Chris Raybon pegged Drake Maye as the premier mid-round upside swing thanks to his legs. Maye averaged nearly 40 rushing yards per start last season without many designed runs, giving him a built-in weekly floor. Raybon expects New England’s offense to open up with Stefon Diggs, rookie Kyle Williams, and versatile back TreVeyon Henderson joining the skill group, allowing Maye to pair his rushing with improved passing efficiency. Going in the mid-QB2 range, Raybon believes Maye can leap into the top-10 quarterbacks if those new weapons click while his scrambling continues.

Sean Koerner called Maye "another great flyer" for one-QB formats, saying waiver-wire safety covers the floor while the ceiling is enormous. He likened May’s potential to a Josh Allen breakout, citing dual-threat traits, expected increase in designed runs under McDaniels, and an upgraded receiving corps led by Stefon Diggs and rookie Kyle Williams. Koerner believes Maye could pop into the top five this season and cost a sixth-round pick next year, so now is the time to pounce.

Chris Raybon pushed Drake Maye up to QB14—three spots above consensus—because the rushing profile is too good to pass. Maye averaged 37 rushing yards in his 11 true starts despite just a single designed run, so Raybon expects Josh McDaniels to unlock even more called keepers. That ground production, combined with improved weapons if Stefon Diggs is healthy and rookie Kyle Williams flashes, gives May weekly top-10—and season-long top-five—upside at a QB17 price tag. Raybon would rather draft that ceiling now than stream low-mobility passers like Jared Goff or Jordan Love later.

James Koh admitted he is "more bearish on TreVeyon Henderson than probably darn near anybody." Henderson posted a class-worst 33.3 % success rate on zone runs last season yet excelled on man-gap concepts, the same style Josh McDaniels used at the ninth-highest rate in 2022, making him an intriguing scheme fit. Koh noted New England’s high second-round investment guarantees touches, but he still projects only a 50-50 split with Stevenson and emphasized Henderson’s limited pass-catching profile. The result, per Koh, is an early-down back whose fantasy upside is capped outside of touchdown-heavy formats.

In the same breath, Koh framed TreVeyon Henderson as an under-priced fantasy asset because the Patriots spent an early second-round pick on him and will force him into a full 50 % share right away. Henderson’s draft capital plus a fresh coaching regime signal immediate involvement, making him a cost-efficient RB3/Flex with room to seize an even bigger role if his explosiveness pops or Stevenson falters.

Jake Ciely said Hunter Henry is a perfectly acceptable full-PPR safety-valve. Henry’s 15 percent target share last season was kneecapped by uncatchable throws, yet he averaged 9.0 PPR points in games rookie Drake Maye handled most of the snaps. Ciely projects that a full season with Maye could push Henry to 90 targets and roughly 10–11 PPR points per week, which would land him in the TE6–TE8 range. He admitted Henry lacks top-5 upside but argued that managers who simply want Dallas Goedert-style weekly volume can grab Henry late, ride the stable floor, and jettison him quickly if it does not materialize.

Joe Bartel acknowledged that if drafters insist on grabbing a tight end in the late teens, Hunter Henry is the only name the RotoWire mock-draft tool pegs with any real ceiling. The algorithm assigns Henry the highest "upside potential" score in a bleak Round-13 pool that also includes Mike Gesicki and Isaiah Likely. Bartel said Henry is still a long shot to crack the top 12, but his projected red-zone role makes him the best emergency option once you have faded the position through the first 12 rounds.

James Koh said Antonio Gibson’s fantasy relevance will come almost exclusively through the air. Gibson handled 33.3 % of Patriots running-back carries last season, but Koh "seriously doubts" he approaches that figure in 2025 with Stevenson and Henderson entrenched ahead of him. Koh envisions Gibson as a sub-package receiving back rather than part of the main rushing rotation, making him a late-round PPR flier with limited weekly volume and little standalone value in standard leagues.

