What Is Best Ball? A Beginner's Guide to the Format

Best ball is the fastest-growing format in fantasy football, and for good reason: you draft a roster and you’re done. No weekly lineups, no waivers, no start/sit agony. Your highest-scoring players are counted automatically every week.

How scoring works

Each week, the platform optimizes your lineup for you — it takes your best scores at each position after the games finish. You never leave points on your bench because there is no active bench management. Draft well and the format does the rest.

Why the draft is everything

With no in-season management, best ball is a pure drafting game. That shifts strategy in two ways:

• Depth matters more. You want players who might spike, because one big week can count even from a “bench” player.
• Roster construction matters more. You need enough bodies at each position to cover byes and busts without ever touching the waiver wire.

Draft for spike weeks

In redraft you want reliable floors. In best ball you also want ceiling — boom-or-bust players whose big weeks get captured automatically. A volatile receiver who posts three monster games can win you a best-ball week you’d have benched him for in redraft.

New to it? Practice first

Best-ball roster construction is a skill. The safest way to learn it is to draft a bunch of them before your money’s on the line.

Run best-ball-style mock drafts to get a feel for depth and construction, then compare formats in our dynasty vs redraft vs best ball guide.