It's that time of year again. Your brother-in-law, your co-worker, or you yourself have put out that clarion call: "Draft is week after next, gentlemen. See you there!" And you know what means.

It's time for war. All-out war, with your draft board as the battlefield.

Training camps will begin winding down before we know it, and we've already concluded the second-to-last, 'dress rehearsal' week of the preseason. We are just now passing that threshold where the runny, gelatinous ADP of two weeks ago has begun to coagulate into something semi-firm. Last year's ADP priority targets list was not without its misses (thanks for nothing, Anthony Richardson), but the hits won leagues: If you were somehow able to follow me down the board, you left your draft with either Justin Jefferson (WR2), Drake London (WR5), Josh Jacobs (RB5), Joe Mixon (RB13 in just 13 games), Rashee Rice, and Brock Bowers (TE1), or Saquon Barkley (RB1), Garrett Wilson (WR11), Cooper Kupp (WR6 in fantasy points per game thru Week 14), DK Metcalf (WR9 thru Week 7; knee injury derailed season), James Conner (RB11), and Chase Brown (RB12). Most of those guys vaporized their respective draft slots. Let's do that again, shall we?

(The following ADPs presume 12 teams and half PPR scoring formats - adjust for your league(s) accordingly.)

Early: Saquon Barkley
Current ADP: 2.7, RB1
Yahoo: 2 | Sleeper: 2 | RTSports: 4

Yes, this absolutely feels like a cop out - and it is! The stratospheric pricetag on Ja'Marr Chase (the first WR to be the consensus number one overall pick since... what, 'absolute height of his powers' Antonio Brown?) combined with having the luxury of three (at least three!) guys deserving to be the first running back off the board is creating some fantastic value in the first four picks of fantasy drafts this year: Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Barkley could all go second overall in your draft. Barkley will probably go second overall in the majority of leagues - but I hath seen with mine own eyes that there is most definitely enough handwringing and pearl-clutching over his 2024 workload to bump him off that spot for some players. To be clear, I am more than fine with any three of these running backs - the real value is in having the fourth overall pick this year and taking what the tide brings you. But with Gibbs and perhaps even Bijan having complementary backs to share work with, Barkley's just too much of a lead pipe pick for me to pass up.

Late: Amon-Ra St. Brown
Current ADP: 9.3, WR4
Yahoo: 8 | Sleeper: 8 | RTSports: 10

I can't sugarcoat it: This isn't a great year to have a pick outside of the top eight. Ashton Jeanty, Puka Nacua and even Malik Nabers are all running back here, and all make me a tad nervous. St. Brown offers relative certainty: He isn't menaced by the arrival of an all-time great touchdown binge eater and a starting quarterback that needs a cryogenic trailer on standby for his bad back (Nacua); he isn't dragging multiple vague and ominous injuries into the regular season on a team destined to come in last place (Nabers); and he isn't a rookie for a head coach who has famously done weird stuff with rookie running backs before(Jeanty). With the Lions primed for a soft passing regression I don't think ARSB can push higher than his back-to-back overall WR3 finishes without injury calamity ahead of him on the board, but it would be hard for him to find his way out of the top 5 without himself missing time.

Major caveats: This choice presumes both Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey are off the board. In anything short of full PPR if Henry is there for me after six, I'm doing it. It was Henry, not Barkley who was fantasy's runaway RB1 at the halfway point last year. In full PPR, if Christian McCaffrey makes it to me after Jefferson and Lamb are gone, I'm taking him just to keep him off other guys' teams. I'm not running the risk of somebody tapdancing on my head with McCaffrey in December for that cheap. If anybody's going to beat me it's gonna be me!

