In my recent SportsLine article, I wrote about my least favorite pick currently in every round of Best Ball drafts. My least favorite pick in Round 3 of Best Ball drafts is Giants' rookie WR Malik Nabers.
His ADP is currently 25 on Underdog Fantasy and I have him ranked 40 in my 2024 Best Ball top 250 rankings on SportsLine. I realize this is a big difference from consensus for a top rookie prospect, but several factors play into my ranking.
Like most of the top talents that I have ranked lower than consensus, I have the other receivers in that range ranked higher. I have receivers like DeVonta Smith, D.J. Moore, and Cooper Kupp to name a few all ranked higher than Nabers because I think their floor-ceiling combination is much better.
The main reason for Naber's downgrade is his landing spot with the Giants and likely Daniel Jones as his quarterback. Yes, he'll be the WR1, but on a bad offense with a lower-tier quarterback. He's being drafted as WR18, and it's very hard to see him being a top 20 wide receiver as a rookie in a weaker offense.
As I've written, I'm very high on WR Calvin Ridley this season. Calvin Ridley's ADP is currently 58, over 30 spots lower than Nabers. Look at the recent Underdog Fantasy Pick'ems below. The line for Nabers is only 25 yards higher than Ridley. Yet Ridley goes two to three rounds later than Nabers.
2024 ADP
Calvin Ridley - WR35
Malik Nabers - WR18
2024 Projections
Calvin Ridley - 875.5 Yards
Malik Nabers - 900.5 Yards pic.twitter.com/rPpYoEBqjz— Underdog Drafts (@UnderdogDrafts) June 20, 2024
In Best Ball it is important to separate the talent of a player from the situation for the player. Then you must be price-sensitive, and I think Nabers is being drafted too high and is very unlikely to be a top-20 wide receiver this season.
See the rest of 2024 Best Ball top 250 rankings on SportsLine.