Last-Minute Targets: Players to Draft Before the Season Starts
Happy Best Ball Week over at DraftKings. I've teamed up with DraftKings this week to help you finish strong this best ball season with a look at players I'm trying to draft (almost) no matter what in the final days of drafts. Remember that you can claim great DraftKings best ball promos at the link below.
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Roster cutdowns last Sunday signaled one of the final mile markers we get during draft season. Barring some suspensions and any other surprises, the cake is pretty much baked. The ADP is going to be pretty solidified from here.
The last few weeks have thrown us some curveballs. The Ashton Jeanty and Jeremiyah Love-heavy portfolios took a CLV hit after both of them suffered ankle injuries. Jeanty has dropped about half a round, but there was a four-hour window in there where he could be had somewhere in the fourth or fifth round. That's going to be interesting to look back on. Love, meanwhile, has slid from going at the 2/3 turn to solidly in the middle of the third.
We also have some much-needed clarity on the Green Bay backfield. Josh Jacobs (groin) is now on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Jacobs has been a risky pick all summer, though there was a group who wanted to scoop him at the discounted rate in the late fourth, considering that he was solidly in the top 30 going into
Last-Minute Targets: Players to Draft Before the Season Starts
Happy Best Ball Week over at DraftKings. I've teamed up with DraftKings this week to help you finish strong this best ball season with a look at players I'm trying to draft (almost) no matter what in the final days of drafts. Remember that you can claim great DraftKings best ball promos at the link below.
Try DraftKings Best Ball Today
Roster cutdowns last Sunday signaled one of the final mile markers we get during draft season. Barring some suspensions and any other surprises, the cake is pretty much baked. The ADP is going to be pretty solidified from here.
The last few weeks have thrown us some curveballs. The Ashton Jeanty and Jeremiyah Love-heavy portfolios took a CLV hit after both of them suffered ankle injuries. Jeanty has dropped about half a round, but there was a four-hour window in there where he could be had somewhere in the fourth or fifth round. That's going to be interesting to look back on. Love, meanwhile, has slid from going at the 2/3 turn to solidly in the middle of the third.
We also have some much-needed clarity on the Green Bay backfield. Josh Jacobs (groin) is now on the Commissioner's Exempt List. Jacobs has been a risky pick all summer, though there was a group who wanted to scoop him at the discounted rate in the late fourth, considering that he was solidly in the top 30 going into the summer. MarShawn Lloyd's ADP has skyrocketed as a result. The 85.5 ADP probably means the data hasn't fully caught up to what's happening in drafts. I was in a DraftKings Best Ball Millionaire slow draft during the Jacobs affair. It started on Wednesday, Aug. 26, so Jacobs was taken at 4.10 before the news broke. Lloyd was later taken at 8.10.
Roster cutdown day also had some ripple effects on certain endgame targets. Speaking from experience (read: TILTING HARD), Jaydon Blue getting cut from the Cowboys was definitely a kick in the pants. I'd been mixing him in as a late dart to position myself to hedge against Javonte Williams.
We still have a few items that we're waiting out: the 49ers (George Kittle, Mike Evans) never-ending battle against electromagnetic fields, the Alec Pierce final update and some clarity on Emeka Egbuka. Otherwise, the die has been cast.
With that knowledge, I wanted to highlight a few players who are either undervalued or good enough to reach past ADP in my final best ball drafts. This is different from FOMO players — players who I haven't drafted much of and now feel queasy about that decision. These are players I'm aggressively trying to draft in the coming days to make sure I have enough shares before the season kicks off.
For up-to-the-minute updates on injuries, news and everything going on around the NFL, head to RotoWire's NFL Fantasy Football News Today or follow @RotoWireNFL on X.
Jameson Williams, WR, Lions
DraftKings ADP: 59.4
I've drafted a decent amount of Jameson Williams at this stage. The problem is, I want more. I need more. As the summer's progressed and I've thought about things like offensive environments and schedules and the like, I've become convinced that Jameson Williams is going to be on a lot of advancing teams this season.
Here's an interesting list of players with at least a 2.0 combined YPRR from the last two years and at least 1,000 receiving yards in each. Would you have thought Jameson Williams is on that list?
| name | yprr_2025 | yprr_2024 | yprr_combined | yards_2024 | yards_2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | 2.53 | 2.37 | 2.45 | 1263 | 1401 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 2.27 | 2.22 | 2.24 | 1194 | 1077 |
| Zay Flowers | 2.31 | 2.09 | 2.2 | 1059 | 1211 |
| Justin Jefferson | 1.85 | 2.51 | 2.18 | 1543 | 1048 |
| Ja'Marr Chase | 1.96 | 2.3 | 2.13 | 1708 | 1412 |
| Jameson Williams | 2.01 | 2.21 | 2.11 | 1001 | 1246 |
I can at least understand the arguments against Williams. He's not an elite target earner (career-high TPRR% is 18), he's downfield-oriented with a quarterback who isn't labeled as a good downfield passer. The true haters like to say that Williams only does well if someone else (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta) is injured. They harp on the drop rates. I'm just starting to wonder what it's going to take for people to stop doubting Williams as a talent and as a fantasy asset.