SECOND ROUND
Early: Jonathan Taylor
Current ADP: 19.7, RB9
Yahoo: 17 | Sleeper: 20 | RTSports: 22

This one was going to be boring ol' house favorite Josh Jacobs up until the last second, and for those of you that have grown tired of the Jekyl and Hide nature of the Jonathan Taylor ownership experience, I will urge you to stick with him. But as good as Jacobs is, Taylor is in the Barkley, Henry, pre-injury Nick Chubb tier of self-evidently elite pure rushers of the last several years. The drag on Taylor's ADP this year was the threat of both an anemic offense, and one where he would have to share the short rushing touchdowns with Anthony Richardson. With the news that Indianapolis is moving forward with Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback, that last part becomes far less glaring of a concern - Jones has 'just' eight rushing touchdowns from inside the 10-yard line since 2019, a much less imposing rate than what Richardson would likely produce. This also implies a passing game bump for Taylor, who posted a career-low 18 receptions last season despite playing in his most games since 2021. Across his final three starts last year (two of which had no Anthony Richardson), Taylor posted 90.9 fantasy points.

Honorable mention to Nico Collins, who is going precisely at the 1-2 turn in a ton of 12-team drafts right now, and so kind of falls between the cracks of the late 1st-early 2nd here. You would be amazed to see how high we have Collins in the current rankings.

Late: Brock Bowers
Current ADP: 20.0
Yahoo: 21 | Sleeper: 19 | RTSports: 20

This one kept me up at night. I most certainly have my TiVo set to record the Bucky Irving Variety Hour every Sunday this fall - the Bucs want him to be the focal point of their offense. But Brock Bowers will be the focal point of his. I still can't get over this factoid: In a rookie season where he finished as the top tight end in fantasy football, Brock Bowers scored only one touchdown from inside the opposing 20-yard line all year. He scored none from inside the 10! Bowers is simply too good to let somebody else in your league get for any cheaper than this.

Side note: I don't know what A.J. Brown did to deserve to be going in the late second round of 12-team leagues, but if you wind up taking running backs in the early first and third rounds then Brown is a fantastic, discounted WR1 to pair with your 'robust RB builds', as the kids like to say. He posted the largest target share of the decade last year.

THIRD ROUND
Early: Kyren Williams
Current ADP: 24.7, RB12
Yahoo: 21 | Sleeper: 19 | RTSports: 20

Is it lingering concerns over his (settled) contract extension? Apprehension at his yards per carry drop? Fears that he just can't keep getting away with being small and slow? Whatever the reason, I'm not buying it: Since taking over for the abruptly out of favor Cam Akers two summers past, Williams has done nothing but punch the ball into the endzone. He has scored a touchdown in 21 of his last 28 regular season games; he's scored multiple touchdowns in more games (eight) than he's scored none (seven). The Rams air it out between the 20s, and let Williams take over from there. Don't overthink it: if Kyren is here at your pick, take him.

Late: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Current ADP: 32.0, WR14
Yahoo: 32 | Sleeper: 29 | RTSports: 35

'JSN' actually isn't my favorite player left on the board here, but in a fairly major bit of foreshadowing I'm gonna roll the dice that that guy sees his current ADP slide between now and when your league is likely drafting. There's a strong case to be made for James Cook here - Ian just took him at this spot in the Invitational, after all. But Cook's mega outlier touchdown total feels more symptomatic than causal to me; the Bills pass catchers were either hurt or crummy pretty much wire to wire. The Seahawks have rearranged their constellation with Smith-Njigba as their sun. I wanna be warm in December.

FOURTH ROUND
Early: Alvin Kamara
Current ADP: 39.7, RB16
Yahoo: 45 | Sleeper: 40 | RTSports: 34

I'd wager a lot of people are going to be turning their noses up at this one, especially outside of full PPR formats. And understandably so: Kamara's never rushed for a thousand yards; he's openly campaigning to have his workload managed; the Saints are probably bad; he hasn't played in more than 15 games since his rookie season. All valid! So is this: Running as the RB16 off draft boards right now, Kamara's only season finishing outside the top 15 running backs was in 2022, when he scored a flukily-low four touchdowns on 280 touches and still basically made good on that ADP with his RB18 finish. Kamara has seven straight seasons of at least 250 touches; eight straight seasons of 45+ receptions; and weirdly, he's coming off a career-high 950 yards rushing. Kellen Moore is billed as being a running back-friendly influence on his offenses, and the Saints are all in on Kamara for at least one more season. There's floor and ceiling here... per game, at the very least.

