We are mere days away from the biggest, best ball contests of the offseason launching. In recent years, none have provided more clamor than Underdog’s Best Ball Mania contest. The prize pools continue to grow, and Underdog has been hinting at some big plans for 2025 drafts, so it makes sense to do our prep and be ready to jump in.
The FantasyPros Draft Wizard fantasy football mock draft simulator tool allows you to mock draft for any format in a much quicker fashion than anywhere else, making it the perfect prep tool for best ball season.
We are mere days away from the biggest, best ball contests of the offseason launching. In recent years, none have provided more clamor than Underdog’s Best Ball Mania contest. The prize pools continue to grow, and Underdog has been hinting at some big plans for 2025 drafts, so it makes sense to do our prep and be ready to jump in.
The FantasyPros Draft Wizard fantasy football mock draft simulator tool allows you to mock draft for any format in a much quicker fashion than anywhere else, making it the perfect prep tool for best ball season.
Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Best Ball (Underdog)
To replicate Underdog’s settings, we need to use half-PPR scoring and nudge the quarterback positional value to high, as there tends to be a wide receiver-heavy audience on Underdog. The Draft Wizard has randomly assigned us the fifth overall pick.
Early Rounds
Ja’Marr Chase went off the board as usual at the 1.01, followed by Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson and Justin Jefferson. No surprises so far. Jahmyr Gibbs is the typical selection here, with running backs going slightly higher than last year. There are the obvious concerns about David Montgomery capping Gibbs’ upside, but Gibbs had 11 weeks with over 17 points in 2024, and plenty of those came with Montgomery healthy, so there is no reason to be afraid.
With our second selection, Brock Bowers is too good a choice to pass up. After breaking all sorts of records in his rookie year, Bowers should be even better with Geno Smith at quarterback. By round three, we need a wide receiver, having not selected one so far. Miss out now, and things will get ugly by the time we do take one. Terry McLaurin is a fine choice, locked in as the No. 1 WR with a competent quarterback for the first time in his career.
By round four, we’re into the first question mark territory of the draft. There are lots of good players, but all have some level of question marks about how they’ll do this year. Having only one wideout through three rounds makes this an easier place to lean towards wide receiver, and Courtland Sutton is our man. Bo Nix can improve in year two, and even if the Broncos add competition, it could help Sutton after being the only man in town for much of 2024.
In round five, we add DeVonta Smith, giving us three solid receivers. We can now take some upside swings in a perfectly executed Hero RB start. In round six, we can afford to look at the running back situation again, and Jaylen Warren is at the top of the average draft position (ADP) list. Warren will more than likely have company in the Steelers’ backfield soon, after they used nine of their 30 draft visits on running backs. Warren will have a leg-up on the incumbent and is trusted in high-value situations like passing downs and near the goal line.
Middle Rounds
In round seven, we start taking upside swings by selecting Rome Odunze, who has fallen further than he usually might. It’s hard to ignore the value with the Bears receiver upgraded to number two on the depth chart in Chicago and having a significant coaching upgrade. In round eight, we take Jauan Jennings, who could be the Niners’ No. 2 WR this year if the Brandon Aiyuk situation stays as messy as it currently is or if Ricky Pearsall fails to take the leap.
We now have five receivers through eight rounds, which has proven to be a successful strategy over the years on Underdog. In round nine, Justin Herbert stands out as a potential value even if the Chargers wish to be a run-heavy team. In the 10th round, we take our second tight end in Jonnu Smith, who gives us enough of a stable tight end room that we don’t need to add a third. A second quarterback was in consideration, but with both Brock Purdy and Caleb Williams on the board, who would allow us potential stacking options, it seemed worth pushing it one more round.
Both made it back to us, and we added Purdy to stack with Jennings. In round 12, the top of the board is heavy on rookies, and this feels like the right time to start taking swings on them. We’re secure at every position but running back, and this rookie class looks set to provide real value. Cam Skattebo might be reliant on a good draft spot, but at this cost, his big-play ability stands out.
Late Rounds
The rookie running back theme continues in round 13, with Devin Neal added to our roster, followed by Ollie Gordon in round 14. With two solid options at both quarterback and tight end, we can afford for the rest of our roster to be either wide receivers or running backs, so we add Elic Ayomanor in round 15 as our first rookie wideout.
Round 16 sees DJ Giddens added to the roster before Khalil Herbert in round 17, who backs up the often-injured Jonathan Taylor in Indianapolis. Mike Williams becomes our next selection, stacking him with Herbert as they reunite in L.A. once more, followed by Dyami Brown and Ty Johnson to round things out.
Draft Wizard Insights
The Draft Wizard gave us a B- grade, preferring we had taken Bucky Irving over Brock Bowers and saying we reached on some of the rookie running backs. However, rookie fever is in full flow. If we didn’t select them where we did, we wouldn’t have gotten them.
Ultimately, we came away from this draft with a well-executed Hero RB build, solidified our receiver depth after not touching the position in the first couple of rounds. We stacked both quarterbacks with pass-catchers and took plenty of upside swings. Not every best ball draft has to be an obvious winner to take it all down, but this one hits on plenty of themes we should be happy with.
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