Similar to some other best ball formats, Yahoo! is a 20-round draft, with mostly standardized Half-PPR scoring, that requires us to start one QB, two RBs, three WRs, one TE, one flex, and one defense. However, unlike other formats, Yahoo! pays out a weekly prize to the top-scoring team. Naturally, this decreases the amount of money left to reward the highest-placing teams at the end of the season. Therefore, weekly upside must play a greater role in our strategy than in other formats. To incorporate more weekly upside, I placed a greater emphasis on stacking. Stacking allows us to increase our upside by using correlations among players.
Therefore, my strategy for these drafts was as follows:
- Use the Roster Construction Explorer to build a foundation for season-long success.
- Use the Best Ball Workshop to formulate a round-by-round approach to each position.
- Incorporate player and positional research to find values and fades.
- Focus on stacking to maximize weekly upside.
This strategy led me to the following results at each position.
Most-Drafted Quarterbacks
The RCE recommends 2-3 total quarterbacks, and I averaged 2.2 QBs drafted. I also selected most of my QBs within rounds 6-13, as the Best Ball Workshop recommends. I then targeted QBs with stackable weapons to maximize my weekly upside. And finally, I targeted QBs that were more likely to be favored than underdogs using Vegas win totals. A few notes on my most-drafted QBs below.
Teddy Bridgewater is one of the best late-round QB options. His ADP offered a cheap way to stack with extremely talented skill players, increasing my weekly ceiling. According to the Range of Outcomes app, Matthew Stafford is the only quarterback with an ADP outside of the position’s top 12 that has top-five upside. Additionally, the ability to stack him with talented pass-catchers increases our weekly upside. Matt Ryan fit well with a Zero RB or Modified Zero RB approach, as I often selected Julio Jones and/or Calvin Ridley when employing those strategies. Dak Prescott and Kyler Murray offer overall QB1 upside and can still be drafted at the start of the window. Jimmy Garoppolo is due for both passing attempts and passing touchdown regression, and his weapons fit well within my overall draft strategy.
