Underdog Best Ball Report 6.0

Photo: USA Today Sports

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 (07/02-7/09) 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

1. Isiah Pacheco RB KC +1.7 ADP 
2. Josh Jacobs RB GB +1.2 ADP
3. Travis Etienne Jr RB JAX +0.8 ADP

Top 3 Risers - Mid Rounds

1. Rico Dowdle RB DAL +1.5
2. Rashee Rice WR KC +1.2
3. Pat Freiermuth TE PIT +1.1

Top 3 Risers - Late Rounds

1. DeMario Douglas WR NE +2.8
2. Elijah Mitchell RB SF +2.0
3. J.K. Dobbins RB LAC +1.8

 The Risers Takeaways: Wide receivers have been the hot button in Underdog drafts and have been constantly on the risers list week after week. This week is somewhat different as we only see two wide receivers in the risers section: Rashee Rice and Demario Douglas. We are still in the months of not a lot of NFL news and information, so the risers might be more roster construction-based at this time. 

We have six different running backs in the risers this week with Isiah Pacheco, Josh Jacobs, and Travis Etienne as the big names in the early rounds. All three of these backs are in line for great opportunity with heavy volume in strong offenses and are going in the range where you can start drafts with three straight wide receivers and fire back with one of these star running backs.

Pat Freiermuth is the lone non-WR/RB to top the risers list this week. He battled injury and quarterback play last season but looks in line for a big bounce-back type of season. I am buying Freiermuth as my TE1 or TE2 in best ball as often as I can. The other three risers this week are all running backs: Rico Dowdle, Elijah Mitchell, and JK Dobbins. The wide receiver-heavy drafters look to fill in their zero running back builds.