Fantasy Life's Most Drafted Players in Best Ball: July Update

We are all in on hot best ball summer here at Fantasy Life. Many of us are drafting every day on Underdog Fantasy, and we’re streaming drafts on YouTube multiple times per week. 

Heck, our very own Peter Overzet has even committed to drafting all 150 of his Best Ball Mania teams on live streams. I worry for his sanity, but I can’t deny it’s been a fun journey to follow.

It can be easy to get lost in the sauce of drafting every day, but it helps to zoom out occasionally and take stock of who we have been drafting. We built the Best Ball Hub to help with exactly that. You can use it to evaluate your specific teams and exposures, but today we are using it to see how the Fantasy Life team has been drafting as a whole

Last time we ran the numbers, our team had drafted around 550 teams, and our most frequently selected player was Saints rookie RB Kendre Miller. He still checks in among our top 5 most drafted players, but has surrendered the crown to another RB that our team can’t get enough of (more on him in a minute).

Today, we’re checking in again with more than 1,100 drafts under our collective belt. We’ve got a new most drafted player, a new All Fantasy Life team, and some other fun notes on how our team has been drafting this summer.

Fantasy Life’s Most Drafted Player

Jaylen Warren

Our most drafted player is still a late-round RB with massive contingent value, but it is now Steelers second-year RB Jaylen Warren. The hype has been building throughout the offseason, and I don’t expect it to slow down with explosive plays like this coming out of Steelers camp regularly.

Warren was efficient on a relatively small sample size as a rookie (77 carries + 32 targets). The fact that he was able to earn a meaningful role as a UDFA rookie, and that the Steelers didn’t feel the need to make any significant additions to the RB room this offseason, speaks very highly to how they feel about Warren as their primary backup.

Not only are we really in on Warren, we are pretty out on Najee Harris, who checked in as our 223rd most drafted player, shortly behind Ezekiel Elliot, who isn’t currently on an NFL roster. 

Harris did deal with some lingering injuries last year, but any way you slice it, Warren was better when on the field. Even if you go back to Najee’s rookie season when he played better, he doesn’t compare well with the numbers Warren put up. 

Of course, Najee has handled much larger workloads each season than Warren did last year, and it is difficult to remain super efficient on a large workload, but that could just as easily serve as an argument for why the team should be looking to split touches more evenly between the two this year.

In addition to Warren solidifying himself as a capable NFL back who deserves a bigger role in year 2, the arrow seems to be pointing up on the Steelers' offense as a whole. Kenny Pickett showed improvement down the stretch last season and has a talented group of pass catchers at his disposal to hopefully improve on what was a bottom-10 scoring offense in the NFL last season. 

Dec 11, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren approaches Baltimore Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen (6) during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers lost 16-14. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

If the Steelers' offense can take a step forward in 2023, Warren should offer some decent standalone value and has huge contingent upside if anything happens to Najee.

The All Fantasy Life Team

Four of the seven players on the All Fantasy Life team last time around retained their spot, but that means we’ve got three new names to welcome to the team. 

Since I’ve already covered Warren, let’s dive into the other two players before wrapping up with some other interesting notes on our drafting tendencies.

QB - Anthony Richardson

It’s official, we’re all in on Anthony Richardson.

All signs point to the Colts starting their new franchise QB early, if not right from the jump. 

Despite some valid concerns about his accuracy, Richardson will be a locked and loaded top 12 fantasy QB anytime he is on the field thanks to his rushing ability. 

In fact, BetMGM already has Richardson with the fourth lowest odds to lead all QBs in rushing yards this season.

I could go on and on, but this clip from our guy Matthew Berry sums it up nicely.

If you’re trying to win $3,000,000 in a top-heavy tournament like we are, Richardson has the kind of massive upside that you should be willing to take swings on. 

TE - Darren Waller

The other new guy on the All Fantasy Life team is Darren Waller, who surpassed Dallas Goedert for our most drafted TE with this update. These two go in the same range of drafts (more on that below) but have different paths to hitting their upside.

Goedert is the clear third option in an elite Philadelphia offense. His role is pretty clearly defined, and as long as he has decent TD luck, he should deliver a strong season. 

On the other hand, continually positive reports coming out of Giants camp make it clear that Waller has a good chance of being Daniel Jones’s top target. If he stays healthy, that kind of role would give him a weekly ceiling right up there with the TEs being drafted numerous rounds ahead of him.

Ian Hartitz recently wrote up Darren Waller as his favorite seventh round pick and I can’t argue with his logic. 

The Elite TE cliff is real 

Carrying on from the TE discussion above, our team continues to draft the end of the elite TE group at a pretty high clip. Three of our top five most drafted TEs are Darren Waller, Kyle Pitts, and Dallas Goedert, who currently have ADPs within six spots (70.7 - 76.3) of each other on Underdog Fantasy. 

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) throws to wide receiver Darren Waller (12) during organized team activities (OTA's) at the Giants training center on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, in East Rutherford.

As I wrote about last time, this is the end of the group where you can comfortably take just two TEs on your team in order to free up another roster spot to use elsewhere. You can certainly push it and try to get by with just two TEs after this range, but we have clearly identified this as the elite TE cliff.

Interestingly, these three players are all pretty different in terms of their age, proven NFL production, and quality of offense they play in. Despite this, we have made it a priority to grab all three due to their reasonable cost but significant ceiling.

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Our favorite offense is LOADED with weapons

There are a few teams with multiple players toward the top of our most drafted list, but there is only one team with three players in our top 25 most drafted. When you account for the fact that these players also have some decent draft capital associated with them, it’s clear that the Seattle Seahawks are our favorite offense to draft.

All three of Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tyler Lockett, and Zach Charbonnet are among our 25 most drafted players, and Geno Smith (33rd) isn’t too far behind. 

After outperforming expectations more than any other team last season, the Seahawks appear poised to make a real run at the NFC crown in 2023. The team added two high level rookies (JSN and Charbonnet) to an already talented skill position group.

Although D.K. Metcalf and Kenneth Walker are the headliners of this offense, we have preferred to play the Seahawks through the slightly cheaper options in the middle rounds. 

Lockett is perennially undervalued and Smith-Njigba has all the signs of a superstar in the making, so it only makes sense that we are also in on Geno. 

Honorable mention teams:

Denver Broncos - Samaje Perine and Marvin Mims are both among our top 10 most drafted players.

Jacksonville Jaguars - Zay Jones and Tank Bigsby crack our top 25 most drafted list as well.