Do you still have a fantasy football itch that you need to scratch? Don’t worry. Your season doesn’t have to be over! With the FFPC Playoff Challenge, you can still play fantasy football. What is the FFPC Playoff Challenge, you ask? Don’t worry. In this article, we’ll cover the FFPC Playoff Challenge strategies, tips, and more!
The FFPC Playoff Challenge is as simple as setting a fantasy football line-up. There is no draft order like in a fantasy football draft. No salary cap like in DFS. You don’t even have to bid on players like in an auction draft. It’s as simple as picking your players with a couple of twists. We’ll get into those in this article as well.
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FFPC Playoff Challenge: Strategies, Tips, And More
Setting Your FFPC Playoff Challenge Lineup
Setting a lineup is easy. First, go here and create an account and make a deposit. Second, decide if you want to play in the $200 entry for a $500,000 grand prize or the $35 entry for a $100,000 grand prize. Last, after picking which contest you’re entering, you set your lineup. Is there anything else? Of course! Let’s get to the twist!
Each team consists of 12 players. You have one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, four flex (RB, WR, or TE), one defense, and one kicker.
However, the twist is no two players can be on the same team. Out of the 14 playoff teams, you have to pick one player from 12 of the different teams.
This means you’ll automatically be fading two teams. Which is what makes the FFPC Playoff Challenge so interesting. Everybody has different ideas about which teams will advance and which ones will play multiple games.
You’ll have to use this strategy because as soon as your players are out of the playoffs, you no longer get points.
Speaking of points, you’ll get four points for every passing touchdown and one point for every 20 yards passing. Other touchdowns are worth six points.
Rushing and receiving yards are one point for every 10 yards. You also get a point per reception unless it’s a tight end, where you’ll get one-and-a-half points per reception. Everything else is pretty standard, aside from the fact that safeties are worth five points.
FFPC Quarterback Options
The toughest position for me to narrow down in the FFPC Playoff Challenge is quarterback. You only get one, and you want one that’s going to make a deep playoff run or play a lot of games.
To make it even tougher, the top ten fantasy football quarterbacks are all in the playoffs. They all had great years, and it will make it tricky. Quarterback seems like the option that is the hardest to take a risk on.
Every team is a risk. If you want to go with the number-one-seeded Lamar Jackson or Brock Purdy, you miss out on a game since they have a bye.
Going with the others, they could play just one game and lose out. So how do you go about choosing? Everybody will have a different idea of this.
My FFPC Playoff Challenge strategy is to pick the quarterback I think will play the most games. Personally, I have Lamar Jackson, Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, and Dak Prescott playing the most games.
Once you pick the quarterbacks you think will play the most games, you have to decide which one holds the most value over their other teammates.
For me, it’s Lamar Jackson. You could go with Zay Flowers, Isaiah Likely, Gus Edwards, or even the Ravens’ defense. However, I think Lamar has the most upside for fantasy players on the Ravens. Therefore, he’s my top option.
Baker Mayfield has the best Round 1 matchup, as the Eagles’ defense was 31st in the league in points per game allowed to quarterbacks. Matt Stafford is next, and then Jared Goff.
Jalen Hurts goes against the Bucs, who were 23rd for quarterback points allowed. Finally, Mahomes goes against the Dolphins, who allowed the 21st-most fantasy points to quarterbacks. These are things to consider when picking your quarterback.
FFPC Running Back Options
When it comes to running backs in the FFPC Playoff Challenge, you have to pick two. That doesn’t include if you want any in the flex. Of the running backs in the playoffs, only seven finished in the top-12, and two of those are on the same team. Just like quarterback, you’ll have to decide which team you think makes a deep playoff run.
My top running back option misses out on a first game, just like Lamar. However, it’s hard not to go with Christian McCaffrey. He was the top fantasy football running back this year, and the 49ers look like a team that can make a deep run. Especially after they get healthy with a Week 1 bye.
Obviously, whichever quarterback you picked, you can’t pick a running back from that team. That starts narrowing down some options. For my second running back, I went back and forth between Rachaad White and Isaiah Pacheco. The Chiefs haven’t looked like the same team, especially in the passing game.
Therefore, I decided to avoid their passing game. I couldn’t completely fade them, though, which led to Pacheco being my RB2.
