Way-Too-Early Best Ball Strategy: The Big Board on Underdog Fantasy.

Fantasy football sickos of all shapes and sizes: You came to the right place.

There is still one game remaining in the 2023-24 NFL season, but that didn’t stop the fine folks over at Underdog Fantasy from kicking off their first 2024-25 best ball tournaments of the new year:

• "The Big Board" features $2 million in prizes ($200,000 to first!) at a cool $10 entry.
• "The Little Board" costs just $3 to enter with a 20-entry max to win $150,000 in prizes – including $15,000 to the overall winner.

At the risk of pissing off our family and friends by participating in 2024-25 fantasy football discourse in January (!) – let’s get weird and take a look at some early average draft position (ADP) surprises.

As a reminder, you can sign up for Underdog Fantasy and get a 100% deposit match of up to $100 when you use promo code LIFE below!

Quarterback is looking DEEP

This would feel like a ridiculous thing to say a month ago with the seemingly endless stream of injuries wreaking havoc on fantasy managers, but suddenly it looks to be the case with most parties tentatively expected to be healthy ahead of the start of next season.

Whether it’s Trevor Lawrence (QB16) and the hope that he gets just a bit more help from his friends in 2024, rallying around Matthew Stafford (QB17) and a Rams offense that looked as good as any group in the league down the stretch, or simply banking on modern science getting Kirk Cousins (QB19) and/or Aaron Rodgers (QB20) back to something close to full health by Week 1: There are some quality late-round locked-in starters with a recent history of putting up some serious fantasy football goodness.

Hell, that doesn’t even include more messy but still potential upside guys like Geno Smith (QB21), Deshaun Watson (QB22) and Daniel Jones (QB23), or signal-callers who at a minimum should start the heavy majority of next season with good health such as Baker Mayfield (QB25), Derek Carr (QB27), Russell Wilson (QB28) and Bryce Young (QB29).

Maybe, just maybe, 2024 is poised to be the year of the late-round QB (shoutout JJ, he’s the man).

The 2024 rookie class isn’t sneaking up on anyone

Particularly at WR, where potential top-10 picks Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR20, pick 33), Malik Nabers (WR28, pick 49) and Rome Odunze (WR35, pick 61) are already locked in as WR3 options.

Additional incoming first-year talents that crack the top 150 overall players feature:

• QB:
  • Caleb Williams (QB18, pick 135)
• RB
  • Jonathan Brooks (RB39, pick 129)
  • Blake Corum (RB43, pick 144)
  • Trey Benson (RB45, pick 150)
• WR:
  • Brian Thomas Jr. (WR41, pick 77)
  • Keon Coleman (WR49, pick 100)
  • Adonai Mitchell (WR56, pick 118)
  • Troy Franklin (WR60, pick 130)
  • Ja’Lynn Polk (WR68, pick 143)
• TE
  • Brock Bowers (TE12, pick 108)

Additional potential top-10 QBs Jayden Daniels (QB24, pick 173) and Drake Maye (QB26, pick 181) are also in the late-round mix.

The former QB, in particular, sure seems like someone capable of providing big-time fantasy value from day one, as the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner totaled 186-885-11 and 135-1134-10 rushing lines during his two seasons at LSU.

No respect for the Cardinals

At virtually any level!

Whether it’s Kyler Murray (QB13, pick 102), James Conner (RB23, pick 75), free agent WR Marquise Brown (WR48, pick 99) or especially TE Trey McBride (TE14, pick 114), there’s not much optimism surrounding this group ahead of 2024.

But maybe there should be?

Don’t let the team’s 4-13 record and season-long 24th-ranked scoring offense fool you: This offense was putting up some seriously solid numbers upon getting Murray back under center in Week 10.

This accordingly led to plenty of fantasy success. Kyler was the QB9 in fantasy points per game, Conner worked as the RB13, and McBride went off on his way to racking up more PPR points per contest than anyone at the position other than David Njoku and Evan Engram during those final nine weeks of 2023.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Nick Chubb (RB20, pick 65) is priced cheaper than ever coming off last season’s devastating knee injury.
   
• The Jets hype is so back: Both Breece Hall (RB2, pick 6) and Garrett Wilson (WR7, pick 13) are looking like consistent first-round picks.
   
• Anthony Richardson (QB8, pick 74) isn’t being slept on after averaging a position-high 0.73 fantasy points per dropback during his limited 2023 action.
   
• People don’t forget: Both Stefon Diggs (WR14, pick 25) and ESPECIALLY Cooper Kupp (WR27, pick 48) are cheaper than they’ve been in years following their respective disappointing second halves.
   
• Rising second-year RB Tyjae Spears (RB29, pick 92) is already flying up boards under the assumption that Derrick Henry has played his last game in Tennessee. Reminder: Spears is indeed good at football.
   
• Second-year Raiders TE Michael Mayer (TE26, pick 203) and Broncos TE Greg Dulcich (N/A ADP) stand out as solid LATE-round darts at the position.