Another major caveat: The guy I alluded to in the previous round: Breece Hall, of the current 32.7 ADP. If he slides out of the top 36 and into the first part of the fourth round in your draft... well, I don't envy you the dilemma between him and Kamara.

Late: Davante Adams
Current ADP: 42.3, WR18
Yahoo: 40 | Sleeper: 45 | RTSports: 42

Speaking of guys who have never not made good on their current ADPs, Adams hasn't failed to produce at the per game pace of a top 10 fantasy receiver since 2015. If Stafford rebounds and starts 15+ games, great. If he misses time, next man up is Jimmy Garoppolo - whom Adams still managed to endure as fantasy's WR3 overall thru their first three weeks together in 2023... before the wheels on 'the Josh McDaniels era' in Vegas flew off with great force. I'm definitely intrigued with DK Metcalf and Terry McLaurin here as well, but Adams' only fantasy peer in the last decade is Tyreek Hill, who is over a round more expensive and awfully risky. Adams is playing in his home state for the first time since college, and he wants to cap this thing off with a ring.

FIFTH ROUND
Early: TreVeyon Henderson
Current ADP: 56.3, RB22
Yahoo: 71 | Sleeper: 54 | RTSports: 44

Having mostly put the bat on the ball with low risk/moderate reward picks thus far, it's time to and try to land a knockout punch with a single pick. That haymaker is scintillating Patriots' rookie TreVeyon Henderson, and your mileage will very much vary here. As Henderson's staggering, 27-pick range by platform suggests, handicapping where he'll go in your draft is me trying to lasso the sun. But you probably know your league better than I, so if it's a group with a track record of being very forward with rookies then Henderson's upside is worth the risk at the tail end of the previous round. Plus, maybe that bumps Adams, Metcalf or McLaurin back around to you in the fifth. In any event, the word is already on the street over in the FI server: Henderson is the next Jahmyr Gibbs. You probably want the next Jahmyr Gibbs at this price, because he may never again be this cheap.

NOTE: Even in the time it took to write this, Henderson's poised to continue his climb all the way into the top 48 of drafts by the end of the month. If you want him and you're drafting around this part of the board, you may have to swap him out for the Adams pick in the previous round.

Late: Rashee Rice
Current ADP: 57.7, WR24
Yahoo: 61 | Sleeper: 48 | RTSports: 64

Did I mention that it was time to start swinging on upside? Obviously, this one will not be for everyone, nor will it be for the faint of heart; by drafting Rice, you are seeking out uncertainty. But after I took Rashee Rice (even earlier than this) in the FI Invitational, I posed the question: "Where would he be going if it came down that there would be no suspension in 2025?" The sentiment was unanimous: Second or third round pick. To me, Rashee Rice at his (sagging) ADP is a proposition not unlike Christian McCaffrey poses in the tail end of the first round: Never mind whatever games he might miss - what's it worth to you to keep somebody else in your league from getting him at a discount and clubbing you over the head with it in December? Personally, from approximately this part of the board down I will gladly weather a 4-6 game suspension to be the clubber.

SIXTH ROUND
Early: George Pickens
Current ADP: 64.0, WR29
Yahoo: 62 | Sleeper: 62 | RTSports: 68

The first Dallas Cowboy on the list is one of the newest. The ADPs of just about every Cowboy outside of CeeDee Lamb suggests a lack of confidence in what the 2025 team will look like under rookie HC Brian Schottenheimer. I whole-heartedly encourage you to attack that uncertainty, with Pickens as the tip of the spear. Say what you want about his run blocking, but Pittsburgh's relentless squandering of George Pickens' abilities as a playmaker in his first three seasons have reminded me of the stunted early years of A.J. Brown in Tennessee - a failure in which Arthur Smith also had a hand. After mystifyingly letting Rico Dowdle walk just so they could bring in reclamation projects Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders, the Cowboys have the most talent-poor group of pure rushers in the league. Prior to last year's dismal showing behind a disintegrating interior offensive line, Dak Prescott has consistently logged passing yardage and touchdown totals at one of the highest rates in the league since 2019. The Cowboys are a Micah Parsons trade away from a full-blown 2024 Cincinnati Bengals impersonation. You want a piece of that.