Williams plays in a narrow target tree offense and while the likes of ARSB, Gibbs and LaPorta all draw a lot of targets, they do so at lower depths. Williams is the one Lion who runs his routes further downfield. There's no competition for those types of targets in that offense. Isaac TeSlaa is a decoy. And for what it's worth, Jared Goff is tied for second-most deep passing touchdowns (more than 20 air yards) the last three years with 19. His 15.2 YPA ranks second. CPOE is fourth (6.05).
| name | attempts | comp | yards | tds | ints | cpoe | comp_pct | ypa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J.Hurts | 170 | 60 | 2179 | 23 | 10 | 2.75 | 35.3 | 12.82 |
| B.Mayfield | 204 | 66 | 2137 | 23 | 10 | -3.9 | 32.4 | 10.48 |
| M.Stafford | 199 | 88 | 2866 | 19 | 6 | 6.26 | 44.2 | 14.4 |
| J.Goff | 132 | 61 | 2007 | 19 | 10 | 6.05 | 46.2 | 15.2 |
| D.Prescott | 164 | 74 | 2417 | 16 | 5 | 9.71 | 45.1 | 14.74 |
| J.Herbert | 189 | 71 | 2244 | 16 | 6 | 1.22 | 37.6 | 11.87 |
| S.Darnold | 127 | 63 | 2208 | 16 | 5 | 12.35 | 49.6 | 17.39 |
| L.Jackson | 169 | 61 | 2103 | 16 | 3 | 0.53 | 36.1 | 12.44 |
| C.Williams | 162 | 54 | 1622 | 16 | 6 | -2.78 | 33.3 | 10.01 |
| T.Tagovailoa | 125 | 52 | 1867 | 14 | 16 | 3.52 | 41.6 | 14.94 |
"He's one of my favorites of all time and I'm so happy he's my teammate."
Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff sits down with @robertmays to discuss the growth of wide receiver Jameson Williams. pic.twitter.com/P03VqGVT0D
— The Athletic Football Show (@TA_FootballShow) August 22, 2026
And just to go back to what I've been saying all summer: the Lions are in an unbelievably good setup for scoring. It's a great, concentrated offense that will have to be in go-mode every week because the defense will be bad. The average total for a Lions game this year is 48.63 points (3rd).
Taking Jameson Williams is a bet on elite talent intersecting with an elite offensive environment to deliver a massive fantasy season. We've seen good seasons from Williams so far. I think he has another level to reach this year.
Check out our Fantasy Football ADP Report for a comprehensive tool with live-updated ADP data for multiple league formats and sites.
Tyler Warren, TE, Colts
DraftKings ADP: 61.3
Tyler Warren sort of exists on his own ADP island. He's the TE4 so the market believes in him, but he goes 20 picks after Colston Loveland and 12 picks ahead of the next TE, Tucker Kraft. I think by the time we hit midseason, that gap between Loveland and Warren will look far too large, and that's not a slight at Loveland.
If we split Warren's rookie season to pre-Daniel Jones' injury, we have 22.2 TPRR% and 1.95 YPRR with 15 red zone targets and four receiving touchdowns. Those are really strong metrics. His catch rate (67.9%) was surprisingly low for his aDOT (5.3) but that's something that can tick up. It's not like he was dropping passes (1.8%). Warren is also a beast after the catch (6.6 YAC/R) and is in a role that maximizes that ability.
Taking Warren is a good move for your teams structurally. By the sixth round, you're getting deep into the dead zone at running back, or getting some receivers with questions. Warren solves your TE1 problem and helps you avoid a landmine RB3 or WR4.
Use RotoWire's interactive Mock Draft Simulator to prepare for every scenario in your 2026 fantasy football drafts.
Bo Nix, QB, Broncos
DraftKings ADP: 107.0
Bo Nix is another player who is underpriced even at this stage of draft season. He led the league in pass attempts in 2025 and had the fifth-most rush attempts among quarterbacks. Now, is a 6.4 YPA on those pass attempts "good"? No. But when there are 612 of them, things add up.
If anything, that efficiency should be on the upswing with Jaylen Waddle added to the offense. Nix has a lot going for him in fantasy production. We mentioned the sheer volume that'll boost his counting stats, but there's also an elite system in place along with an elite offensive line.
The one real tail risk would seem to be the Broncos' defense being so good that Nix doesn't have to throw that much. But wasn't that the same deal last year, and Sean Payton still had Nix chucking it 36 times a game?
I'd much rather have Nix than Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford or Jaxson Dart this season. On a related note, I'm rushing to make sure I've got enough Jaylen Waddle exposure as well.
Get ready for your draft by visiting our Custom Fantasy Football Rankings for a list of the top players for the season ahead, customized for your league.
Justin Herbert, QB, Chargers
DraftKings ADP: 86
This is the year. This has to be the year, right? The year that "If Man" finally stops being a meme and Justin Herbert realizes his potential. The structure around Herbert is far and away the best he's had in his career. There's an elite playcaller in Mike McDaniel who now gets to work with one of the strongest-armed quarterbacks in the league after years of fooling us into thinking Tua Tagovailoa was decent. There's an offensive line that ... well, it can't be worse than what it was last year, right? There's also a healthy Ladd McConkey, an ascending (?) Quentin Johnston and a deep tight end room.
There have been times when Herbert has looked pedestrian, and there have been times when he's looked like a top-3 quarterback in the league. We're entering his age-28 season (7th), so the kiddie gloves are off. He needs to finally put it together.
I do think this is the year it all clicks, though. I'm entering the season thinking Herbert can have a top-3 QB finish in fantasy. A season with 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns, 400 rushing yards, and four rushing touchdowns is within the range of outcomes.
Honorable Mentions
- Tucker Kraft and Christian Watson, Packers
- George Pickens, Cowboys
- Travis Etienne, Saints
- Kyren Williams or Blake Corum, Rams
Dominate your fantasy football league this season with our 2026 RotoWire fantasy football draft kit. Packed with expert insights, rankings and strategy tips, the kit features our interactive mock draft simulator to prepare you for every scenario. Streamline your draft-day decisions using our printable cheat sheet and stay ahead of the competition with our up-to-date rankings for all formats.
