Josh Norris labeled rookie DJ Giddens a rock-solid late-round running back because the Colts openly telegraphed a desire for a true No. 2 behind Jonathan Taylor before the draft and then spent meaningful capital on Giddens. Indianapolis’ staff told reporters they wanted someone to "take 8–10 carries off JT’s plate"—a role Zack Moss parlayed into six top-30 weekly finishes last year. Giddens offers 4.46 speed at 220 pounds and posted an 88% success rate on inside-zone runs at Kansas State, the very concept new OC Alex Van Pelt featured on 46% of his early-down calls in Cleveland. Norris expects Giddens to be the clear second back by Week 1 with contingent RB1 upside if Taylor were to miss time, making his final-round ADP a priority for Hero-RB builds.

Josh Norris argued that drafters continue to sleep on Adam Thielen even after back-to-back top-24 fantasy finishes. Despite his age, Thielen keeps winning by finding soft spots versus zone and remains an integral part of what Norris called “one of the most vertically-oriented passing attacks in the league.” Thielen logged multiple long-ball receptions against Tampa Bay and Las Vegas last year and now gets Dave Canales calling an offense that ranked top-10 in average depth of target at Washington. With rookie Tet McMillan and Jalen Coker drawing perimeter attention, Thielen should again live in the slot and intermediate seams where Bryce Young posted his highest EPA per throw. Norris believes an 85-catch, 1,000-yard encore is firmly in play while Thielen is still lingering in the double-digit rounds.

Josh Norris said Mike Gesicki is nothing more than a contingency flyer in Best Ball drafts. He reminded listeners that Zac Taylor has never featured the tight end when both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are healthy—Bengals TEs combined for just 13.9% target share in the 11 games the star duo played together last season. Gesicki is essentially a 6-foot-6 power slot who will only see real volume if either Higgins or Chase misses time. Until that happens Norris expects Gesicki to run wind-sprints outside of red-zone packages because Cincinnati’s three-wide sets funnel looks to Chase and the backs. Draft him strictly as an insurance policy for late-round construction, not as a usable weekly option.

Josh Norris projected a steadier, more explosive 2024 for Xavier Legette now that Carolina drafted true X receiver Tet McMillan to let Legette settle back into his natural flanker role. Norris said Legette’s head was "spinning" last year as he was asked to run the full route tree while playing through a nagging wrist injury that the team blamed for several drops; he never had the surgery but has finally healed. Dave Canales specifically drafted Legette for crossing routes, verticals, and deep posts—the same concepts that showcased his 4.39 speed at South Carolina. Carolina ranked dead last in yards after catch and missed tackles forced in 2023; Norris believes Legette and McMillan can flip that script, with Legette also shining in the low red zone where he already beat Patrick Surtain on a 12-yard TD fade as a rookie. He called Legette a "very, very good value" in the Round-10 range, capable of multiple 25-point spike weeks.

Josh Norris recommended scooping up Tutu Atwell in the 17th–18th rounds, noting that Sean McVay and new OC Mike LaFleur have both hyped Atwell’s camp performance and clarified his niche as the offense’s designated lid-lifter. Atwell carved out a defined deep-threat role last year, posting four separate games of 18-plus PPR points thanks to schemed verticals and play-action bombs. With the Rams maintaining one of the league’s highest play-action rates and Matthew Stafford still willing to launch, Norris believes Atwell supplies exactly the kind of boom-bust profile that pays off best-ball ADPs in the late rounds.

Josh Norris said Ricky Pearsall is the 49er wideout he keeps drafting because the rookie should inherit much of Shanahan’s pre-snap motion and jet-sweep usage after finally looking 100 % healthy late last season ("he wasn’t really himself until Week 9 or 10"). Pearsall goes in the same seventh-round pocket as Brandon Ayuk, yet Ayuk enters camp dinged up while Pearsall brings fresh legs and scheme-versatile movement skills the staff already highlighted in spring practices. With San Francisco’s offense projected top-five in scoring and their defense likely to regress, Norris believes Pearsall offers similar weekly ceilings to Ayuk at a fraction of the injury risk, making him a priority pick in that ADP zone.

Josh Norris explained that he is drafting Jauan Jennings well above market because the veteran wideout offers inexpensive exposure to Kyle Shanahan’s passing game while Brandon Ayuk battles an injury and carries the exact same draft cost tier. Norris emphasized Jennings’ unique skill set— elite run-blocking keeps him on the field, and he excels at settling into zone coverage and using “the dark arts” of subtle push-offs to create space. That combination produced multiple 20-plus–point spike weeks last season, and with the 49ers owning an easy schedule and every offensive starter still intact, Norris expects similar boom weeks in 2024. He views Jennings as the perfect late-round WR6/7 who can single-handedly win a Best Ball playoff week.

Josh Norris said Kenneth Walker III should be drafted ahead of Joe Mixon and Chuba Hubbard in Best Ball because the Seahawks have quietly built an ideal environment for a true spike-week workhorse season. Norris pointed to new offensive coordinator Clint Kubiak, noting that Kubiak’s Saints units lined up in 21 or 12 personnel on 50 % of snaps and leaned heavily on outside-zone runs—Walker’s bread-and-butter where he averaged 5.9 yards per carry the last two years. Pete Carroll fired pass-happy Ryan Grubb, and both Kubiak and head coach Mike Macdonald have publicly stated they “want to give Walker the ball as much as possible.” Combine that coach-speak with the fact Walker has clearly held off Zach Charbonnet, and Norris believes Walker owns a much higher best-case outcome than Mixon’s volume-based, efficiency-questionable profile in Houston. He labeled Walker a mid-round smash with legitimate league-winning upside.

Josh Norris argued that George Kittle should go at least two rounds earlier than his current 5.01 ADP. While Brock Bowers and Trey McBride are being drafted in Round 2, Kittle—who has already posted three separate seasons as a top-3 tight end—is sitting three full rounds later. Norris noted that whenever one of the 49ers’ core skill players misses time, the remaining trio tends to "go nuclear," giving Kittle weekly 25-point spike-week potential. With San Francisco’s defense possibly regressing on paper and Kyle Shanahan’s offense still projected to rank top-5 in scoring, Norris believes Kittle can realistically finish as the overall TE1 or TE2. That sort of ceiling, coupled with the large draft-capital gap versus Bowers/McBride, makes Kittle one of the best value picks in Best Ball drafts right now.

Josh Norris said Carolina’s front-office habits create an exploitable edge for NFL Draft betting. He noted that in 2024 the Panthers wound up selecting six of the eight prospects they brought in for top-30 visits, a pattern that matches what Dave Canales has publicly described as his "three-touchpoint" approach: meet a player at the Senior Bowl, interview him at the Combine, and finish with a Charlotte visit that starts by asking for the prospect’s football origin story. Because the staff wants every draft pick to clear all three checkpoints, Norris believes any prospect who appears on the Panthers’ published visit list should be treated as a live favorite to be drafted by them. He contrasted this with Jacksonville, who have now gone the opposite direction by limiting visits and hiding their intentions, making their list far less predictive. Norris advised bettors to monitor Carolina’s visit tracker and pounce early on position- or player-to-team props before the market adjusts.