The NFL Draft is almost here, and that means time is running out to get your exposures locked in before the best ball ADP undergoes a seismic shift. This rookie class has generally been panned as lacking star power, and that may be true, but there are still going to be some gems we can unearth from the later rounds of best ball drafts.
This is a crucial final stretch of this part of best ball season. Underdog is still offering 20-round drafts, which gives us a little more room to take some shots late. Every year, there's a Day 3 player who becomes some level of usable for fantasy. These are outliers of outliers, of course, but it's worth getting exposure to some of the expected late-round rookies, especially while we have 24 extra picks to play around with.
Late Round Rookie Hits
Here's a table of the skill position players drafted on Day 3 since 2020, sorted by rookie season fantasy points. Bucky Irving (4th Round) and Puka Nacua (5th) stand out above the rest, but there are still about 25 players on that list who have been some level of useful right out of the gate.
234 skill players have been taken on Day 3 from 2020 through last year, so we're threading a pretty small needle to find some utility from this group. Only 52 of them registered more than 50 fantasy points (standard) as rookies.
Late ADP Rookie Targets
Let's dial into some of the rookies going late in drafts that we can try to get exposure to before the ADP gets shaken back up. We'll label "late" as 14th round (ADP156 or higher) and go from there.
Late Round Rookie Running Backs
This chart helps us identify the best possible landing spots for rookie year success among this year's running back crop. Obviously, each of these teams has an elite starting running back that will be impossible for these rookies to unseat. However, that doesn't mean these teams couldn't use a depth upgrade behind their stars.
Here are some of my favorite late-round rookie running backs I'll be trying to draft over the next week.
For reference, you can check out my piece on running back combine metrics here to see how this year's class stacks up against running backs from the last seven years.
Emmett Johnson, Nebraska (5-10, 205, 4.49 40 Yard dash at Pro Day)
ADP: 167.6
Notable college stats: 2nd in the nation with 46 receptions totaling 370 yards and 3 TD in 2025
Johnson was a steady three-year producer for the Cornhuskers who took on a workhorse role with 251 carries while also being a weapon in the passing game. The PPR skill set is underscoring Johnson's appeal in fantasy circles, but I don't want his rushing chops to be undersold. 251 carries marked the most any Nebraska running back has shouldered since 2015. He can take on a three-down role.
The Combine wasn't overly kind to Johnson; he competed in every drill but turned in a 38th percentile 40 time while barely grading above average in the vertical and shuttle drills. Kudos to him for doing every drill, though. Johnson timed better in the 40 at Nebraska's Pro Day, going from 4.56 to just under 4.5. Pro day numbers often require a grain of salt, but either way, his speed is not a huge limiting factor.
Some other success stories with similar physical profiles include James White, Shane Vereen, Bilal Powell, Justice Hill and TreVeyon Henderson.
My expectation is that even in a thin running back class, Johnson will likely have to wait until early Day 3 to hear his name called. That could still mean he's one of the first five running backs selected, however.
Nicholas Singleton, Penn State (6-0, 219)
ADP: 190.0
Notable College Stats: No.1 running back recruit in the 2022 class with two 1,000-yard seasons over four years at Penn State
Singleton had an interesting career arc at Penn State. A celebrated recruit, Singleton hit the ground running with 1,061 yards and 12 touchdowns as a true freshman while averaging a blistering 6.8 yards per carry. He came back to earth as a sophomore (752 yards, 4.4 YPC) before ascending again in 2024 with 1,099 yards and 12 touchdowns on 6.4 YPC.
He would have been justified in entering the draft after that kind of season, though going back made sense, seeing how last year's RB class was so loaded. Most expected him to be the second-best running back in this year's draft coming into the season. That may still be the case, but it didn't play out how we expected. Singleton likely won't go within 50 picks of Jeremiyah Love. That's due to Singleton's underwhelming 2025 with 549 yards on 4.5 YPC. He did score a career-high 13 rushing touchdowns, however. Like I said, an interesting arc.
