We’re roughly three weeks away from the kickoff of the 2022 fantasy football season. Home leagues are starting to draft, DFS fanatics are drooling over the Week 1 Millionaire Maker prices, and Underdog Fantasy still has openings for its Best Ball Mania III contest.
If you’re an avid follower of Roto Street Journal, you already matched your first Underdog Fantasy deposit (up to $100) using promo code RSJ and have drafted a handful of best ball teams for a chance to win prizes up to $2 million. But, if you’re new around here or want to get involved in some mid-August fantasy drafts, click this link (or use the promo code), and start drafting.
We already took a look at some best ball sleepers in late July, but with all the training camp and preseason hype, there are some glaring ADP values that are waiting to be targeted. After looking at the Underdog Fantasy ADP on August 18, here are my favorite values that are currently going outside the first two rounds.
ALLEN ROBINSON, WR, LOS ANGELES RAMS (ADP: 40)
Allen Robinson burned a lot of fantasy bridges last season, but now he has one of the most talented quarterbacks of this generation throwing him the ball.
Robinson will be replacing Robert Woods, who never finished lower than WR20 during his time, as the Rams’ WR2 behind Cooper Kupp. Matthew Stafford will easily be the best quarterback Robinson has ever had in his collegiate and NFL career.
Sean McVay recruited Robinson hard to the Rams, “I was selling my (expletive) balls off to this guy,” he said.
Stafford will love having Robinson in the red zone. From 2018-2021, he brought in 29 catches on 57 targets for 224 yards and 13 touchdowns in the red area alone. This will be a great wrinkle for their connection as defenses will attempt to scheme out Kupp in the red zone (keyword is try). Robinson has the ceiling and talent to be a low-end WR1 or high-end WR2 this season in such a high-octane offense. I’m taking him with confidence in the fourth round.
ELIJAH MOORE, WR, NEW YORK JETS (ADP: 66.2)
I already listed Elijah Moore as a mid-round steal for redraft leagues, and I believe the same goes for best ball. Moore had an explosive seven-week stretch as a rookie and is looking locked in as the WR1 in New York. In best ball, I’m looking to draft second-year wide receivers, and compared to the other players at his current ADP, Moore has the potential to outperform all of them.
Moore was one of the best receivers in fantasy prior to his season-ending injury, finishing top three in PPR fantasy points from Weeks 9-13. Zach Wilson looks to be out for at least Week 1, and with veteran quarterback Joe Flacco behind center, Moore posted the best stat line of his career with the elite veteran.
There are a lot of question marks out in New York right now, but one that seems to be answered is Moore is the WR1 for this team that should be playing from behind a lot. He’s one of the best values on Underdog when picking between Amari Cooper (69.9), Adam Thielen (67.2), and Elijah Mitchell (64.8).
CHASE EDMONDS, RB, MIAMI DOLPHINS (ADP: 88.7)
When Edmonds signed with the Dolphins, the Roto Street Journal crew was immediately excited. As fans of the Kyle Shanahan zone running scheme, Edmonds is dripping in potential as the 26-year-old is the favorite to be the Dolphins 1A this season.
Edmonds flourished during his limited opportunities as a lead back last season, averaging 19.5 PPR points per game as the starter. Edmonds is an elite zone runner posting 5.8 yards per carry from zone blocking runs and a 115.2% box-adjusted efficiency (BAE) last season. Edmonds has been arguably the most efficient zone-blocking runner in the NFL over recent years and has the ability to produce through the air averaging 1.65 yards per route run.
Edmonds is the perfect high-upside “RB3” play for your best ball lineups as he drips in three-down ability in a new and improved offense. Edmonds is currently going after running backs with much bigger question marks, such as Miles Sanders (85.9), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (85.4), and Tony Pollard (79.5), who isn’t a starting running back (I know the concerns about Zeke, but seriously!?). Take Edmonds with confidence in this range.
AARON RODGERS, QB, GREEN BAY PACKERS (ADP: 111.7)
Aaron Rodgers is the NFL’s back-to-back MVP and when playing a full season, hasn’t finished outside of QB9 in his entire career. Rodgers is Mr. Consistent when it comes to real-life football and fantasy. The concerns of losing Davante Adams don’t worry me, as he’s averaged over 20 fantasy points per game in his absences.
There aren’t many stats to throw out here, it’s just a screaming value to draft Rodgers in this tier of players. Rather than using high draft capital to draft Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, you can DJ Moore, Courtland Sutton, or Travis Ettiene and then pair Rodgers with another high-ceiling, low-floor quarterback. I mean, do you really want to take someone like Rondale Moore (112.6) in Rodgers’ range instead?
Whether it is Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, or Robert Tonyan, Aaron Rodgers will figure it out in one of the worst defensive divisions in football.
