Best Ball: Deciphering Uncertain Depth Charts (Fantasy Football)
The NFL Draft is now officially in the rearview mirror, and the calendar has turned to May. That can only mean one thing: Best Ball Summer is so freakin’ back, baby! As we exit the pre-draft process and NFL Draft, we now have some clarity on what depth charts will look like for these NFL clubs…sort of. Right now, we’re still months away from training camp opening up, and that means there’s plenty of time for chaos to ensue. Right now, these depth charts right now should be put in pencil, not pen.
It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? We want to know who the locked in RB2 is for a team, so we can take the injury replacement late in our drafts. We want to know who’s locked into 2WR sets, so we can get value on a late round WR. But here’s the thing, these NFL teams don’t even know what their depth chart is going to look like as I sit here writing this in early May. We still have to get through Rookie Mini Camps, OTAs and of course, the early part of training camp. Right now, there’s a ton of uncertainty in playing time, roles, usage. We will get the answers to the test in August, but before then, let’s embrace some uncertainty and examine how to attack these uncertain situations in early best ball drafts.
I’ve split my recommendations into three distinct categories:
- Priority targets – There’s plenty of upside at a player/team’s ADP. Overweight exposure
- In line with market – We can see both sides of the argument and the players are fairly priced
- Fade until we get new info – Investment in this team/players is not worth it at their current prices
Editor’s Note: You can find Best Ball Rankings from Borg and Betz in the Ultimate Draft Kit+. The Best Ball Primer will be available on June 1, along with the rest of the UDK.
*ADPs below are from Underdog Fantasy and are accurate as of 4/30/25
Dallas Cowboys Running Backs
Entering the NFL Draft, just about every NFL fan expected the Cowboys to select a RB fairly highly in the draft given their depth chart after free agency. Rico Dowdle is now in Carolina with Javonte Williams ($3 million) and Miles Sanders ($1.3 million) both signed to 1-year deals. The financial commitment here to both of these vets is next to nothing, so logically, one would have expected Jerry Jones to add a stud RB…not so fast! They didn’t add to their RB room until Day 3 when they selected Texas’ Jaydon Blue in the 5th round and Clemson’s Phil Mafah in the 7th. As it stands, not a single RB is priced above RB40 in ADP, so the investment here for us is insanely cheap if we can get this situation correct.
This feels eerily similar to last year with Dallas – Rico was a complete unknown while Zeke was shall we say…not in his prime any longer. If we embraced that uncertainty and invested in both RBs, we would have obviously had a smash with Rico and a swing and a miss with Zeke. Rico wasn’t necessarily a true league winner, but he was awesome for his cost. Coming off the board after Pick 100 all summer, Rico returned eight Top-24 weeks from Weeks 4-17. It’s possible one of these backs can consolidate touches and have similar returns, so I think taking a similar approach here with two players is advisable: Javonte Williams and Jaydon Blue.
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