FREE Players I’m Targeting Late In 2026 Best Ball Drafts

In the spirit of 4th of July weekend, today’s article will be going through some of my favorite “free” picks in the late rounds of best ball drafts this year. To quantify free for you guys in this context, it will be defined as a 15th round pick or later (ADP of 169+), players typically available in the last 4 rounds of these 18-round drafts.

This article is an exercise that I did last year as well, one that I enjoyed and thought was useful for best ball drafters. So, I decided to bring it back for the 2026 season.

Before we hop into it, just a few notes about were you can find my other content, Discord access, and where the data I’m pulling is coming from…

Discord: If you want a place to talk fantasy with myself and others, get updates on articles and X posts, to get answers to questions you may have and more, join the subscribers Discord HERE.

Website: If you want to access my player rankings (best ball, redraft, dynasty, and rookies), my models (for rookies, year 2, and upcoming season fantasy points), dynasty tools (trade calculator and team analyzer), best ball tools (exposure tool), and my 2026 draft guide, click HERE to access the website which has all of that.

Data: You will see several basic and advanced stats throughout this article, most of which have been pulled from the Fantasy Points Data Suite. You can check out their comprehensive data suite by clicking that link.

Honorable Mention: Tank Bigsby

A guy I’m drafting plenty, he certainly would have been more than just an honorable mention had he not just snuck into the back of round 14 in ADP. Bigsby is the ideal handcuff/late RB pick from how I see it. He’s flashed high-end efficiency in back-to-back seasons (4.86 YPC, 5.6% explosive %, 0.20 MTF/Att), and he’s the clear RB2 in what should be a good offense (10th in implied PPG) that’s centered around the run game. Similar to B-Rob who we’ll discuss just below, I think he has a chance to carve out an ~8-10 touch role (with Saquon aging and Philly having a lot of rush attempts to go around), but the real value here is what Bigsby could do with an injury to Saquon. I feel very confident that he’d receive an high-end workload in this instance, with enough talent to do so and no notable RB talent behind him (maybe Shipley steals some passing downs?). He makes for a great pick as late as he goes in drafts.

ADP: 169.5, RB52

My Rank: 156, RB47

B-Rob feels like one of the best “handcuff” picks on the board from how I see it. For one, he could very well have somewhat of a standalone role as Allgeier did the last couple of years. He’s a not a world-beater, but he’s proven reliable and solid RB that’s been trusted with legitimate work in the past (200+ touches 1st 3 years, 100 behind CMC last year). His efficiency doesn’t jump off the page, but he’s averaged 4.3 YPC and nearly a 5% explosive rate in the last 2 seasons, while notably strong after contact (top 10 among RBs in YACo/Att in 2 of L3 years).

The main allure here is what he could do if Bijan goes down with an injury. From how I see it, B-Rob is certainly capable and probably likely to handle a top-tier workload in the event of a Bijan injury. As mentioned, he’s earned volume in the past, and the Falcons might have the thinnest RB3 candidates in the league (Tyler Goodson, Nathan Carter (?)). Combine that injury-contingent value with usable week potential a là the Allgeier role, and B-Rob makes for quite an interesting low-risk/high-reward option this late in drafts.

ADP: 172.6, QB27

My Rank: 154, QB26

Mendoza is 1 of 3 QBs that I’m north of 20% exposure on, sitting at 21.2% as I’m writing this. As a “free” pick and the 27th QB off the board, the risk of him (maybe) not starting the 1st handful of games is fully baked in, as he’ll certainly be playing in the most important weeks of the fantasy season (Wk15-17). On that note, we don’t even know for certain who the Week 1 starter is, so there’s a world where you’re getting a full 17 games of Mendoza. If he does get declared the starter, the price will likely be multiple rounds more expensive (I’d assume Ward/Stroud range). Regardless, as a QB3 on your roster, Mendoza missing the 1st few games is of very minimal impact to your advance rate. The early season depth chart should not be a reason to avoid him.

I also simply don’t think the upside of Mendoza, as the number 1 overall pick, is properly valued here. While he’s not a dynamic rusher and is lacking proven receiving talent outside of Bowers, he’s a very good prospect and should benefit from the Kubiak system (which we saw flourish in Seattle last year). The pure passing upside for Mendoza is way too high for him to be the 27th QB off the board in an upward trending offense, I’ll continue eating up shares as the QB3 on my rosters here.