James Koh said he expects New England to deploy a true 50-50 committee between Rhamondre Stevenson and high-pick Travion Henderson. Koh likes Stevenson’s three-down skill set and reminded listeners the front office just extended him for four years and $36 million, but he still assigned Stevenson only a 5/10 job-security score because a new coaching staff spent second-round draft capital on Henderson. With Josh McDaniels returning to a run scheme that could favor early-down rotation, Koh advised fantasy managers to treat Stevenson as an RB2 whose weekly ceiling is muted by the expected even workload split and potential goal-line competition.

Koh expects new Patriots leadership to open 2025 with a dead-even committee, giving Stevenson only half the backfield pie while accommodating high-second-round pick Travion Henderson. Although Koh called Stevenson the more complete player, he warned that the incoming 50-50 workload crushes the ceiling Stevenson enjoyed two seasons ago and relegates him to low-end RB2 territory unless Henderson falters.

Josh called Kyle Williams an "excellent prospect" who never should have slipped to pick 69 in the NFL draft. He expects Williams to compete for starting snaps immediately and eventually emerge as New England’s top option behind Stefon Diggs. The rookie brings verified vertical juice plus after-catch skills, and Josh thinks the Patriots’ offense is quietly underrated from a scoring standpoint. Williams is therefore a priority dynasty stash for managers willing to sacrifice short-term points in exchange for a possible future target hog.

Mattek admitted DeMario Douglas—and teammate Wan'Dale Robinson—are "not good picks" in a vacuum, but he is still taking them because their cheap, high-catch slot roles provide an immediate points buffer while suspended players like Rashee Rice or Jordan Addison sit out. Drafting Douglas around pick 190 allows him to front-load reception volume in Weeks 1-4, freeing him to gamble on upside names that will not score early. The strategy balances risk across the roster and helps advance rates for constructions heavy on delayed-production players.

Kendall Valenzuela loves grabbing Drake Maye outside pick 100 after his QB22 rookie year (13.6 PPG). She highlighted his 223 passing yards and 36 rushing yards per full start, pointing out the Patriots ranked dead last in supporting cast and receiver yardage (1,723) in 2024. With Mike Vrabel taking over and New England aggressively upgrading weapons, Valenzuela believes Maye’s floor rises and his rushing upside (4.9 attempts, 36.3 yards per game) can push him well past his draft slot.

Best Ball Guy urged drafters to scoop Tyquan Thornton before his ADP catches up. Reports say Thornton is now "running with the ones," and BBG emphasized that a 6-foot-5 field stretcher who can win outside has no business lingering in the final few rounds. New England’s thin receiver room makes Thornton one positive camp report away from locking in a full-time role, giving him the exact spike-week profile best-ball players need in the late teens. With a dirt-cheap price tag and a soft post-Thanksgiving schedule indoors or in mild weather, BBG labeled him a free lottery ticket to tack onto Patriots or opposing Week-17 stacks.

Best Ball Guy admitted he is "skeptical" of 31-year-old Stefon Diggs coming off an ACL tear and switching teams, noting the NFL history of that profile is almost universally bleak. Even so, he has started to scoop Diggs in Round 4 because the Patriots draw what Sharp Football charts as the second-softest pass-defense schedule in the league. That runway includes six indoor or mild-weather games after Week 12 and only one opponent that ranked top-10 in EPA allowed per drop-back last season. BBG thinks New England will feed Diggs 25-30 % of Mac Jones’ (or Drake Maye’s) targets to hide a shallow receiver room, making the veteran a spike-week machine despite the medical red flags. His bottom line: the schedule is kind, the price has bled down almost two full rounds, and that risk-reward combo is worth an overweight stance in Best Ball Sprint and Chow Chow contests.

