Two of my favorite things are Best Ball and Underdog Fantasy, and each week this offseason, I want to share with you my insights on both. With Underdog Fantasy releasing the Best Ball Mania V tournament, excitement has been growing each day ever since. Each week, I want to break down what has changed from the previous week regarding NFL news, Best Ball news, and the top ADP Risers and Fallers on Underdog. It's useful to compare Best Ball to the stock market and day trading stocks, but instead of stocks, we are looking at NFL players, specifically those players' Average Draft Position (ADP). We are constantly wanting to find those players who are of value in our drafts and avoid some of the players who might be overvalued.
Each week, I will use the Underdog ADP tool on 4for4.com to examine the top 3 risers and top 3 fallers at ADP in the early, mid, and late rounds. These shifts in ADP are often driven by the news that week and what some of the major touts in the industry might be saying about said players.
Let's look at the last two weeks worth of data (8/19-8/27) and find the top 3 Risers and Fallers in the following:
- Early Rounds (1-5)
- Mid Rounds (6-12)
- Late Rounds (13-20)
Underdog Best Ball Risers
Top 3 Risers - Early Rounds
- Rashee Rice WR KC +1.8 ADP
- Terry McLaurin WR WAS +1.5 ADP
- Isiah Pacheco RB KC +1.2 ADP
Top 3 Risers - Mid Rounds
- Courtland Sutton WR DEN +2.9
- DeAndre Hopkins WR TEN +2.7
- J.K. Dobbins RB LAC +2.5
Top 3 Risers - Late Rounds
- Kimani Vidal RB LAC +5.6
- Braelon Allen RB NYJ +5.6
- Bucky Irving RB TB +5.6
The Risers Takeaways: We have five running backs and four wide receivers on the risers this week. At running back, it is Isiah Pacheco, J.K. Dobbins, Kimani Vidal, Braelon Allen, and Bucky Irving. We are getting positive news on all of these running backs as Pacheco has the top spot in Kansas City locked up, Dobbins is healthy throughout camp, Vidal finally saw the field in the preseason, Allen looks to have the RB2 spot locked up in New York, and Irving won the RB2 spot in Tampa Bay.
At wide receiver, Rashee Rice continues to shine on the field as his off-the-field status remains in question, but a lot of speculation is that he won't miss any time after all. Terry McLaurin is a riser, as the WR2 in Washington was shipped out of town, and more targets might be in his future. Courtland Sutton looks to be the top receiver in Denver with very little strong competition behind him. DeAndre Hopkins is trending in the right direction heading into the start of the season and is seeing a slight bump in ADP.
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Underdog Best Ball Fallers
Top 3 Fallers - Early Rounds
- Anthony Richardson QB IND -1.9 ADP
- George Pickens WR PIT -1.1 ADP
- Calvin Ridley WR TEN -0.9 ADP
Top 3 Fallers - Mid Rounds
- Brandin Cooks WR DAL -3.0
- Zamir White RB LV -2.7
- Pat Freiermuth TE PIT -2.2
Top 3 Fallers - Late Rounds
- Cole Kmet TE CHI -6.7
- Justin Fields QB PIT -6.4
- MarShawn Lloyd RB GB -4.7
The Faller Takeaways: The fallers are all a good mix of all the positions this week as we have two of each at quarterback, running back, and tight end and three at wide receiver. At quarterback is Anthony Richardson, who saw a slight fall as he showed an up-and-down preseason. Justin Fields is seeing a fall after a big rise a couple of weeks ago. At tight end we are seeing two strong names in Pat Freiermuth and Cole Kmet, who drafters are afraid to take shots on currently as we are unsure of their playing time heading into the season.
George Pickens, Calvin Ridley, and Brandin Cooks are the three names at wide receiver, and they are all strong plays in best ball drafts depending on how you construct your roster, as they all look to have spike week potential and have paths to a high production in their perspective offenses. Zamir White and MarShawn Lloyd are the two names at running back as White is starting to get steamed down because of the offense that he plays in while Lloyd continues to battle injury.
Weekly News and Notes
- RB Dalvin Cook - to visit with the Dallas Cowboys
- WR Tim Patrick DEN - The team is looking to trade him or release him
- WR Donovan Peoples-Jones - cut by the Detroit Lions
- WR Hollywood Brown KC - Still not practicing
- WR Roman Wilson PIT - Nearing return to practice.
- WR CeeDee Lamb DAL - Signs a 4-year, $136M extension with the Cowboys
- RB Jaylen Warren PIT - Said he will play in Week 1
- WR Puka Nacua LAR - Was spotted at practice
- WR Odell Beckham Jr MIA - Uncertain for PUP
Best Ball Industry News
Underdog Fantasy - Best Ball Mania V is alive and well, sitting at an 88.3% (76.7% last week) fill rate - 594,500/672,672, with 70,000 new entries this past week. It is a $25 entry tournament with a 1st place prize of $1,500,000. Underdog is also currently offering a variety of other contests ranging from $5-$1000 entry fees, such as The Puppy Superflex, The Sprint, The Eliminator, Weekly Winners, The Marathon, The Big Dog, and The Mastiff.
Drafters - Drafters released a $2.5 Million Best Ball tournament with a $15 entry fee and a top prize of $500,000. It is currently 102,000/186,672 full, which is up 21,000 entries this week.
DraftKings - DraftKings released their big $20 entry Best Ball tournament for 2024. It has a $1.5 million to 1st place price, but you must beat out 882,144 entries to win the prize. This contest is playoff-style, with the Top 2 out of 12 advancing out of Round 1 (Week 1 through Week 14). After that, the top team in Week 15 and Week 16 will make it into the Week 17 Finals. This contest currently sits at 617,400/882,144 full, which is up 82,000 entries. DraftKings also released a slew of other tournaments at various price ranges of $3-$10,000 in entry fees.
Other sites with Best Ball offerings are FFPC, Yahoo, FanDuel, and BestBall10s.
Author Bio
I have been playing Best Ball for five-plus years now and have learned valuable lessons along the way. I want to share that knowledge with our customers at Footballguys.com. My name is James Brimacombe, and my username on Underdog Fantasy and around the various Best Ball and DFS sites is "Eaglezzz". I will be honest with you each week as I try to help guide you on your own personal Best Ball journey in 2024. I have made mistakes over the years but have also done a few things correctly. I will always give you my knowledge from both angles. You can always follow me on Twitter as I share my Best Ball thoughts there daily and am always happy to answer questions via replies or DMs. You can follow along here @JamesBrimacombe.
Be sure to check out Underdog Fantasy. You can join their Best Ball Mania V contest here. Being a Footballguys subscriber, you'll get a 100% deposit match up to $100 if you're a first-time depositor. Have fun, and see you in the lobby!
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