It is somehow, already, the last week of the fantasy football regular season, 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 14.
Do We Dare Pass on RB Early?
Three out of the first 4 picks are Running Backs this week, but De’Von Achane is the only 1 of the 3 that has a safer projection. JT is in a tough matchup against the Jaguars, where he could either go for 40 or go for 15, and James Cook is in a fantastic matchup on paper against the Bengals, but the Bills still use Ray Davis and Ty Johnson too much to ever truly feel safe about his floor. I much prefer the receivers here in JSN, Chase, and Puka. They are all relatively matchup-proof, and I feel pretty confident that 1 of them will be the top scorer on the week at the position.
The second round is Josh Allen (no thanks), 2 TEs in McBride and Bowers (yes please), Davante Adams (he can’t keep scoring touchdowns, right?), and 2 RBs in Bijan and Josh Jacobs. I will definitely take some stabs at Bijan in Round 2 purely because we know what his upside looks like. But it is an awful matchup against the Seahawks. Bijan honestly becomes much more interesting if Drake London is healthy, as that will open up the offense more and not let Seattle hone in on stopping the run exclusively.
Wide Receiver Dries Up Fast
The reason I think you should go WR early this week on Underdog is largely due to how quickly the depth of the position dries up in these drafts. Only 3 receivers go in this range: Olave, Egbuka, and a questionable Drake London. The first 2 are in a decent matchup against each other’s teams, but the QB play for both has been erratic and not the most viable for scoring fantasy points as of late. London is the best receiver of the bunch, but he won’t be 100% if he does play, and Kirk Cousins is quite liable to pumpkin in a tough matchup like this.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of fun RB options in the mid rounds, all of whom have good matchups. While the ceiling of the top guys in Round 1 scare me, I personally would much rather build my lineup with 2 of Henry, Bucky, Judkins, Chase Brown, and Breece Hall. I’m also not overly targeting either “onesy” position here, as Lamar has been awful since returning and Stafford is heavily touchdown-dependent this season.
Late Gems
In Rounds 5-6 on Underdog, there are honestly a lot of really fun QB and TE clicks that I’m drawn to, and some fun WR and RB dart throws that have the potential to pay off huge if they hit. Joe Burrow is available in Round 5 sometimes, as is Tee Higgins if you want to take your shot on him returning from concussion protocol this week. You’ve got Bo Nix against the Raiders, Jacoby Brissett, TLaw and Jordan Love in must-win games for playoff implications, and possibly even late Jayden Daniels if he makes a surprise return to the field.
RJ Harvey is my favorite play of the week in all formats against Las Vegas, and he’s widely available in the 5th and sometimes even the 6th round of drafts on Underdog this week. Michael Wilson could be without MHJ again, making him a primary cheap target to grab. Adonai Mitchell looked like the real deal last week, and they face a mediocre Miami team that won’t be able to take him away defensively. It’s a fun time to draft for sure, as there are so many angles you can attack.
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 Underdog lineups.
Quarterbacks – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Josh Allen | Joe Burrow | Jacoby Brissett
Running Backs – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
De’Von Achane | Quinshon Judkins | RJ Harvey
Wide Receivers – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Ja’Marr Chase | Emeka Egbuka | Michael Wilson
Tight Ends – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Trey McBride | Tyler Warren | Darren Waller
Flex – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Breece Hall | Michael Pittman Jr | Travis Etienne Jr
