I have a J award ticket for a few weeks from now (on a Sunday) from now NCE-LHR, onward to JFK. I refuse to pay to pre-select a business class seat out of principle.

However, I noticed that the business class cabin on this flight is almost completely full. At this point all the standard business class seats (which had a 26 GBP fee) have been reserved, and all that's left are 7 of the 8 exit row seats (which had a 43 GBP fee). I imagine this route is popular on Sundays in the summer.

I am OW Ruby, so I can select seats a week prior to the flight for free. Are exit row seats eligible for that benefit? If I don't have an assigned seat, does that make me the most likely to get bumped in the event of overbooking?