CFB Best Ball · Favorites
The highest-scoring quarterback in our data after four games, on one of my sixteen teams. Saturday at noon he gets Alabama, the top game in our Game Value column, behind a pass defense that has given up 7.8 yards a throw.
2026 So Far · 4 games
PASS
83-120
1,192 yds
TD-INT
14-2
passing
RUSH
37-185
1 TD
HALF-PPR
31.0
per game, QB1
What I Paid · Underdog
ADP
19.2
QB5, round 2
MY PICK
21
2 after ADP
EXPOSURE
1 of 16
The Tailgate
MY BOARD
11th
set Sept. 3
Kamario Taylor has 124.2 half-PPR points in four games, 31.0 a game. That is first among the 58 quarterbacks in Underdog's player pool who have played four games in our box-score data, just ahead of Louisville's Lincoln Kienholz at 30.5.
He has been the most fun player in this series to watch, and I have him on exactly one team.
His ADP was 19.2, the fifth quarterback and a second-round pick. That figure is Underdog's own best ball rankings export for college, the same file behind every ADP on these pages. The copy taken on Sept. 1 and the copy taken on Sept. 14 are byte-for-byte identical, so it is the final preseason number, not a moving one.
I took him at pick 21 in a Tailgate draft on Aug. 25. My preseason board had him 11th, eight spots ahead of the room, and I still only drafted him once. Between picks 15 and 26 across all sixteen drafts, I took a quarterback eight times. Four of them were Byrum Brown (his spotlight), at an ADP of 23.8, and two were Conner Weigman. Taylor was one.
He is a sophomore from Noxubee County, Mississippi. Mississippi State's roster page calls him the highest-rated quarterback recruit in program history.
As a true freshman he played 11 games with two starts, threw for 629 yards and five touchdowns, and ran 82 times for 458 yards and eight touchdowns, per the same page. Our box scores match. His first start was the 2025 Egg Bowl against Ole Miss, where he ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns.
That freshman line is why the room paid a second-round price: a quarterback who scores with his legs before he has learned to throw is the superflex profile. What nobody priced in was this much passing.
UL Monroe, a 62-13 win on Sept. 5: 22 of 34 for 354 yards and four touchdowns, plus 6 carries for 59 yards and a 26-yard touchdown run. 42.1 points. The AP recap on ESPN quotes coach Jeff Lebby: "Him continuing to grow from the pocket and play from the pocket is going to be critical for us."
At Minnesota, a 38-13 win on Sept. 12: 16 of 22 for 227 yards and three first-half touchdowns, 13 carries for 86 yards, one lost fumble. 27.7 points (AP recap).
At South Carolina, a 41-34 win on Sept. 19: 18 of 26 for 251 yards, four touchdowns and an interception on his first throw, 8 carries for 33. 28.3 points. Mississippi State trailed 16-0 and then outscored South Carolina 41-7, per the AP recap.
Missouri, a 31-24 win on Sept. 26: 27 of 38 for 360 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, including the 24-yard go-ahead touchdown with 3:57 left. 26.1 points (AP recap).
Fourteen touchdown passes in four games ties him for the national lead, per Mississippi State's roster page, which also has him leading the country with nine touchdown passes of 20-plus yards. In our data he is tied with USC's Jayden Maiava and Miami's Darian Mensah.
The shift from last year is the point. As a freshman he scored mainly by running. This year he has run 37 times, 24% of Mississippi State's carries, and scored once on the ground. The production moved to his arm, and it got bigger.
How I count the carry share: his rushes divided by every rushing attempt in the ESPN box scores, sacks included. That is why the Missouri line reads 10 carries for 7 yards.
The honest caveat: the legs have faded week to week, 59 rushing yards and then 86, 33 and 7. A quarterback whose floor came from running is now living on touchdown passes, and touchdown passes swing more from week to week than carries do.
Alabama at Mississippi State is the top game in our Game Value column this week: two unbeaten teams and the highest total in the top ten.
Saturday · DraftKings and FanDuel
DK SALARY
$8,100
proj 25.1
DK OWN
11.8%
our projection
FD SALARY
$11,800
proj 24.6
LINE
+5.5
total 60.5
Projections and ownership are ours, from the ATO builder as of Friday night. Salaries, spread and total are the market's. Mississippi State's team total is 27.5.
Alabama has allowed 7.8 yards per pass attempt, 107th of 138 teams in our data, and 2.9 yards a carry, 26th. That split fits how Taylor is scoring now: the run game is the hard part of this matchup, and the passing is the soft part.
The column is less kind to Mississippi State than the market is. Our ratings make Alabama a 12.5-point favorite against the market's 5.5. If ours is closer, Mississippi State is chasing, and a chasing quarterback in a 60-point game is not the worst place for fantasy points.
At about 12% projected ownership on DraftKings he is less popular than Byrum Brown (22%) at nearly the same salary. If I were picking between the two this week, the pass defense he faces is the reason I would take Taylor.
It is also the second game of mine on the field. Daniel Hill, the Alabama back on half my teams (his spotlight), plays in it too.
Best Ball Playoffs · Mississippi State (bye Week 6)
WEEK 11
vs Auburn
WEEK 12
vs Tennessee Tech
WEEK 13
at Ole Miss
The best playoff run on any of these new pages. Two home games, one of them against an FCS team, then the Egg Bowl where he made his first start. Week 11 is Auburn, so he and Byrum Brown are on the same field again.
These are Underdog best ball teams. Nothing gets traded or dropped, so the verdict is about what I do in my next drafts at this price.
One team out of sixteen on a quarterback my own board had 11th is too few. The board liked him more than the market did, and I drafted Byrum Brown four times at almost the same price instead. In my next drafts I would take Taylor in that range every time he was there.
If Alabama holds him under 200 passing yards with no rushing to cover the gap, the hot start came against defenses like UL Monroe and Minnesota, and the price is closer to right.
If he throws for three touchdowns against Alabama, the QB1 number is real, and with the best playoff schedule of the group, a QB5 price was a bargain.
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Exposure figures from my own Underdog draft exports. ADP from Underdog best ball rankings. Statistics and quotes from published reporting. Nothing here is betting advice, and I am telling you what I did, not what you should do.