After netting a modest profit in season-long best ball contests, I met with my financial advisors and we all agreed the smartest path forward was to shovel 100% of the proceeds into playoff fantasy football.
Look, if the professionals believe it's the safest place to park your money in these uncertain times, who am I to argue?
I have been signing up for these contests almost indiscriminately, accepting any invitation, draining accounts across different platforms. (I believe the sharps refer to this as "bankroll management.") I was simply not ready for the fantasy season to end.
If you haven't dabbled in playoff contests before, I'd recommend pretty much any of them, anywhere. Drafting is generally quick and the formats are all easy and intuitive, although they differ significantly between platforms. Fantasy Cares runs a great game to support a fine cause if you're looking to get your feet wet.
Wherever you play, the best and most interesting contests will require you to accomplish two things:
1. Assemble a team that can plausibly field a full active roster through the Super Bowl, and
2. Construct a squad that can also win immediately in the Wild Card Round.
Again, this is pretty intuitive. You don't need an expert to tell you that it's ideal to roster great players from elite teams likely to survive through the contest's final week. But in a season like the one we're now experiencing — a year without a clear, screaming favorite in either conference — there are many reasonable ways to attempt to solve the puzzle.
To date, in drafted contests, I've only landed the top overall pick one time. Not coincidentally, that squad happens to be my favorite in the playoff portfolio. Here's this Rams/Broncos-heavy roster assembled in a six-team draft on DK:
You can't realistically build around Puka and Stafford without picking first overall, so, again, this is not available from every spot. More commonly, I've constructed Eagles/Patriots and Eagles/Jags squads on DraftKings. The basic concept is to work backward from a Super Bowl matchup you find likely (or at least imaginable) while remaining mindful of the fact that you will also need to post significant totals each week. I'm generally too much of a coward to draft only one QB, but, if you're locked in on a team, it's doable.
For those who like to have a set of rankings available at any draft, keep scrolling. We have you covered. Please note that in these ranks, we're obviously attempting to balance the talent and situation of a player with the likelihood that his team will actually make a deep postseason run. But as soon as a draft forces you toward specific NFL teams, you gotta just ditch the ranks entirely.
