Tackling High Stakes | A Winning NFFC Best Ball Championship Strategy

by Samwise · Featured
NFFC Championship Strategy

At PlayerProfiler, we recently jumped into an NFFC Best Ball Championship draft, and if you’ve never tried high-stakes fantasy football, this is one of the easiest formats to get your feet wet.

I know “high stakes” can sound intimidating, but the format itself is incredibly straightforward. You draft your team, and that’s it. No waivers or trades. No setting a lineup each week. Your optimal lineup is automatically scored based on your roster’s performance.

If you’re looking to challenge yourself, draft against sharper competition to become a better fantasy player, I’d encourage you to give a format like this a shot at least once. There’s no better way than putting your rankings to the test in a competitive room to learn where you have an edge, and where you might need to adjust. 

NFFC Footballguys Online Championship

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They Don’t Call it “High Stakes” for Nothing

The NFFC Best Ball Championship is a 12-team, 30-round draft using Third Round Reversal. The top three teams in each league get paid, with $800 going to first place, while the overall competition has a $30,000 grand prize. Use promo code FIRSTTIME100 when registering to drop the $150 draft cost to $50. That’s a great deal for a chance to compete for a shot at the big payday.

Scoring is simple: your team accumulates points from Week 1 through Week 17, and the three highest-scoring teams in each league cash.

I’m going to break down the draft, some of the biggest decisions we made, and what I learned from the room.

The Draft Board 

I was drafting out of the 11th spot in this one. You’ll notice there are actually two “Terranovas” on the draft board. My old man decided to give high-stakes drafting a shot, so he drafted from 1.01.

This section is really just here to give you a visual of how the draft played out. As I go through my picks over the next few sections, you can come back to the board to see who was available, where certain players went, and how the room drafted around me. You can also watch it play out in real time, with commentary from Coach and me as we draft and the board unfolds.

The draft board itself is color-coordinated by position, which makes it really easy to follow. NFFC does a great job keeping the interface clean, simple, and easy to navigate, especially when you’re tracking a 30-round draft.

The Strategy 

As I mentioned, this is a best ball draft utilizing “third-round reversal” (3RR). With NFFC’s Kentucky Derby Style (KDS) draft slotting, I typically set my preferences toward either the first three or last three picks.

I actually like drafting toward the back in this format because of 3RR. From the 1.11, I also pick at 2.02 and then get pushed up to 3.02 when the order reverses. That creates an opportunity to grab three players I value highly without waiting through a full turn.

The middle of the draft is generally where I want to avoid. I’ve drafted plenty of teams from those spots, and it’s consistently been my least favorite place to build from in this format.

Roster Construction

1 QB / 2 RB / 3 WR / 1 TE / 1 K / 1 D/ST / 21 Bench

The biggest thing that stands out here is the three starting wide receivers. As a result, I tend to attack WR heavily early.

In this draft, I started with James Cook as my anchor running back, and then hammered wide receiver with my next three selections. Interestingly, only my team and Team 7 used that roster construction through four rounds: One RB and three WR.

After laying your foundation, let the draft come to you.

Don’t Force Stacks

Stacking (drafting multiple players in the same offense) is important in best ball. It rewards high-scoring tandems, but sometimes people take it too far.

I’ve seen plenty of fantasy managers pass on clearly better players, just because they want to pair their quarterback with his WR3 or low-end tight end. What good is the stack if the players you assemble aren’t very good?

Build stacks when they make sense. Don’t sacrifice talent just to check a box.

My Best Ball Drafting Rules

  • Build around an anchor RB | I like grabbing an elite RB early and then attacking WR value.
  • Don’t force stacks | Let the board dictate when and where your stacks come together.
  • Prioritize ceiling over floor | Especially in the middle and late rounds. We’re trying to win a tournament, not build the safest roster.
  • Attack injury-away RBs late | Target backs who could immediately step into significant workloads if the starter goes down.
  • Ignore ADP when needed | If you believe your guy won’t make it back to you, take him. ADP is just a guide, not a rule.
  • Take elite QB/TE value when it falls | Securing an advantage at a “onesie” position (single starter) allows you to attack upside elsewhere.
  • Trust your rankings | When tiers are tight, take stands on the players you believe in.
  • Let roster construction guide you | Every pick should influence what you need to do next without forcing you into a corner.

The Results are In

Quarterbacks

Lamar Jackson — 6.11

Jaxson Dart — 8.11

Deshaun Watson — 18.11

I am very content with how this room came together. Going into this draft, and many others, I typically don’t draft quarterbacks early. But when Jackson fell to the back end of the sixth round, it was too hard to pass up.

I will only draft elite QBs or TEs when they slip past ADP 90% of the time, and this was one of those spots.

Dart is someone I am lower on this season than most. But I was comfortable taking him at this price to secure my QB2 while also getting a stack with Malik Nabers. I preferred Brock Purdy to stack with Mike Evans, but he was selected three picks ahead of me.

Watson was a late-round dart throw at a cheap price to round out the room and give me a third quarterback. The Browns were also a cheap team to stack, so at cost, I didn’t mind going that route.

The biggest thing here is that I didn’t force any of these stacks. I played the board, took the values that fell to me, and let the stacks come together naturally. I’ll show the full stacks at the end.