Pat Kerrane said Drake Maye is the rookie quarterback worth taking big stands on in Best Ball drafts. He revealed May is already his fifth-highest-rostered player on DraftKings (32 % exposure) and sixth on Underdog (24 %). The confidence comes from a convergence of factors: Vegas sets New England’s win total at 8.5 and has them favored in 11 of 17 games, giving May the second-easiest overall schedule—only San Francisco’s projects softer. Those spreads create the perfect mix of game scripts: competitive toss-ups against middling teams and high-tempo chase spots versus upper-tier defenses like Buffalo and Baltimore. Kerrane believes May’s decisive scrambling (Allen-style power with Jaden Daniels-type willingness), improved coaching staff, and modest but real upgrades to the supporting cast will translate into immediate fantasy production. He expects rushing to provide a weekly floor while the deep ball unlocks spike weeks, projecting a Stroud-like year-one arc that could push May into the massive second tier of fantasy QBs by season’s end.

Erik Beimfohr reiterated that Kyle Williams remains firmly in the hunt for Week-1 usage after another week of camp. Beimfohr noted that beat writers have consistently kept Williams with the top two units while veterans Mac Hollins and Kayshon Boutte rotate at the boundary X spot. Hollins has been sidelined, and Boutte has mostly been asked to do the dirty-work blocking role, leaving a path for Williams to claim snaps at Z or in the slot. If coaches decide DeMario Douglas needs to come off the field to free up Diggs (Adonai Mitchell) for big-slot looks, Williams would be the next man up on the perimeter. The ability to play both inside and out matters because New England is expected to run plenty of two-tight-end looks; Williams has already been seen staying on the field in 12 personnel. In Beimfohr’s view, the rookie now needs only to beat out Boutte for that rotational spot, a far lower bar than many late-round WRs face. That versatility plus a shaky depth chart keeps him a priority flier in Best Ball drafts where any early-season spike week can swing advance rates.

Pat Kerrane bumped rookie Kyle Williams up his ranks after multiple reports of the third-rounder working with the Patriots’ first-team offense. Kerrane admitted Williams is still a long shot to start in Week 1, but the early reps all but eliminate the nightmare scenario New England faced last year when a Day-2 receiver was buried on the depth chart. Instead, Williams appears on track to rotate in three-wide sets from the jump, giving him a faster path to fantasy relevance. For Best Ball drafters hunting late spike potential, Kerrane likes Williams over similarly priced rookies such as Jalen Polk, whose camp buzz has been minimal. The usage suggests Williams could carve out 60-70% route participation by mid-season and provide low-cost exposure to an improving Patriots passing game.

Pat Kerrane said Drake Maye is his single favorite late-round quarterback and called him a true “skeleton key” for Best Ball builds. Kerrane is sitting at 32% exposure on DraftKings and 24% on Underdog—an unusually aggressive stance for him at QB—because he believes the market is overlooking several ceiling signals. First, Vegas gives New England an 8.5-win total and the second-easiest schedule in the league; the Patriots are actually favored in 11 of 17 games, yet still project for plenty of competitive, pass-friendly scripts against elite teams like Buffalo and Baltimore. Second, Maye upgrades from last year’s “dumpster-fire” environment to a competent offensive staff and slightly better weapons, creating a pathway to a C.J. Stroud-style leap. Third, Maye’s willingness to scramble (Kerrane compared the play style to a hybrid of Josh Allen’s power and Jayden Daniels’ decisiveness) supplies critical rushing juice that can swing weekly Best Ball tournaments. Finally, touchdown volatility is on Maye’s side; Kerrane noted that Baker Mayfield jumped from 28 to 41 scores in a single season and argued a similar spike is well within range if New England’s offense merely functions. Given a QB22–QB24 ADP, Kerrane views Maye as a cheap bet on 3,800-plus passing yards, 400 rushing yards, and a puncher’s chance at 30 total touchdowns—outcomes that would bury the pocket of the draft where he’s currently available.

Pat Kerrane upgraded Kyle Williams after multiple beat reports had the rookie repping with the starters and flashing after-catch burst. While he still expects Williams to open behind veteran boundary options, Kerrane believes the Patriots’ depleted receiver room will have a package for Williams early, avoiding the Jalen Polk treatment that buried last year’s Day-2 pick. With New England likely to chase points, the rookie’s inside-outside versatility gives him a path to mid-season breakout volume, making him worth a stash in the final rounds of deep Best Ball drafts.

