Underdog Battle Royale: Week 15 Plays

The fantasy football world has already gotten a taste of Underdog Fantasy’s amazing interface in best ball drafts, with this year’s Best Ball Mania awarding $15,000,000 in prizes, but believe it or not, for a few years now, they’ve also offered a “Battle Royale” mode, which is a draft format, solely based on the Sunday afternoon games. In the Daily Battle Royale mode, you’re entered in a draft with five other players, drafting a lineup that will compete against every other lineup signed up in the Battle Royale. This week’s main Battle Royale contests are going to have a $300,000 prize pool with $30,000 offered for first place, which is not too shabby for a $5 entry.

Here are some details on the Week 15 contest:

Now that we’re ready to build some lineups, there are three important rules to apply in every single lineup that you’re drafting. 

1. Make sure to have some sort of stack in your lineup – It doesn’t necessarily need to be a full game stack, but with only six QBs selected in each draft, there should be a way for you to get the QB you need in your stack. If you start your draft with WR, WR through the first two rounds, 99% of the time, you’ll have the ability to pair one of them up with a QB in the third round. More often than not though, you’ll even be able to wait until later in the draft to put together a QB/WR combo. While you might not put together a QB/WR combo, you might be able to pair your QB with an opposing RB or WR, or maybe a WR with an opposing WR. There’s a lot of different ways to get some correlation, so keep it in the back of your mind when you’re making selections. 
2. Pay attention to your competition – If you don’t have the ability to give 100% attention to your draft, including the five other teams drafting in your lobby, don’t enter the contest. You can make or break your drafts just by keeping an eye on the positions the others are drafting. Every single draft will have a scenario that requires you to put the pieces of the puzzle together. For example: if you’re in the fifth round, drafting in fifth position, and still need to draft a QB, but see that the person drafting sixth has already drafted a QB, you definitely want to avoid picking your QB until the sixth round because there’s no way the person drafting sixth can pick a QB.
3. Be creative with at least one of your picks – When it’s all said and done, there’s only going to be 36 players (6 QBs and 30 RB/WR/TEs) drafted in any given slate. Rostership is integral in every single GPP contest in DFS, and that includes these Battle Royales. It probably comes as no surprise that the top 36 players in ADP dominate the ownership. It doesn’t take much to differentiate your lineup, and you’re still going to be able to draft some pretty good players who have an ADP outside the top 36. With that said, I’ve looked over the results of the last three Battle Royales and there have been some winning lineups that haven’t been too unique, but more often than not, the way to go is to be a little different from the field. 

Week 15 Battle Royale Strategy

Here is the current top 36 in ADP for Week 15’s Battle Royale:

Top Pairings

Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins

We don’t usually get to have an option to roster Tyreek Hill unless we get one of the top three picks in the draft, but because of Hill’s status after hurting his ankle Monday, he’s getting drafted either around the 5 or 6 spot in the first round, or like a few of my drafts so far, the second round. Again, if he doesn’t play, we’ll be able to get a sub in for free; however, I really think he’ll be OK. Just rewatch the tape and look at what he was doing during those celebrations. We’ve seen enough from Tyreek this season to know that he’s one of the few consistent slate breakers on any given week, so I’m willing to be overexposed to him this week when he’s more readily available with an ADP around 7.

Jordan Love and Jayden Reed, Green Bay Packers, with Rachaad White or Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Jordan Love had an off game Monday against the Giants, but he should be in good shape to bounce back against a Bucs team that has allowed the seventh-most fantasy points to the WR position this season. Jayden Reed has become a consistent producer for Love throughout Love’s emergence since the Thanksgiving Day game against the Lions. They are clearly trying to get Reed opportunities to make plays — whether it’s through the air or through designed runs, and I think he’s a pretty safe play considering how easy it is to roster him this week in a good matchup. 

Ezekiel Elliott, New England Patriots, with Travis Kelce or Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs

The Patriots came away with a huge win last week against the Steelers and a big reason for that was giving Ezekiel Elliott 29 touches. There’s definitely a lack of trust in both Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones, and with Rhamondre Stevenson out of the lineup, it’s pretty safe to say Zeke is going to get plenty of opportunities to run up his fantasy point totals this week against the Chiefs. Either way, he’s really easy to roster as this week’s RB13, but beyond that, it’ll actually be pretty easy to roster him with one of the Chiefs top two options in Travis Kelce, who is usually being drafted toward the end of the first round or early second round, or Rashee Rice, who isn’t being drafted until much later in the draft as the WR13.

Top Low-Rostered Plays 

Jordan Love, QB, Green Bay Packers

Jordan Love is being drafted as the QB8 in the Battle Royale this week. Head coach Matt Lafleur hasn’t been shy about letting J-Love sling the ball the last few weeks and I would be shocked if that stops this week against the Bucs. As this week’s QB8, he’s not being drafted in most drafts, and I just think that’s a huge opportunity to gain some much-needed leverage at the QB position. There’s actually plenty of viable options beyond the QB6 spot, and that includes guys like Tua, Sam Howell and Kyler Murray. 

Ezekiel Elliott, RB, New England Patriots

Ezekiel Elliott being drafted as the RB16 in the Battle Royale this week. As I mentioned above, Zeke is on track for anywhere between 20 and 30 touches, and I actually see that being a safe assumption with Stevenson out of the lineup. Even if this game gets out of hand if Patrick Mahomes takes his fury out on the Patriots, he’s still going to get fed the ball with dump off after dumpoff. 

Jayden Reed, WR, Green Bay Packers

Jayden Reed is being drafted as the WR16 in the Battle Royale this week. As I also mentioned above regarding Reed, I feel this matchup against the Bucs sets up very well for a Packers rebound game after the awful loss against the Giants. Reed is likely going to be a key piece considering how heavily he’s been used over the last four weeks.

Terry McLaurin, WR, Washington Commanders

Terry McLaurin is being drafted as the WR20 in the Battle Royale this week. Somehow, someway, Scary Terry was unable to get a reception in Washington’s Week 13 loss to the Dolphins. He’s had an extra week to think about that after the team’s Week 14 bye week and should be set to rebound from that this coming Sunday against the Rams. Again, Sam Howell has been forced to sling the ball like a madman due to Washington’s woes, and with Brian Robinson likely out with a bad hamstring, I can see that being the case again a weak Rams secondary. 

Cole Kmet, TE, Chicago Bears

Cole Kmet is being drafted as the TE7 in the Battle Royale this week. While the Browns have been stingy against the TE position, I’m still OK with taking a shot on Kmet. He’s still the legit No. 2 option behind DJ Moore, and it’s pretty clear that Justin Fields views Kmet as a bit of a safety net. Fields might have to lean on his safety net a bit more against a Browns team that’s going to be pressuring him far more than what the Lions and Panthers were able to do since he came back from his injury.