Late: Travis Hunter
Current ADP: 70.3, WR31
Yahoo: 73 | Sleeper: 66 | RTSports: 72

Again, we're taking a fairly aggressive swing on a player that is not a known commodity. Assuming you laid a sturdy foundation in the previous five rounds, you should now be in a place where you can absorb some risk. As rookie wide receivers attempting to do something with next to no precedent in the Super Bowl era go, Hunter feels pretty safe! New (and coveted) HC Liam Coen has foregone any of the typical 'make 'em earn it' tough love with Hunter, handing the two-way rookie a starting job on offense - but not on defense, and I think that pretty well telegraphs the plan here: Hunter can chip in on defense so long as it doesn't interfere with his role on offense, kind of like letting a teenager get a part-time job so long as their grades don't suffer. The Jags moved heaven and Earth to get Coen, who in turn brought his buddy from their days together with the Rams James Gladstone along to be his GM - and the two of them then went all-in on Hunter. There's an element of 'too big to fail' here.

SEVENTH ROUND
Early: Bo Nix
Current ADP: 73.3, QB8
Yahoo: 68 | Sleeper: 79 | RTSports: 73

I don't out and out love this value; I'm generally a 'be one of the first two or one of the last two to take a QB' types. But, forest for the trees, this is where it feels like the board is starting to run out of grunt at the other positions. Mark Andrews (TE7), Jaylen Waddle (WR32), and Jerry Jeudy (WR34) are all camped out here, and I genuinely don't mind any of those picks. But from a team balance standpoint, if you've bagged enough of the 10- and 15-point bucks above, you might be getting to the point where you'd rather swing at a QB instead. With the Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan news, I'm pivoting off of Mayfield in favor of Hunter at their current prices and instead advocating for Nix here in the early 7th. With Nix, there's just too much to like: After a rude introduction to the NFL last September, Nix put together a sterling final three months: He was fifth in passing touchdowns (28), eighth in completion percentage (68.3), and one of only four quarterbacks to finish in the top 10 in both passing and rushing yards. Two of those other three, Lamar Jackson and Mayfield, are likely long gone by this point in your draft. Add in the arrivals of Evan Engram, Pat Bryant and an all-new backfield and Nix is primed to run back his QB7 finish last year, and quite possibly improve upon it.

Late: Evan Engram
Current ADP: 85.3, TE8
Yahoo: 81 | Sleeper: 87 | RTSports: 88

Another borderline coin flip call toward the end of the seventh. There is absolutely a case to be made for Rome Odunze here; heck, there's a case to be made for darn near every Chicago Bear at their current ADPs. But I've only called out one other tight end so far, and several will likely have just had their names called in your draft, so let's see about making some room for Evan Engram. Real easy pitch and catch case here: Coming off of consecutive top 6 finishes in his first two seasons with the Jaguars, there may have been some 'baby with the bathwater' to Jacksonville letting him go along with dismissing former head coach Doug Pederson. Probably, Jacksonville just liked the (cheaper) Brenton Strange. Either way, the Broncos were all too happy to scoop Engram up and insert him as the 'Joker' that this offense lacked for in 2024. As the cherry on top, Denver just shipped last year's de facto slot man Devaughn Vele out of town for a surprisingly princely return; Vele ran 70 percent of his snaps out of the slot last year. Wheels up on Mile High Engram.

Honorable mention for Deebo Samuel at this spot. He's healthy, looking fairly svelte, and the latest updates on the Terry McLaurin contract leave much to be desired. With the backfield in flux and his history of contributing that way as well, I find my interest piquing.