Tyler Sullivan said third-rounder Kyle Williams could immediately crack New England’s fantasy radar because he brings the vertical juice the Pats have lacked. New England ranked dead last in explosive pass-play rate in 2024, yet Williams has already flashed the remedy at camp: he took a Drake May swing pass and simply outran the secondary, then muscled down a comeback route against All-Pro CB Christian Gonzalez for the play of the day. Sullivan emphasized that burst after the catch and physicality were the exact traits flagged by scouts and that Bill O’Brien will scheme him into the big-play role the club hoped N’Keal Harry would fill years ago. With virtually no competition behind veteran Stefon Diggs and a depth chart begging for splash plays, Sullivan believes Williams is a late-round season-long dart who could ‘pop’ as early as September.

Jamey Eisenberg said Stefon Diggs is a full participant just nine months after his ACL tear and is locked in as Drake Maye’s No. 1 target. Eisenberg noted Josh McDaniels’ history of funneling slot targets to Wes Welker, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, but expects DeMario Douglas to occupy that slot role, meaning the 31-year-old Diggs will play outside more often. Add in Diggs turning 32 in November and coming off a major knee injury, and Eisenberg urged a "cautiously optimistic" approach: draft him in the Round-7 range as a WR3 who could still crack the top-20 if he proves healthy and McDaniels moves him inside more than expected.

Chris Raybon said the market is miles too low on Stefon Diggs, who is sliding outside the top-40 wideouts despite every signal pointing to a monster target share in New England. The Patriots handed Diggs a big contract and imported Josh McDaniels— a coordinator who has never shied away from force-feeding his WR1 (see Davante Adams in Las Vegas). Rookie quarterback Drake Maye showed a 30-percent target-rate tendency at North Carolina when he identified a true alpha, and Raybon expects the same dynamic here. Health no longer looks like a hurdle: Diggs avoided the PUP list, was cleared for practice on Day 1 of camp, and Raybon joked that any receiver energetic enough to party with Cardi B while rehabbing an ACL “is probably good to go.” In a best-ball room that worries about the Patriots’ overall ceiling, Raybon is happy to bank on raw volume, projecting a realistic 28-to-30 percent target share that would smash his current WR4 price tag. He advised pairing Diggs with Maye late to capture a cheap, correlated bet on a pass-heavy script as New England plays catch-up all season.

Steve Palazzolo warned that Kendrick Bourne could be a surprise cut once the Patriots trim to five or six receivers. With Diggs, Mack Hollins, rookie Kyle Williams, Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas and possibly Jalen Polk penciled in, Bourne is suddenly seventh in line. Palazzolo noted that New England has played the "let’s-see-what-sticks" game at wideout for years, and Bourne has survived before, but this offseason’s influx of draft capital and Hollins’ unique size/speed profile put serious pressure on the veteran. Fantasy managers stashing Bourne in deep leagues should be ready to pivot if early-August practice reports show him running with the twos.

Steve Palazzolo projected DeMario Douglas to be "the perfect slot for Josh McDaniels" and a roster lock despite the crowded depth chart. Douglas impressed the staff with his short-area quickness and route polish as a rookie, and Palazzolo thinks McDaniels will feature him in the Julian Edelman-style role that historically produces a steady 18–22 percent target share. That underneath volume, especially in a pass game built on option routes, makes Douglas a sneaky PPR play and late-round best-ball pick.

Steve Palazzolo said Stefon Diggs will walk into Foxboro as the unquestioned No. 1 option and a "huge high-volume type of target" if he is anywhere near the player we saw in Buffalo or early last year in Houston before the injury. Palazzolo stressed that New England has lacked a go-to receiver for years, so even 85–90 percent of vintage Diggs would command the lion’s share of Mac Jones’ throws. He framed Diggs as the X-factor whose presence could consolidate targets and finally give the Patriots a reliable boundary weapon, making him a priority in season-long drafts and an early DFS staple if camp reports confirm good health.

