It’s the most wonderful time of the year, playoff best ball is here! Playoff best ball is a highly strategic game where you draft a best ball roster focused on NFL team playoff advancements in conjunction with player fantasy points. Follow the guidelines below to gain an advantage against the competition.
Build for the Super Bowl (Finals)
Each draft there is one goal, draft a roster that fills every starter position for at least one Super Bowl matchup. If you don’t do this, save your entry fee money and buy a family member a nice holiday gift.
- Underdog: 1 Quarterback, 1 Running Back, 2 Wide Receiver/Tight Ends and 1 Flex (RB or W/T) that are playing in the Super Bowl.
- DraftKings: 1 Quarterback, 1 Running Back, 2 Wide Receivers, 1 Tight End and 1 Flex (RB, WR or TE) that are playing in the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is where the majority of the prize money is won. In The Gauntlet, Underdog’s flagship tournament, the majority of the prize money is in the final with around 10% of the overall prize money being awarded to first place. You need to be drafting to be live for first place, and you do that by being able to fill out a full Super Bowl starting lineup. There will be rosters that show up to the final without full lineups, those are the teams likely to minimum cash the finals.
More isn’t always merrier
How many NFL teams should you draft players from? There is not a simple correct answer. Your portfolio should consist of mostly two, three or four NFL team builds. On occasion, it may make sense to draft from five NFL teams if you are thin in the Wild Card round due to byes. Why a minimum of two? One AFC team and one NFC team. The Super Bowl matchup.
There are a ton of ways to meet these guidelines, below are a handful of examples:
- 5 Eagles (NFC) – 5 Bills (AFC)
- One Super Bowl matchup
- 4 Ravens (AFC) – 3 Eagles (NFC) – 3 Lions (NFC)
- Two Super Bowl matchups
- 4 49ers (NFC) – 3 Bills (AFC) – 2 Chiefs (AFC) – 1 Raven (AFC)
- Three Super Bowl matchups
- 3 49ers (NFC) – 3 Rams (NFC) – 2 Chiefs (AFC) – 2 Broncos (AFC)
- Four Super Bowl matchups
- 3 49ers (NFC) – 3 Bills (AFC) – 2 Chiefs (AFC) – 2 Broncos (AFC)
- Three Super Bowl matchups
Drafting a primary team from one conference and secondary team(s) from the other conference is the preferred roster construction. If you compare the last two examples, it illuminates the power of this construction as it provides you more outs to being alive in the finals. This edge is amplified if you draft the quarterback on your primary team.
Know your contest
Each contest’s advance rate and final size is potentially different. Maximize your number of live players in the most difficult rounds. Read your contest’s rules before entering. A team drafted in The Gauntlet tournament faces different obstacles than a team drafted in the Little Mitten.
| Wild Card Round | Divisional Round | Championship Round | Super Bowl | |
| 2023 The Gauntlet | 2/6 | 2/14 | 1/8 | 400 Final |
| 33% | 14% | 12.5% | .25% | |
| 2023 Little Mitten | 2/6 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 100 Final |
| 33% | 20% | 20% | 1% |
Know your odds and matchups
Be aware of the playoff odds, potential byes, potential Wild Card matchups and playoff paths for each individual day you are drafting. In an ideal world all your players will be able to advance and be alive in the Conference Championship round. This can be a lot of work; we have resources available to help: Playoff Odds / Matchups.
Drafting players from the bye teams can be a challenge as they won’t be available in the Wild Card round. This doesn’t mean you should avoid them as those teams consist of the best players on the teams with the highest Super Bowl probabilities. We need to be thoughtful on how we are constructing our lineups with these players. Balance your team with players who have high single game upsides to get you through. Many times, the Wild Card round is the easiest advance structure.
Judge your peers
Being aware of what has happened in your draft room is a huge advantage. These contests are highly strategic, we should try to identify the peers who understand the contest and those who don’t. This information will help inform you on when to take a quarterback and the probability to set up a clean stack.
Be on the lookout for the QB sniper who took Hurts and Mahomes at the Round 1/Round 2 turn. You may want to draft Matthew Stafford for your stack in Round 3 instead of pushing to Round 4.
You want other logical drafters in your rooms, find those peers by seeing who is staying in their lane. They may have drafted AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts for their NFC team, then in the 3rd round drafted Isiah Pacheco to begin building an AFC team. Throughout the draft, you may be able to place some trust in them to draft rationally allowing you to build the best version of your team.
Positional allocations – Underdog
- Quarterback – 1 to 2 (usually 1 unless your QB1 is on bye)
- Running back – 2 to 4
- Wide Receiver/Tight End – 4 to 7
Positional allocations – DraftKings
- Quarterback – 1 to 2 (usually 1 unless your QB1 is on bye)
- Running back – 2 to 4
- Wide Receiver – 4 to 7
- Tight End – 1 to 3
Solo quarterback
“Wait, are you saying solo quarterback should be my default? That feels uncomfortable.” Yes. By drafting only one quarterback, you have an additional roster spot to differentiate yourself from teams in the Super Bowl that drafted two. Target the quarterback on your primary stack. Will there be circumstances when drafting two quarterbacks makes sense based on your specific draft room? Absolutely, it just should not be a habit without a QB highly probable for a bye.
ADP is a myth
Do not be tethered to ADP. There’s a fair case to be made that ADP is relatively silly in all best ball formats. Even if you are a believer, this is the best ball format where it matters the absolute least.
Do not worry about taking Rashee Rice 6 picks ahead of ADP on your Mahomes team. If it makes sense, do it. Other times you may get boxed out at quarterback and must begin drafting a three-player stack in the eighth round and their ADPs are all in the high 50’s.
Time to win
As with all best ball tournaments, they are extremely hard to win first place. Use these guidelines to give yourself a strategic advantage against the competition. We’d love to hear if there are any other guidelines you draft by in the Spike Week Discord.
