Underdog Battle Royale: Week 13 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 13 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.

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.
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.
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 13 Battle Royale Strategy

Here is the current top 36 in ADP for Week 13’s Battle Royale:

Top Pairings

C.J. Stroud with Tank Dell or Nico Collins, Houston Texans

Last week the C.J. Stroud/Tank Dell pair certainly paid off, but it was a bit of a mistake to overlook Nico Collins, who is finally healthy. This matchup against the Broncos is going to benefit one of these guys, but with Pat Surtain usually shadowing the opposition’s top receiver, it’s hard to say whether he’ll be following Dell or Collins throughout the game. These Texans games do tend to get a bit crazy, so if you are looking for some differentiation, it might be wise to considering rostering a lightly used Broncos RB or WR along with this stack.

Sam Howell, Washington Commanders, and Tyreek Hill or Raheem Mostert, Miami Dolphins

Sam Howell is the gift that keeps on giving at the QB position. Washington’s mediocrity has put Howell in a situation where he consistently has to sling the ball against any team that’s even somewhat good. He has thrown the ball 42 or more times in eight of his last nine starts and is virtually a lock to do it again with Miami’s offense likely not having much trouble putting points on the board against a depleted Washington defense. It’s a safe bet for either Tyreek Hill or Raheem Mostert (or both) to produce Sunday afternoon, but you won’t be able to roster Hill unless you have one of the top two picks in your draft. Fortunately, Mostert should be doable from any draft position. You can also pair Howell with any of his receivers if you’re feeling frisky, but given their lack of consistency, I don’t think it’s completely necessary.

Keenan Allen, Los Angeles Chargers, and Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots

As of right now, Keenan Allen is being drafted anywhere from picks 4 through 6. If you’re fortunate enough to draft Allen, I think it’s important for you to get a lightly rostered Rhamondre Stevenson in the lineup as your RB1 or RB2. The Chargers defense is an absolute mess, and they’ve struggled to contain their opponents throughout the season. They are the 26^th-ranked defense in DVOA against the run and with Stevenson being one of the very few dependable options available for the Patriots, I can see them force feeding the ball to him against this Chargers defense.

Top Low-Rostered Plays

Sam Howell, QB, Washington Commanders

Sam Howell is being drafted as the QB7 in the Battle Royale this week. As I mentioned before, Howell is just slinging the ball this year and it largely has to do with how the Commanders are virtually always playing from behind. He is giving me huge Jameis Winston vibes, from 2019 when Jameis threw for 5,109 yards and 30 interceptions while slinging it 626 times. Like Winston, Howell is leading the league in passing yards and that’s unlikely to change as the season winds down.

Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England Patriots

Rhamondre Stevenson is being drafted as the RB12 in the Battle Royale this week. Stevenson is coming off another game where he got over 20 touches, but this time, he was able to get into the endzone. The RB12 spot is a spot where players are usually not being drafted, and that’s crazy given the juicy matchup against the Chargers and Stevenson’s consistent workload throughout the season.

DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Tennessee Titans

DeAndre Hopkins is being drafted as the WR18 in the Battle Royale this week. Hopkins has an ADP that is much lower than it normally is after a few underwhelming weeks with Will Levis under center. But Indianapolis is likely going to throw the ball more often than they usually do with Jonathan Taylor out of the lineup, and their matchup against Tennessee’s outstanding run defense, I can see this game playing at an increased pace compared to most Titans games. Hopkins also usually lines up on the outside, and that means he’ll avoid the Colts’ best DB in Kenny Moore.

Diontae Johnson, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

Diontae Johnson is being drafted as the WR25 in the Battle Royale this week. Johnson is coming off a week where he has been scrutinized heavily due to his lack of effort throughout his last game against the Bengals. It’s to the point where he is getting less love than George Pickens in the Battle Royale (Pickens is currently the WR21). The Cardinals defense is an absolute joke right now. They have the third-worst defense DVOA and second-worst defense DVOA against the pass. It’s borderline insane to see both Johnson and Pickens go undrafted in most Battle Royale’s this week, but I still prefer Johnson, who has an amazing opportunity to redeem himself this week against the lowly Cardinals.

Juwan Johnson, TE, New Orleans Saints

Juwan Johnson is being drafted as the TE8 in the Battle Royale this week. The Saints WR room is completely broken down with Michael Thomas on IR and Rashid Shaheed dealing with a bad quad injury, Chris Olave is the remaining WR that started Week 1. Juwan Johnson is a guy who was coming off of a very promising 2022 season but got dealt with a QB change and a calf injury that has kept him out of the lineup for most of the 2023 season. The Lions have struggled to defend the TE position throughout the season, and I can see them struggling to keep Johnson in check, especially with their defensive captain, LB Alex Anzalone out of the lineup.