Running Backs

James Cook — 1.11

TreVeyon Henderson — 5.02

Rico Dowdle — 7.02

Tank Bigsby — 14.11

Ray Davis — 16.11

James Conner — 19.02

Ollie Gordon II — 20.11

Adam Randall — 25.02

Najee Harris — 28.11

As I mentioned earlier, I went with an anchor RB approach. For those not familiar, it means drafting an elite RB early and then generally waiting on the position.

This build wasn’t quite as drastic. I still scooped up Henderson in the fifth round and then grabbed Dowdle, who I love this season, in the seventh. From there, my focus shifted toward backups and upside, and I waited another seven rounds before drafting another running back.

Best ball is much different than a managed redraft league. I don’t have to worry about figuring out the exact week to put these players into my lineup. That makes these high-upside backups much more appealing.

My thought process was to target handcuffs who could transition into a significant workload if the starter misses time. Davis was also a way to protect my investment in Cook. We have already seen him step in and handle a heavier workload when Cook has missed time, and he has played well when given those opportunities.

Wide Receivers

CeeDee Lamb — 2.02

Malik Nabers — 3.02

Mike Evans — 4.11

Courtland Sutton — 9.02

KC Concepcion — 11.02

Stefon Diggs — 13.02

Jerry Jeudy — 17.02

Darnell Mooney — 21.02

Cyrus Allen — 26.11

Ja’kobi Lane — 29.02

Devontez Walker — 30.11

This room shaped up to be my favorite position group in the entire draft. That’s a good thing because WR is the most important position in this format, especially with the requirement to start three every week.

I wound up having six of my 11 wide receivers stacked with one of my quarterbacks, with many of those stacks coming from cheap, late-round picks.

Lane was probably my favorite pick of the entire draft and potentially my best value. He has been a star in camp and has been earning his way toward a potential Week 1 starting role. Getting him this late is already appealing. Pairing him with his quarterback, Jackson, makes it that much sweeter.

Lamb is a pick I don’t exactly love in a vacuum. I am lower on him than most this season and don’t believe he should be a first-round pick in fantasy. Lucky for us, he slipped into the early second round. At that point, the price made selecting him much easier.

Tight Ends

Travis Kelce — 10.11

Mark Andrews — 12.11

Eli Stowers — 23.02

Theo Johnson — 24.11

This may be the most boring skill-position group I drafted, but that’s perfectly fine with me. We went light on the position in terms of draft capital, but there is still plenty of upside.

We also stacked two of the four tight ends with our quarterbacks in Andrews and Johnson.

Tight end is typically a position I don’t spend much draft capital on. I am a thrift-store TE drafter. With that being said, Kelce should be going much higher in drafts, in my opinion. Getting him at 10.11 isn’t even out of the ordinary right now, which is the crazy part.

He has looked awesome in camp, and the Chiefs still lack proven receiving weapons. If his price stays this low, I expect to be overweight on Kelce this season.

Team Kicker and Team Defense

Dallas Cowboys — TK — 15.02

New York Jets — D/ST — 22.11

Cincinnati Bengals — D/ST — 27.02

This is probably where we made our biggest draft mistake. Only securing one team kicker was a big miss. I will lose out on points during the Cowboys’ bye week, which hurts. Thankfully, I landed what I believe is the best team kicker in fantasy. The position dried up quickly, though, and before I knew it, I got too greedy waiting for another to come back to me.

The defenses could have been better, too. I typically wait for the New Orleans Saints D/ST, but they were drafted just ahead of us, which threw the plan for a loop.

The Jets have a decent schedule, however, and the Bengals are a much-improved unit. Sometimes, you hold your nose and pray.

Sir Stacks-a-Lot

One thing I really liked about this build was how naturally the stacks came together. I didn’t reach for correlations and force them; I took value when it was there and still built several strong team stacks.

Baltimore Ravens

  • Lamar Jackson — QB — 6.11
  • Mark Andrews — TE — 12.11
  • Adam Randall — RB — 25.02
  • Ja’kobi Lane — WR — 29.02
  • Devontez Walker — WR — 30.11

New York Giants

  • Malik Nabers — WR — 3.02
  • Jaxson Dart — QB — 8.11
  • Darnell Mooney — WR — 21.02
  • Theo Johnson — TE — 24.11

Cleveland Browns

  • KC Concepcion — WR — 11.02
  • Jerry Jeudy — WR — 17.02
  • Deshaun Watson — QB — 18.11

Buffalo Bills

  • James Cook III — RB — 1.11
  • Ray Davis — RB — 16.11

Dallas Cowboys

  • CeeDee Lamb — WR — 2.02
  • Dallas Cowboys — TK — 15.02

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Tank Bigsby — RB — 14.11
  • Eli Stowers — TE — 23.02

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Travis Kelce — TE — 10.11
  • Cyrus Allen — WR — 26.11

Final Verdict

This is a great tournament and one of my favorite formats to draft. As I shared in the beginning, if you are looking to get your feet wet in high-stakes fantasy football, I think this is a perfect tournament to start with. On top of that, if you use promo code FIRSTTIME100 when registering, the cost of this $150 draft drops to just $50. $50 for a shot at $30k. That’s a good ROI!

NFFC Championship Live Draft Strategy

Most importantly, this is by far my favorite team I’ve drafted in this tournament so far. I like the structure, I like the upside, and I built plenty of correlation without forcing stacks or passing on value. There are things I would change, especially only drafting one team kicker, but that’s part of drafting. No team is going to come out exactly as you planned.

Now we see if we can turn this one into $30,000.


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