How To Win $2,000,000 - Best Ball 101

The Puppy might have filled, but the dog days of best ball summer are just beginning...

In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by Underdog Fantasy:

I was on the beach Saturday frantically trying to enter Puppy drafts on Underdog Fantasy while the 111,000 entry contest came to a close. I think I got in the second to last draft before it officially wrapped:

That's honestly wild. 100k+ entries in the books....in early June. Lmao, you guys are sick. 

But as the saying goes, when God closes a Puppy, he opens up a Best Ball Mania III tournament with a $2,000,000 top prize. 

And we're only getting started around here when it comes to best ball content. Consider this the official start to Hot Best Ball Summer here at Fantasy Life. 

I know what you might be thinking... Why best ball? I play in one or two leagues a year, we draft in September, and that's enough...

Think of best ball like the ultimate practice to crush your buddies and co-workers when you draft later this summer. 

Unlike with a mock draft where some jabroni might take Tim Tebow first overall as a joke, best ball contests on Underdog have real money on the line, which means drafters have a stake in the game and draft accordingly.

Not only will best ball drafts get you valuable reps that will help you navigate your home leagues, but you also don't have to worry about managing them throughout the season. It's draft it and forget it (more on that in a sec). 

Over the coming weeks, we will be going on a best ball adventure. Today, we'll start with the Best Ball 101 basics, but by the end of the summer you'll be a veteran drafter competing for $2 million top prizes and ready to demolish your friends in season-long. 

Before we can spend the rest of the summer at the beach, we need to do a little bit of studying. Professor Pete is here to walk you through the best ball basics...

Look, I know it's summer. You don't want to be in school, but how about a compromise? 

We'll do class outside, the only homework is drafting fantasy teams, and if you pay attention you'll have the skills to compete for $2,000,000 on Underdog. I knew that would get your attention. Let's get to it...

What is best ball? Best ball is the fastest-growing fantasy format right now. It takes everything that is great about season-long (drafting), removes all of the time-consuming elements (setting your lineup, doing waivers, haggling trades), and delivers prizes that rival the biggest DFS contests ($2,000,000 top prize for Best Ball Mania III, Underdog's flagship contest).

How do you play? You draft 18 players to fill out a weekly starting lineup of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, and 1 FLEX. There are no defenses or kickers. Each week your best lineup will be calculated for you automatically, meaning you don't have to wrestle with any start/sit decisions or roster moves. 

The Underdog settings. Underdog has a 0.5 PPR format, meaning in addition to yards and TDs, players receive an additional half point for each catch. Traditionally, 0.5 PPR settings tilt the scales in favor of RBs over WRs, although Underdog offsets this a bit with being able to start up to 4 WRs in our lineup vs. a max of only 3 RBs.

Roster construction. Because we can’t make any moves throughout the season, we need to be very intentional with our drafting strategies and structures. Best ball drafting is all about balancing depth and upside. 

Over the course of the summer, we’ll dive into the dominant structures (Anchor RB, Zero RB, etc.) and teach you how to successfully employ them in your drafts.

Tournaments (Best Ball Mania III, etc.). The tournaments on Underdog represent the best way to turn a single entry into thousands of dollars. Best Ball Mania III is $25 per entry with a $2,000,000 top prize. The smaller Puppy tournament was $5 per entry with a $75,000 top prize. 

These tournaments have a unique structure that make them a fun puzzle to solve from a strategy standpoint. Not only will you need a team good enough to advance to the playoffs after Week 14 (Round 1), but you’ll also need a top score in the subsequent rounds when it matters most:

• Week 15 (Round 2)

• Week 16 (Round 3)

• Week 17 (Round 4 - Finals)

Best Ball summer school syllabus: Here's what to expect over the coming weeks as we turn you into a best ball crusher...

• Intro to Roster Construction

• Stacking, and why you NEED to correlate your teams

• Structural Drafting, and how to build your teams. 

• End of season correlation, and why it matters.

• Diversification. How to make it work for you.  

Your first assignment is to hop in a draft on Underdog Fantasy and get your feet wet. First-time depositors get up to a $100 deposit match with promo code LIFE. Send us a screenshot of your team on Twitter when you're done and we'll give you a grade. 

💭 Will Robbie Anderson retire? Here's what we know after an ominous tweet was deleted.

🐬 Tua better than Mahomes?! A wild quote from Tyreek Hill that you have to respect from a team-bonding perspective.

🏈 The RBs that are better in best ball. Lord Reebs highlights a few RBs you'd prefer to draft in best ball as opposed to manage leagues.

❌ Delete your Twitter account. Normally this pleas fall on deaf ears, but Jack Del Rio obliged. 

