and dragging their teammates along with them still remains worth considering. Here’s a fantasy football mock draft for Drafters Best Ball leagues.
The offseason has never been more about best ball than it is now with drafts starting almost as soon as the season ended. All the major best ball platforms have now launched their pre-draft contest selections, with Drafters having games for as little as $2 per entry. ADP is still fluctuating massively with the fallout of free agency, along with the NFL Combine and Pro Days throwing spikes in ADP in the direction of rookies in particular, but with so much unknown about their landing spots they can be huge values at this early point in the offseason. Before you dive in, though, why not try a few fantasy football mock drafts through our FREE Mock Draft Simulator so you can get a feel for early 2025 ADP.
Drafters is a total points format, rather than the tournament-style progression many best ball platforms have. This means we want a high-floor team, that doesn’t take many zeroes which could cause us to lose ground on the top of the leaderboard. Stacking is slightly less important in this format, but the principle of betting on good players scoring lots of points and dragging their teammates along with them still remains worth considering. Here’s a fantasy football mock draft for Drafters Best Ball leagues.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Best Ball (Drafters)
Early Rounds (Rounds 1-6)
The Mock Draft Simulator randomly assigned us to pick 1.01, looking more favorably on us than most best ball platforms seem to! With the 1.01, there’s no need to overthink things. Ja’Marr Chase has become the consensus pick here and for good reason, coming off a season where he scored 23.6 PPR points per game; four more fantasy points per game than the next nearest from a player who played 12 or more games. Chase’s future with the Bengals is now secure and his outlook looks rosy with the Bengals prioritizing offense and doing little to fix their dreadful defense. If that continues, then the Bengals will be a fantasy gold mine in 2025, having to try and win in constant shootouts.
When the draft comes back to us, 14 wide receivers and eight running backs have been drafted, leaving us with less appealing options at both positions. This further proves why Chase is a good pick at 1.01, helping us to feel strongly about that start. With questions over the WRs and RBs in this range, we can ignore them both and instead take 2024’s QB1, Lamar Jackson and stud tight end Trey McBride. Through three picks, we have three players with both high floors and high ceilings.
In the next three rounds, we add Zay Flowers, Chuba Hubbard, and Jakobi Meyers. Flowers is a solid WR2 with high weekly upside, and while occasionally members of the Ravens can go missing because of their diverse offense, it’s worth the selection here to stack with Jackson and also as Flowers feels a tier above the next receivers taken — Xavier Worthy, Courtland Sutton and Rome Odunze. Hubbard looks to have the Panthers’ RB1 role locked down after his extension and his nine games over 15.0 PPR points in 2024 could be improved upon this year with the Panthers’ offense ascending. Meyers is a solid pick in the sixth round thanks to his quarterback upgrade.
Middle Rounds (Rounds 7-12)
Through six rounds, we have one QB, one RB, three WRs and one TE, which makes for a fairly solid build at this point and allows us to take the best players available if needed. We never want to ignore WR because you start three per week as well as one potentially in the flex. We also want to be mindful of trying to find values among rookies in these early contests, particularly with players who could grow into a bigger role as the season goes on.
Omarion Hampton is a smash in the seventh round. Hampton brings physicality and size at 226 lbs., along with the kind of explosivity that can change the game in a second. With a strong chance to be a day one starter, he feels like a great value here. When the board comes back to us in the eighth round, Mark Andrews is a screaming value. Coming off a season with double-digit touchdowns and having secured his 2025 roster bonus, Andrews seems a lock to continue being a value on this Ravens offense. With two tight ends in the first eight rounds, we can be finished with the position. In the ninth round, Tetairoa McMillan also represents value with mock drafts unsure where he’ll go but everyone being confident in his upside. The later McMillan falls, the better chance he ends up on a good offense.
In Rounds 10 through 12, we add two big-play receivers in Rashid Shaheed and Marquise Brown, bolstering the depth of the position for us while also offering big weekly potential. In Round 12, it’s hard to ignore Kyler Murray, who has fallen several rounds past ADP and will stack with McBride. The tight end position is volatile but getting a chance to have two players who see either high-volume, or high amounts of red zone looks, while stacked with their respective quarterbacks, it allows us to be done with the QB and TE position in one fell swoop.
Later Rounds (Rounds 13-20)
With both QB and TE taken care of, the rest of our draft is about building out the strength of our RB and WR rooms as well as taking upside swings when they present themselves. In Round 13 and 14, we double-dip at the RB position with an intriguing rookie in Cam Skattebo and Kenneth Gainwell, who could be locked into a nice role if the Steelers roll with him and Jaylen Warren as a 1-2 punch. In Rounds 15 and 16, we revisit the rookie well with Kaleb Johnson and Tre Harris, two players with plenty of upside who represent a worthwhile swing at this point in the draft, even if both players do have flaws in their prospect profiles.
In Rounds 17 through 20, we add two more RBs in Justice Hill and Ty Johnson, who are attached to high-upside offenses and could have early season floor while we wait for the rookies to find their roles. We also add two more wide receivers in Jalen Tolbert, who had a nice 2024 season as the Cowboys WR2 and then Travis Hunter who could turn out to be a steal if he ends up playing WR; something that both Daniel Jeremiah and Mel Kiper have hinted at in their recent mock drafts.
Overall Thoughts
This team is a high-upside and high-floor roster with 2 QBs, 2 TEs, 7 RBs and 9 WRs. The stacks are built around one great offense and one that should be at least in the upper third of the league for offense. With six rookies on the roster, we might not hit on all of them, but if several of the rookies give us some value against their ADP, then we’ll be in a strong position.
The Mock Draft Wizard gave us a B+ for this draft, not enjoying our RB selections between Rounds 13 through 15, but on the whole, we’re very pleased with everything else.
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