Best Ball Draft Review

I spend a couple of minutes every few days trolling the discussion boards on the ESPN Fantasy Football site for interesting leagues. I'm not a big fan of the "pick your favorite NFL or college team" leagues, but every once in a while somebody comes up with something interesting. So when I saw a "Best Ball" league, I was interested. The concept is based on the common golf variation where two or more players use the best individual score on each hole to come up with the low round. Transferred to Fantasy Football, the concept goes something like this: Sixteen teams draft a full team. After the draft, the teams are randomly paired off. The pairings play each other throughout the season and the best position from each pairing counts. So if we start one QB, and my partner has Peyton Manning and he scores 25 points, and I have Philip Rivers and he scores 12 points, Peyton's score counts. I thought this was a really cool concept, so I joined the league. The draft was last night at 8PM. Despite all of my practice and obsession, I wasn't prepared for a 16 team draft (I ended up with the 13th pick). Despite the shock, I think I drafted a damn good team for a 16 team league(Philip Rivers, Marion Barber, Maurice Jones-Drew, Rashard Mendenhall, Ryan Torain, Joey Galloway, Roy Williams, Donte Stallworth, Antonio Gates, Titans D/ST, Josh Scobee and assorted other filler).

And how did I manage a halfway decent roster in such a deep league? I followed my rules! I went RB/RB in rounds 1 and 2 and I didn't grab a QB until round 6 (might have been one round too late). I didn't take a D/ST until round 14 and I can tell you EXACTLY why I picked each player. Stick to the rules and it'll all work out.

Following the draft I got paired up with an owner that had not drafted quite as well. But what he lacked in roster, he made up for by brokering a dirt cheap trade for Peyton Manning today. Our combined team is now VERY solid. Of course, with the regular season over a month away, the post-draft enthusiasm will wane before too long. But it's still fun to get into the mix for a little while. I'm willing to manage four teams MAX this season. This league makes one, IDI two, friends and family league 3 (that one is up in the air). So I could potentially take on one more league. But unless I find a keeper looking for replacement owners, or I can get another league going with people I know, I think I'll stick with three.

More updates to come, but Ben's fantasy season is definitely underway.