EIGHTH ROUND
Early: David Njoku
Current ADP: 92.7, TE9
Yahoo: 77 | Sleeper: 93 | RTSports: 108

If you're sick of me pounding the table for Njoku then boy, do I ever have bad news for you. After years of toiling for head coaches that seemingly were reluctant to score too many points and/or succeed, Njoku has turned into a veritable target magnet of late, and has a previous rapport with returning (likely) starter Joe Flacco that Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman, his primary target competition, have had to build from scratch. The offense is heading into the season without the fog of the misbegotten Deshaun Watson era shrouding them, and until Quinshon Judkins (also a worthwhile pick here!) is ready to roll, this is a team that profiles to generate above-average pass volume. The stars may be aligned for Njoku to finally register his first top 5 finish in 2025. Not too often that I strongly agree with the Yahoo number and strongly disagree with the RTSports one, but this is the exception that proves the rule.

Here's as good a spot as any to ballpark where Emeka Egbuka's speeding locomotive ADP might have settled by the time your draft is in session. Sitting at just outside the top 100 players as the WR45, the twin Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan news is absolutely sure to push him inside the top 85 in the days ahead - and maybe even higher. Keep your eyes peeled for every crumb of Chris Godwin news that you can, and keep Egbuka in your hip pocket accordingly. Like him or love him, if Godwin's out for significant time you'd probably have to jump on him at a price like this.

Late: Ricky Pearsall
Current ADP: 96.3, WR42
Yahoo: 106 | Sleeper: 94 | RTSports: 89

Another guy who is on the move up the board in a major way, the word is finally out on who is the 49ers' wideout to bet on this year. After a much-publicized attempted robbery left him with a bullet wound, it would have been hard to fault Pearsall if his rookie season had wound up a wash. But he flickered to life coming out of the 49ers' bye, and then with the season a lost cause the 49ers turned him loose in their final two games: 18 targets, 14 catches, 210 yards, two TDs.

The 49ers thought highly enough of Pearsall to make him a first-round pick in last year's preposterously strong rookie class, and with Brandon Aiyuk unlikely to be available before October and Jauan Jennings a contract malcontent, the sea looks to be parting for Pearsall to step to the front of the line in the Kyle Shanahan offense.

NINTH ROUND
Early: Dak Prescott
Current ADP: 100.0, QB12
Yahoo: 91 | Sleeper: 117 | RTSports: 92

Why Sleeper is especially bearish on Prescott I have no idea - if you can get him at the end of the 10th round, more power to ya. In any event, Prescott running back with Brock Purdy and Jared Goff (great picks in their own rights) is a pretty stellar buy for me. As laid out in the case for George Pickens earlier, we really have precious little reason to think that Dak Prescott has suddenly fallen off a cliff and can't hack it in the NFL anymore. The Cowboys were bad last year and had next to nothing for Prescott to work with after Lamb and Jake Ferguson. Now, Dallas has two good (perhaps even two excellent) receivers outside, a capable pass-catching tight end, a tough schedule, a defense that is going to keep the other team in games even if Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons make up, and no real, threatening presence between the tackles. That sure sounds to me like the soup base for last year's Cincinnati Bengals. Take Dak, and if you're squeamish pair him with a Trevor Lawrence, J.J. McCarthy or Caleb Williams for peace of mind. The value's too dang good.

Late: Tyler Warren
Current ADP: 108.3, TE11
Yahoo: 125 | Sleeper: 96 | RTSports: 104

A lot of folks are gonna be zeroed in on the other tight end on this part of the board: Tucker Kraft, who put an emphatic end to any question over who the top dog was between him and Luke Musgrave last year. Kraft is a good player, and should make a good amount of hay with the targets he gets - I got no bone to pick with him being your pick. But while Kraft has been highly productive with the targets he's seen, his next pro game with more than seven targets or 80 yards will be his second. A year after narrowly missing out on Brock Bowers, the Colts landed what they hope will also be a franchise-altering talent in Warren. That's really the basis of leaning Warren here: After rewriting the record books last year at Penn State, there is a real possibility he could walk into this Indianapolis offense with Jonathan Taylor and not much else going for it and become central to the offense in a way that I just don't think a guy like Tucker Kraft can. Tyler Warren is a candidate for both 70 receptions and 8+ touchdowns as a rookie, for a price that won't kill you if the offense is just too anemic to get him there.

