Roster construction is the most important thing. The reason being, after the draft you are done. You can’t tinker with your team. Getting it wrong can cost you your chances of winning. Getting it right, can put you right into contention.
Best Ball Roster Construction - QB
Most rosters are going to have between two or three QBs, depending on the type of QB that you select first.
First Selection
Top Tier Talent
We are talking about the upper echelon of the position. The reason you’ll take a QB up here, with the opportunity cost, you are really expecting him to be your weekly starter
Pair With
Upside Late-Round Pick
If you have a good option as your starter value taking a mid tire option. Instead, take a late-round player that could break out and have some big games.
Mid-Tier Talent
If you are waiting a little until you select a QB, then aim for something that gives you some thing additional. So look to stack your QB with one of your WR picks. Even if you are able to pick a double stack. If you are looking around here, I’d look to take two mid-tier options, and a late-round option.
Late-Round Talent
If the board isn’t falling to you selecting a QB, then it’s fine to wait until later. If you choose to do that then you probably want to take three options. The swings will be wild, but having those options should balance it out.
Best Ball Roster Construction - RB
Typically, you want RB options. Firstly, they get injured at a higher rate than other positions. Secondly, a few goal line carries can create a pick points haul.
Selecting RB Early
In selecting RB early, you are attempting to get some elite talent. If you are spending high draft capital at the position, then you should be looking to grab around four or five players in total. If those players get injured, you are unlikely to win anyway so the depth doesn’t matter as much.
Typically, I’m either grabbing a player right at the top, and then take some shots a little later for my other RB positions. Or, I’d take two options at a tier slightly lower, and then take my shots.
In this case I’d look to roster around five or six at the position.
Mid-Round Talent
If you have built your team with QB, WR, and TE then you are likely going to be weaker at RB. That means you are going to need to try and take some more shots at the position. Trying to select players that are high-upside players, top-tier backups, and receiving backs.
In this case, you need to have a few more opportunities of finding that golden ticket, so I’d look to roster six or seven.
Best Ball Roster Construction - WR
Outside of RB, you should mainly be rostering WR options. The exact number is going to be a balancing number from the other positions your have.
The reason being, that the WR position is one that can experience the most variance in week-to-week scoring.
Selecting WR Early
Getting a top-tier talent early can be risky, due to the opportunity cost from the other positions. But if you are taking a top-tier talent, you should be getting a high-floor, high-upside kind of play.
Mid-Round Talent
I say mid-round, but really it’s just below that top tier of WR talent. There are plenty of options that are likely to get around 100 targets at least (assuming they don’t get injured). I have no issue double-dipping at least one this well of player.
Later-Round Talent
Once you move out of the middle rounds, you want to continue selecting options for your team, but don’t go for mediocre talent. Instead, opt for the low-floor, high-ceiling type players. You don’t need consistent production, and you don’t need to guess when the big game is going to be. Then, if you have any space left, take some rookies who could break into a larger role by the end of the season.
Best Ball Roster Construction - TE
Similiar to QB, you shouldn’t be looking at taking too many players at TE. The actual number, like QB, depends on where you selected your first TE.
Top Tier TE
We are really talking about the top, top talent. They create and give you a positional advantage over the majority of the competition. That, obviously comes at a cost. However, it means that you can opt to only take one more TE- to cover bye weeks as an upside option.
The reason being? If your early TE selection is injured, you are likely toast anyway. Obviously, if a mid-tier falls far enough in the draft, they could be your pair at a value.
Mid-Round Talent
If you are being forced into waiting a little for TE, then you really want to be grabbing two mid-tier options. The idea being that you are going to be able to patch together a solid TE starter from the two of them. In this case, don’t draft a third- it’s a waste of a pick.
Later-Round Talent
If you just want to wait, or the board doesn’t fall in the right way, you might be forced to take a few options. In that case I’d be looking at three TE options, the type of players I’d target are ones that are yet to breakout. Or, red-zone monsters who could hit it big in any given week.
If you want some help with best ball, roster construction, or otherwise, you can reach out to us. Remember you can always have a look at our analysis in our best ball section of the website. Or, drop into our discord server.
Image Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig – USA TODAY Sports
