It’s officially the best time of the year, as NFL Best Ball is back on DraftKings.
This format gives players a chance to draft a fantasy football team for a season-long competition that requires no active in-season management, but still provides a full season of drama and competition.
You can find all the details, scoring and rules for the format in this overview post along with links to the rest of our season preview content.
Below is a quick cheat sheet that includes each NFL team’s bye week, opponent for Weeks 15-17 (best ball playoffs) and strength of schedule ranking.
Check back throughout draft season for more content to help get you ready for all your Best Ball contests.
DraftKings NFL Best Ball is live! Click here to start drafting your team
Notes on cheat sheet:
- Strength of Schedule is for the entire regular season, not just playoffs. Rank is determined using projected 2024 win totals from Vegas oddsmakers. Each team’s schedule is ranked from easiest to hardest, with 1 being easiest and 32 being most difficult. All data courtesy of Sharp Football Analysis.
- Playoffs for DraftKings NFL Best Ball contests begin in Week 15 and culminate in Week 17. Included below is each team’s opponent for that three-week stretch.
DraftKings 2024 Best Ball Cheat Sheet
| Team | BYE | Strength of Schedule | Playoff Schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BYE | Strength of Schedule | Playoff Schedule |
| ARZ | 11 | 16 | W15 NE W16 @CAR W17 @LAR |
| ATL | 12 | 1 | W15 @LV W16 NYG W17 @WAS |
| BAL | 14 | 29 | W15 @NYG W16 PIT W17 @HOU |
| BUF | 12 | 23 | W15 @DET W16 NE W17 NYJ |
| CAR | 11 | 10 | W15 DAL W16 ARZ W17 @TB |
| CHI | 7 | 3 | W15 @MIN W16 DET W17 SEA |
| CIN | 12 | 6 | W15 @TEN W16 CLE W17 DEN |
| CLE | 10 | 30 | W15 KC W16 @CIN W17 MIA |
| DAL | 7 | 22 | W15 @CAR W16 TB W17 @PHI |
| DEN | 14 | 25 | W15 IND W16 @LAC W17 @CIN |
| DET | 5 | 21 | W15 BUF W16 @CHI W17 @SF |
| GB | 10 | 19 | W15 @SEA W16 NO W17 @MIN |
| HOU | 14 | 26 | W15 MIA W16 @KC W17 BAL |
| IND | 14 | 7 | W15 @DEN W16 TEN W17 @NYG |
| JAC | 12 | 14 | W15 NYJ W16 @LV W17 TEN |
| KC | 6 | 12 | W15 @CLE W16 HOU W17 @PIT |
| LAC | 5 | 2 | W15 TB W16 DEN W17 @NE |
| LAR | 6 | 17 | W15 @SF W16 @NYJ W17 ARZ |
| LV | 10 | 24 | W15 ATL W16 JAC W17 @NO |
| MIA | 6 | 8 | W15 @HOU W16 SF W17 @CLE |
| MIN | 6 | 28 | W15 CHI W16 @SEA W17 GB |
| NE | 14 | 31 | W15 @ARZ W16 @BUF W17 LAC |
| NO | 12 | 5 | W15 WAS W16 @GB W17 LV |
| NYG | 11 | 20 | W15 BAL W16 @ATL W17 IND |
| NYJ | 12 | 4 | W15 @JAC W16 LAR W17 BUF |
| PHI | 5 | 9 | W15 PIT W16 @WAS W17 DAL |
| PIT | 9 | 32 | W15 @PHI W16 @BAL W17 KC |
| SF | 9 | 18 | W15 LAR W16 @MIA W17 DET |
| SEA | 10 | 15 | W15 GB W16 MIN W17 @CHI |
| TB | 11 | 11 | W15 @LAC W16 @DAL W17 CAR |
| TEN | 5 | 27 | W15 CIN W16 @IND W17 @JAC |
| WAS | 14 | 13 | W15 @NO W16 PHI W17 ATL |
| *Strength of Schedule courtesy of Sharp Football Analysis |
Best Ball Playoff Strategy
Advancing from the regular season to the postseason is the No. 1 priority in best ball contests, because you cannot win any real money unless you get to Week 17. However, there are ways where you can draft to maximize both regular-season advance rate and playoff success.
There have been countless debates about if drafting with only Week 17 in mind is a +EV strategy, and I am here to tell you that it does not have to be binary.
What does drafting for Week 17 mean exactly?
The main tenet in maximizing for Week 17 is correlation, which is better known as stacking. Let’s give an example: in Week 17 this upcoming season, the Eagles are playing the Cowboys. This means if you’re sitting there in round eight and you have a Jalen Hurts/A.J. Brown stack already on your roster, you then would want to draft Jake Ferguson, with the premise being if this game ends up shooting out, you have a piece of both offenses and now need to get fewer things correct on the rest of your roster.
The issue drafters run into is prioritizing stacking while simultaneously sacrificing ADP value. Let’s use that same Cowboys/Eagles game as the example. You’re sitting there in the fifth round and you have both CeeDee Lamb and DeVonta Smith on your roster, so in an effort to complete your stack you select Dak Prescott about 20 picks ahead of ADP. You’re lowering your team’s expected value by taking Prescott that early, whereas if you left him on the board and waited until his ADP to draft him, you’d have two additional high-end players on your roster. Even if Prescott got taken before you had the chance to complete your stack, there are still other ways to compensate for this later in the draft without sacrificing ADP value.
The overarching point here is that while game-stacking can be incredibly valuable, you should only be doing it where it makes sense during the draft. For example, if you’re in the 10th round and deciding between a pair of wide receievers that are extremely close in ADP, select the one who correlates better in Week 17 to players already on your roster. Stacking and correlation should be used as a way to break ties, rather than being the only thing you focus on during your draft.
Week 17 Stack Ideas
Packers @ Vikings
Justin Jefferson + Jordan Love + Jayden Reed/Christian Watson/Romeo Doubs/Luke Musgrave
This one is incredibly fun and easy to pull off, due to the ADPs of the Packers skill players. If you end up with Jefferson as your first-round pick, you can then select Love near the seventh round, and pair him with any of Reed (63.0 ADP), Watson (88.5 ADP), Doubs (109.7) or Musgrave (151.8 ADP). Another contingency to this would be if you miss on Love, you can simply take the Packers pass catchers sans their QB, while then taking J.J. McCarthy (168.6 ADP) to stack with Jefferson late.
Just as a cherry on top, this game is one of only three games in Week 17 that will be played in a dome, which means zero weather concerns.
Falcons @ Commanders
Kirk Cousins + Bijan Robinson/Drake London/Kyle Pitts + Terry McLaurin/Austin Ekeler/Brian Robinson/Ben Sinnott/Jahan Dotson/Luke McCaffrey
First and foremost, this is a Kirk Cousins revenge game. Secondly, if you end up with some form of a Cousins stack, the ADPs of all of the Commanders skill players outside of McLaurin are extremely enticing. All of Ekeler, Robinson, Sinnott, Dotson and McCaffrey have ADPs past 100, making this one of the more affordable stacks on the board. The other way to get exposure to this game would be to simply take Commanders QB Jayden Daniels instead of Cousins, if you drafted one of the early-round Falcons’ skill players.
DraftKings NFL Best Ball is live! Click here to start drafting your team
The Crown Is Yours: Sign up for DraftKings and experience the ultimate host for games and betting experiences!
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is Lan1228) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
