The traditional fantasy football season may be over, but that doesn’t mean fantasy football just ends! Underdog Fantasy brings us an exciting playoff best ball fantasy game with many different contests and strategies to take them down. Now that we officially know the 14 teams who will be in the NFL playoffs this year, and which teams will have the first round byes, which play an important factor in your picks for these best balls. Let’s jump in and take a look at the contests Underdog Fantasy is offering, and discuss some strategy and good targets for NFL playoff best ball.
Underdog Fantasy has a ton of NFL Playoff best ball contests ranging from the $5 to enter “The Mitten 2,” to the $25 “The Gauntlet,” the $100 “The Big Mitten,” to the $250 to enter “The Bigger Mitten.” All with other options in between. In this article, we’ll mainly focus on “The Gauntlet.” The Gauntlet is $25 to enter and pays out $2 million dollars in prizes. $500,000 to first place after the Super Bowl, $250,000 to second place, $100,000 to third place, and pays out a total of 15,000 spots. There are 90,000 spots available in this guaranteed payout tournament.
These playoff best balls run throughout the length of the NFL Playoffs and include all four rounds. That means players on the #1 seeds have a better chance of going farther, but they won’t be able to help you get past the first round. It takes a delicate balance to get past each round. Each draft consists of six players with 30 seconds on the clock for each round. It’s a traditional snake draft that spans over 10 rounds. In total, each team will have 10 players rostered. Your best performers will be automatically put into their respective starting spots each week. Once teams are set prior to Super Wild Card Weekend, they can’t be changed. Each roster will consist of a quarterback, two wide receiver/tight end spots, one running back, and one flex.
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Underdog Fantasy Playoff Best Ball Strategy
There are countless ways to go about strategy in building your fantasy best ball playoff roster. Let’s take a look at a few of my favorite strategies.
*Note- most of these contests began a few weeks ago, meaning there are players in the draft pool that have since been eliminated from the playoffs. Don’t draft those guys!
Stack Your Super Bowl Matchup
I think this is the best way to go for it all. Pick your two Super Bowl teams, and stack a few players from each. If you can correctly predict the two Super Bowl teams, and your team can get that far, having the most players in the final round gives you the best chance to win. In my article, walking through the entire playoffs, NFL Playoff Picks: The Road to Super Bowl LX. I ended up with the New England Patriots facing the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LX.
There are plenty of options for stacks in this game. Puka Nacua is currently being drafted at the 1.01, Devante Adams 2.01, Drake Maye 2.02, Kyren Williams 2.03, and Matthew Stafford 2.06. Grabbing Drake Maye, Kyren Williams, and Stefon Diggs stack early. And bringing back a Blake Corum or Hunter Henry later on could help you take home the big bucks.
Single Quarterback
The more of these I’ve done, the more comfortable I’m getting with a single quarterback play. It’s risky, a go big or go home move. But if Drake Maye, Matthew Stafford, or Josh Allen is the type of guy you think will make it to the Super Bowl. Then they’ll likely have good weeks week in and week out to get you to the final round. If you are in it to win it, riding your Super Bowl MVP quarterback all the way might just allow you to grab that one extra player who pops off and hits it big for you.
Late Flyers – Big Value
This is your opportunity to be different. Every draft is going to have the Puka’s of the world. Every draft is going to Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, and James Cook. If we are going to use the mindset of being different and going for broke. Your last pick or two can set you completely apart from most in the pool and give you the opportunity to hit big with a player few have. As your draft nears the end, scroll down and call your shot on someone with a big game or two in them. A player like Kyle Williams for New England, who has huge play-ability. Dawson Knox, the Bills’ tight end, can go off for two touchdowns any given week. Brian Robinson for the 49ers, if McCaffrey were to go down, or even if he just has a game for a San Francisco run.
Tyrell Shavers of Buffalo has proven the ability to have big plays. If Buffalo is making a Super Bowl run and you’ve selected Josh Allen as your quarterback, this stack could take you to the moon. Dontaviyon Wicks of the Packers had a multi-touchdown game on Thanksgiving. Kyle Juszczyk is a darling for me. We all know if the 49ers make the Super Bowl, Juice is getting involved early. Elton Chism for the Patriots is another great stack. Moral of the story, be different, call your shot, and don’t be afraid to reach deep outside of those normally drafted.
