Every year, there is $100,000+ in best ball prizes available to play for, across a wide choice of platforms, but one site is completely different from the rest — Drafters — and that’s because of one key difference that changes everything.
Scoring on Drafters is cumulative, with the best of the best winning the top prizes, as opposed to having to run the playoff gauntlet and hope. In this article, we’ll talk about how to approach contests on Drafters, how teams have won in the past and how you should attack drafts this year.
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Drafters Best Ball Strategy Guide
Platform Overview
Drafters is a standout in the growing world of best ball fantasy sports. While many sites follow the playoff-based tournament structure, Drafters takes a unique approach: Cumulative scoring from Week 1 through Week 17. Every point matters, and there’s no playoff luck, making it a more strategic, grind-it-out format.
Each draft features 12 teams and 20 rounds, with a full PPR scoring system and no yardage bonuses. Rosters consist of:
- 1-QB
- 2-RB
- 3-WR
- 1-TE
- 1-Flex (RB/WR/TE)
- 12 Bench Spots
There are no defenses or kickers, like most platforms, but unlike some platforms, your bench matters for how you build it out. But we’ll get to that shortly.
Key Differences from Other Platforms
- No playoffs. Unlike DraftKings, FFPC or Underdog, there’s no bracket at the end of the season. Total points from Week 1-17 decide everything.
- Full PPR scoring, with no bonuses. This elevates volume-based wide receivers and pass-catching running backs.
- Twenty rounds (not 18). These extra picks offer more flexibility in roster construction.
- Less emphasis on stacking. Correlation is still useful, but no single game week will make or break your season.
Positional Strategy & Roster Construction
There’s no one-size-fits-all structure, but historical data suggests we want to build out our rosters in the following way:
- 2-3 Quarterbacks
- 5-7 Running Backs
- 7-10 Wide Receivers
- 2-3 Tight Ends
We can let early draft capital dictate how many players to take at each position. For instance, at quarterback, if we draft an elite one within the first five rounds, then it’s best to stop at two overall. However, if we wait on quarterback, then it’s recommended to draft three with varying bye weeks and try to find at least one with significant upside. On Drafters, selecting four quarterbacks does feel overkill, as we are sacrificing 20% of our roster to the position each week.
At the running back position, we’ll typically draft five to seven, depending on how early you take your first back. If we take running backs early, we’ll likely end up with five or six. If we go wide receiver-heavy with a Zero RB or Hero RB approach, drafting up to seven backs might be required.
The mix of our running back room is just as important as the total number. Attempt to mix in running backs with paths to volume with pass-catchers or those with a clear path to touches. Rookies typically provide value later on in the season and can give us high returns on their cost. In Drafters’ cumulative format, however, we need to be mindful of not giving up production, as every week we fall behind the pack makes it harder to catch up. High-floor teams can be very worthwhile in this format.
This means Zero RB needs to be a more thoughtful exercise. Don’t just spray bullets at the running back position. Target backs who have a legitimate chance to contribute. There were 18 top-24 running back performances last season between Weeks 1-10 from rookie backs.
The year before, there were 25. Given the strength of the rookie class, we can likely expect a number more similar to 25. In 2023, there were still rookies like Tank Bigsby, Roschon Johnson and Kendre Miller who gave you absolutely nothing for the majority of the season. Player selection matters.
On Drafters, you must start three wide receivers each week, plus a Flex spot. This makes the wide receiver position more important than running back, where we never start more than two and a Flex. Typically, we want to draft 7-10 receivers, favoring more if you’re light on the position early.
Typically, if we draft only two quarterbacks or two tight ends, you might want to bump the number of receivers you draft. If you go with two at both quarterback and tight end, you might want to think about getting up to 10 wide receivers.
Volume-based receivers benefit most from full PPR scoring. Players like Wan’Dale Robinson get a big boost in this format compared to Underdog. He finished as the fantasy WR47 in full PPR points per game — 10 spots higher than in half-PPR scoring.
Likewise, Garrett Wilson finished four spots higher — WR20 — compared to WR24. Half-PPR rewards the touchdown scorers more, and Wilson wasn’t getting as many of those. Jaxon Smith-Njigba also finished as the WR16 in full PPR compared to WR20 in half-PPR. Those differences might not sound like a lot, but it has a huge impact on the points differentials you’re gaining every week.
And lastly, at the tight end position, we can deploy a similar mindset with our draft capital. If you’re drafting a top six tight end, then it makes sense to stick to two unless you wait and grab two very late to build a three-tight-end room.
