2 Late-Round Picks to Avoid in Best Ball (and Better Alternatives)

There are two players going in the later rounds of Underdog best ball drafts who you need to avoid in fantasy football, because there are alternatives going right after them that are much, much better draft picks.

I can’t stand for this blasphemy any longer. It’s time to reveal these two terrible picks and give you the alternative picks you should be making instead.

Note: These are late-round picks no matter what. The alternatives are not guaranteed to blow the doors off and win your league. But they absolutely have higher ceilings and a better range of outcomes than the players you’re currently drafting ahead of them.

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2 Late-Round Picks to Avoid in Best Ball (and Alternatives)

1. Noah Fant, TE, Seattle Seahawks

Alternative pick: Isaiah Likely

The fantasy community just can’t quit Fant, who has 14 career TDs in five years and has finished with fewer than 500 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons in Seattle. He had an 8% team target market share for the Seahawks last year, only slightly ahead of A-listers Colby Parkinson (6%) and Will Dissly (4%).

Seattle still has DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, and 2023 first-round pick Jaxon-Smith Njigba is expected to take a big step forward in the passing attack this year.

People are drafting him because the Seahawks gave Fant a 2-year, $21 million contract during free agency. Sure, it’s a nice contract that signals usage in the passing game, but the Patriots also gave Jonnu Smith a 4-year, $50 million contract back in 2021. Past production says a lot more than new contracts when it comes to vets.

Instead, take the explosive Isaiah Likely, a top-10 talent at the TE position who just so happens to be a backup on his own team. All signs point to Likely having a bigger role in 2024 even with Mark Andrews healthy. He was so good filling in for Andrews that it’s impossible for Baltimore to keep him off the field next year.

2. Adam Thielen, WR, Carolina Panthers

Alternative pick: Rashod Bateman

Thielen turned back the clock in 2023 and posted 103 receptions for 1,014 yards and 4 TDs — statistically one of the better all-around seasons of his career. But Thielen will be 34 when the season starts, and the Panthers not only added Diontae Johnson, but they also drafted Xavier Legette in the first round.

In other words, Thielen’s days as the obvious WR1 in Carolina are dead and gone. He’s probably the WR3 on the team. He had a 26% team target market share last year. He might have half of that this year.

So instead of taking Thielen when you’re on the clock around pick 160, opt for Rashod Bateman instead.

Bateman has not lived up to his hype, and at this point probably never will, but Odell Beckham departing leaves 14% of team targets back on the market. Zay Flowers will probably pick up some of that (he was 23% last year), and we already discussed Likely getting more as well, but Bateman should easily see his 12% target share rise to the 16-18% range.