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Best Ball SCOUT 170
FFL: Preseason | NFL: Week 1

Best Ball Scout Championship

Wed Apr 17 9:26am ET
By JEFF PAUR
Sr Fantasy Writer

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Get in the Scout Championship


RealTime Fantasy Sports is once again very excited to bring you the Best Ball Scout Championship this season. This contest is a little different from our normal Best Ball Championship. All these drafts take place before the NFL Draft, so you don’t know where any of the rookies are going this year. You are taking them blindly. This makes for even more strategy come draft day. Should you load up on rookies? Should you just avoid rookies? What is the winning strategy? We are here to help.

First of all, the winner of the Best Ball Scout Championship takes home $10,000. You also win money for finishing first or second in your 10-team league. The cost to enter the contest is just $20. There are a maximum of 10,000 teams in this contest. Rosters are 20 deep with starters consisting of a QB, two RBs, two WRs, one TE and two FLEX spots. There are no kickers and defenses. Remember, this is a best ball contest, so there is no roster management. Your roster is set once the draft is complete.

With that said, we thought it would be a good idea to look at the championship roster from last year to see what won it all. Here it is:

Round 1: Ja’Marr Chase, WR
Round 2: Davante Adams, WR
Round 3: Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR
Round 4: DeVonta Smith, WR
Round 5: Deebo Samuel, WR
Round 6: George Kittle, TE
Round 7: Keenan Allen, WR
Round 8: Joe Mixon, RB
Round 9: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB
Round 10: Dak Prescott, QB
Round 11: Khalil Herbert, RB
Round 12: Jared Goff, QB
Round 13: Raheem Mostert, RB
Round 14: Ezekiel Elliott, RB
Round 15: Jimmy Garoppolo, QB
Round 16: Leonard Fournette, RB
Round 17: Tyler Boyd, WR
Round 18: Taysom Hill, TE
Round 19: Zach Ertz, TE
Round 20: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, RB

The big thing to notice on this roster is just one rookie was taken. Obviously, this owner hit big with that one rookie, taking Jahmyr Gibbs in Round 9. Gibbs was the 10th rated fantasy back last season. But the championship team from last year took just one rookie. This owner did not load up on rookies and waited until the middle rounds to take his one rookie target. This could be a good lesson learned for owners this season. Maybe going early on rookies or taking several is a losing strategy. Just something to keep in mind this year.

And like with many best ball owners, this roster had three quarterbacks and three tight ends. This owner did not take a quarterback early, waiting to take a quarterback until Round 10. But the owner did got a little early on a tight end, getting George Kittle in Round 6.

The other winning strategy for this owner was loading up on receivers early while waiting to get his running backs until later. This was a very interesting strategy that worked. The owner took five straight receivers to start the draft and didn’t get a running back until Joe Mixon was picked in Round 8. This is a little riskier but another strategy that can obviously worked. Take those sure thing receivers first and get a bunch of question mark running backs in the mid- to later rounds and hope some hit. The big hits for this owner was his pick of Gibbs and getting Raheem Mostert in Round 13. The Mostert pick likely was the big one that put him over the top, getting the fifth rated fantasy back in the back half of the draft. The owners also had some misses at running back with Leonard Fournette and Clyde Edwards-Helaire but that didn’t impact his team too much, hitting on some of those other backs. 

So overall, the winning strategy of last year’s Best Ball Scout championship team was going early on receivers, loading up on running backs with question marks in the middle to later rounds, take few rookies and wait on the quarterback spot.

There are numerous strategies to use but this was the winning one from last year. Just something to think about when drafting your team in this year’s Best Ball Scout Championship. Start drafting here.

Jeff Paur is a two-time finalist for FSWA Fantasy Football Writer of the Year and won the FSWA award for Best Fantasy Football Article on the Web in 2011. He also was the most accurate expert in 2012, winning the FSTA Fantasy Football Accuracy Award. If you have any questions for Jeff, email him at [email protected]. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffpaur.

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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (illness) returned to practice on Wednesday after missing Monday and Tuesday's action with an illness, but the two-time NFL MVP left the field after just one hour. According to team reporter Jamison Hensley, Jackson " looked weary while walking across the field and into the team facility." The former No. 32 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft has missed at least one practice every year due to an illness, but the bright side is it is not a major injury. For now, Baltimore is going to take it slow with Jackson. "We are going to work him back in, for sure," Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken said with a smile. "I know I'm being kind of a smartass. You'll have to ask him how he feels. But he was great in meetings. When we were on the field at the start [of practice], he said he was feeling good." The team has its first scheduled day off on Thursday, so hopefully, the day off will allow Jackson enough time to feel better and return to full practice in short order. He remains a high-end QB1 in fantasy football heading into his seventh pro campaign.

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Jordan Love Jul 25 9:00am CT
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Earlier in the week, it was reported that Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love will not practice at training camp until he reaches an agreement on a new contract with the organization. According to NFL insider Dianna Russini, the two sides are getting close to reaching a deal. "Based on my conversations today, it's all making progress and heading there. Just not done at this time," Russini wrote on X. The 2020 first-round pick finally got a chance to start in 2023 following the departure of Aaron Rodgers, and he exceeded all expectations with 4,159 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. More importantly, he led Green Bay to a playoff victory over the No. 2 seed Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card round despite having one of the youngest offensive supporting casts in the NFL. Given the boom of the quarterback market, don't be surprised if Love signs a deal in the $50 million-salary range.

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Derion Kendrick Jul 25 8:50am CT
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Matthew Stafford Jul 25 8:40am CT
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Allen Lazard Jul 25 8:30am CT
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Baker Mayfield Jul 25 8:20am CT
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Julian Love Jul 24 8:50pm CT
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Donovan Peoples-Jones Jul 24 8:40pm CT
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Parris Campbell Jul 24 8:30pm CT
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Brandon Aiyuk Jul 24 8:20pm CT
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Kemoko Turay Jul 24 7:13pm CT
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Laquon Treadwell Jul 24 7:00pm CT
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