Underdog Battle Royale: Week 17 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 $250,000 prize pool with $20,000 offered for first place, which is not too shabby for a $5 entry.

Here are some details on the Week 17 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 17 Battle Royale Strategy

Here is the current top 36 in ADP for Week 17’s Battle Royale:

Top Pairings

Kyren Williams or Puka Nacua, Los Aneles Rams, and Saquon Barkley, New York Giants

While Kyren Williams is understandably a top-two pick in this week’s Battle Royale, Puka Nacua is oddly up for grabs for anyone willing to take him as the No. 9 ADP. The Giants are giving up the fifth-most fantasy points to the WR position and have struggled to sustain the NFL’s top receivers throughout the season. I think both Puka and Cooper Kupp should give the Giants secondary headaches throughout the game, but I think Puka is the one who stands out more at this point. He’s gaining much more separation than Kupp, and his target share continues to be consistent. While he’s not getting the 15-20 targets he got before Kupp came back to the lineup, he’s still getting 7-plus per game, and has also been a big part of the ground attack. As for Saquon, I think he’s also overlooked considering how heavy of a workload he’s consistently getting. Tyrod Taylor coming in for Tommy DeVito is definitely a positive for him, and with the game having a 44.5 total with the Rams just -5.5 favorites, Vegas is certainly under the impression that the Giants are going to be able to score some points with Taylor under center. 

Justin Fields and DJ Moore, Chicago Bears

Justin Fields and DJ Moore can be a very volatile combination, but when they actually do connect, it tends to be explosive. While Fields is one of the few QBs out there who I don’t mind playing as a standalone/one-off, it’s clear that if he’s able to put up big numbers, it’s going to be with the help of Moore. I like this stack even more with Fields getting much lower ownership this week as the QB7, and Moore coming off of a poor game. They are going to be facing a Falcons team that is struggling to find their identity in the secondary, having benched Jeff Okudah and Richie Grant in favor of Clark Phillips and DeMarcco Hellams. 

Patrick Mahomes and Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs

Travis Kelce continues to be drafted/valued higher than Rashee Rice, and I don’t know why. Rice is the more explosive receiver and, at this point, the more reliable receiver. While you’re probably going to struggle to draft Kelce anywhere outside of the first two rounds, Rice is going to be available to virtually everyone in one of the last two rounds. You’ll also be able to roster the struggling Patrick Mahomes, who has been swapping the QB5 and QB6 spot with Matthew Stafford throughout the week. While Mahomes has certainly looked mortal this season, he’s not exactly someone you’re going to write off because of a few tough games. His matchup against the Bengals is very compelling. The Bengals are struggling defensively and have given up a combined 58 points over the last two weeks of play to Nick Mullens and Mason Rudolph respectively. This could be a good opportunity for Mahomes and the Chiefs to seal the AFC West once and for all in decisive fashion.

Top Low-Rostered Plays 

Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield is being drafted as the QB9 in the Battle Royale this week. Baker has been outperforming his draft position week in and week out and is in prime position to do so again this week as the QB9. On paper, the Bucs are largely the same core that was there when Tom Brady was under center, but Baker has certainly done a hell of a job at getting the most from Brady’s old weapons. I am well aware Mike Evans has struggled mightily throughout his career against the Saints (though that’s been when the Saints have had Marshon Lattimore on the field), but I feel comfortable in playing Baker with his connections with guys like Chris Godwin, Cade Otton and Rachaad White getting stronger as we get deeper into the season.

Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons

Bijan Robinson is being drafted as the RB11 in the Battle Royale this week. After a misterable Week 16 where Robinson sent a lot of fantasy managers packing with a -0.1 on eight touches, Robinson was able to turn 19 touches into 15.7 fantasy points against the Colts. He faces a Bears defense that has been solid against the run throughout the season, but I think he’ll be somehow “sneaky” with Taylor Heinicke notably using Bijan more in the passing game than Ridder has so far this season. The Bears have given up the third-most receptions to the RB position this season and have even allowed five receiving touchdowns to the RB position, second most in the NFL.

Calvin Ridley, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Calvin Ridley is being drafted as the WR21 in the Battle Royale this week. Last week, Ridley gave us a huge performance against the Bucs, and I think he should be in good shape this week against the Panthers. Per the FTN Splits Tool, with Christian Kirk out of the lineup, Ridley is getting 3.59 more targets, and 0.48 more receptions. While the Panthers are more noted for their atrocious run defense which is currently the worst ranked rush defense DVOA, it’s merely masking a passing defense that has had its own struggles throughout the season. 

DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Tennessee Titans

DeAndre Hopkins is being drafted as the WR32 in the Battle Royale this week. I get it. Hopkins has been very inconsistent throughout the season and did virtually nothing against his former team just a few weeks ago, but is that really enough to make him WR32 in his homecoming game against the Texans? Hopkins is a receiver that should be getting more love than roughly half of the receivers drafted ahead of him simply because of upside. He’s one of the few receivers out there who has slate breaking upside, and when you mix that in with the homecoming game situation, you better believe I’m going to mix in a few sixth-round Hopkins shares in my Battle Royale entries. 

Cole Kmet, TE, Chicago Bears

Cole Kmet is being drafted as the TE8 in the Battle Royale this week. I know I spent a lot of time talking about Justin Fields and DJ Moore earlier, but again, if you’re not able to draft one of either Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Trey McBride or Evan Engram, I think it gets pretty murky from there. I do think Cole Kmet would ordinarily get more love if he wasn’t dealing with a knee injury that has kept him out of practice. Considering he’s actually been one of the few reliable and durable TEs in the NFL this season, I think if he plays, he’s going to be fine. He’s put together six quality games since Fields came back to the lineup and is consistently being used as a safety net for Fields in key situations.