Meg Shoup tagged DeMario "Pop" Douglas as an underrated late-round pick in Underdog’s Eliminator contest. She noted that new coordinator Mike McDaniel historically funnels quick, high-percentage targets to the slot—think Jaylen Waddle and River Cracraft in Miami—and with Stefon Diggs potentially missing early games Douglas could walk into a team-high target share out of the gate. While the second-year wideout is unlikely to score many touchdowns, Eliminator’s half-PPR scoring rewards consistent receptions that prevent weekly zeros. Shoup added that Douglas’ Week-11 bye lines up cleanly with most premium receivers, reducing early-season dead spots, and that his current 16th-round ADP lets drafters tack on cheap Patriots correlation without forcing a third quarterback.

Best Ball Guy said TreVeyon Henderson’s college pass-protection chops are the cheat code that should earn snaps right away in New England. Because coaches trust backs who can keep the quarterback clean, he expects Henderson to handle third-downs and catch a few balls from Week 1 even if the carry count starts low. One trademark explosive run, he argued, will quickly push the rookie into a larger role, so he is happy paying the current mid-round price before highlight clips push the ADP higher.

Meg Shoup argued that Drake Maye is mis-priced when he slips into the triple-digit picks. She highlighted a surprisingly bullish betting market—New England’s win total sits at 8.5—and the league’s second-easiest schedule as evidence the offense could be functional right away. Maye’s ceiling is magnified in best ball because drafters can capture his spike weeks without sweating rookie inconsistency, and his cost creates simple correlation paths with Stefon Diggs or Javon Baker while still leaving room for a third quarterback dart. Shoup expects steady ADP creep once Twitter hype cycles through camp clips, so scooping Maye in the 10th round now sets up a cheap, uniquely back-loaded Patriots stack for Week-17 shoot-out potential against the Jets.

Best Ball Guy pushed TreVeyon Henderson as a priority mid-round selection, saying he has "re-invigorated" his exposure after digging back into the profile. Henderson’s calling card is pure explosiveness—the kind of long-run juice that can single-handedly flip a Best Ball Mania week. The Patriots set-up around him sweetens the bet: Vegas lists New England with an 8.5 win total and the schedule makers handed them the second-easiest slate by opponent win percentage. Pair a solid team context with soft match-ups and Henderson should see plenty of positive game scripts and red-zone chances. With the RB dead zone as flat as ever, Best Ball Guy prefers Henderson’s home-run ability and favorable weekly environment over similarly priced veterans who need volume just to tread water.

Dwain McFarland listed Drake Maye in Tier 4 and said the second-year Patriot is "poised to make a run at a breakout campaign in 2025." Maye pairs top-tier arm talent with rushing juice, giving him the same dual-threat profile that elevates fantasy ceilings. McFarland recommended drafting him before market price, projecting that if the development curve holds, Maye could be a Round 5 selection in 2026 drafts.

Hayden Winks urged managers to treat Drake Maye as a pure long-term swing rather than a 2024 contributor. He loves Maye’s raw tools—‘he outruns everybody, uncorks 60-yard rainbows, and has the size to shrug hits’—but pointed to glaring rookie warts: inconsistent blitz recognition, a tendency to abandon progressions, and accuracy that comes and goes. Winks noted Maye ranked near the bottom of the class in pressure handling and field scanning and said the rookie “handled the blitz worse than any top prospect I charted.” Because New England’s roster still lacks proven separators, Winks expects a two-year runway similar to Josh Allen’s arc. His actionable advice: scoop Maye aggressively in dynasty, ignore him in single-season formats, and fade any passing-yard props books hang above 3,100 yards.

