I love Playoff Challenge leagues. It's a way to continue your Fantasy fun through the postseason, and there's plenty of strategy involved. Who wouldn't want to set a lineup or check stats for another four weeks?
NFL.com discontinued their Playoff Challenge, but I'm taking part in three leagues this season, including the FFPC. The other two leagues are done privately, including one with our CBS Sports staff. Unfortunately, we do not have a Playoff Challenge game on CBS, so we did the draft the old-fashioned way (sort of) with a spreadsheet.
The biggest thing involved with any Playoff Challenge is knowing your rules. The lineup requirements might be for the entire postseason, or you can change your lineup weekly.
The FFPC league is where you can only pick one player from an NFL team to fill out your lineup, and you get their total points for as long as they advance through the playoffs. For example, I have Josh Allen at quarterback, and he's the only player I can use from the Bills. Christian McCaffrey is one of my running backs, and he's the only player I can use from the 49ers. And so on.
In my other non-CBS Playoff Challenge, the rules are you set a lineup for each round of the playoffs, and once you use those players for that week they are done. So you want to save players from the teams you think will advance to the Super Bowl. For the Wild-Card round, I'm going to use guys like Tyreek Hill, Puka Nacua and Nico Collins since I don't expect the Dolphins, Rams or Texans to advance.
Below, you'll see my postseason PPR rankings, and these are for the entirety of the playoffs. They are based on how many games I expect each team to play.
For example, I have the Bills reaching the Super Bowl in the AFC, which would give them four games and make players on their roster valuable in any total-points format. In the NFC, I expect the 49ers to play in the Super Bowl, which means San Francisco should play three games. I also have the Cowboys playing three games since I expect Dallas to reach the NFC Championship Game.
In my playoff projections, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cleveland, Detroit and Tampa Bay will also play two games, which is why I'm slightly higher on those players in my rankings than guys from Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Green Bay and the Rams, who might play just one game. But if you play in any leagues with total points through the playoffs then I encourage you to do your own rankings and map out how you expect the postseason to play out. That's a big part in how you might choose players in your Playoff Challenge.
Every Monday, I'm going to update these rankings and provide a playoff stock watch. And I'll also be giving you DFS plays on DraftKings and FanDuel throughout the postseason. Like I said, even though the regular season is over, we can still have fun setting Fantasy lineups in a different way from now until the Super Bowl.
Quarterback
1. Josh Allen
2. Brock Purdy
3. Dak Prescott
4. Lamar Jackson
5. Patrick Mahomes
6. Jared Goff
7. Joe Flacco
8. Baker Mayfield
9. Jalen Hurts
10. Matthew Stafford
11. Jordan Love
12. C.J. Stroud
13. Tua Tagovailoa
14. Mason Rudolph
Running back
1. Christian McCaffrey
2. James Cook
3. Isiah Pacheco
4. Rachaad White
5. Jahmyr Gibbs
6. Tony Pollard
7. Kyren Williams
8. David Montgomery
9. Jerome Ford
10. De'Von Achane
11. Gus Edwards
12. Aaron Jones
13. Devin Singletary
14. Raheem Mostert
15. D'Andre Swift
16. Najee Harris
17. Jaylen Warren
18. Kareem Hunt
19. Justice Hill
20. Leonard Fournette
21. Rico Dowdle
22. Clyde Edwards-Helaire
23. Kenneth Gainwell
24. Elijah Mitchell
Wide receiver
1. CeeDee Lamb
2. Deebo Samuel
3. Stefon Diggs
4. Brandon Aiyuk
5. Amon-Ra St. Brown
6. Zay Flowers
7. Mike Evans
8. Rashee Rice
9. Amari Cooper
10. Tyreek Hill
11. Chris Godwin
12. A.J. Brown
13. Nico Collins
14. Puka Nacua
15. Cooper Kupp
16. Jayden Reed
17. DeVonta Smith
18. Jaylen Waddle
19. George Pickens
20. Brandin Cooks
21. Khalil Shakir
22. Odell Beckham
23. Gabe Davis
24. Dontayvion Wicks
25. Diontae Johnson
26. Christian Watson
27. Josh Reynolds
28. Demarcus Robinson
29. Elijah Moore
30. Bo Melton
Tight end
1. George Kittle
2. Travis Kelce
3. Jake Ferguson
4. Dalton Kincaid
5. David Njoku
6. Mark Andrews
7. Dallas Goedert
8. Dalton Schultz
9. Tucker Kraft
10. Cade Otton
11. Isaiah Likely
12. Dawson Knox
13. Brock Wright
14. Tyler Higbee
DST
1. 49ers
2. Bills
3. Cowboys
4. Ravens
5. Browns
6. Chiefs
7. Lions
8. Buccaneers
9. Rams
10. Texans
11. Eagles
12. Packers
13. Dolphins
14. Steelers
Kicker
1. Brandon Aubrey
2. Tyler Bass
3. Justin Tucker
4. Jake Moody
5. Harrison Butker
6. Chase McLaughlin
7. Jake Elliott
8. Ka'imi Fairbairn
9. Riley Patterson
10. Michael Badgley
11. Brett Maher
12. Anders Carlson
13. Jason Sanders
14. Chris Boswell