Jonathan Taylor is finally on bye to give the rest of us a chance at winning this week, 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 11.
Some Major Mispricing
When I opened up my Underdog app and looked at the ADP of the Battle Royale, I was definitely more than a little surprised at the current placement of several top stars in the first 2 rounds. Puka Nacua is WR3 and 5th overall, despite there being a chance that Davante Adams misses this game with injury. Yes, Seattle’s defense is great, but Puka Nacua is simply a receiver where greatness isn’t enough to stop him or slow him down.
I was also shocked how low Rashee Rice is this week at WR5, ADP of 10th overall. Patrick Surtain almost certainly misses this game, and he is the only reason anyone should be fading Rashee Rice fully healthy. Without Surtain, Rice will simply be able to do whatever he wants once again, and Patrick Mahomes is never shy about peppering Rice with targets every game. To me, I think it’s perfectly justifiable to start your drafts with Puka and Rice whenever you possibly can, at least to whatever extent you feel comfortable fading some of the other 1st and 2nd round players.
WR in Flex Week?
Normally I’m not one to recommend drafting 3 wide receivers in BR’s. With Underdog scoring being Half PPR, running backs will always have a bit of a leg up on how they produce points. However, unless you are able to snag one of the top 2 RBs or James Cook in the early 3rd, the RB position feels almost entirely like a flat tier from Jaylen Warren on, and taking the beginning of a tier with the 16th overall pick is simply not something I’m keen on doing.
However, there are a ton of great WR plays still available in Rounds 3-4, such as Jefferson, Egbuka, Ladd, and Tee, with even more in the late rounds. Because of this, to me it feels like drafting 3 WRs this week is a viable strategy, as a lot of the receivers going late simply have better upside than the RBs going in the middle and late rounds if they hit their ceiling outcomes.
Running Back Upside Galore
With that being said, I do think that if you’re only going to take 1 RB, there’s a lot to like for quite a few late guys this week on Underdog. Players who stand out to me: Woody Marks, Chase Brown, Travis Etienne, D’Andre Swift, and RJ Harvey. All of them have either easy matchups, a stranglehold on their backfields finally, or in a few cases, both.
There are also still plenty of solid QB and TE shots in this range, especially if Orande Gadsden plays and Colston Loveland has the TE room to himself. The fact you can take Joe Flacco and Caleb Williams late is also very intriguing, as is the news that Jameis Winston will be starting for the Giants this week with Jaxson Dart out with a concussion.
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
Lamar Jackson | Justin Herbert | Joe Flacco
Running Backs – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Christian McCaffrey | James Cook | D’Andre Swift
Wide Receivers – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Puka Nacua | Emeka Egbuka | Courtland Sutton
Tight Ends – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Trey McBride | George Kittle | Colston Loveland
Flex – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Tee Higgins | Chase Brown | RJ Harvey