Coventry believes Rhamondre Stevenson will open 2025 as New England’s primary early-down back ahead of first-round pick Travian Henderson. The tout views Stevenson’s experience in the Patriots’ zone-heavy scheme as the decisive edge that gives him immediate touch volume and a safe weekly floor for drafters rounding out their RB room in the double-digit rounds.

Jim Coventry advised scooping Hunter Henry if you punt tight end. Durability concerns have faded—Henry has missed only four games since 2021—and he posted 66-674-2 on 99 targets in 2024. From Weeks 7-16 with rookie QB Drake Maye, he averaged 5 catches, 50 yards, and 7 targets (10.9 PPR points). Stefan Diggs is expected to open on the PUP list after ACL surgery, vacating middle-of-field volume where Henry already has established chemistry with Maye. Coventry expects similar target share and a couple more touchdowns, making Henry a strong late-round TE1 candidate.

Kerrane bumped rookie Kyle Williams up his ranks after camp reports said Williams was already running with New England’s first-team offense. While he still expects Week 1 to start with Stefon Diggs and DeMario Douglas in 11 personnel, Williams getting meaningful reps now makes it unlikely he’s a ‘ghost’ all season. The former deep-threat prospect profiles as the eventual outside starter once Mac Hollins returns to earth, giving best-ball drafters an inexpensive access point to down-field targets in an offense projected to trail often.

Ryan Heath dusted off Hunter Henry as a prime free-round target after digging into the nine full games he played with Drake Maye. In that sample Henry averaged 6.4 targets, 50 yards, and 11.5 expected fantasy points—top-six marks at the position over the full 2024 season. Vegas projects New England to score as many points as the Cowboys this year, and Josh McDaniels’ return is notable: Henry ranked top-five in end-zone targets the last time he played in McDaniels’ scheme. Heath likes Henry as a last-round click in home leagues and as the perfect TE3 on Best Ball builds that chase spike-week variance.

Ryan Heath pegged Drake Maye as the sneaky dual-threat league-winner you can draft around QB14. Maye averaged over 35 rushing yards per game last season purely on scrambles—more than Jayden Daniels when you isolate Daniels’ full contests—despite only seven designed runs all year. New England deliberately protected him behind a shaky line, but camp reports say the Patriots plan to unleash designed keepers in 2025. Even without those freebies, Maye was a back-end QB1 in his healthy starts. Heath believes a modest bump in rushing volume plus the normal year-two passing leap could vault Maye into the top-10 while you’re paying a mid-teens price tag. He recommended targeting Maye as a single-starter in home leagues or pairing him with an early pocket passer for massive weekly upside in Best Ball tournaments.

Nick Holz said Drake Maye is a "certifiable breakout candidate" for 2025 now that Josh McDaniels returns to call plays in New England. From Weeks 6-17 of his rookie year Maye averaged 17.4 fantasy points and 36 rushing yards per game—trailing only Lamar Jackson, Jaden Daniels, Anthony Richardson and Jalen Hurts on the ground. McDaniels’ Patriots offenses have finished lower than 8th in scoring just once across 13 seasons, and Maye now adds Stefon Diggs as an alpha target, rookie slot winner Kyle Williams underneath, explosive Day 2 back Travion Henderson and first-round LT Will Campbell to shore up protection. The Patriots also own the league’s second-easiest schedule by 2024 win percentage, giving Maye soft match-ups plus a DraftKings prop of 19.5 passing TDs (-120 to the over) after he threw 15 in just 13 games. Holz framed all of it as the perfect storm for a sophomore surge in season-long and best-ball drafts.

Rich Hribar argued Stefon Diggs is an easy buy while drafters fret about his age (32), team change and an ACL rehab that was actually a clean, isolated tear. Diggs avoided the PUP list, is already practicing at full speed and still has nearly two months to stack conditioning. Hribar noted that last year, even sharing targets with Nico Collins, Diggs earned looks on 22.3 % of his routes and averaged 2.4 yards per route run when lining up outside—numbers he expects to hit or beat in Josh McDaniels’ receiver-friendly scheme that will shuffle him in and out of the slot. Diggs is currently going off boards as the WR4/5 on fantasy rosters (outside the top-35 overall); Hribar anticipates only a modest climb into the WR3 range once preseason clips surface, leaving plenty of margin for profit. He loves pairing the veteran with late-round Drake Maye stacks in Best Ball and expects drafters to wonder by mid-season why Diggs was ever this cheap.

