Joey Ikez 
Pick # 9: 3 QB – 4 RB – 8 WR – 3 TE
Draft Advice & Takeaways:
Draft as if you are right. What I mean by this is while you are drafting a best ball team, draft as if the players you are selecting are going to have great seasons. By spending the right amount of draft capital at each position, while stacking QBs with pass catchers, you are increasing your chances of advancing in Best Ball Mania IV. I am drafting Saquon, Bijan, and Walker as three running backs who not only remain healthy but also have productive seasons. What happens if one of these 3 running backs gets injured and I do not have backups? Well, chances are that if Bijan or Saquon get hurt this team is not advancing anyway. Losing a Saquon or Bijan will not be adequately replaced by a late-round RB. So why not draft as if they will not get hurt? So, drafting 6 running backs in this build will HURT my chances of advancing. I’d much rather use those 2 extra draft picks on another position. In this build, I used the extra draft picks on WR and TE. I am also betting high on Deshaun Watson. And what happens if Deshaun Watson returns to form and has an exceptional season? That means his pass catchers will ALSO have exceptional seasons. I mean he cannot throw the football to himself, can he? And THAT lies the strength of correlating and stacking your QBs with your pass catchers. As you are drafting on Underdog, keep a keen eye on the ADP (average draft position) of the players you are targeting. I did not want to take Deshaun Watson in Round 5 when I missed out on Herbert. Why? Because chances are you can get him 2 rounds later more aligned with his ADP and can use your 5th-round draft pick on another position.
RBs: Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Kenneth Walker, and D’Onta Foreman
Sitting at the 9th pick I decided to go with Bijan Robinson. It seems like my last few write-ups have been on teams where I have drafted Bijan in Round 1, but I just cannot help myself! With the lack of workhorse RBs in the later rounds, I find myself gravitating toward heavy RB builds. In a lot of my Underdog drafts, I try to get AT LEAST 2 in the first 5 rounds, especially on Underdog which is half a point per reception. If you look at the winning team from last year’s Best Ball Mania 3, you can see the first two picks were Austin Ekeler and Saquon Barkley. A tough decision point was in Round 5 deciding between Kenneth Walker and Tyler Lockett. As you can tell I am high on Seattle’s offense and would not have minded either one. After taking Kenneth Walker I can project this build to have either 4 or 5 RBs. There is no reason to draft any more than that after investing such high draft capital in the position. I nabbed D’Onta Foreman 10 picks past ADP as my final RB. There was no other round where I thought it was necessary to grab another RB.
WRs: Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, Jordan Addison, Elijah Moore, Allen Lazard, Nico Collins, Curtis Samuel, Robert Woods
In round 3 I wanted to go DK Metcalf, but he went the pick before me, so I grabbed the next WR in my rankings with Amari Cooper. I followed that up in Round 4 with Keenan Allen. This sets me up for a possible Watson or Herbert QB pairing, two QBs that I am high on this year. If I miss out on one of the elite QBs like Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen, I am looking to get a #1 WR on a team with a mid-round QB pairing. I took Jordan Addison over Jaxon Smith-Njigba, as I project Addison for more snaps, routes, and targets. I follow that up with another Browns pass-catcher in Elijah Moore and a Week 17 bring back with Allen Lazard. The Browns vs Jets in 2022 was a shoot-out with Joe Flacco under center, who knows what can happen this year with Aaron Rodgers! I fill out my WR room with two Texans pass catchers and Curtis Samuel on what should be two improved offenses from last season.
QBs: Deshaun Watson, Kenny Pickett, CJ Stroud
In round 5 Justin Herbert was my target to pair with Keenan Allen, but he got taken the pick RIGHT before me. Very similar to being rivered in poker, this is one of the worst feelings in snake drafting. But got to just roll with the punches and keep it moving. I grabbed Watson two rounds later in Round 7 and when all was said and done, I was able to pair him with three Cleveland pass catchers. QBs were gobbled up early, so I couldn’t select another QB until Round 16 with Kenny Pickett. Although not ideal taking him with no other Pittsburgh players, I was able to grab him 16 picks past ADP. I have Houston’s top 2 WRs paired with #2 overall pick CJ Stroud, as I look to hit lightning in a bottle later in the season as rookie QBs gain experience with higher projected fantasy outcomes.
TEs: David Njoku, Dalton Kincaid, Gerald Everett
Although I lack an elite TE, I am very happy with this TE room. Drafting Njoku 7 picks past ADP to pair with my #1 QB was very appealing. Dalton Kincaid is not a tight end. I repeat Dalton Kincaid is not a TE. He will be the Buffalo Bills’ slot WR this season. With Isaiah McKenzie being gone and the Bills using a first-round draft pick on this 6’4” behemoth, I expect him to be targeted frequently in the Bills’ pass-happy attack. Like Taysom Hill being labeled a TE without really being one, I expect most season-long sites such as Yahoo! and ESPN to adjust and list Kincaid as a WR and TE by midseason. I would have been happy with just these two tight ends, but only having to spend 4 picks on Running Back, allowed me to spend elsewhere. I grabbed Gerald Everett in round 13 to add to my Chargers bet.
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