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, you ask? In this article, I’ll cover the 2025 FFPC Playoff Challenge strategies, tips, and more! Plus, I’ll give out the lineup I’ve already picked for myself. Although, like a true degen, I’ll have more than one.
The best part of the 2025 FFPC Playoff Challenge is that the more accurately you can predict the playoffs, the more likely you’ll win some cash with your entry! Trust me when I tell you this 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. It’s as simple as picking your players with a couple of twists. We’ll get into those in this article as well.
2025 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, use the promocode SGPN, 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 that 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 for the defense.
2025 FFPC Quarterback Options
You have to choose just one of the 14 quarterbacks who will be in the playoffs. To me, this is the hardest position to pick. You have to go with a quarterback you’re confident will make a deep playoff run. You’ll also want to get one that scores a good amount of points. So which quarterbacks give the best value this year?
The top four fantasy football quarterbacks are in the playoffs. Those four are Josh Allen, Drake Maye, Matt Stafford, and Trevor Lawrence. Other quarterbacks in the playoffs who finished in the top 12 fantasy football quarterbacks include Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Jalen Hurts, and Justin Herbert.
I would pick Josh Allen, but I’m too stuck on taking James Cook at my running back spot. Therefore, I can’t take him since you can only have one player from each team. However, I am going to stick with an AFC quarterback and take Drake Maye. Maye finished as the number two fantasy football quarterback, averaging 21.1 points per game. He’s effective in the air and on the ground, and the Patriots will look to advance through at least one round of the playoffs.
It’s hard to go wrong with Trevor Lawrence as well. Especially given the fact that he utilizes so many weapons. You can capitlize trying to get the most points by taking Lawrence instead of one of his receiving options. Maybe you want to take a guy like Bo Nix, but keep in mind, he won’t play in the Super Wild Card round, so you’ll be waiting on him to get points since they have a first-round bye.
The full list of quarterbacks you can pick in order of how they finished in fantasy football points per game (not overall points) is as follows. Josh Allen, Drake Maye, Matt Stafford, Trevor Lawrence, and Brock Purdy all scored over 20 fantasy points per game.
Jalen Hurts, Caleb Williams, Justin Herbert, and Bo Nix were all in the 18-20 point range. Jordan Love, C.J. Stroud, Aaron Rodgers, Bryce Young, and Sam Darnold were all 16 points and under.
FFPC Running Back Options
I think the FFPC Playoff Challenge lineup gets easier at this point because you can have multiple running backs. Your lineup will consist of two running backs in the running back spots, but you can also throw some in your flex spot.
Players who finished in the top 12 in fantasy football who are in the playoffs include CMC, James Cook, Kyren Williams, Travis Etienne, and Josh Jacobs. It’s interesting to me that out of the 14 teams, only five had running backs inside the top 12 in fantasy football this year.
It’ll be hard not to put CMC and James Cook on your team. The problem with CMC is that I may be targeting another player on his team. If you skip on Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, I think Travis Etienne is a great option here as well. D’Andre Swift didn’t finish inside the top-12 of fantasy football running backs. However, he was number 14 and has playoff experience.
Here’s a full list of starting running backs (or time share in some situations) and where they finished in points per game. Again, this isn’t looking at overall points, just points per game in order.
Only CMC scored over 20 fantasy points per game among running backs in the playoffs. James Cook finished with 17.8 fantasy points per game. Around 15 points per game were Josh Jacobs, Kyren Williams, and Omarion Hampton.
Ranging from 14 to 12 points per game include Travis Etienne, Saquon Barkley, D’Andre Swift, Kenny Gainwell, Jaylen Warren, Rhamondre Stevenson, R.J. Harvey, and Treveyon Henderson.
Finally, at 10.3 and 10.2 points per game are Seattle’s backs, Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
FFPC Wide Receiver Options
The more players you get, the more limited your selections are going to be. You may want to jump around on how you fill your team out. I know for a fact which quarterback I’m going with and at least one of my running backs. Before filling out my next running back, I may decide to pick a wide receiver or tight end first. This is where building your 2025 FFPC Playoff Challenge lineup gets tricky.
Of the wide receivers in the playoffs, only five finished in the top 12 of fantasy football. Puka Nacua finished first, followed by Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Then we go all the way down to number seven, where we have Davante Adams, followed by Zay Flowers and Nico Collins. Finally, at the 12th spot, there’s Courtland Sutton.
Again, you have to be selective on who you pick because of your quarterback and running back selections, if you’ve already picked them. Taking Drake Maye eliminates all his receivers. Taking James Cook means no Bills receivers can make your team. There are plenty of different strategies when determining your lineup. I normally build a bracket first, and then target teams I think will go deep in the playoffs and build down from there.
Puka and JSN were the only receivers who averaged over 20 points per game in the playoffs. It’s hard not to put them both in your lineup because of the impact they have on the field. The next leader in points per game is Davante Adams and Nico Collins, who were both slightly over 15 points per game.
From 14.9 down to 12 points per game in order include A.J. Brown, Christian Watson, Courtland Sutton, DK Metcalf, Stefon Tetairoa McMillan, Stefon Diggs, Quentin Johnston, and Rome Odunze.
FFPC Tight End
Tight end is an important position in the FFPC because of the scoring. This is a tight end premium format, so tight ends get one-and-a-half points per catch instead of the normal one point per reception. The other tricky part is nailing down a tight end. The top fantasy football tight end, Tre McBride, isn’t in the playoffs.
In fact, only four playoff teams have tight ends who finished in the top-12 in fantasy football for the year. They include Dallas Geodert (seventh), Hunter Henry (ninth), Dalton Schultz (tenth), and Colston Loveland (12th).
It’s a little different story if you go by points per game. I like looking at these guys as points per game because injuries derail seasons, but everybody listed here is going into the playoffs healthy. Only one playoff tight end scored over 14 fantasy points per game at the tight end position. That would be Mr. George Kittle. To me, deciding between him and CMC is one of the hardest decisions in the 2025 FFPC Playoff Challenge lineups. I’ll likely have one lineup with CMC and one with Kittle.
The other playoff tight ends that scored over 10 fantasy points per game in order from biggest to smallest include Goedert, Schultz, Dalton Kincaid, and Colston Loveland. The tight end position is the thinnest yet out of all the 2025 FFPC positions.
FFPC Flex, Defense, and Kicker Options
Your lineup is now set aside from a defense, a kicker, and four flex spots. The flex spots can be a running back, wide receiver, or tight end. Anybody from those positions can be placed in the flex spot. The only catch is that you can’t have rostered somebody from their team previously. Once you finish picking your flex, defense, and kicker, your lineup is set.
Now you can sit back and see how your team performs (hopefully). Don’t worry, though. If your entry ends up being a mess and half your team is out of the playoffs already, just come back and enter a new lineup in the second FFPC Playoff Challenge that starts after the Super Wild Card Weekend!
My Official FFPC Playoff Challenge Lineup
All right, here it is, my official FFPC Playoff Challenge lineup number 1.
Quarterback: Drake Maye (Patriots)
Running Back: James Cook (Bills)
Running Back: Travis Etienne (Jaguars)
Wide Receiver: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks)
Wide Receiver: Puka Nacua (Rams)
Tight End: Colston Loveland (Bears)
Flex Players: Christian McCaffrey (49ers), Courtland Sutton (Broncos), Saquon Barkley (Eagles), Josh Jacobs (Packers)
Kicker: Cameron Dicker (Chargers)
Defense: Texans
