The Fear of Missing Out. Otherwise known as the FOMOs. It’s easy to get them this time of year. The regular fantasy football season is over. There is a 75% chance your favorite team has been eliminated. And you already missed the boat on playoff fantasy football contests.

Well, most of them that is. Because there is still ONE great fantasy football playoff contest left - the FFPC Playoff Challenge 2: Divisional Round!

 

 

 

Yes, our friends over at the FFPC run one last contest that kicks off on Saturday, January 18th. And the prizes for the top contest are BIG with a $260,000 prize pool with $100K going to the winner. It should fill up quickly, so grab your spot now and put those FOMOs to rest. 

And, if it’s your first time playing over at MyFFPC.com, use promo code ALARM and they will give you $25 in bonus credits when you deposit $35 or more!

 

 

 

FFPC Playoff Challenge 2: Divisional Round Prizes

As we mentioned, the top contest with the $200 buy-in has $260,000 in total prizes with the top prize getting $100,000. But that’s not all - the top 10% of teams get paid out with prizes ranking for $300 cash (or FFPC contest credits ranging up to $3,500 all the way up to $20,000 for second place). Here is the full list of prizes for that contest.

There is also a smaller contest, the $35 FFPC Playoff Challenge 2. In that one, there are $142,500 in total prizes with a $25,000 grand prize. The top 13.3% of teams win prizes ranging from a $35 FFPC league credit to $10,000 for second place. Here is the full list of prizes for that contest.

*IMPORTANT REMINDER: These contests WILL sell out, so it is important to reserve your spot as soon as possible!

 

 

 

FFPC Playoff Challenge 2: Divisional Round Scoring

Here is how the scoring is set up. There are two main unique features of the scoring for this contest. The “tight end premium” that gives tight ends extra points. And DOUBLE points for players in the Super Bowl:

  • 4 pts for passing TDs
  • 6 pts for non-passing TDs scored in any way by an individual player
  • 1 pt for every 20 yards passing
  • -1 point for every interception thrown
  • 1 point for every 10 yards rushing or receiving
  • 1 pt per reception for RBs and WRs (or QB)
  • 1.5 pt per reception for TEs
  • 2 points for 2-pt conversion
  • -1 point - fumble lost
  • Double points in the Super Bowl

 

 

 

FFPC Playoff Challenge 2: Divisional Round Roster

Each team will consist of 8 NFL players at the following positions. The unique feature here is that you cannot choose two players from the same team. Only ONE. Stacking is off the table in this format. You’d have to pick either Jayden Daniels OR Terry McLaurin as your Washington Commander:

  • 1 QB
  • 2 RB
  • 2 WR
  • 1 TE
  • 2 FLEX (RB, WR, or TE)

Your team does NOT lock when you put it in - it locks on Saturday, January 18th at 4:30 PM ET. Since this contest will fill, I suggest you enter ASAP, then tinker with your lineup later. Here is a link to the Official Contest Rules as a reference. 

 

 

 

FFPC Playoff Challenge 2: Divisional Round Strategy

Difference From The Original Playoff Challenge Contest

We talked about basic strategy for the FFPC Playoff Challenge here. But this one is a little different, naturally. In the original, you pick 12 players from the 14 teams. So, you fade two teams completely. 

You also pick a kicker and defense in the main challenge (which are two more teams to fade). On top of that, you aren’t dealing with any bye weeks in this contest. The lineups are much leaner, and no teams are being faded.

 

 

 

Emphasis On Uniqueness

There are two main reasons to have some uniqueness here. One, if the general nature of football. It’s incredibly rare that the “chalk” just pans out exactly as planned. 

Guys get hurt, underdogs win, and, in fantasy football especially, the rankings are rarely exactly right. Obviously you still need to pick players who can actually pop but you don’t need to take the “best player” on paper from each team.

The other big reason here is the pot split. They do have a unique prize splitting system at the top where they combine the prizes then split them (for instance, if 10 people tie for 1st, it combines the top 10 prizes and splits that). But that's still compromising - if you win AND have a unique lineup, you get the full $100,000 to yourself!

 

 

 

How Important Is Planning?

In the main contest, planning is super important. In that one, you essentially need at least three games out of your quarterback meaning that a bye week QB needs to go to the Super Bowl or a team playing in Wild Card weekend needs to win two games. 

In this contest, QB is still important but you don’t necessarily need to map out EXACTLY how the playoffs go. Here is the winning team from the $200 FFPC Playoff Challenge 2 last year:

As you can see, they did not have a quarterback advance to the Super Bowl - but Lamar Jackson did play in two games. 

His Super Bowl players were Christian McCaffrey, who had 160 yards from scrimmage and touchdown in the Super Bowl and Travis Kelce, who had three straight great games and took advantage of the “tight end premium” scoring.

 

 

 

Where/When To Deviate

This all leads us to the big question of where and when to deviate from the top options. And there is no hard and fast rule here. You need to mesh your plans with the scoring and uniqueness.

Obviously, given how many points they score, you want your QB to play more than one game. Over the course of multiple games, you can generally expect the better players to accumulate better totals. So, you’ll want star players on the teams you think win a couple games. 

The teams that only play one game and lose is the best place to “get unique”. And it’s worth pointing out that the top lineup above didn’t even have the best lineup they could possibly have had - had they gotten slightly more unique.

For instance, let’s consider the four teams that lost in the divisional round last year: Tampa Bay, Houston, Green Bay, and Buffalo.They picked Aaron Jones, Mike Evans, Nico Collins, and James Cook who combined for 69.3. 

Had they instead started Devin Singletary over Nico Collins and Khalil Shakir instead of James Cook, they would have had a viable lineup that would have scored an extra 5.6 points. The margins are  so small in this contest that that can mean the difference in winning.

So with the teams you think might lose this week, you have to ask yourself - who could surprise us with a single game? One of the highest scoring teams in this entire format last year was Jake Ferguson in Wild Card Week with a whopping 42.3 points in this tight end premium scoring. In a losing effort, that is a big swing.

 

 

 

NFL Playoff Fantasy Football Example Lineup

Let’s say I think the final four teams will be the Chiefs, Lions, Bills, and Eagles. I could construct my lineup this way with the following logic:

Has a shot to make it to the Super Bowl but could put up big numbers even in two games

Whether it’s multiple games or only one, we know he is capable of monster games.

Another place where I’m going with the chalk play, hoping he just flat out continues to put up big points.

Even if the Texans do lose this week, we are picking the player we think scores the most points. Joe Mixon and Dalton Schultz could be on the table, but we know that Nico Collins is capable of monster games. 

  • WR: Cooper Kupp, LAR

Do you want to REALLY get different? Cooper Kupp has not been producing as of late. But Puka Nacua just went out and had only 5 catches for 44 yards himself. If this team plays one game in a losing effort and Kupp outscores Nacua, you just put yourself ahead of a huge chunk of the pack. High risk, high reward. 

If I think Buffalo wins, Andrews could be the top scoring Raven, especially with the tight end premium scoring. That would be a big swing over teams starting Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry. 

I already have a QB so can’t use Patrick Mahomes. With the tight end premium scoring, he could easily be the highest-scoring position player on the Chiefs

Another move to lean into the scoring. Let’s say Terry McLaurin catches 6 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown while Ertz catches 5 passes for 60 yards and a touchdown in a loss. In this format, that’s 19 points for McLaurin, 19.5 for Ertz.