Jeff Mueller said Stefon Diggs’ ACL tear was an ideal, isolated ligament injury with no meniscus or MCL involvement, allowing for a faster rehab timeline than typical multi-structure knee injuries. Diggs avoided the PUP list, has already participated fully in practices, and has another six-plus weeks to stack conditioning before Week 1. Mueller noted Diggs’ movement patterns—lateral cuts, deceleration, and explosion—look indistinguishable from pre-injury film, a key indicator the wideout can resume his normal route tree. Because he has been fully installed in Josh McDaniels’ new offense and should immediately become rookie QB Drake Maye’s first read, Mueller views him as a safe, every-week fantasy starter rather than a rehab risk.

Brandon Kravitz is betting the Giants longest regular-season win streak under 1.5 games at +210. New York owns the league’s toughest schedule and, according to Kravitz, simply lacks offensive firepower. He foresees a mid-season white flag with a potential quarterback carousel from Russell Wilson to Jameis Winston to rookie Jackson Dart. The pressure on GM Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll collides with a 2-15 floor, making back-to-back wins hard to find—maybe only Weeks 16-17 vs Minnesota and Las Vegas. Even that is shaky, so he’s “fading the hell out of this Giants team” at better than 2-to-1.

Pat Kerrane pumped the brakes on the Stefon Diggs enthusiasm, reminding drafters the veteran turns 32 in November and is coming off an ACL tear suffered at 31—an age band where historical recovery rates plummet. Kerrane noted Diggs had already transitioned to a low-aDOT slot role with Houston last year, a tell-tale sign the Texans believed his down-field explosiveness was fading. Now in New England, the only thing propping up projections is a barren depth chart, which Kerrane said can’t fix the possibility that Diggs is "straight-up washed." He remains slightly ahead of current ADP for correlation with Drake Maye stacks but refuses to push Diggs past higher-upside peers like Matthew Golden and Jaden Reed, cautioning that drafters risk a dusty 10-point-per-week floor without real playoff ceiling.

Davis Mattek said Stefon Diggs is now a clear buy at the 6/7-turn in Best Ball drafts after being priced for a lengthy absence all spring. Mattek argued the market originally assumed Diggs would miss regular-season games while recovering from his ACL tear, but recent reports suggest he is "ready" and not even on the PUP list. Because New England’s target competition is Jalynn Polk, Kyle Williams, DeMario Douglas, Hunter Henry, Kayshon Boutte and Austin Hooper, Mattek projects Diggs to reprise the high-volume slot role that kept him fantasy-viable in Houston. He believes if drafters wiped their memories and redrafted today, Diggs would go next to Calvin Ridley in Round 5. Mattek therefore moved Diggs up in his rankings ahead of Jakobi Meyers and Debo Samuel and expects ADP to keep climbing once training-camp videos show Drake Maye peppering Diggs underneath.

Jeff Mueller called DeMario Douglas his favorite "best baller" of 2025 drafts. Mueller loves the combination of dirt-cheap price (WR70-71) and projected slot volume in Josh McDaniels’ offense, stressing that Douglas himself has been raving all offseason about how often the Patriots plan to move receivers around and feed him the ball. By pairing Douglas with rookie quarterback Drake Maye—currently falling to QB16—drafters can scoop a full PPR stack that frees them to hammer running backs or elite wideouts early. Mueller thinks Douglas has a realistic path to lead New England in targets and become a weekly floor play who still owns spike-week upside whenever the Patriots push tempo.

