We are into Week 3 of the 2025 NFL Playoffs, but I’m here already doing some pondering of what early 2026 Best Ball ADP on Underdog Fantasy will look like when contests open in the next few weeks. A few players and positions may be decided by how the NFL playoffs plays out of course, but I will do my best to rank the first several rounds based on how I think best ball drafters will feel about the incoming rookie class and the results of the 2025 season.
The First Round
- Bijan Robinson
- Puka Nacua
- Jahmyr Gibbs
- Ja’Marr Chase
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba
- Christian McCaffrey
- Jonathan Taylor
- CeeDee Lamb
- De’Von Achane
- Amon-Ra St. Brown
- James Cook
- Trey McBride
Personally, I think the top 5-6 picks are pretty solidified as far as ADP is concerned. The exact order will largely be decided by whomever makes the Big Board initial ADP for Underdog. I think any order of Bijan, Gibbs, and CMC is totally fine for 2026, though knowing best ball drafters, I imagine they’ll choose the 2 young guys over CMC. Puka nuking in Week 16 will probably push him to the WR1 in the minds of the hardcore best ball bros, though again I think any of Puka, Chase, and JSN have viable arguments to be the first WR off the board.
The back half of Round 1 is a lot more fluid as far as guys who should be there and the order you take them in, and it gets especially gross after the 1.10 in my opinion. However, I think JT gets a boost for how good his best ball regular season was for people, and with the intrigue as to how good the Colts could be again next year, depending on what they do at QB. CeeDee is simply CeeDee, and honestly had a pretty down year all things considered. He could easily come back and be the WR1 overall in any given season if healthy.
Achane’s workload and efficiency combo is just so strong, even if McDaniel doesn’t return to Miami. Amon-Ra is just always a good floor WR with great upside, especially if Dan Campbell retains play-calling duties next year. Where it gets a little gross/messy is the last 2 picks in the 1st round.
I still am not the biggest believer in the year-over-year talent profile of James Cook, though I will absolutely admit that he’s played well the past 2 seasons. The Bills are just such an unserious offense at this point, and until they commit to actually trying to be a good football team, I will always be skeptical of a back who only plays 55-60% of the snaps.
As a Cardinals fan, what Trey McBride did in 2025 was incredible, and affirmed my personal belief that he was being held back by the play style of Kyler Murray. However, the amount of upheaval and questions around the franchise do make McBride a sketchier pick for me personally at this price, even though he was far and away the best TE last season.
Round 2
- Nico Collins
- Drake London
- Rashee Rice
- Ashton Jeanty
- George Pickens
- Justin Jefferson
- Jeremiyah Love
- Malik Nabers
- Omarion Hampton
- Brock Bowers
- Saquon Barkley
- TreVeyon Henderson
I think Round 2 will be a very interesting round to draft in on Underdog once the Big Board opens. The trio of Nico, Nabers, and London is just as interesting to me this season as they were in 2025, and you get a discount on them comparatively to next year. I think all 3 will be in similar positions as they were last year (Nabers having the highest offensive upside but also coming off an ACL tear to keep his ADP depressed a bit). Rashee Rice is also highly intriguing if Mahomes will be back relatively early in the year.
There will also be a big chunk of young RBs in this round that folks will try to project for a jump in scoring and workload heading into 2026, and I think you can easily choose your flavor of those guys with no pushback based on who you believe in the most. Ashton Jeanty will get a coaching and QB upgrade, Omarion Hampton will be healthy and have a healthy OLine, TreVeyon Henderson may firmly take hold of the primary RB role in New England, and rookie Jeremyiah Love has the potential to go just as high as Jeanty did, with some tempting landing places like Kansas City in range for him.
The rest of Round 2 consists of George Pickens off a career year in Dallas, Justin Jefferson in a horrible QB situation in Minnesota, Saquon Barkley off a major year of regression, and Brock Bowers also in a terrible situation that we’re hoping can only get better for the Raiders. All 4 players have tremendous upside, but have unfortunately also shown a downside that makes none of them a comfortable click in the 2nd round.
The Third
- Tetaroia McMillan
- Derrick Henry
- AJ Brown
- Chris Olave
- Josh Jacobs
- Garrett Wilson
- Tee Higgins
- Travis Etienne Jr.