TENTH ROUND
Early: Caleb Williams
Current ADP:
Yahoo: 109 | Sleeper: 125 | RTSports: 100

Another one that's going to be absolutely inconceivable for a lot of you - that's fine, you don't have to take him. We've already had a couple QBs in recent rounds, and we'll get to more. I'm laying out what I think are the best options at the various nooks and crannies of your board. When the Bears hired Ben Johnson, the hope was that he not only would put their young quarterback on the right heading, not only would he modernize the offense - but that he would bring a real culture shift into the building with him. By all rights, that is exactly what has happened from Day 1: This has gone from a 'Well, let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best' mentality to a very focused, very serious football operation in just eight months. The Bears made massive upgrades along the offensive line and turned an already strong stable of receivers into an embarrassment of riches.

You probably have a lot of reservations about going anywhere near Caleb this year. But the overwhelming sense among us fantasy nerds is that this Chicago offense is a train leaving the station; the floor is significantly higher than last year, where almost everything went wrong, and yet still finished as the QB16. If you're wrong about him, passing on him here for a quarterback further down the board could absolutely haunt you.

Late: Drake Maye
Current ADP: 120.3, QB16
Yahoo: 112 | Sleeper: 130 | RTSports: 119

Not unlike the Bo Nix advocacy earlier, this one is less about being gung-ho for the player and more about being underwhelmed by the alternatives - at this point in normal leagues, people are starting to pivot to kickers and running back handcuffs. Rather than delve into those, let's talk about 'cut rate Bo Nix' here, because there's a surprisingly large contingent of players planning their draft strategies around getting Drake Maye as their QB1. And it makes a certain sense: Maye boogied for 421 yards rushing in only 10 full starts. Projected out, that's around 700 yards of rushing value that makes for a very nice floor. But Maye looks to have some gunslinger to him, having thrown a pick in eight of those 10 games. Combine that with an uncertain set of receivers and the arrival of Mike Vrabel, who is more than happy winning games by a score of 9-6 as long as he wins them, and there's less of a floor here than some fantasy dreamers want to believe. Well worth taking a shot on him at the price though.

ELEVENTH ROUND
Early: Jaydon Blue
Current ADP: 136.7, RB42
Yahoo: 167 | Sleeper: 131 | RTSports: 112

Our first pick that could truly be off of a lot of the fantasy rosters that drafted him by the end of September, and our final Dallas Cowboy. Running outside of the top 40, Blue's stock has been mercifully suppressed by his absence from Dallas' first two preseason contests. Now over the ankle injury scare from early in the month, Blue's slated to make his NFL debut in the team's preseason finale alongside mostly roster hopefuls. Here's hoping he has a good-not-great day at the office; we don't need his ADP doing a TreVeyon Henderson impersonation because the guy houses a couple long touchdowns. There are still a bafflingly large number of people that are making the case for Javonte Williams in any sort of lasting capacity as the guy here. I hope those people find the help that they need; Javonte Williams has wheezed to 3.7 yards per carry since his okay rookie season. People are seeing things with Javonte that simply are not there. You could very effectively argue that no running back has as wide open a path to rocket up his team's depth chart as the one that Blue has - so long as he can keep his college fumbling woes in check. And so long as Dallas' general manager doesn't get any bright ideas about bringing in another running back.

