Underdog Best Ball Strategy: Jadarian Price, Jacory Croskey-Merritt and More ADP Movers

Best ball season is already in full swing with the flagship tournaments now live on every major site. If you're anything like me, you'll spend the next four months in a constant state of drafting and you couldn't be happier about it.

To help you get the most out of your drafting experience, be sure to check out all the great best ball analysis and tools that Fantasy Life has to offer. For my part, I'll be checking in throughout the summer with a regular column about the latest news, rumors, and draft trends that are shaping the best ball landscape.

I play most of my best ball action on Underdog Fantasy, so you can assume I am referring to ADP and rankings for that format unless I specify otherwise.

Here's to another great best ball summer, cheers!

Early Best Ball Strategy and Notes For Underdog

RBs are all the rage

The resurgence of NFL rushing attacks continues to trickle down to best ball ADPs. This year, the top two picks in virtually every draft are RBs and the RB thirst doesn't let up for a while. 12 of the top 20 selections by ADP are RBs, and if you want a top 24 player at the position, you will need to take them before the end of the fifth round. If you go back just two years to the 2024 offseason, when the WR meta was in full swing, the RB24 (James Conner that year) wasn't coming off the board until the eighth round.

At some point, this trend will go too far, but it seems unlikely 2026 is that year unless we see an outlier injury rate among the top RBs. NFL teams appear to be continuing to lean into bigger personnel packages with multiple TEs and sometimes a sixth offensive lineman. This emphasis on playing 'smashmouth' football is generally good for RB production, and best ball drafters are betting that trend will only intensify this year.

Condensed QB ADPs

Another interesting dynamic in early best ball drafts is just how quickly QBs go off the board in the middle round. Josh Allen is in a tier of his own in the third round, but the QB2 (Lamar Jackson) and QB20 (Baker Mayfield) are separated by just 61.8 picks in fantasy football ADP. Said another way, you have 19 QBs being drafted in just over a five-round stretch from the middle of the fifth round to the middle of the tenth round.

You pretty much need to have two QBs by the end of the twelfth round to have any kind of confidence in the position. I don't think this is a trend you can really fight against unless you feel really good about one of the bottom-tier QBs like Aaron Rodgers or Geno Smith. I definitely think you should be mixing in those late-round QBs as well, but the market has gotten much better at pricing the value of rushing QBs so I do believe you will need the ceiling of the higher-drafted signal callers to take down a large best ball tournament.

Don't forget about the free agents

After the NFL Draft, the collective fantasy football narrative tends to move on from the remaining free agents. On some level, that makes sense because no NFL teams valued those players enough to make it a priority to sign them. On the other hand, players like Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel and Tyreek Hill are now more likely to wait for the right situation rather than just chase whatever the biggest payday is. There are still teams with needs at the WR position (looking at you, Las Vegas), and there are still several months for teams to find out they aren't as set at the position as they hoped.

I don't expect all of these free agent WRs to be hits, but I'm pretty confident that two or three of them will look like great value at their current cost after they sign with an NFL team. Unless you truly want 0% exposure to that list of guys, you should be embracing the uncertainty and mixing them into your drafts now.

ADP Risers In Underdog Best Ball Drafts

Tony Pollard | RB | TEN

ADP 76.0, +34.6 spots in the past week

The Titans didn't get the chance to draft Jeremiyah Love in the first round and smartly didn't press the issue in a weak RB class. They did eventually draft Nicholas Singleton in the fifth round and he could turn out to be something, but the most likely outcome is that Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears retain most of the work in this backfield.

I'm not quite ready to say I am all-in on the Titans in 2026, but I think they made great hires by bringing in Robert Saleh and Brian Daboll, which should ensure some level of competency for this organization. Cam Ward will need to take a major step forward in the consistency department, but if he shows tangible improvement, there is real upside for Pollard as the lead back. His 2025 season didn't feel particularly impressive in the moment, but the veteran RB went over 1,000 rushing yards for the fourth consecutive season, averaged 4.5 YPC, and 3.2 yards after contact per attempt, which are all solid marks, especially while playing in a bad offense.

Jadarian Price | RB | SEA

ADP 57.5, +48.5 spots in the past week

Never before had two RBs from the same school been picked as the top two RBs in the same NFL Draft class until the Seattle Seahawks selected Jadarian Price with the final pick of the first round. This was clearly the best possible landing spot and draft capital outcome for him. The Seahawks let Kenneth Walker depart in free agency, and Zach Charbonnet is recovering from a torn ACL in the playoffs that will probably cause him to miss at least the first half of the season.

Whether Price ends up being a good or bad pick at ADP will likely just come down to talent because he is going to get the opportunity to take over this backfield early. If he can't claim the majority of the work from guys like George Holani and Emanuel Wilson, then it was probably never going to work out for him anyway.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt | RB | WAS

ADP 111.7, +31.3 spots in the last week

The Washington Commanders were considered one of the top landing spots for a rookie RB, but they waited until the sixth round to select Kaytron Allen out of Penn State. That was a major win for both JCM and Rachaad White. Those two look set to split most of the backfield work, with JCM projecting to get the bulk of the early down touches while White serves as the passing game specialist.

Washington is a popular bounce-back pick if Jayden Daniels can stay healthy, and that would translate to a lot more opportunities for fantasy points if they are playing from ahead and in scoring position more frequently. Croskey-Merritt has a good chance to be one of the buzziest players again this offseason if he can string together some good training camp performances and generate the kind of coachspeak that is catnip to best ball drafters.