Tom Strachan | Tue, May 28th 2024, 7:10am EDT

Fantasy Football Values: Every Round of Best Ball Drafts (2024)

With fantasy football best ball contests being released thick and fast it can pay to zoom out and consider where the best values are in each round. Which players do we want to aggressively pursue before fantasy football average draft position (ADP) shifts as draft rooms get busier over the summer? Which players have fantasy football managers been overlooking? These are the best fantasy football values in each round based on current Underdog Fantasy ADP.

Fantasy Football Values: Best Ball ADP

Round 1 – Breece Hall (RB – NYJ)

Despite playing with a miserable set of quarterbacks and a horrible offensive line, not to mention coming off an ACL injury, Breece Hall led all running backs with 93 targets and was second in receptions with 74. Due to the ineptness of the Jets’ offense, however, Hall finished with only eight touchdowns, tied for 17th among the position. Even with an aged Aaron Rodgers, that should be better this year. Hall has RB1 overall potential in his outlook.

Round 2 – Deebo Samuel (WR – SF)

Deebo Samuel is being drafted behind Brandon Aiyuk, even though Aiyuk managed only four top-20 weekly finishes in 2023, was held below 80 receiving yards on eight occasions, didn’t score a touchdown in 60% of his games and finished as the WR30 or worse on six occasions. Meanwhile, Samuel had eight top-20 finishes, matched Aiyuk with eight games below 80 yards and only failed to score in 43% of his games. Samuel is more productive, more diverse and wins in ways integral to the Niners’ scheme.

Round 3 – Cooper Kupp (WR – LAR)

Prolific rookie Puka Nacua stole all the headlines as he broke records but Cooper Kupp still looked good in 2023 with his 25.6% target share very close to Nacua’s 28.8% and his route participation outdoing Nacua’s 92.8% to 91.2%. Nacua is firmly entrenched in the first round, but is it crazy to imagine Kupp outproduces him this year?

Round 4 – Patrick Mahomes (QB – KC)

Patrick Mahomes has finished as a top-six QB in five of his six seasons as the starter, with last year’s QB14 finish by far his worst. Still, the Chiefs have added Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, which should go some way to helping. We’ve seen enough to know Mahomes can go toe-to-toe with the dual-threat quarterbacks, helped somewhat because he’s rushed for 3.8 attempts per game throughout his career and his 37% top-five weekly finish rate over 91 career fantasy-relevant games.

Round 5 – Mark Andrews (TE – BAL)

The biggest argument against Mark Andrews seems to be he’s 28 years old. Which, for the record, is six years younger than perhaps the greatest fantasy tight end we’ve ever seen in Travis Kelce, who has been dominating for the last five years. The emergence of Isaiah Likely is another knock on Andrews, but Todd Monken has had success with two-TE systems previously. The Ravens never replaced Odell Beckham Jr. either, who had the second-most team targets in 2023. In best ball, we’re looking for ceiling outcomes, and Andrews still possesses them.

Round 6 – Chris Godwin (WR – TB)

2023 wasn’t great for Chris Godwin with seven finishes outside the top 36 receivers as he got to grips with new quarterback Baker Mayfield and moved out of the slot, playing there only 37.8% of the time. This was a dramatic change from Godwin’s previous four seasons where he averaged a 68.6% slot rate. It’s music to fantasy managers’ ears that in 2024 the Buccaneers plan to play him more in his natural position.

Round 7 – Zamir White (RB – LV)

When Josh Jacobs got struck by a case of ‘you haven’t paid me so this injury is bad enough to opt out of playing’ late in 2023, it opened up a window for Zamir White, who averaged 95.0 rushing yards per game over that stretch, the fourth-most among RBs. His 1.7% TD rate, however, was the second-lowest among running backs to score a touchdown. White saw 19.7 rush attempts per game in those three weeks, but he only reached 15 PPR points in two games, finishing as the RB12, RB16 and RB16. If White can find his way into the end zone more often, he could be a league-winner.

Round 8 – Jonathon Brooks (RB – CAR)

When we draft rookies in best ball we’re hoping for them to turn into reliable options by the end of the season. We can build around them for the early stages of the year by taking veterans who lose touches and are supplanted by emerging rookies. Jonathon Brooks might emerge much sooner than that with only Miles Sanders and Chuba Hubbard as competition. Either way, by the end of the season, when it counts the most, we should see the explosive runner with elite vision we saw at Texas.

