With no waivers or trades throughout the season, every draft pick matters more in best ball. If we want to win a top-heavy tournament like Underdog’s Best Ball Mania IV, we need to hit on some late-round picks.
Bad news: That is much easier said than done.
Good news: Fantasy Life has you covered with some of the best late-round sleepers available with an ADP of 200+ on Underdog Fantasy.
WRs
Terrace Marshall Jr., WR - Panthers
The buzz has been building early for third-year Panthers WR Terrace Marshall Jr. Although he hasn’t lived up to his second-round draft capital, he’s just 23 years old and should be playing with the best QB and coach combo of his career.
Marshall was a solid prospect with high-end athleticism who now finds himself with minimal target competition. The Panthers WR room is among the thinnest in the league and expected to rely on the following pass catchers:
- Adam Thielen - Entering his age-33 season and coming off the least efficient year of his career.
- D.J. Chark - Missed 18 games over the past two seasons due to ankle injuries.
- Hayden Hurst - Has topped 500 receiving yards once in five NFL seasons.
Not exactly the picture of consistency.
Marshall is one of the few ascending weapons on this offense, and he showed meaningful improvement from his rookie to sophomore season. If he has taken the leap that the offseason reports suggest, it would be no shock to see Marshall as the top receiver in this offense.
Richie James, WR - Chiefs
The Chiefs’ WR depth chart is uncertain, but we know Patrick Mahomes and co. are going to put up plenty of yards and points this season. So, besides Travis Kelce, who is going to be on the receiving end of all that fantasy goodness?
Enter Richie James.
The veteran receiver originally stuck in the NFL as a kick returner before earning a role in the passing game in San Francisco and then signing with the Giants in 2022. James then went on to have a mini-breakout over the second half of last season.
From Weeks 11-17, James posted five performances as a top-24 receiver and proved to be a reliable weapon in the passing game.
Although he is unlikely to start the season any higher than third on the WR depth chart, he has experience playing both in the slot (84% of snaps in 2022) and outside (73% of snaps in 2021), which gives him the versatility to play multiple roles in the offense.
I’m betting on James capitalizing on his opportunities when they come because there are few players available with a 200 ADP who can match the combination of season-long and weekly ceiling that James offers in the Kansas City offense.
Josh Reynolds, WR - Lions
If you want to go off the board and draft someone who is rarely being taken in best-ball contests, Josh Reynolds is a great option. The Lions’ WR depth chart is sneaky thin behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, with Jameson Williams suspended for the first 6 weeks.
And even when Williams does return to the lineup, he will be stepping in with very little NFL experience with no guarantee he will be a significant target earner right away. If Williams does disappoint or simply takes a while to get up to speed, Reynolds should be a direct beneficiary.
But to be clear, Reynolds isn’t suddenly going to turn into an elite receiving option. However, he has shown the ability to create big plays that translate into usable best-ball weeks throughout his career. And his primary competition for targets early in the season will be 33-year-old Marvin Jones.
The Fantasy Life projections have Jared Goff as a top-10 QB in terms of passing attempts and passing yards for 2023, which suggests there will be plenty of fantasy points available for his pass catchers.
Not only can Reynolds help your team get off to a fast start, there is a good chance he will also offer weekly upside in the fantasy playoffs as a deep threat on what is expected to be one of the league’s most exciting offenses.
RB
Pierre Strong, RB - Patriots
The Patriots have a significant hole on their roster at the RB2 spot behind Rhamondre Stevenson. We also know that New England likes to rotate backs, which means there should be a decent amount of touches available for other RBs this year.
Although Pierre Strong hasn’t won the RB2 job quite yet, he is the most promising candidate and has the most well-rounded skill set of the backup RBs.
Strong was a wildly efficient runner coming out of South Dakota State and has flashed the ability to pick up chunk gains on his extremely limited workload in the NFL.
Strong is the best of the rest in the New England backfield, and I expect the Patriots’ offense to bounce back in 2023 now that they have a real OC on staff. This should give Strong some level of a weekly floor, as well as pretty nice contingent value in the event that Rhamondre misses time.
Be prepared to pivot if we get depth chart news that suggests otherwise, but Pierre Strong is a player I’m not expecting to be able to draft this late in August, so I’m loading up now.
You can start drafting these super deep best ball sleepers on Underdog Fantasy, where you also get a 100% deposit match of up to $100 when you sign up below!
