Gamers drafting best ball teams at multiple platforms should recognize the differences between them and exploit them. For instance, DraftKings has a three-point bonus for 300 yards passing, 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving. They also have point-per-reception (PPR) scoring and 20 rounds for their drafs. Meanwhile, Underdog doesn’t award yardage bonuses, and they have half-PPR scoring and 18-round drafts. With those differences in mind, four players were more enticing targets at DraftKings than at Underdog.
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Fantasy Football Best Ball Draft Targets: DraftKings
Davante Adams (LV – WR): 18.8 ADP
The Raiders are projected to have one of the worst offenses in the NFL this year, and touchdowns are critical at Underdog. The PPR scoring at DK and yardage bonuses make a mediocre touchdown output easier to stomach for players who catch a high volume of passes and pile up yards. Davante Adams is in that bucket.
As a result, in Las Vegas’s lousy offense last year, Adams was the WR17 in half-PPR points per game (12.6) but the WR14 in PPR points per game (15.6) among wide receivers with at least 10 games played in 2023. He was still an above-average wide receiver last year. Among 96 wide receivers with at least 40 targets in 2023 (including the postseason), Adams was tied for 20th in PPF’s receiving grade (80.0) and 25th in yards per route run (1.97 Y/RR).
Where he shined the brightest was earning targets. Per Fantasy Life, Adams had the second highest targets per route run rate (29 TPRR%) and tied for first in team air yard rate (44%) among 93 wide receivers with at least 300 routes in 2023. Adams parlayed his hefty usage into the 14th most receptions per game (6.1), 67.3 receiving yards per game and eight touchdowns, per Pro-Football-Reference. Adams also exceeded 100 receiving yards in three games, twice after Antonio Pierce was promoted to the interim head coach.
Beyond Adams’s straightforward path to being a more appealing player at DK, there’s a sneakier reason to like him there. It’s unappetizing to roll the dice on either Gardner Minshew or Aidan O’Connell on Underdog’s 18-round platform, but casting a dart in either quarterback’s direction in three-QB builds as a stacking partner with Adams is easier to stomach at DK.
Alvin Kamara (NO – RB): 60.9 ADP
To borrow an expression from Underdog’s Josh Norris and Hayden Winks and apply it to Alvin Kamara, he’s a PPR scam. Kamara was suspended for three games and missed New Orleans’s season finale last year. However, he was the RB5 in half-PPR points per game (15.0) and the RB3 in PPR points per game (17.9).
After efficiently gashing opponents on the ground through his first four seasons and scoring at least 13 touchdowns in three of those seasons, Kamara has averaged 3.7 yards per carry, 4.0 yards per carry and 3.9 yards per carry with nine, four and six touchdowns in the past three years.
The veteran’s dip in productivity on the ground and mediocre touchdown output isn’t ideal, but his voluminous pass-catching role will help him retain best ball value at DK. Among 51 running backs with at least 25 targets in 2023, Kamara had PFF’s fifth-highest receiving grade (78.4) and was third in yards per route run (1.73 YRR). Furthermore, Kamara was tied for first in targets per route run rate (32 TPRR%) among 51 running backs with at least 300 snaps. Thus, Kamara was 16th in receptions per game (5.8) among all qualified players. Even if Kendre Miller siphons rush attempts from Kamara, the veteran should sprinkle in rushing value around a robust receiving role, making him a useful RB option at his ADP on DK.
Evan Engram (JAC – TE): 72.6 ADP
For full disclosure, I’m not crazy about Evan Engram’s fantasy outlook in any format or on any platform. Yet, while I’m wholesale fading him in managed leagues and at Underdog, unless he falls at least a round past his ADP, I’ll pull the trigger on him around or slightly below ADP at DK. Engram was the TE6 in half-PPR points per game (10.2) and tied for the TE4 in PPR points per game (13.5) among tight ends with at least 10 games played in 2023.
Engram will face stiffer competition for targets after the Jaguars essentially swapped Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones for Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas. Yet, it’s a returning Christian Kirk who worries me more about Engram’s outlook. I highlighted Engram’s substantially worse splits with Kirk than without him in late February when suggesting gamers should avoid Engram.
Still, Engram isn’t a bum. Among 40 tight ends with at least 35 targets last year, Engram was ninth in PFF’s receiving grade (71.6), tied for ninth in yards per route run (1.56 Y/RR) and had the third-shallowest average depth of target (5.0-yard aDOT). He’s an easy-button option for Trevor Lawrence, and Davis and Thomas are vertical weapons, so they won’t threaten Engram’s short catch-and-run targets. Furthermore, Engram’s 22.2% target share, 22.1 TPRR%, 5.8 receptions per game and 47.6 receiving yards per game when Kirk was healthy last year were adequate marks.
Sadly, according to Fantasy Life, Engram was tied for 21st in end zone target rate (12%) among 40 tight ends with at least 250 routes in 2023. Again, Engram’s lack of touchdown potential makes him a player to fade on Underdog, but his shallow targets, which result in easy receptions, can add up on DK.
Malachi Corley (NYJ – WR): 180.9 ADP
Malachi Corley called himself the “YAC King,” and the Jets were excited to trade up to the first pick in the third round (65th overall) to add his run-after-the-catch juice to their offense. Corley was tagged by some pre-draft evaluators with the lazy and too often used Deebo Samuel comparison. As with many prospects compared to Samuel, Corley had a shallow average depth of target (aDOT) in college.
Among 286 FBS wide receivers targeted at least 50 times in 2023, Corley was tied for the sixth-shallowest average depth of target (5.5-yard aDOT). He had a 6.3-yard aDOT in his collegiate career at Western Kentucky, and it dipped every year from 7.8 yards in 2020 to 7.4, 6.1 and 5.5. Predictably, based on his shallow average depth of target, Corley was rarely targeted intermediate or deep in his collegiate career. The following table has his career targets and target rates by depth on 366 targets via PFF.
Corley already has a steep learning curve jumping from a non-Power Five conference to the NFL. The Jets would likely be wise to use him as a short-area gadget wide receiver as a rookie if they want immediate contributions since it's where he excelled at a smaller school. That role would have more value at DK's PPR platform than Underdog's half-PPR outlet. Moreover, Corley's 180.9 ADP at DK is approximately a round later than his 169.2 ADP at Underdog. The rookie wideout should be drafted only as a stacking option with Aaron Rodgers or as a Week 17 game-stacking bring-back choice from the Bills at Underdog, whereas he's a viable one-off selection at DK.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.