- Josh Allen
- Davante Adams
- Jaylen Waddle
- Bucky Irving
There’s a lot of hopium in Round 3, either projecting players to take steps forward, or to maintain the production they had in 2025 at similar levels. Many folks will flock to the projections, believing that Tetaroia McMillan will take a second-year leap, Bucky Irving was just hurt, and Garrett Wilson might finally get a real quarterback (version 4).
Other people will draft the safer names like King Henry with Lamar back and a new coaching staff, Josh Jacobs doing what he always does, Josh Allen as the best fantasy QB year-in and year-out, and Davante Adams as a great receiver with a great QB in a great offense.
I will be very interested to see if A.J. Brown is still an Eagle in 2026, and his value could spike if he’s traded in the off-season. The same goes for Travis Etienne, as he had a great year under Liam Coen but could also leave to a new team if the team doesn’t want to pay him in the off-season. Both of these players have the potential to fluctuate mightily in best ball ADP depending on how their summer goes, so it could be a good time to draft both players and see if they rise through the early Underdog best ball season.
Meanwhile, Chris Olave, Tee Higgins, and Jaylen Waddle continue to lead the “could be great as long as 373 unique things all don’t happen this season” brigade, but in best ball they are all fine picks that will give you some spike week potential, even if they also have volatile floors and situations.
Round Numba Four
- Quinshon Judkins
- Breece Hall
- Ladd McConkey
- Jordyn Tyson
- DeVonta Smith
- RJ Harvey
- Cam Skattebo
- Carnell Tate
- Rome Odunze
- Kyren Williams
- Marvin Harrison Jr.
- Lamar Jackson
I think the 4th Round on Underdog is where we will start to see a lot of rookie shots and young players with depressed value or outlooks, and I think that’s a good spot for those types of bets. Judkins and Skattebo will be coming back from injury, and Judkins especially has the potential to really drop in drafts as we get closer to the regular season and we get more clarity on his injury timeline.
RJ Harvey had a solid rookie season, especially once JK Dobbins went down with injury, but the Broncos could very easily either re-sign Dobbins or bring in another RB as competition to Harvey, and I think that risk will temper Harvey’s ADP quite a bit early on.
Two of the top 3 projected rookie WRs go here, with the other going almost immediately in Round 5. Tyson has a concerning injury history, but on tape seems to be the consensus number 1 receiver prospect, with Carnell Tate close behind after a great season at Ohio State despite playing next to the best receiver in college.
Several highly drafted young receivers also fall in this round, with the hope of Ladd McConkey, the flashes of Rome Odunze, and the possible-post Kyler potential of Marvin Harrison all posing different questions laced with lots of potential for drafters here. It will also be incredibly intriguing to draft Breece Hall at this price, seeing as he will likely be a free agent and could find a much better landing spot than his current predicament in New York.
Rounding out this group of 12 are some trusty, steady veterans in Kyren Williams, DeVonta Smith, and Lamar Jackson. They all score fantasy points in bunches, but not enough bunches for people to be truly excited about drafting them or having a stand on them, although a new offense could drive up Lamar’s ADP as the summer progresses if the fantasy community likes the new coach in Baltimore.
Round: 5
- Zay Flowers
- Makai Lemon
- Tyler Warren
- Jayden Daniels
- Joe Burrow
- Emeka Egbuka
- Jameson Williams
- Denzel Boston
- Javonte Williams
- Michael Pittman Jr.
- Drake Maye
- Courtland Sutton
Speaking of trust (but also boring), Zay Flowers, Michael Pittman Jr., and Courtland Sutton all provide stability in the range of outcomes that we know they have, which can be useful in the 5th Round when players start to become more question marks than answers sometimes. Javonte Williams also falls into that category at the RB position, assuming he re-signs in Dallas, as reports have made it sound like it will happen.
I also think the 5th round is where we’ll see the rest of the “elite” QBs go, notably with Jalen Hurts being surpassed in ADP by Joe Burrow and Drake Maye to join Jayden Daniels. 2025 was a rough year for highly drafted QBs in best ball, which could allow for quite a discount on them in 2026, even though most of their failure was due to injury.
The rest of this round comprises of upside shots at receiver (and Tyler Warren), via either the rookie class or some promising young stars in the making in Jamo and Egbuka. I personally love this grouping of 4 with Lemon and Boston in the mix, as it gives you access to high ceilings at a discount compared to some similar bets in previous rounds.
