Best Ball Draft Trends 2026 | What Sharp Drafters Are Doing Right Now

by Wyatt Bertolone · Featured
Best ball draft trends 2026

Every new best ball season is a unique fantasy football snowflake, each one with its own characteristics. In the world of fantasy football, best ball is still a young format. People are still learning how to play, how to approach it, and how to adjust to each season. Because of the format’s youth, position-by-position average draft position (ADP) has varied year to year, even more so than in redraft.

Positional ADP will always evolve each season as new information comes out, but it changes even more often in best ball because people are trying to win millions of dollars and stay ahead of the game. Let’s discuss what draft trends are happening in 2026 best ball tournaments.

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Navigating the 2026 Best Ball Landscape

Running Backs | The Return to Power

Anyone who’s been playing fantasy football for a while knows that running backs tend to get injured the most and have the shortest shelf lives in the NFL, due to the weekly punishment they endure. But that hasn’t been the case the past couple of years. Running backs in general, and most notably those drafted near the top of drafts, have stayed healthy. 

The impact of running backs staying healthy, especially those drafted highly, is felt throughout best-ball ADP. Even on a platform like Underdog, where you start three wide receivers every week, running backs are drafted early and often. As of now, there are 13 running backs being drafted in the first two rounds. In 2024, that number was seven. Drafters feel the pressure to draft running backs because of the last two seasons’ overall running back health.

Additionally, running backs who would normally be closer to mid-round picks are being drafted earlier. Take Jacksonville’s Bhayshul Tuten, for instance. He’s got a lot of hype, but let’s not forget he’s a day three draft pick who didn’t exactly have a stellar rookie season. His current ADP is in the fifth round. Even with Travis Etienne leaving town, you’d normally expect a player with that capital and an unimpressive rookie season to be drafted later.

Lastly, handcuff running backs have been pushed down a little bit, which makes some sense. If top running backs are staying healthy, their handcuffs won’t be paying off for fantasy. The shining example of this is Tank Bigsby. There’s no doubt Bigsby is Saquon Barkley‘s handcuff, and he showed efficiency as a runner on the chances he had in 2025. If something happened to Barkley, Bigsby would be valuable, but he’s being drafted in the 14th round. That’s a low price for a known fantasy handcuff.

The Three-Quarterback Revolution

Over the last couple of years, more and more people have been incorporating a third quarterback into their best-ball tournament builds, almost regardless of their first two quarterbacks. The benefits of a third quarterback are twofold. First, they can aid a team’s advancement rate by ensuring a great score at the position each week. Second, it adds another potential stack for the tournament weeks, boosting the team’s ceiling. 

Now, quarterback ADPs on Underdog have shifted from years past. Before, many of the QB3s weren’t being drafted until the last couple of rounds, and some weren’t being drafted at all. Now, any quarterback expected to start for most of the season is drafted by the end of the 16th round. Then, those who might play some are being drafted in almost every draft. 

This compression of the quarterback ADPs creates an interesting dynamic when comparing prices between players. Josh Allen sits alone as QB1 in the third round, but from Rounds 5 to 10, there are 19 quarterbacks! Because of this, it could be the year to invest heavily in elite quarterbacks. 

In previous years, drafting elite quarterbacks was riskier because they carried a larger price premium than the quarterbacks who followed. Even though the elite quarterback would project to score more, you could find another who scored slightly less at a significantly lower price. Right now, Drake Maye and Baker Mayfield are separated by fewer than five rounds. 

The Third-Year Wide Receiver Impact

The 2024 wide receiver draft class was once viewed as historic. Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr., and Ladd McConkey all finished in the top 18 in PPR PPG, with Nabers and Thomas being in the top 12. Marvin Harrison Jr. was disappointing compared to the cost, but didn’t have a bad season by any means. Rome Odunze didn’t meet expectations either, but he had a good excuse: playing on a crowded team. Additionally, Xavier Worthy was a postseason hammer for the Chiefs, and Ricky Pearsall was on the winning Best Ball Mania team after a great end to the season. 

Then the 2025 season happened. None of them, and I mean none, for one reason or another, lived up to their cost. Nabers, Odunze, and Pearsall were all off to a good start, but dealt with injuries. Xavier Worthy never had a chance, dislocating his shoulder in the first week of the season. Harrison didn’t improve from his rookie season. Thomas and McConkey both struggled to repeat their rookie seasons in evolving offenses.

Now, in 2026 best-ball drafts, this class of wide receivers is one of the hardest to figure out. For most of them, it’s tough to deny the talent they displayed as rookies. For others, we know they have a high pedigree. With many of their prices cheaper than you would expect based on how they performed as rookies, they could represent massive values this season. 

Nabers and McConkey are the most expensive, as both are among the top 18 wide receivers in ADP, and we know they have high ceilings. After that, Odunze, Thomas, and Harrison are all drafted as WR3s. It would be no surprise if they outperformed that cost. Worthy and Pearsall are WR4s in ADP, a cheap price for former first-round wide receivers playing on some of the best offenses in the NFL. It’s easy to see how this draft class could be one of the biggest stories of the 2026 best ball season.

Put it Together

There is a lot of money to be won in best-ball tournaments. Learning how to navigate each season’s average draft position puzzle is paramount to success. Now, you have the roadmap you need to dive in.


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