BEST of 2024 So Far (After Week 9) 

Fantasy Football prognosticators attempt to predict who the top players will be at each position every 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 nine. 

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 14 Top Rated: Baker Mayfield 

Best of 13 Super Elite: Lamar Jackson 

BEST of 11 Elite: Joe Burrow

BEST of 10 Elite: Josh Allen

BEST of 9 Solid: Jayden Daniels

 RB Position

BEST of 14 Top Rated: Derrick Henry

Best of 13: Super Elite: Bijan Robinson 

BEST of 12 Super Elite: Alvin Kamara 

BEST of 11 Elite: Kyren Williams and Saquon Barkley

BEST of 10 Elite: Jamyr Gibbs, Josh Jacobs and Chuba Hubbard

BEST of 9: Solid: Joe Mixon, Ken Walker, De’Von Achane, Breece Hall, and David Montgomery 

WR Position

BEST of 13 Top Rated: Justin Jefferson

BEST of 11 Super Elite: Ja’Marr Chase and Garret Wilson 

BEST of 10 Elite: Amon Ra St Brown

BEST of 9 Solid: Cee Dee Lamb, Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas, Terry McLaurin, and Zay Flowers 

TE Position

BEST of 10 Top Rated: George Kittle

BEST of 8 Super Elite: Brock Bowers

BEST of 7: Elite: Trey McBride

BEST of 6 Solid: Travis Kelce and Kyle Pitts 

Conclusion

Players who have had their BYE week already have a slight disadvantage against the others at their position in the BEST Index. Only five QBs continue to have a BEST index that is more significant than the total number of weeks played in the NFL season, but Jalen Hurts is closing in on that solid level. Two of the top three RBs were supposed to be too old to be worth a first- or second-round draft pick, but Derrick Henry leads the way, and Alvin Kamara is third place despite an awful Saints offense. A total of 13 RBs have a BEST Index of 9 or more, and if your Fake Football team has two or more of those players, you have a great team at the halfway point of the season. Chuba Hubbard continues to be the biggest surprise of the season at RB. Only nine WRS have a BEST index of 9 or greater right now. The top of the list looks like the ADP rankings except for rookie Brian Thomas Jr, who was the best bargain at an ADP of WR49. Another rookie, Malik Nabers, also makes this list of the best wide receivers for 2024. The standards of the BEST Index are understandably lower for the TE position, but even if the bar is lowered to a BEST of 6 or more, only five TEs are cut. George Kittle continues to lead the way and has his Bye Week out of the way, too. Despite playing on a lousy offense, Rookie Brock Bowers has been the second-best all season. Good luck in week ten!