Pat Kerrane said he is largely punting the crowded "Tier-2" tight-end window and is instead loading up on Hunter Henry in the final rounds. Kerrane argued that fantasy drafters are historically terrible at guessing which name will finish TE7 versus TE12, yet the market prices that difference as if it matters. By waiting for Henry—whose ADP is four to six rounds after the Hawkinson/Engram/Kincaid pocket—managers still capture a full-time route runner with red-zone equity, while freeing up earlier draft capital for premium wide receivers. Kerrane noted he pairs Henry with other ultra-late darts such as Zach Ertz, Mike Gesicki and Brenton Strange to ensure he isn’t "left out in the cold" at the position without paying the mid-round tax.

PPRTyler grabbed Hunter Henry as his TE1 and immediately down-shifted to other positions, saying tight end "doesn't matter a ton" in Underdog’s Eliminator. With no TE premium and early advancement based on total points, Tyler is happy to ride Henry’s steady route share and Week-14 bye, then bolt on one or two late dart throws like Chigoziem Okonkwo instead of spending precious capital on higher-priced options. His takeaway: bank the snaps, clear the bye-week grid, and allocate draft equity toward positions that swing weekly ceilings.

PPRTyler said Stefon Diggs remains an automatic click in Underdog’s Eliminator drafts because the rumored Physically-Unable-to-Perform designation never had any substance. He noted drafters panicked when the headline first floated but emphasized Diggs was "never starting on the PUP," eliminating the only early-season risk that could have hurt advance rates in a format that chops half the field by Week 5. Tyler added that he already holds roughly 15 Diggs shares in non-Eliminator contests and is still happy scooping him here even though this lobby does not show his full exposure numbers. In short, the market overreacted to a non-story, and Diggs should be treated as the same high-volume WR1 he has always been.

Andrew Erickson leaned toward drafting TreVeyon Henderson ahead of the other tier-one rookie backs in FastDraft Origins. He noted that Henderson profiles as a modern, all-situations back who has already flashed reliable receiving skills, whereas Quinshon Judkins and Kaleb Johnson look like early-down grinders who will need heavy volume to score. Because Origins only starts four skill players and rewards spike weeks, Erickson wants the back who can pile up PPR points even when game scripts flip. The Patriots lack an entrenched three-down option, so Henderson’s pass-game ceiling gives him a better path to weekly top-four scores than the more one-dimensional rookies being drafted in the same neighborhood.

Rich Hribar said Hunter Henry is a sneaky late-round target because the market has already baked in Stefon Diggs’ arrival and pushed Henry to TE20. Despite that price, Henry ranked eighth among tight ends in routes per dropback (79.9%), 13th in targets per route (20.2%) and 14th in slot-snap rate (39.1%). Hribar believes those usage metrics give Henry a floor of weekly involvement and red-zone leverage that far exceeds the players going around him.

Best Ball Guy urged drafters to stop clicking Stefon Diggs at his current cost, pointing to a trifecta of red flags: turning 31, coming off an ACL tear, and learning a new playbook on a roster that has failed to win five games in back-to-back seasons. He challenged listeners to name a wide receiver over 30 who tore an ACL, switched teams, and immediately delivered a top-tier fantasy year—nobody could. In his view, managers are overpaying for "WR1" volume in a shallow class and talking themselves into Diggs as if he were Jerry Rice. Best Ball Guy recommended reallocating those picks to younger options with true league-winning upside instead of betting on an aging receiver with historical precedent stacked against him.

Pat Fantasy Dog Pound is actively building a Diggs position at an average pick of 76, arguing the discount exists solely because drafters are nervous about off-field drama and whether he’ll be on the field Week 1. Pat’s plan is simple: milk the value until a ‘positive training-camp headline’ inevitably vaults Diggs back to his rightful ADP range in the 50s, then stop drafting once the crowd pays full freight. He framed it as a classic risk-reward play—if the camp reports are good you bank immediate closing-line value; if they’re not, you at least took the shot while he was priced for pessimism.