James Cook has the best Round 1 matchup, going against the Steelers, who allowed the 23rd most fantasy points per game to running backs. Tony Pollard is second on the list against the 20th-ranked Packers.
Those are the only two who go against a defense ranked 20th or worse when it comes to points per game allowed to running backs.
FFPC Wide Receiver Options
As you keep picking players, it gets tougher. The FFPC Playoff Challenge wide receivers are a tough group to narrow down. Even tougher when you take out any players on the same team as the quarterback and two running backs you chose.
CeeDee Lamb finished as the top wide receiver in fantasy football. Tyreek Hill was second, followed by Mike Evans, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and AJ Brown. All top-five fantasy football receivers have to be considered. Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk also had good finishes. However, if you took CMC like I did, you can’t even consider them.
I ended up going with CeeDee Lamb and Amon-Ra St. Brown on my first lineup. Both of them had great years and will be relied on by their quarterbacks.
Lamb does have a tough Round 1 matchup against the Packers, who were 10th-best in wide receiver fantasy points allowed per game. However, I wanted to grab somebody from Dallas, and he’s their most talented player.
The Bucs wide receivers, Mike Evans or Chris Godwin, have the best matchup against the 31st-ranked Eagles. Rams’ stars Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are next as they face the Lions, who were 30th in terms of fantasy football points allowed per game to wide receivers.
Speaking of the Rams, they weren’t great against receivers either, allowing the 25th most points per game to receivers. A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith should have a chance, too, against the 21st-ranked Bucs.
FFPC Tight End Options
Tight end may not seem as important to you. However, in the FFPC Playoff Challenge, tight ends get 1.5 points per reception. Therefore it’s more important than you may think. You want to get a tight end that is going to catch the ball a lot to rack up those reception points.
Unfortunately, the top fantasy football tight end, Sam Laporta, may not even play in Round 1. This makes it really tough to take him on your team.
If you choose Laporta, he doesn’t play, and the Lions lose, you’ve essentially wasted your tight-end selection. It’s also hard picking Travis Kelce, the third-ranked tight end. Even though he finished second, the Chiefs have been wildly inconsistent.
So how do you go about picking your tight end? If you took CMC, you can’t take Kittle. If you took Lamb, you can’t take ninth-ranked Kittle. After I narrowed everything down, I personally had to go with David Njoku.
Njoku has been on fire since Joe Flacco took over, and he’ll continue to rely on him in the playoffs. It is tough taking Njoku over Amari Cooper, but it just fit better in my initial lineup.
Dallas Goedert has the best Round 1 matchup against the 31st-ranked Bucs. If Sam LaPorta was going to be playing, he’d have the next-best matchup. However, his shot at playing is being described as an “outside chance.” Travis Kelce faces the 25th-ranked Dolphins but is hard to trust.
FFPC Flex, Defense, and Kicker Options
At this point, you have to look at what teams you haven’t picked through. I personally save defense and kicker for last. For me, they’re fill-ins, and the other positions are more important.
The flex position can get tricky, though. When picking my flex spots, I looked at what teams I hadn’t picked and where the talent was on those teams.
I hadn’t taken a Dolphins player yet. The main reason for that is I think they will lose Round 1 to the Chiefs. However, it’s hard to fade a guy like Tyreek Hill, so he made his way into the flex position.
The Eagles have struggled as of late. What if they lose Round 1? That’s the approach I took as I stuck Mike Evans in my second flex position.
It’s dart throws at this point. As I looked through my roster I didn’t have any Rams players yet. The Rams are an experienced team who could end up squeaking past the Lions. Do they go farther than that?
Not on my bracket but anything is possible. For the third flex spot on my FFPC Playoff Challenge team, I put in Cooper Kupp. He’s been here before, and he’s extremely talented.
Finally, as I looked through I couldn’t believe I didn’t have a Bills player yet. Therefore, why not go with James Cook? He has the best Round 1 matchup among running backs.
Not to mention, the weather could factor into the Bills-Steelers game, meaning they’ll keep the ball on the ground a lot.
For defense and kicker, sort out the four teams you have left and pick either the best remaining or the one you think will last the longest.
I took the Texans defense. They’ve been feisty all year, and as good as Flacco has been, he has had some turnovers. I also took Jake Elliott. I don’t like the Eagles to make a deep playoff run, but if they surprise me, at least I’ll have part of the team.
