Best Ball Mock Draft: A Zero RB Redemption Story on Underdog

A few weeks ago, I wrote up a mock draft diary about a failed extreme Zero RB experiment in the back of an Uber.

At the time it felt fine, but since then, it hasn't sat well with me.

I've been a Zero RB bro for over a decade now and have long championed it as a dynamite strategy in large-field tournaments with top-heavy prizes.

Was I really going to betray the structural draft strategy that has previously won me thousands upon thousands of dollars?

Surely, I thought, there has to be a better way to make this strategy work in 2025. What if Zero RB is still perfectly fine, and my initial failure was simply a skill issue?

And so with that in mind, I hopped in another Underdog draft with a singular mission: draft a perfect Zero RB team.

Here's how it went ...

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Zero RB Best Ball Mock Draft Review

Rounds 1-2 (Malik Nabers, A.J. Brown)

You can certainly make the case for Nico Collins at 1.08, but if there is one darkhorse WR who challenges Chase for the No. 1 WR title in 2026, it is Nabers. He is a solid bet to lead the entire league in targets, and his YAC explosiveness gives him access to a monster ceiling (just please be healthy, I'm begging you). Feel free to ignore the fine print about Russell Wilson. No one ever reads the fine print anyways.

In Round 2, AJB is an easy click once Drake London is off the board. He's as talented as any of the Round 1 WRs, but sadly doesn't enjoy the same volume. Still, he has a monster single-game ceiling, and if the Eagles' opponents can put up anything resembling a fight in 2025, he should be the beneficiary of extra play volume. It's why I have the Eagles stack so high in my ranks.

Rounds 3-4 (George Kittle, Jalen Hurts)

Ok, this is the critical portion of the draft to make Zero RB work in 2025. I think you need to lock up both an elite quarterback and an elite tight end in 2025 to supercharge the strategy (I only accomplished half that goal my first go-around).

One key pillar of Zero RB is destroying your opponents at every position other than RB and then letting the chaos of the season improve your RB room as the season progresses.

Ideally, you get Brock Bowers in Round 2 or Trey McBride in Round 3 to make this work, but I have no problem pulling up Kittle to Round 3 if needed.

After securing my Elite TE, I ran to the podium (swiped quickly on my phone) to select Hurts. Not only was he the last of the Elite QBs, but he also completed a stack with AJB.

With two elite WRs and an elite quarterback and tight end secured, I was finally ready to build a Zero RB team that didn't make me want to vomit …

Rounds 5-7 (Zay Flowers, Emeka Egbuka, Jayden Reed)

Alright, if you thought I was going to abort this mission in Rounds 5-7 to select a running back, you are sorely mistaken.

"I'm not fucking leaving … these three rounds without three more WRs!"

Flowers is criminally undervalued in drafts right now. Anyone passing on him in Round 5–specifically the Lamar Jackson drafter–should be locked up in a Best Ball prison.

Egbuka has been the star of the preseason and is set up for both a fast start (Chris Godwin on PUP?) and a fast finish (think Brian Thomas last year). I don't even think you'll be able to get Egbuka in the mid-sixth going forward with how buzzy his August has been.

Finally, I'm "slurping the dipperino" on Reed. The walking boot is a real buzzkill, but he's still an efficiency all-star capable of huge spike weeks.

The nice thing about going WR-heavy is that it allows you to take on more volatile WR selections knowing that your starting lineup is already covered with high-end options (like Nabers, AJB, and Zay).

Rounds 8-9 (Tyrone Tracy, Travis Etienne)

Ok, it is finally time to capitulate on RB in Rounds 8 and 9. Both Tracy and Etienne are perfect RB selections for a Zero RB build because they should both get off to a fast start as the lead back for their teams.

Tracy will eventually face competition from Cam Skattebo (the Skattebois and girls are a vicious hive, so I'm offering this caveat), but the rookie's injury continues to delay that competition timeline in a way that makes the veteran a very solid selection. As a bonus, Tracy pairs with Nabers as an additional bet on the Giants (if you're into that kind of thing).

As far as Etienne, there is certainly a ton of ambiguity in the Jags RB room with the tides shifting seemingly every day. Still, Etienne is the odds-on favorite to lead the backfield in touches to start the season, and I trust that Liam Cohen's offense will yield plenty of fantasy points for his RBs.

Rounds 10-12 (Luther Burden, Jordan Love, Dallas Goedert)

After a quick detour to eat our vegetables (the RBs are colored green on the board for a reason), it was time to get back to supercharging the rest of my starting lineup.

I added Burden as my sixth and final WR. He might have a slow start, but he has the talent and situation to deliver a league-winning second half (think Amon-Ra St. Brown's rookie year). His price feels silly to me in the same way Garrett Wilson's rookie year price tag (in a very similar range) felt like a slam dunk.

In Round 11, I went ahead and locked up another pass-catching stack with Love, who pairs with Reed. This also allowed me to shut it down at QB with two solid options already in the fold.

On that same wavelength, I snagged Goedert in Round 12 to complete a double stack with Hurts and close out my TE room.

One of the crucial benefits of going Elite QB and Elite TE on a Zero RB build is that it allows you to stop at 2 total QBs and 2 total TEs, which opens up much-needed additional spots for RB selections.

And that's exactly what we did in the final six rounds …

Rounds 13-18 (Tyler Allgeier, Isaac Guerrendo, Jacory Crosky-Merritt, Woody Marks, Tahj Brooks, Marshawn Lloyd)

That's right, at this point with 2 QBs, 6 WRs, 2 TEs, and only 2 RBs, the mission was clear: click green over and over until the end of the draft.

Allgeier and Guerrendo are classic handcuff backs behind two Round 1 RBs. If either CMC or Bijan were to get hurt, these guys would inherit league-winning workloads.

I wrote about all three of Crosky-Merritt, Marks, and Brooks in a recent newsletter.

JCM has been the buzziest rookie in the entire NFL throughout the preseason, and now the team is shopping Brian Robinson Jr.? Giddy up.

Marks is another rookie with a fairly clean path to relevance, with Joe Mixon's health completely in doubt. He's unlikely to fully take over a backfield, but could carve out a meaningful pass-catching role.

And Brooks now has sneaky, handcuff-upside with Zack Moss out of the picture. He would be a lock for 12-15 touches per game if Chase Brown got hurt.

With my final selection, I'd like to say that I stuck the landing … but goddamnit, MarShawn Lloyd IS HURT AGAIN??? HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? Fwiw, this was pre-injury, and I liked that he paired with my Love-Reed stack!

Final Review (2-8-6-2)

QB: Hurts, Love
RB: Tracy, Etienne Jr., Allgeier, Guerendo, Croskey-Merritt, Marks, Brooks, Lloyd
WR: Nabers, Brown, Flowers, Egbuka, Reed, Burden
TE: Kittle, Goedert

I think these are extremely fun builds and very viable if you can successfully get a top-four QB and a top-three TE to ensure you are crushing your opponents everywhere except RB.

As we always say in Best Ball, it is about "quality or quantity, not both." In this case, we made up for our lack of quality RBs with a massive quantity.

The key to a good Zero RB room is having good texture to the type of bets so you can both survive the start of the season (Tracy, Etienne), take advantage of injuries (Allgeier, Guerrendo), and load up on rookies with late-season breakout appeal (JCM, Marks, Brooks).

And if you still aren't convinced, here's a look at another similar team with Jayden Daniels and Brock Bowers, compliments of our Best Ball Hub (which you can get 20% off with promo code PETE on a Tier 2 sub):

OK, I FEEL BETTER NOW. WE'RE BACK, BABY! ZERO RB BROS, UNITE!