DraftKings has officially entered the season-long fantasy football space.
The daily fantasy site launched best ball contests on Aug. 3 with two types:
- Sit & Go's: These contests run the duration of the traditional fantasy football season — Weeks 1 through 16 — and feature between three and 12 teams. Winner is the highest-scoring team over that span.
- Tournaments: Best ball tournaments are played over four rounds of contests. You create your entry via a 12-team snake draft, complete in Round 1 (Weeks 1-13), then if you score high enough to make the cut for that tournament, you advance to Round 2 (Week 14). Same process applies for Rounds 3 and 4, i.e. Weeks 15 and 16, respectively. In honor of the launch, DraftKings is hosting a $3 million tournament with a $1 million top prize.[Play Now]
With those contest options in mind, let's run through how DraftKings' best ball drafts work.
How To Play DraftKings Best Ball
Drafts
DraftKings' best ball drafts start as soon as a contest fills.
Users have two options for speed: Slow and fast. Slow drafts will allot users up to eight hours to make a pick while fast drafts will allot only 30 seconds.
Auto-picks in these contests are limited to players you queue and your pre-draft rankings, which means if you don't have players available in either and fail to make a manual pick, your contest entry will be counted as invalid.
Starting Lineups
Best ball combines principles of re-draft leagues and daily fantasy contests, requiring users to draft a team — either for three- to 12-team contests or big tournaments — but no in-season roster management. That means no trades, no adds, no drops, no waiver wire, no lineup setting.
Once you draft a 20-player team, your lineup will be automatically composed of your highest-scoring players each week, with eight starters and 12 bench players.
Here's a look at their overall roster construction:
- 1 QB
- 2 RB
- 3 WR
- 1 TE
- 1 FLEX (RB/WR/TE)
- 12 BENCH
That means if you have two quarterbacks, only the one with the higher score in a given week will count toward your total contest points. If you have five wide receivers, only the three with the highest scores will count, and so on.
Scoring
DraftKings' best ball contests will use the same scoring system as their classic contests:
| Type | Points |
|---|---|
| Passing TD | 4 |
| 25 Passing Yards | 1 |
| 300+ Yard Passing Game | 3 |
| Interception | -1 |
| Rushing TD | 6 |
| 10 Rushing Yards | 1 |
| 100+ Yard Rushing Game | 3 |
| Receiving TD | 6 |
| 10 Receiving Yards | 1 |
| 100+ Receiving Yards Game | 3 |
| Reception | 1 |
| Punt/Kickoff/FG Return for TD | 6 |
| Fumble Lost | -1 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 2 |
| Offensive Fumble Recover TD | 6 |
