BEST of 2024 So Far (After Week 17) 

Fantasy football prognosticators attempt to predict the top players in each position each season. If you have been paying attention to me here on The Science of Fantasy Football, you know that year-end points can be deceiving, and points per game are also misleading. But what matters most in Best Ball Fantasy Football is how many times a player hits our score sheet. That’s what the BEST Index attempts to do. Let’s look at the best of the BEST after week seventeen. 

BEST Index Explained

Fantasy Football is a weekly game that needs weekly statistical tools. The MVP Index grades players on the three things that can happen every week: whether a player helped you win, caused you to lose, or kept you in the matchup that week. It uses historical median production to determine values that need to be exceeded to count. Since we don’t care about the lousy Best Ball Fantasy Football scores, the BEST index uses two of the three parts of the MVP Index to show BEST Ball effectiveness for each player. 

QB Position

BEST of 23 Top Rated: Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow

Best of 21 Super Elite: Baker Mayfield 

BEST of 19 Elite: Josh Allen 

BEST of 18 Elite: Jayden Daniels, Jared Goff, and Sam Darnold

BEST of 15 Solid: Jalen Hurts  

RB Position

BEST of 25: Top Rated: Bijan Robinson

BEST of 23 Super Elite: Josh Jacobs

BEST of 22 Super Elite: Derrick Henry and Jahmyr Gibbs

BEST of 20 Elite: Saquon Barkley and De’Von Achane

BEST of 19 Elite: Kyren Williams

BEST of 18 Elite: Chase Brown 

BEST of 17 Solid: Alvin Kamara and Chuba Hubbard

BEST of 16: Solid:  James Cook and James Conner 

WR Position

BEST of 23 Top Rated: Ja’Marr Chase 

BEST of 22 Super Elite: Justin Jefferson

BEST of 21 Super Elite: Amon Ra St Brown

BEST of 18 Elite: Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr,

BEST of 17 Solid: Terry McLaurin

BEST of 16 Solid: AJ Brown, Cee Dee Lamb and Jaxon Smith Njigba 

TE Position

BEST of 18 Top Rated: George Kittle

BEST of 16 Super Elite: Trey McBride 

BEST of 15 Super Elite: Brock Bowers

BEST of 14 Elite: Johnu Smith 

BEST of 12 Solid: Travis Kelce 

Conclusion

The MVP Award in real football might be a tossup this season, but Lamar Jackson is the MVP for Fake Football at the QB position. Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield are the other players on the podium, with Josh Allen having a full 4 BEST index points and Lamar at QB4. Only seven QBs have a BEST index equal to or greater than the number of games played, including impressive rookie Jayden Daniels at QB5. Jared Goff and Sam Darnold are having fake football career-best seasons. 

The best RB in Fantasy Football is an equally lopsided race, with Bijan Robinson ahead of the pack. Ten RBs have posted a BEST Index equal to or greater than the number of games played. That list includes Kyren Williams and Chase Brown, who answered, “Who will be the next Kyren Williams?”

Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, and Derrick Henry dumbfounded the Fake Football Analysts who always tell you to stay away from veteran RBs switching teams. 

The top spot for Fantasy Football WR of the Year is a closer race, with Ja’Marr Chase edging out Justin Jefferson. Jefferson’s upside value is down this season but still fourth best over the last 3 years combined, which shows how great he was in previous seasons. Amon Ra St Brown is a close-up third-best with a nice gap back to two talented rookies. Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr have excellent rookie seasons that look even more amazing when you look at who they have had at QB all season. Terry McLaurin was only Scary Terry to his fake football managers in the final this week, but that doesn’t take away from an otherwise terrific season. Only nine WRs had a BEST index equal to or greater than the number of games played this season. 

George Kittle and Trey McBride are the only two TEs with a BEST index equal to or greater than the number of games played this season and will finish first and second over rookie Brock Bowers. Bowers defied lousy QB play to beat a TE record that had stood in the NFL for over 60 seasons! John Smith had a career year, translating to TE4 in Fake Football, while Father Time is catching up with Travis Kelce. 

Thanks for joining me all season as I checked out who the BEST player was position by position.