Becoming a Best Ball Bro: A Go-To Tight End Strategy?

JJ Zachariason (0:00)

So Rich, the day that this episode releases, my daughter, she turned seven. So I wanna give her a little bit of a shout out. Avery, happy birthday, thanks for being the best daughter ever.

And you also don't take Justin Herbert two rounds ahead of ADP after I drafted Lad McConkey, Nico Collins, and Amarion Hampton. And I love you for it. I'm JJ, and last year I tried my hardest to become a best ball bro. I drafted over 500 teams, I talked to some of the most successful best ball players in existence, and I admittedly had mixed results. So this year, I'm going to chase that title once again. My plan is to max enter drafting's millionaire maker, and I'm going to document all of it while talking to the brightest best ball minds on the planet. Last year, I didn't quite get there, but this year, this is going to be the year where I officially become a best ball bro.

This episode is sponsored by DraftKings. There's no better way to lock in your fantasy dominance early than with Best Ball on DraftKings, where you draft once and ride your roster all season long. And right now, DraftKings is giving all customers a can't miss offer. Draft one, get one. Enter a lineup in the $15 million Best Ball Contest for just $20, and you'll score another Best Ball ticket to play free for a share of that 15 million, giving you a second shot to win big. It's easy, just draft your dream team once, no weekly management required, and let your top scorers automatically start each week. Across the whole season, every breakout star, every clutch play, every touchdown will count towards your quest for a share of $15 million. I'm drafting over there all the time. It's an absolute blast. So download the Draft Kings Daily Fantasy app now to draft a $20 Best Ball lineup to play for a share of $15 million, and get a second ticket to play free for a share of that 15 million. That's two chances to win big without ever setting your lineup again. Draft one, get one, only on Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 8778-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY to 467369 In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. 18 plus in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply, void where prohibited, one per customer. Enter the Best Ball $15 million Headliner Contest by 9-4-25 to get one bonus entry. $20 entry if required, reward expires in 30 days. See terms at draftkings.com/nfldashbestdashball. Sponsored by DK. Now back to the show. Welcome into another episode of Becoming a Best Ball Bro. I'm JJ Zachariason. Joined as always by my mustache wearing Rich Ryan. Rich, what's going on buddy?

Rich Ryan (2:58)

It's a gag. I don't want to give the game away because certain someone might be watching. But yes, I have a mustache. I'm in my mother's, not basements, but guest room in sunny Florida, enjoying some time with the cousins and some families, pool, ocean. It's been great. But yes, this thing, as soon as this thing can go, JJ, it's going to go.

JJ Zachariason (3:20)

Yeah. No, I feel you. I've never, honestly, the closest I've gotten to a full blown mustache, it just gets nixed immediately by my wife. So I've never gotten full mustache. Some will call me soft for that. I say that I'm smart for that at the end of the day.

Rich Ryan (3:39)

Very much so.

JJ Zachariason (3:40)

But yeah, today, I want to talk a little bit about, before we get into the guest, the interview I had, it's Davis Mattek for any of you who are curious. But one of the things I want to talk about and not rant per se, but just like discuss with you. I hope that you can at least bring some data to the table with what I'm talking about, and what I'm contextualize the situation to know that you have all this ADP data. But it seems like right now, I don't know if you're feeling this either. I'm really burying this.

I'm just going to stretch this out as long as I possibly can, for like 15 minutes without actually saying anything.

Rich Ryan (4:13)

Keep teasing them.

JJ Zachariason (4:14)

Just tease you guys. There's just this thing that... No. So I'm surprised by the market's reactions to things.

I would say that DraftKings ADP itself, in the way that it's formulated, we've talked about this before, seems to be pretty reactionary based on recent drafts. And that's great. That to me is more beneficial than looking at the full four months worth of data or three months worth of the milli and saying, oh, this guy's not going to move up in ADP because there's so much back-weighted data that's going to bring his overall ADP down. So even if you do thousands of drafts right now, it's not going to bring that ADP up enough because there's so many drafts where he wasn't being drafted there. So I like that DraftKings ADP is reactive. But there's three instances where I just, I talked about one of them last week, and it's still going on right now and it's just bizarre to me. And I just want to walk through this, okay? Because I want to see what other people are thinking if they're experiencing the same thing and maybe they just fully disagree with me. That's fine. That's what this whole entire freaking show is about, is me just kind of brain vomiting and documenting my feelings and thoughts about best ball as I'm becoming a best ball bro. So, with that being said, the Kansas City wide receiver situation, okay? Xavier Worthy's ADP has not shifted nearly as much as I thought it was going to shift. Like I thought when the news broke about Rashi Rice, I thought the market was going to over correct so much to the point that Xavier Worthy was going to be like an early third round pick. Like pretty confidently, I thought that was going to happen. And I'm drafting Xavier Worthy at times in the exact same spot that he was being drafted before all of that news went down. And it's crazy to me because if the assumption back then, even if it's by half of the market, if the assumption was that that Rashid Rice was not going to be suspended, and Xavier Worthy was a late fourth round pick, in the fourth round still, but like a late fourth round pick, and then the news comes out where now the entire market kind of assumes and knows that Rashid Rice is going to be suspended, and Xavier Worthy's ADP, I'm still getting him in drafts in the mid fourth round consistently, make it make sense, Rashid Rice's ADP has fallen, but Xavier Worthy's seems to be in the same spot. Is the data backing that up right now?