As the NFL Draft fastly approaches, many pre-draft best ball contests will be closing. Now seems like an ideal time to look back at the risers and fallers in average draft position (ADP) over a wild couple of months in the pre-draft best ball streets.
Best Ball ADP Risers & Fallers
Best Ball Risers
Since the middle of February, Jordan Mason has been the biggest ADP riser, jumping 72 spots from 194 to 121. The pick-strapped Vikings traded a 2026 sixth-round pick, as well as swapping other picks with the 49ers, to secure Mason as their No. 2 RB. Mason endured an up-and-down year, carrying the ball for by far the most touches of his career (153), but only managing three games over 11 PPR points.
Not all of this was on Mason’s shoulders, though, with the Niners regressing at every point possible and their offensive line not close to what we’d usually expect. Mason will be a fine player in the Vikings’ zone-based scheme. He has enough juice that if anything should happen to the 30-year-old Aaron Jones, he’ll be a good value at this cost.
Plan for Jordan Mason seems clear.
Vikings will use Mason to spell 30-year-old Aaron Jones for full series. And Mason appears likely to get goal-line work. Via ESPN: pic.twitter.com/JY8RUOcocu
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) April 6, 2025
It was strange to see the Cowboys let Rico Dowdle leave to replace him with a far less effective runner in Javonte Williams. Everyone knows the backstory of Williams — an electric player who thrived as a rookie before losing much of his career to knee injuries.
In 2024, Williams ranked 37th in juke rate among 42 backs with 100+ carries, along with ranking 39th in yards per carry (3.6) and 40th in rushing expected points added (EPA). Nevertheless, with nobody else currently in Dallas, Williams jumped 46 spots in ADP from 191 to 145.
Williams feels ripe to be supplanted by a rookie in the coming weeks, but the cost isn’t horrendously bad for a player who, with touchdowns, could provide some usable weeks.
A player who rose a similar amount to Javonte Williams is Justin Fields, who also jumped 46 spots, taking him to 113th overall, good enough to be the QB13. Fields seems entrenched as the clear starting quarterback for the Jets this season, at least.
We all know the downside with Fields. He walks into sacks, he’s not the cleanest of passers and his decision-making should be better than it is at this point in his career. However, Fields was the QB7 from Weeks 1-6 last season when starting for the Steelers. Fields led all signal-callers in rushing touchdowns during that period (five) and ranked fifth in rushing yards per game (38.5).
With nobody breathing down Fields’ neck, there’s enough of a reason to take him at his current cost.
The Jaguars were hours away from cutting Christian Kirk due to his salary when the Texans swooped in and swapped 2026 seventh-round picks with them to acquire the slot receiver.
Kirk had been getting drafted around pick 136, but this news was enough to jettison him to pick 99, with the Texans struggling for receiver firepower. Kirk hasn’t always been a reliable option in fantasy, but he could be helpful to C.J. Stroud, who will need to get the ball out quickly to mitigate a worrisome-looking offensive line.
The NFL Scouting Combine woke a lot of people up to RJ Harvey, with him posting solid to good numbers in every drill. Harvey is a smaller back at 5-foot-8, but his weight (205 pounds) and playing style help assuage some of those worries.
Harvey has excellent agility, can catch the ball and break runs at any point. Harvey was barely getting drafted in February, but now consistently goes in the 160-170 range. Good draft capital could see that jump even higher.
there is so much to love about UCF RB RJ Harvey's game
~ Phone booth creation vs unblocked DL/LB
~ Tempo behind pulling OL to maximize blocking
~ Juice and finish when given the second level pic.twitter.com/PdAAWKYo2U— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) March 14, 2025
When drafts opened, Ricky Pearsall was being drafted in the 90-95 range, which seemed like a fair price for the Niners’ 2024 first-round pick, given that Brandon Aiyuk has a serious knee injury and Deebo Samuel was an obvious cut or trade candidate.
With Samuel traded to the Commanders, Pearsall jumped 20 spots in ADP to the early 70s. Kyle Shanahan isn’t the easiest of head coaches for rookies to please, but Pearsall rarely had a problem earning trust. Once he was recovered from the small matter of getting shot in the offseason, Pearsall averaged 64% of snaps weekly.
In the nine games Pearsall played, he totaled 28 receptions for 376 yards and two touchdowns. If he’d held that pace across the entire season, he’d have pushed Marvin Harrison Jr. for the fourth-most receiving yards among rookie wideouts.
Cam Skattebo (RB – Arizona State)
At 219 pounds, Cam Skattebo cuts a mean figure when he’s running your way. The powerful rookie out of Arizona State has been a popular pick for much of the offseason, rising from 130 in ADP to 112.
Skattebo slots between Brian Robinson Jr. and D’Andre Swift in ADP. Skattebo plays fast and exciting, and the only real concern is whether teams view him as a positive in the receiving game. Without that, he might struggle to provide consistent fantasy value.
Best Ball Fallers
When drafts started, there was hope Jordan Whittington could become the Rams’ No. 2 WR in 2025 with the expected release of Cooper Kupp widely known to be a formality. Whittington was talked up in 2024 as the direct replacement for either Puka Nacua or Kupp, with Sean McVay comfortable slotting the 2024 rookie directly into the scheme in place of either player when they missed time.
The reality didn’t play out quite like that with Whittington managing 293 scoreless yards on 22 receptions, despite Kupp and Nacua missing plenty of time. The team instead turned to veteran Davante Adams. Whittington dropped from 170 in ADP to undrafted.
Another young wide receiver who could have seen an expanded role was Andrei Iosivas, who was being drafted at pick 180 early on. This was before the Bengals managed to seal contracts with both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, making Iosivas’ path to relevancy much harder.
Iosivas is not the worst pick out there, given he’s scored 10 touchdowns across the last two seasons. Now that he’s going undrafted, it’s perhaps an even smarter pick in case either Chase or Higgins misses time.
The hype was firmly in place for Xavier Restrepo, who is a natural separator and can easily make defenses look silly when the ball is in his hands. Restrepo, at worst, looked like a safe bet to be a slot-only receiver in the NFL, but getting strong enough draft capital to justify being picked at pick 160 in best ball. That was until his Pro Day.
Restrepo didn’t test at the combine and then ran a 4.83 40-yard dash at Miami’s Pro Day. Restrepo took to Twitter to plead his case, saying a tight hamstring was to blame, but the alarm bells were firmly sounding. Restrepo is now barely drafted with an ADP of 221.9.
It’s simple, guys. If you play the video at 1.5x, Xavier Restrepo looks like Xavier Worthy. pic.twitter.com/Bz5HzikHnm
— Jeff Mueller, PT, DPT (@jmthrivept) March 25, 2025
You have to feel for J.K. Dobbins, who has come back from a litany of serious injuries, but set career highs in rush attempts (195), rushing yards (905), receptions (32) and broken tackles (19), but still hasn’t found a home for the 2025 season.
Dobbins is unfortunate that this rookie class is so heavily stacked with running backs, but he’ll still likely find a team after the draft in the next wave of free agency.
Dobbins was being selected around pick 100 in early best ball drafts, but as the musical chairs began to fill up and he was left without a seat, he’s dropped to pick 144.
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn
