We were super close in Week 7 in this article to a complete smash. The Chiefs as the top stack were a home run, and Josh Jacobs continued his insane run of slate winning performances, which got you nearly all the way there to winning Underdog Fantasy Battle Royale tournaments.
For Week 8, Underdog gives us another shot at trying to take home $50,000 in their main Battle Royale tournaments, as well as more than $100,000 in prize in multiple other tournaments.
Drafters Fantasy offers nearly $10,000 in total prizes, including a 2 QB tournament and deeper rosters with full point PPR.
There are also some Sit n Go options on DraftKings.
The goal of this article is to talk through strategy and ways to attack these specific snake draft style tournaments. By now most people are award of Daily Fantasy (DFS), and of course traditional season long snake drafts. But this is the first year we are getting truly huge in-season, weekly and daily snake drafts that are the perfect combination of the two.
If you are looking for rankings for these contests, we’ve got you covered there too. You can check out our Main Slate Draft Rankings or our Showdown/Single Game Draft Rankings for Underdog Fantasy Battle Royale tournaments to get a sense of some of the top plays and positional priorities. If you combine them with these strategy articles, our goal is that you’ll be able to put together drafts that give you a huge leg up on your competition who is probably not draft completely optimally for these types of tournaments.
Let’s crush Week 8.
Underdog Fantasy Battle Royale Strategy Week 8 & Top Plays
The first thing to consider, by far, in these drafts is not just “who you like” or “who projects the best”, but how our opponents are handling the week in terms of ADP. There are only 36 players drafted in every draft, and so that means a HUGE percentage of the player pool goes undrafted most of the time. But many of these are still really quality options with upside, so we need to consider what is the best way for us to beat thousands of other teams that drafted VERY similar combinations.
*Note that Underdog also launched a 12 person Battle Royale draft – called the Goal Line Stand – which is still 6 players for each team, but obviously doubles the amount of players drafted. The exact players will change in that contest, but the strategy remains the same. Additionally, I increased our weekly rankings from a top 40 to top 60 to account for this contest and Drafters tournaments.*
Particularly on Underdog, you’re going to need to nail basically your entire roster for that week. You may not need the absolute perfect lineup in every tournament, but at least in their big $5 Battle Royale with more than 50,000 entries, you have to navigate your way to the nearly optimal lineup most weeks. However, most of the field is still drafting off ADP for the entire 6 round draft, meaning that there are so many players being drafted in nearly every draft, while so many other players (including plenty of quality options) are being undrafted.
Top Plays
DeAndre Hopkins – In his Week 7 return without Marquise Brown, Nuk stepped right back into a massive role for the Cardinals, crossing the century mark on 10 catches with 14 targets. The 14 targets are even more notable given that it was nearly 50% of the total team targets for the week (29 pass attempts) as their defense scored twice. Hopkins projects as one of the top WRs on the entire slate in terms of target share, and the passing volume should be there this week in a quality matchup against a “meh” Vikings defense.
Raheem Mostert – At this point, it’s almost “wash, rinse, repeat” with lead RBs against the Lions, but Mostert really pops this week. Mostert is one of the most explosive players in the NFL, but we haven’t yet seen the big home run play this year. What we have seen is volume like he’s never really had before. He has taken over the Dolphins backfield and has at least 15 touches with 2+ targets in every game for the last month. He’s put up strong fantasy lines consistently, despite no real big plays and only 2 TDs. In this matchup, he’s primed for both of those things, and he’s FAR too cheap in drafts.
Undervalued & Overvalued Players
DJ Moore – If you enjoyed Hopkins’ target share, you’re going to love DJ Moore as well. In a surprise upset of the Bucs, the Panthers star WR had 10 targets on 22 team pass attempts, as the Bucs never pushed them to throw the ball. The Falcons, for all their warts and mind boggling play calling, have been able to produce points all season, and their secondary was just absolutely shredded by the Bengals. They lost stud corner A.J. Terrell in that game, which sets up Moore for both a high volume and efficient performance. He’s the most underpriced player in drafts right now.
Michael Pittman – I am actually a bit higher on the Colts than the public seems to be after the benching of Matt Ryan, but Pittman is still too expensive in drafts. They have been a super high volume passing attack for most of the season, and that should drop off with the move to Sam Ehlinger at QB. It’s possible Ehlinger plays well and creates more big plays for the offense (rather than the minuscule aDOT with Ryan), but Pittman is priced like that’s a certainty.
Top Stacks
Miami Dolphins – Mostert is one of the best picks in drafts, but don’t leave this week without also loading up on Dolphins stacks. Tua Tagoavailoa is too cheap for this matchup, and his stacking partner all offer insane upside in one of the best matchups in football. Tyreek is right there with Kupp and Jefferson for the top wideout on the board. Jaylen Waddle has shown his supreme upside multiple times this year already, and he’s discounted due to inconsistent volume. And even Mike Gesicki has multi-TD upside at a terrible TE position.
Philadelphia Eagles – This one is probably pretty obvious, but it’s nonetheless true. This slate is bereft of elite offenses, and the Eagles draw a matchup with a sketchy Steelers pass defense. You’ll have to pay for Jalen Hurts, but he’s the one monster upside QB on the board with his rushing. Plus, you have 3 affordable stacking partners for him with AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.
Off the Radar, Low Owned Plays
D’Andre Swift – Due to the fact that he has not played in recent weeks, Swift has no projection on Underdog and is going undrafted. But we know the kind of upside he has in both the running game and passing game, and we’ve seen his huge games come in games like this where the other team is putting up big point totals. He’s a borderline top 20-25 player that you can get super late, and he makes for the perfect run back to Dolphins stacks. If he is inactive again, you can always swap him out on Sunday.
D’Onta Foreman – The Panthers shocking whipped the Bucs on Sunday, and it was basically a 3 man show with the aforementioned DJ Moore, plus the two RBs, Foreman and Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard actually played more snaps, but Foreman was playing in the hurry up offense and received more total touches. Foreman makes for a strong play at the end of the drafts in this split role regardless, but Hubbard also left the game with an injury in the 4th quarter. Early reports are that he should be fine, but there’s always a chance it flares up in practice and you get the Panthers workhorse in a great spot at low ownership.
