3 Gross Picks and Other Late Round Flyers

3 Gross Picks for DraftKings’ Milly Maker 🤮

Is your stomach settled?

Good.

What’s that? …You’re looking for the the best late round sleepers in best ball?

Cool, do a quick google search and you’ll get 50 articles all saying the same thing.

This ain’t it bro.

We have a severe case of galaxybrainitis and have to spill our prognosis.

With a Week 17 playoff field of over 1,000 other teams on Draftkings, we must be thinking of ways to get unique like the galaxy brain brohas before us.

This is not financial advice. Under no circumstance should you be drafting these guys. It’s ugly. Bad. Very bad. Glaringly bad. Who would ever admit to drafting these guys? But come with us and take a walk on the wild side as we talk through three guys.

1. Durham Smythe

Durham Smythe. Oh what a name. Or should we say… “oh what a Smythe”. Sing it with me. This dude is at the top of the pecking order in the abysmal Dolphins tight end room at the moment. Miami finished second to last in tight end targets last year with 77, only trailing the NY Giants. So what gives? I’m sure you’re already aware by now, but you wanna be stacking. ABS - Always Be Stacking. Specifically game stacks. In Mike Leone’s best ball manifesto he outlines- in Week 17, ideally, you have between 6-9 total game-stacked players. So if you find yourself needing a Miami and Baltimore game stack piece that isn’t named Chosen Anderson, consider the way of the Smythe.

Yes, we know. Smythe is gonna be a dud for the whole season. But you only need him one time.

Take a moment and immerse yourself in the Little Giants Locker Room

….ONE TIME

Picture yourself a year from now at your local watering hole.

You turn to the drunkard on your left …

“You know, one time Durham Smythe luckboxed into 2 touchdowns in week 17 and I won a million dollars.”

2. Dontayvion Wicks

You’ve heard of John Wick? The legendary hitman who seeks revenge on the men who killed his puppy. (is that really what happens? we’ve never seen the flick). Well, next summer comes a new blockbuster hit - Dontayvion Wicks. The man who seeks revenge on the drafters that sniped Jayden Reed from your Jordan Love stacks. Reed has been exploding up draft boards, moving up over 30 spots in the last 20 days. He has the tools to be a playmaker and has 2nd round draft capital. But Wicks. Wicks has got a few things in his hitman toolbox. A good YAC, suspect target competition for the WR3 role, and ample opportunity in the land of cheese.

3. Chris Rodriguez

Priced around the McIntosh and Hastys of the world, this guy is free.

What? You don’t want free?

You’ve already taken a stand on Brian Robinson? You mean the guy who averaged 17 carries per game and only ran for over 100 yards once last season? 

Oh, you meant Antonio Gibson? The guy who averaged 3.7 yards per carry with a longest rush of 20 yards last year? 

Whatever the case- if you’re inclined to take a risky RB really late, consider Rodriguez. But don’t take it from us- new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy seems to like the 6th round pick. 

Rodriguez was the top YAC rusher in the SEC since 2020, and with a perhaps shaky RB room, you could do worse. He’s going undrafted, but if Gibson or Robinson goes down with an injury, Rodriguez could slot in immediately.

Honorable Mention: Ty Chandler

Late Round Flyers the Real Sharps are on

MVS - Hard to know who the Chiefs are going to feature at WR so he presents some upside at his price point. MVS had 2 spike weeks and 11 usable weeks last year. He’s on a great offense and had a lot of near misses with Mahomes last season.

Russell Gage- Post-hype sleeper. Last year, he shot up draft boards when Godwin was injured. Now with Baker at the helm, he’s going for free as the Tampa Bay WR3 and the new offensive coordinator likes him.

Trey McBride- Has 2nd round draft capital. If Deandre Hopkins gets moved, McBride projects to be one of the highest targeted tight ends. The Cardinals offense may be bad, but he’s a solid bet on target volume alone.

Jerome Ford- His ADP continues to rise as Nick Chubb’s primary backup. There are no certainties in the late rounds but he’s got great contingent value if Chubb goes down.

Eric Gray- Nobody is drafting Saquan’s potential backup. He’s a talented rookie out of Oklahoma that the coaching staff likes. It’s okay to be wrong when it’s this late and it’s hard to ignore an opportunity if a top 5 RB goes down.

Zamir White and Malik Davis - for the same reasons as Ford and Gray.

Kyren Williams - The LAR backup RB situation is still unclear, but when deciding on Williams and Evans it makes more sense from a game theory perspective to go with Williams. Zach Evans is being drafted as the primary LAR back up, while Kyren is going undrafted.

Hunter Henry- Had a down season last year, but is still a good tight end. With Mike Gesicki now in NE, people are off of Henry even though it’s more likely Gesicki cuts into JuJu’s target share.

Isiah Likely- Contingent value if Andrews goes down. Showed some serious potential for spike weeks last season.

Sam Howell- Erik thinks this is the biggest edge late in best ball drafts right now. He has rushing upside as a dual-threat QB. Going somewhat undrafted and has weapons in Mclaurin, Dotson, and Samuel.

That’s a wrap for today. If you enjoyed today’s newsletter be sure to share it and follow us on our socials for more info.