It’s Week 5 already, the devastating injuries are unfortunately starting to pile up already, and I’m back once more to walk you through one of the biggest games you can play on Underdog Fantasy, the Battle Royale. The Battle Royale is a 6-person, 6-round fantasy draft. There are no bench spots, and you must start 1 QB, 1 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, and 1 Flex spot.
Your goal is to pick the best combination of six high-scoring players, with the weekly grand prize available of $50,000 to the ultimate drafter. If you’ve never played on Underdog before, try it out! Click this link and sign up for Underdog Fantasy. Play $5, get $100 in bonus funds to use on other games and drafts. If you want to join in the fun, read on to see my favorite plays to target in Week 5.
Target Specific Game Environments
There are multiple incredibly interesting matchups this week, where good projected offenses are facing incredibly poor defenses. In the first few rounds, a lot of the big hitters that normally occupy the 1st are missing. To me, the Detroit Lions are screaming at me as must-drafts against a woefully bad Bengals team. Jamyhr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown are my primary targets whenever available in the 1st, though De’Von Achane is also in a solid spot to consider if you are drafting high volume.
In the 2nd round, I once again am looking at guys in good projected offensive environments. For me, that is Garrett Wilson and George Pickens in the Jets and Cowboys matchup. Both defenses are atrocious, and it projects more as a game of who makes mistakes versus which defense actually gets stops. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is also a great pick, though he’s more of a target volume play and not an offense potential play.
The Middle Rounds are Gross
I don’t know about you, but the players from ADP 13 to 24 are disgusting. There are a couple of injured players who may not even play, and quite a few guys on bad offenses or in bad matchups that don’t feel the greatest to click on in Underdog Battle Royale drafts.
This also marks the start of where tight Ends and quarterbacks come off the board, and quarterbacks especially feel like a position that I want to fade the chalk and be more unique about this week. The “elites” are either injured, coming back from injury, or don’t throw forward passes very often, and Justin Fields of all people is the QB1 by ADP this week. While I do love the matchup, drafting a 100% drafted QB with major boom/bust potential doesn’t feel fantastic to me personally.
A couple of names I’ll mention that I do like: Nico Collins, Ashton Jeanty, and Tyler Warren. All 3 have plus matchups, though Warren is the only one on an even league-average offense to this point. I think if you are too attached to ADP this early in the draft, one of those three guys is a perfectly fine selection. Outside of them, I’m scrolling down and pulling guys up, because this week feels completely wide open as to who will score fantasy points or not.
Bounce Back Week SZN?
Rounds 5 and 6 are full of players who have the talent to win you weeks, but the situation or production just hasn’t been there so far. I absolutely love taking a couple shots on those types of players, especially in a week where there are no clear-cut guys you have to have (no CMC, no Bijan, no Puka).
There are fun guys to take at every position, and it allows you to mix and match how you think you can win, without having to go too far down the board and draft some of the more far-fetched names like Kavontae Turpin or DeAndre Hopkins.
Who to Target
So who should you take? I’ll tell you who my targets are at each position, keeping in mind the idea of balancing good projectable volume with understanding how the field may build their lineups.
Quarterbacks – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Jalen Hurts | Jayden Daniels | C.J. Stroud
Running Backs – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Jahmyr Gibbs | Ashton Jeanty | Kenneth Walker
Wide Receivers – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Amon-Ra St. Brown | Nico Collins | Michael Pittman Jr.
Tight Ends – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Trey McBride | Jake Ferguson | Zach Ertz
Flex – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Emeka Egbuka | Breece Hall | Rachaad White