🚑 A 2-man backfield in Seattle? Doesn't sound like Chris Carson is close to a return.

🌧️ A.J. Brown blowing people's minds. Not on the field, though...with a crazy meteorological fact.

🛹 A crazy best ball draft. What if instead of drafting the best players, every pick was dictated by a prompt on a randomized wheel? That's a Randomizer Draft (powered by Fantasy Life) and last week my guest Davis Mattek did a kickflip while drafting. 

When we're not drafting best ball teams, we do a little sports betting. Our Senior Analyst & Director of Social, Kendall Valenzuela, shares some of her favorite bets on the board right now...

We are 87 days away from the first NFL game of the 2022 season, and that feels more like an eternity at this point.

To make up for the June lull let’s dive into a couple of bets. (All odds via DraftKings)

Favorite Week 1 line - Denver Broncos (-4) at Seattle Seahawks (41)

If you didn’t know, I am a very (very) sad Seahawks fan at the moment. This offseason was a dagger to the heart, so why not make it all better and bet on Seattle’s former leading man?

A Week 1 revenge game with Russell Wilson heading back to Lumen Field is a must-watch. With the Seahawks' win total sitting at 6 games, taking down a hungry Broncos team might be too much to overcome. Denver is in the midst of five consecutive losing seasons and a six-year playoff drought. Really the only reason the game should be Denver minus-4 is if home-field advantage is worth three points in Seattle. Setting the tone in the first game of the season should be expected for the Broncos.

Baltimore Ravens to win the AFC North: +190

The Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals both sit at (+190) to win the AFC North. We all know that the Ravens dealt with a laundry list of injuries last season and some people forget (me, I forgot) that Baltimore was a Super Bowl favorite with an 8-3 record through Week 10 before their world came crashing down.

It’s a trendy pick, but if they can stay healthy then the Ravens have a roster that can compete with the toughest in the AFC.

The season is fast approaching, which means it is time for us to get to know all of these NFL teams and who we should be drafting and fading after a busy offseason. In today's team preview, our very own CEO, Eliot Crist, previews his beloved New York Jets. 

While there was excitement at the start of the 2021 season for rookie QB Zach Wilson, the Jets season ended with no gas and all brakes (4-13 record).

The offense disappointed, averaging just 18.2 (28th) points per game. On the defensive side, the Jets allowed 397.6 yards per game (the most in all of football). Lacking playmakers at every level, they allowed the fourth most rushing yards per game, the third most passing yards per game, and finished 31st in takeaways forced.

⚙️ Offseason changes

• After failing to acquire Tyreek HIll and Deebo Samuel in free agency, the Jets drafted rookie Garrett Wilson with the 10th overall pick. Wilson is a dynamic route runner with 4.38 speed. He finished his junior season with 1,058 yards and 12 TDs.

• No team had fewer TE targets than the New York Jets last year. They tried to remedy the situation by signing TEs C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin, as well as drafting Ohio State rookie Jeremy Ruckert in the third round of the draft.

• After scoring a TD in 24 straight games, an NCAA record, Breece Hall heard his name called as the 36th pick in the NFL draft and the first RB off the board. Historically RB draft capital plays a major role in early career fantasy production, per Kevin Cole. 

• The Jets added guard Laken Tomlinson from the 49ers this offseason, making him the 6th highest paid guard in all of football. The team also expects Mehki Becton back in action this year, which would give the offensive line a much needed boost.

• Expect much improvement from the Jets defense after they added four new starters this offseason. They drafted CB Sauce Gardner with the 4th pick, DE Jermaine Johnson with the 25th pick, in addition to bringing in CB D.J. Reed and S Jordan Whitehead in free agency.

✨ Team vibes

Even though the Jets win total sits at 5.5 (juiced to the over at -165), there are lots of reasons for optimism thanks to the aforementioned offseason moves. Per Caesars Sportsbook, the Jets o5.5 wins is the most popular win total bet in terms of both total dollars and total tickets, with 43% more tickets on them than the next closest team.

If the leap happens, it will need to be on the shoulders of Wilson. We're still less than a year removed from Tony Romo gushing about him:

Wilson will have more young talent at his disposal than any Jets QB in the last 20 years. The Jets have three top 34 draft picks at WR, the highest drafted RB since Blair Thomas was the second overall pick in 1990, three new TEs, and three offensive lineman who are former first round picks. The supporting cast is in place. There are no excuses for Wilson this year.

🎯Draft targets

• Breece Hall (Underdog ADP 47.4)

• Elijah Moore (Underdog ADP 68.6)

👋Draft fades

• Garrett Wilson (Underdog ADP 95.7)