The fantasy regular season is over but on DraftKings NFL playoff best ball is just getting started, and among the various best ball contests on DraftKings the arguable headliner is the NFL Best Ball $3M Playoff Millionaire contest. The tournament pays out $1M to first place with an entry fee of $20.
To compete for the top prize in the tournament you'll need to advance in the first of three rounds before placing in the fourth, emphasizing the need for scoring in all rounds of the contest and therefore necessitating a stacking emphasis between your selections. It's not practical to place in the final round – the Super Bowl – with a roster made up of players from four or more NFL teams if only two of those teams can remain active. More likely, the placing teams in the final round will likely have pursued stacks – multiple selections from a single team – on at least one of the two teams to make the Super Bowl.
In order to advance past the Wildcard Round you'll need a placing point total that week -- first in your group of six -- which requires you to include at least one Wildcard Round team among your 12 selections. The jackpot scenario would be a Wildcard team stack that makes it all the way to the Super Bowl, but short of that it might require a three-team approach where at least one carries the Wildcard Round while the other two run for the Super Bowl from the Divisional Round onward.
Your options for stacking is of course pending your draft scenario, meaning the draft slot and draft selections in your particular league might all but force you to resist certain teams in order to accumulate volume with the teams actually available at your selections. For example, with the consensus ADP placing Josh Allen at 1.03, it might not be worthwhile to pursue a stack of Buffalo pass catchers if Allen doesn't make it to your 1.05 draft slot or whatever. It might be a bummer to forfeit some offenses and settle for others because of how the draft order unfolds relative to your selection slots, but to wager on a scenario with sufficient Super Bowl-round ammo it might require some amount of stacking discipline to avoid otherwise burning out in any of the final three playoff rounds.
The starting format is 1QB/1RB/2WR/1TE/1FLEX, with six on the bench. Your draft group and subsequent round fields consist of six teams each until the 816-team finale round in the Super Bowl.
Here is the current DraftKings Playoff Best Ball ADP:
- Puka Nacua, WR, LAR
- Christian McCaffrey, RB, SF
- Josh Allen, QB, BUF
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, SEA
- James Cook, RB, BUF
- Saquon Barkley, RB, PHI
- Matthew Stafford, QB, LAR
- Davante Adams, WR, LAR
- Drake Maye, QB, NE
- A.J. Brown, WR, PHI
- Kyren Williams, RB, LAR
- George Kittle, TE, SF
- Nico Collins, WR, HOU
- Travis Etienne, RB, JAC
- Jalen Hurts, QB, PHI
- TreVeyon Henderson, RB, NE
- Stefon Diggs, WR, NE
- Brock Purdy, QB, SF
- Courtland Sutton, WR, DEN
- DeVonta Smith, WR, PHI
- RJ Harvey, RB, DEN
- Jauan Jennings, WR, SF
- Dallas Goedert, TE, PHI
- Dalton Kincaid, TE, BUF
- Jakobi Meyers, WR, JAC
- Trevor Lawrence, QB, JAC
- Hunter Henry, TE, NE
- Khalil Shakir, WR, BUF
- Bo Nix, QB, DEN
- Josh Jacobs, RB, GB
- Omarion Hampton, RB, LAC
- Kenneth Walker, RB, SEA
- D'Andre Swift, RB, CHI
- Derrick Henry, RB, BAL
- Ladd McConkey, WR, LAC
- Brian Thomas, WR, JAC
- Blake Corum, RB, LAR
- Colby Parkinson, TE, LAR
- Ricky Pearsall, WR, SF
- Christian Watson, WR, GB
- Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, NE
- Sam Darnold, QB, SEA
- DJ Moore, WR, CHI
- Brenton Strange, TE, JAC
- Caleb Williams, QB, CHI
A few quick thoughts:
- Keep in mind what could change in Week 18. The winner of the Steelers vs. Ravens takes the AFC North, and the winner of 49ers vs. Seahawks gets the first-round bye in the NFC. If you're counting on either of the 49ers or Seahawks to carry you through the Wildcard Round it might be hasty, and if the Ravens beat the Steelers then basically all of their ADPs are too low but especially Derrick Henry (34), Lamar Jackson (51) and Zay Flowers (55). In fact, the Ravens pretty clearly are the team whose ADP stands to increase the most in the next week, which could make buying them now a good idea.
- The DraftKings ADP of various or all New England players could be subject to change in the upcoming days given the charges faced by Christian Barmore and especially Stefon Diggs. At 17 in the ADP presently, Diggs might see his place in the order slip especially.
If Diggs slips far enough there could be reason to see it as a buying opportunity. The felony strangulation charge understandably raises fear and revulsion, but if the charges are lessened or if Diggs reaches an out of court settlement it could quickly become a non-issue, or at least an issue manageable enough that Diggs' playoff availability is unaffected. Similarly, if Maye or Henderson or whoever slips soon then it could make it a buying opportunity for Patriots in general.
- No hate on Courtland Sutton, but if he's at 19 then RJ Harvey (21) is too low – Harvey should be ahead. Also, if Sutton warrants the 19th spot then guys like Troy Franklin (46) and Pat Bryant (100) are arguably too low, too.
The following players outside of the top-45 DrafKings ADP stand out as either standalone values or viable stacking components, or both:
Parker Washington, WR, JAC (48)
With two 100-yard games in a row going into Week 18 there aren't many players in the league as hot as Washington right now. If the Jaguars win at least one game then Washington could be one of the most productive AFC wide receivers in the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson, QB, BAL (51)
Zay Flowers, WR, BAL (55)
The Ravens are of course a total mess and Jackson's injury situation is a major concern, but he's practicing fully through the back injury as of Thursday and we all know that if he's healthy Lamar can flip the switch and turn into the QB1. This is an awfully cheap price for a player who just needs to beat the Steelers to pose QB1 upside in the playoffs.
Zach Charbonnet, RB, SEA (59)
Kyle Monangai, RB, CHI (67)
This line merges Charbonnet and Monangai on purpose because they're the same type of asset going into the playoffs. Each is the RB2 for their respective team, but in each case they play much more (and better) than most other RB2s league-wide.
Given the latter point, it's interesting that Charbonnet is at 59 and Monangai at 67 when Kenneth Walker (32) and D'Andre Swift (33) go so much earlier. If Charbonnet and Monangai are closer to the RB1 on their respective teams than most other RB2 league-wide, then Charbonnet and Monangai should probably be closer in the ADP to Walker and Swift.
Dawson Knox, TE, BUF (69)
Brandin Cooks, WR, BUF (95)
Jackson Hawes, TE, BUF (155)
While it might not be worthwhile to pursue a Buffalo stack without Josh Allen, the welcome news for the Allen drafters is they can get these three for close to free toward the end. Perhaps Cooks' price has gone up since his 101-yard game against the Eagles, but he appears locked in as a starting boundary receiver for the Bills and if so Cooks would also have standalone value to non-Bills stacks looking to round out their early and mid-round lineups.
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