He couldn't test at the combine or at the pro day as he recovered from a broken bone in his foot suffered at the Senior Bowl.
A thought experiment I like to do with players like this is to imagine what his perception would be if we flipped his last two years of production. If he were coming off the season he had in 2024, would there be first-round buzz? Possibly. But because he underwhelmed on an underwhelming team in 2025, he's probably going to go on Day 3.
There aren't many Day 3 running backs with 5-star pedigree and multiple 1,000-yard seasons, though. I'm willing to bet on the talent and believe that Singleton's best football is still ahead of him. If he lands in a weak backfield like Minnesota's, he could be a starter as early as this year.
Best of the Rest
It's tough to find useful running backs in the endgame, as I wrote about in my best ball running back strategy piece this winter.
The data shows us what's pretty intuitive: it's exceptionally difficult to get a late-round steal at running back. The last chance saloon for RBs seems to be Round 14, where we seem to have a reasonable hit rate relative to acquisition cost. That's not to say that you should go into every draft thinking "oh, I'm drafting a running back in the 14th no matter what."
What it means is that you need to go into each draft understanding that once you're past the 14th, you're in dart-throw territory at RB. It makes sense; it's harder for a running back buried on a depth chart to find a way into a "usable week." There's only one running back on the field at a time, generally, and the bulk of the snaps go to the starter. There's often a passing down specialist role held down by the RB2, and those types are either off the board by this range or still available for a good reason, like a Justice Hill or something.
Obviously, I'm writing about guys with 14th round ADPs or worse, but oh well. Johnson and Singelton could very well be on the move up into a different tier after the draft. I'm dubious that any of the other backs I'm about to mention will have that same leap, but they're still worth keeping an eye on.
Demond Claiborne (234.9) is fun to dream on with his 4.37 speed. You may see his 5-10, 188-pound frame and think we have ACC De'Von Achane. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Claiborne is not the same caliber of producer Achane was, nor is he as fast. He only had 14 rushes over 20 yards over his final two seasons (407) while Achane had 22 such runs on 81 fewer carries.
Even if Claiborne doesn't project to be anything close to a workhorse, that top-end speed could result in a useful week or two that you can grab right now with your last pick.
Seth McGowan (238.3) is the end of the road for me when it comes to this class of rookie backs. At least right now. He's got great athleticism that's even better when factoring in his size (6-0, 223) and was productive in his final two seasons in college. He has some things working against him in terms of draft stock; he'll be a 25-year-old as a rookie and was kicked off of Oklahoma's football team after his freshman season. He might be this year's seventh-rounder who surprises.
Late Round Rookie Receivers
Here's a table of rookie receivers going after the 14th round. There's a huge dropoff in the market between tiers of rookie receivers. Once Denzel Boston goes towards the end of the 12th, there's nearly a 60-pick gap until you get to the next rookie wide receiver, Chris Brazzell.
As with the running backs, you can also check out my composite athleticism database for wide receivers here at RotoWire.
| Player | Pre-Draft Best Ball ADP |
|---|---|
| Chris Brazzell II | 200.0 |
| Germie Bernard | 202.4 |
| Elijah Sarratt | 208.8 |
| Zachariah Branch | 217.3 |
| Ted Hurst | 224.0 |
| Chris Bell | 227.9 |
| Antonio Williams | 234.0 |
| Bryce Lance | 235.9 |
Elijah Sarratt, Indiana (6-2, 210, 4.53 40 at Indiana Pro Day)
ADP: 208.8
Notable College Stats: At least eight touchdowns in all four seasons (3 schools)
Sarratt made three stops on his way to the NFL and dominated at each one. He started out at St. Francis (can you find that on a map?) before linking up with Curt Cignetti at James Madison and then following him to Indiana, where he won a National Championship.