Unfortunately, this is also where recent events dictate that we must address the burgundy and gold elephant in the room: Jacory Croskey-Merritt. Unsurprisingly, with the Brian Robinson bombshell last week no player has seen their ADP screaming up the charts like 'Bill' - he was hanging back as the RB57 when I began writing this up, and just in the time since has climbed all the way to RB41. Making matters worse, this is not some fleabag offense we want no part of - the Commanders are good now, they made it within a game of the dang Super Bowl, somehow! I can't say for sure how this thing is gonna shake out - nobody can, I doubt even the Commanders could if under oath. I will point out that 'JCM' becoming the 'it' boy of this year's preseason while Austin Ekeler and Chris Rodriguez's markets barely flutter is... somewhat puzzling. Don't get me wrong, I'm still bullish on Croskey-Merritt - my new dynasty podcast was pretty much first on the scene on this guy back in May, so naturally we're rooting for him. But I can't help but feel like I'm on the verge of being priced completely out of my neighborhood here; this could be a full-blown, three-man committee for the foreseeable future.

Late: Keon Coleman
Current ADP: 137.7, WR51
Yahoo: 169 | Sleeper: 119 | RTSports: 125

His overall ADP artificially sandbagged by Yahoo's frankly irresponsibly low placement, really anywhere in this part of the board is where you need to have your eyes peeled for Buffalo's sophomore receiver - he went directly behind Blue in the FI Invititational. There's not a terribly involved case to be made for Coleman: This is a turnkey offense that was humming along just fine last year, even without any receiver stepping up to do much of anything outside of Khalil Shakir. The Bills want Coleman to succeed, and by all rights he's had a very strong summer. Even if you're not especially enamored with the player here (and many aren't), to be able to find guys like Coleman and Blue with so little standing between them and fantasy relevance in a desirable offense is the kind of girder from which fantasy championships are built. Give me Buffalo's preferred WR1 for couch cushion money eight days a week.

TWELVTH ROUND
Early: Luther Burden III
Current ADP: 151.7, WR53
Yahoo: 165 | Sleeper: 142 | RTSports: 148

The running theme keeps right on runnin': Chasing the upside in offenses that I think are broadly underpriced, top to bottom. Burden's an interesting one: After a seismic sophomore year at Mizzou, 'LBIII' went into the 2024 college season as one of the top two or three receiver prospects in the nation. Things went poorly last fall, Burden's numbers retreated across the board, and future UDFA teammate WR Theo Wease outproduced him much of the time. But the Bears still saw fit to make him the second pick of the Ben Johnson era, and we've already started to see flickers of why. A summer largely lost to a "soft tissue injury" turned out to be a pulled hamstring, shelving him for much of the team's May activities. That time lost, combined with the dense pecking order seemingly ahead of him in the offense is helping to suppress Burden's redraft sticker price. But Burden is a former five-star recruit that went for 86/1212/9 as a 19-year-old. As good as D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze are, Burden may be the more natural fit for the Amon-Ra St. Brown role in this offense long-term.

And who knows, maybe even near-term.

Late: Rashid Shaheed
Current ADP: 155.0, WR55
Yahoo: 191 | Sleeper: 124 | RTSports: 150

For the briefest of moments last September, the dream that was the Rashid Shaheed breakout started to take shape. After splashing a long touchdown and not much else in each of the Saints' first two games, the speedy Shaheed suddenly began being peppered with targets: He saw 27 of them from Weeks 3 thru 5, 10 more than he'd ever drawn over any three-game stretch of his young career. That kind of volume coupled with his propensity for eating flat-footed safeties alive down the middle of the field might have turned him into something resembling DeSean Jackson.

Alas, it was not to be. Shaheed suffered another knee injury, this time to his meniscus, and was lost for the season. Once again heading into a contract year, and with the Saints in an even greater degree of flux than they were going into last season, the range of outcomes for Shaheed is quite large. He could fade out of the offense and be tasked with focusing more on his Pro Bowl-caliber special teams play; he could fight Chris Olave to a draw to lead the team in receiving yards; at the extreme end of the spectrum, he could be counted on as the Saints' primary perimeter option if the Saints were to opt to move on from the oft-injured Olave in the weeks ahead. It is difficult to bottle the kind of big play propensity Shaheed has flashed since first arriving in the NFL in 2023, but you certainly can't teach it. Perhaps no player in the league needs fewer receptions to cross the 1,000-yard mark than does Shaheed. I'll stick around for one more song.

—Luke Wilson