BEST of 2024 So Far (After Week 11)

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 eleven.

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 15 Top Rated: Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow

Best of 14 Super Elite: Baker Mayfield

BEST of 12 Elite: Josh Allen

BEST of 11 Solid: Jalen Hurts

BEST of 10: Solid: Sam Darnold

RB Position

BEST of 16: Top Rated: Derrick Henry and Bijan Robinson

Best of 14: Super Elite: Alvin Kamara

BEST of 13 Super Elite: Saquon Barkley

BEST of 12 Elite: Joe Mixon, Kyren Williams, De’Von Achane, Jahmyr Gibbs, Josh Jacobs, Breece Hall, David Montgomery, Chuba Hubbard

BEST of 10 Solid: Kenneth Walker, Chase Brown, James Cook

WR Position

BEST of 15 Top Rated: Ja’Marr Chase

BEST of 14 Super Elite: Justin Jefferson

BEST of 13 Super Elite: Amon Ra St Brown

BEST of 11 Solid: Garret Wilson

BEST of 10 Solid: Cee Dee Lamb, Malik Nabers, Zay Flowers, Brian Thomas, Terry McLaurin, Jaxon Smith Njigba

TE Position

BEST of 11 Top Rated: George Kittle

BEST of 10 Super Elite: Brock Bowers

BEST of 8 Solid: Travis Kelce and Trey McBride

Conclusion

Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, and Baker Mayfield have separated themselves from the pack as the BEST QBs in the Best Ball format this season after 11 weeks. Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts are in the next tier, with Sam Darnold being the only other quarterback over 10 in the Best Index after 11 weeks. Jared Goff could join this elite group with another big game this week. Derrick Henry didn’t have a great week, but his bad weeks are better than many RBs' solid weeks this season, and he remains on top with Bijan Robinson. Alvin Kamara and Saquon Barkley continue to show great form, too. Despite missing three games, Joe Mixon has passed many RBs who have played an entire season and should join that top group soon. Justin Jefferson has tailed off a bit the last 2 weeks, while Ja’Marr Chase has had two fantastic weeks, moving Chase into the top spot at WR. They are joined by Amon Ra St Brown, who continues to be one of the most consistent plays at WR. George Kittle missed a week but remains in tier two at the top, along with rookie Brock Bowers. Bowers is not only on pace to trash many rookie records for TEs but could threaten some all-time rookie reception records. Travis Kelce barely outscored Trey McBride, who was on Bye last week but remains among the top 4 at the position along with McBride.