Indiana teammate Omar Cooper is getting more draft buzz, but that doesn't mean Sarratt should be off your radar. Sarratt is a big, physical wideout with eye-popping production from all four years, totaling 242 catches for 3,678 yards and 44 touchdowns.
His ADP sits in the 18th round right now, and that feels like a misprice. Putting on my draft analyst hat, I think he ends up going sometime on Day 2, which will send his best ball ADP up considerably. Draft him after pick 200 while you still can.
Zachariah Branch, Georgia (5-9, 177, 4.35 at the Combine)
ADP: 217.3
College Stat: 77% of receiving yards came after the catch in 2025. Only 17 targets 10+ yards downfield (SumerSports)
Branch's size limits his applications in an offense, but his good traits are loud enough to where he can still be an impact player. A lot has been made of his route tree, specifically at Georgia, with the criticism being that an outsized portion of his production came on screens. Well, that's true, but that had more to do with Georgia's limitations on offense in 2025.
Branch can absolutely be an asset in the short and intermediate game who can turn low ADOT passes into chunk plays thanks to his YAC ability. Because he was so heavily used on screens at Georgia, his full route-running grade is incomplete.
He's going late enough in drafts (18th round) that he's worth a gamble. There's a good target projection in play if he lands in the right offense and he has the quicks and long speed to produce big plays any time he has the ball in his hands.
Ted Hurst, Georgia State (6-4, 206, 4.42 40 at the Combine)
ADP: 224.0
Notable College Stats: 1,965 yards, 15 touchdowns in last two seasons at Georgia State
Hurst had standout production over four years across stops at Valdosta and Georgia State. That's obviously a prerequisite to get on the draft radar from programs at that level, and Hurst checked the box. He proved he could beat press coverage and win downfield. Hurst's reliability at the catch point could use some work (7 drops in 2025), but his standout athleticism and catch radius should help him get into a target rotation sooner than later.
There's a chance Hurst goes higher than his best ball ADP is implying. Hurst with Day 2 capital, especially in a good landing spot, will rocket him up well inside pick 200.
Late Round Rookie Tight Ends
Right now, there are only three tight ends with ADPs between 156 and 240. They are Eli Stowers (181.6), Oscar Delp (239.0) and Max Klare (239.3). It used to be that rookie tight ends were stayaways in redraft, but recent history has smashed that notion with Sam LaPorta, Brock Bowers and last year's crop all tearing it up in Year 1.
Kenyon Sadiq (136.9) has the clearest path to being a Year 1 success. He has the talent and will have the draft capital to get on the field early.
The gap between Sadiq and Eli Stowers is a bit too big, though. Stowers had elite production and athletic testing, and yet he's still going in the 16th round. The reports about teams viewing him more as a wide receiver should be a good thing for us! He's also likely to go in the second round -- also good! I'm not sure why the market would rather go after T.J. Hockenson or Dalton Schultz over him as their depth tight end addition. There's a case for floor, sure, but that late in your draft, why not shoot for the moon a little bit? Especially right now, when we should be taking three tight ends in these 20-round drafts.
Delp registers as the perfect type of last pick dart to go after right now. He has been on the rise since his performance at Georgia's Pro Day. There's understandable concern about his lack of production, but like I alluded to earlier, Georgia's offense was sort of busted, and the passing game over the middle was basically non-existent.
There's real buzz that Delp could go as early as the third round, which would give him a fighting chance at making an impact in Year 1. Additionally, if he does get taken in the third, his ADP is going to go up into at least the 18th round. Right now, he's available in the 230s. Getting Delp exposure at ADP before the NFL Draft is going to help you lock in some nice closing line value.
Klare is another tight end prospect picking up steam. His one year at Ohio State was a bit underrated, considering he racked up 43 catches while competing for targets with Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith. He previously carried Purdue's passing game to the tune of 51 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns to get him on Ohio State's radar in the transfer portal. I haven't drafted Klare yet, but it seems like the time is now to do so before the acquisition cost goes way up.