Round 9 – Curtis Samuel (WR – BUF)

The Bills reunited Curtis Samuel with Joe Brady. Together in Carolina, Samuel had 97 targets, 77 receptions and 851 yards. In his seven-year career, Samuel has played 52.1% of his snaps in the slot and 45.0% out wide. He’s a versatile WR who can win in multiple roles and create separation. The Bills are building a different type of offense and I wouldn’t be surprised if Samuel is a big part of that in 2024 and could potentially lead all receivers in production.

Round 10 – Rashid Shaheed (WR – NO)

The Saints had a poor 2023 offensively but Rashid Shaheed finished as a top-12 wide receiver on three occasions and added another finish inside the top 18. Those three top-12 weekly finishes were more than DK Metcalf, Drake London, Jaylen Waddle and Chris Godwin managed, to name a few. The Saints have yet to do much to bring in competition and Shaheed should be the clear WR2 this year, with a more exciting offense set to be installed.

Round 11 – Dalton Schultz (TE – DAL)

In 2022, Dalton Schultz was the TE11 in points per game during his last season in Dallas. Following his move to Houston, he dropped to TE13 in 2023 ADP, but he finished as the TE10 in half-PPR. Schultz might have more competition for targets in 2024, with the additions of Joe Mixon and Stefon Diggs, but if we’re in on this offense to take a step forward, Schultz remains a potential top-12 option being drafted at TE14.

Round 12 – Jerome Ford (RB – CLE)

It’s a little surprising Nick Chubb is going 23 spots ahead of Jerome Ford this year, given Chubb has had multiple surgeries to deal with a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus that took place in Week 2 of last year. Ford was solid in 2023, averaging 4.0 rushing yards per carry. While he’s probably not an RB1 in real NFL terms, he’s shown enough for us to know he can handle 15 touches a game if called upon.

Round 13 – Matthew Stafford (QB – LAR)

The Rams’ success in 2023 was headlined by Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams, but at the heart of it was Matthew Stafford, who rolled back the years and played at a near-MVP level at times. Over the last four years, the only time Stafford has thrown fewer than 3,900 yards was in 2022, when he missed seven games through injuries and the Rams generally being inept. With it being easy to stack Nacua and Kupp it makes too much sense to have some exposure to Stafford in 3-QB builds.

Round 14 – Hunter Henry (TE – NE)

While everyone scrambles to decode the Patriots’ wide receiver room and decide which, if any, should be drafted, Hunter Henry quietly sits in the 14th round as a potential value. Henry saw 4.4 targets per game in a miserable version of this offense with Mac Jones at quarterback. With the ever-reliable Jacoby Brissett and electric Drake Maye, this offense can take a step forward. They certainly paid Henry like a player they expect to be a good part of this offense.

Round 15 – Rashod Bateman (WR – BAL)

Many of us have been burned by Rashod Bateman during his time in the NFL, but John Harbaugh has spoken glowingly of Bateman unprompted at several opportunities in recent weeks, mentioning how often Bateman had gotten open as the 2023 season progressed and things not breaking his way. All being well, Bateman will have his first properly healthy offseason of his NFL career, a year further removed from the Lisfranc injury that often takes two years to fully recover from. The Ravens didn’t bring back Odell Beckham Jr. and extended Bateman when they had the chance to, showing us they still believe in him. At this cost, on an electric offense, it’s worth the gamble.

Round 16 – Demarcus Robinson (WR – LAR)

Before Week 11, Demarcus Robinson played only 5% of snaps for the Rams as they allowed Tutu Atwell to make the role his. When Robinson earned his shot from Week 12 onwards he averaged 80.7% of the snaps. This in part is down to the Rams playing 3-WR sets at one of the highest rates in the league. Robinson had 13+ PPR points in all six of these games. With no wide receiver additions of note, it’s time to go back to the well in 2024.

Round 17 – Derek Carr (QB – NO)

Nobody wants to draft Derek Carr and nobody likes drafting Derek Carr, but it’s become a necessary evil at this point. Carr finished as the QB18 in total points with five top-12 weekly finishes. Something we can’t look down on when we’re building a roster to cover injuries and bye weeks. Add in a new, more fun offensive scheme and Carr should be able to return value as the QB26.

Round 18 – Daniel Jones (QB – NYG)

The seat is firmly heating up for Daniel Jones despite a contract that’s less than 15 months old and coming off an ACL injury, which is far from ideal for a player who consistently gets banged up. However, with the addition of Malik Nabers, Jones has his best pass-catcher since Odell Beckham left many years ago. The last time Jones was healthy in 2022, when he averaged 7.5 rush attempts per game, which is too valuable to be left completely undrafted.

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