BEST of 2024 So Far (After Week 14)

Fantasy football prognosticators attempt to predict who the top players will be 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 fourteen.

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 18 Top Rated: Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow

Best of 16 Super Elite: Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen

BEST of 14 Elite: Sam Darnold

BEST of 13 Solid: Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels

RB Position

BEST of 20: Top Rated: Bijan Robinson

BEST of 18: Super Elite: Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs

BEST of 17 Super Elite: Saquon Barkley and De’Von Achane

BEST of 16 Elite: Kyren Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Alvin Kamara

BEST of 15 Solid: David Montgomery and Chuba Hubbard

BEST of 14 Solid: Joe Mixon

BEST of 13 Solid: Chase Brown

WR Position

BEST of 19 Top Rated: Ja’Marr Chase

BEST of 17 Super Elite: Justin Jefferson

BEST of 16 Super Elite: Amon Ra St Brown

BEST of 14 Elite: Terry McLaurin

BEST of 13 Solid: Malik Nabers, Cee Dee Lamb, Jaxon Smith Njigba

TE Position

BEST of 15 Top Rated: George Kittle

BEST of 13 Super Elite: Trey McBride

BEST of 12 Elite: Brock Bowers

BEST of 11 Elite: Johnu Smith

BEST of 10 Solid: Travis Kelce

Conclusion

Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow have distanced themselves from the rest of the pack at quarterback, and the one thing they have in common with the next-best quarterback is the lack of strength in their team’s defenses this year. Both players have had to wear their Superman Cape regularly to give their team a chance to win, and that’s great for points in fake football at the quarterback position. Only seven QBs have a BEST Index equal to or greater than the number of games played this season.

The youngster Bijan Robinson is pulling away from the pack of old guys at the RB position. The old Fantasy Football analyst warning about veteran RBs signing with new teams is being challenged this year, with Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs taking up the next three spots in the BEST Index at RB. Twelve RBs have a BEST Index equal to or greater than the number of games played this season.

Ja’Marr Chase has gapped the field at WR by 2 points to grab the top spot. Only four of the top seven WRs were drafted in the top 12 this season. Jaxon Smith Njigba could significantly impact the Fantasy Football playoffs as the seventh and last WR to have a BEST Index equal to or greater than the number of games played this season.

George Kittle continues to lead the way at TE, with Trey McBride moving into the TE2 position. Even more remarkable is that McBride doesn’t have a single TD reception this year! Rookie Brock Bowers could be finding the long NFL season a burden as he has dropped to TE3 using the BEST index. Good luck in your Fantasy Football playoffs this week!