If you’re waiting on tight end, then three has to be the lowest amount we consider. For the third straight year in 2024, late-round tight end was productive with Jonnu Smith (TE4), Tucker Kraft (TE8), Hunter Henry (TE12) and Zach Ertz (TE13) all significantly paying off their costs. This followed 2023 when Cole Kmet, Trey McBride and Jake Ferguson all finished top 12, a year after Evan Engram, Taysom Hill and David Njoku did so in 2022. Outside of the four names previously mentioned, only Cade Otton had six or more weeks as a top-12 option.
Tight ends can also fill the FLEX, giving them added upside, but TE scoring tends to be lower than other positions. TEs rarely hit double-digit touchdowns in a season and 100-yard games for them are much rarer. Perhaps this makes a double-tap of Brock Bowers and Trey McBride more interesting, but generally, it’s better not to plan to have a TE in your flex spot.
Draft Tips Specific to Drafters
Cumulative Scoring Emphasis
Every week counts the same. Week 1 is as important as Week 17. You can’t afford a slow start, so try to avoid suspended or injured players who won’t be useful early. Rashee Rice and Jordan Addison look set to be zeroes on our benches for several weeks to start the season. While early-season production is easier to replace before bye weeks kick in, drafting them represents a high opportunity cost when we want our roster to get off to a strong start.
Overlapping bye weeks at “onesie” positions are more punishing here than elsewhere. On DraftKings or Underdog, you can scrape by until the playoffs and then count on going nuclear. The cost of taking a zero at a position and falling 20-30 points behind our opponents on Drafters might not sound like a lot, but that’s hard to recover from. Upside matters, but not at the cost of multiple early zeros.
Stacking & Correlation
These mainstays in best ball are still valuable, but we need to use them differently. Don’t focus on Week 17 correlations, because it’s less important here, as we’re not building for an individual week where we want that DFS-type spike week, giving us leverage on a group of teams. If you fall into one, or it’s the right picks to make, maybe that game could go nuclear and help you win in Week 17, but it’s not uncommon for super teams to be well clear by Week 17 on Drafters.
Target stacks from high-powered offenses. We can’t ignore stacking. Not because of the single-week DFS upside we chase on other platforms; it’s because we want teams that score the most points. There’s no need to chase Steelers or Browns stacks, as they could limp to 20-point games while relying on their defenses. Instead, we should be looking at teams projected to win more games and score more points.
Even stacking a quarterback and running back from the same team is viable if both contribute steadily. It can be viable to draft Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry or Drake Maye and TreVeyon Henderson — taking dual-threats and their backs can work as the quarterbacks can offset the scores their running backs get by adding rushing yardage of their own. We also should be open to pocket passers with their ball-carriers if they’re a good pass-catcher. Baker Mayfield with Rachaad White or Brock Purdy with Christian McCaffrey can work.
Rookies
Drafting rookies is fine, but don’t go overboard. Late-season breakouts are helpful, but early usability matters more here than on other platforms. Balance is key. Staying tuned to player news throughout the offseason can matter so much here. Any sniff of a player not holding up well in pass protection, and we might want to drop them in our fantasy football rankings. If they’re not getting on the field, they’re potentially hurting our roster.
Previous Winners
2023 Main Event Winner
This team punted tight end, taking four but none before round 12 and three from round 16 and beyond. They hit on Kyren Williams in round 19 and Tank Dell in round 18, making up for getting a miserable 91 points from D’Onta Foreman all season and a woeful output of just two PPR points from Leonard Fournette, whom they took in round 15.
When we talk about trying not to get zeros, this is how people thread the needle. If your picks fail, you’d better have upside and floor coming from elsewhere.
2024 Main Event Winner
The top three teams in 2024 all had Ja’Marr Chase and Saquon Barkley on their rosters, with Chase in the first and Barkley in the second. But their teams were quite different.
The first-place team had one receiver in the first four picks, three quarterbacks and didn’t draft a tight end before round 12. From round 15, they got very little out of Jordan Whittington and Sione Vaki, and all the quarterbacks were at least single-stacked.
The second-place team again had the Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase stack, a two-quarterback and three-tight end build, got very little out of some of their late-round pass-catchers, but hit on Bucky Irving.
The third-place squad took three backs in the first five picks, wasted picks on Deshaun Watson and Nick Chubb, but hit on Jauan Jennings, who wasn’t drafted that often, and ticked boxes in plenty of places. This team had zero rookies on it.
Both the first-place and second-place teams had no more than four rookies, and that was true with the top teams in 2023 as well. Better to make good rookie selections than take a scattergun approach to rookies.
Final Thoughts
Drafters rewards well-balanced, consistent teams that start strong and maintain production all season. We have to remember its cumulative scoring format, full PPR rules and 20-round depth, which can give you a real edge, especially over players used to playoff-focused strategies.
Be flexible, stay methodical with your picks and draft each team with a road map from Week 1 through Week 17.
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