The Bye-pocalypse of Week 8 has arrived in the NFL, 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 7.
Elite Players are Back on the Menu Boys
At long last, the first round of Underdog BRs are fun again! The only pick that’s even a little gross is De’Von Achane/James Cook at 6, but even then they both have the potential to be game-breaking for fantasy. Of the first 5 picks (Bijan, JT, CMC, Chase, and Lamb), I think all 5 have must-draft upside in them in order to win some cash. If you have a particular stance on one of these 5 being “the guy” this week, there’s nothing wrong at all with being overweight on them to try and get a leg up on the field.
The second round is not as sexy in theory, but there are a collection of names that still have week-winning upside attached. Josh Allen projects as the clear QB1 on the week (in theory, more on that later), and Tyler Warren rounds out the 2nd round as the clear projected TE1. You also have old favorites like Derrick Henry, Saquon, and Drake London filling out the 2nd.
To Receive, or Not to Receive
There is only 1 running back by ADP in rounds 3-4 on Underdog this week, and it’s Cam Skattebo facing the Eagles for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. Last time he went for 21 touches, 110 yards, and 3 touchdowns… so do with that information what you will.
The only other non-pass catchers out of these 12 picks are 2 quarterbacks: Jalen Hurts and possibly Lamar Jackson. If Lamar plays and has a healthy practice to end the week, he is arguably the steal of drafts. He faces a beatable Bears defense in what is essentially a must-win game for the Ravens if they want a shot at coming back to fight for playoff contention this season.
As for the pass catchers, there are numerous strong options with good matchups this week. Egbuka is the last man standing in Tampa, Sutton faces the Cowboys, Rome faces the Ravens, and George Kittle is still the most talented TE playing this week, even if he goosed last week in his return off IR. Unless you’re convicted on Skattebo this week, I think targeting some receiving options is the way to go in the middle rounds.
Late-Round Locks?
I think there are a handful of players this week on Underdog who feel grossly mispriced in Battle Royales, and I personally want to target them whenever I can to try and get a leg-up on the competition. Quinshon Judkins simply gets all the work in the backfield for a Browns team that is afraid of throwing past 10 yards down the field. D’Andre Swift has looked great since the bye, and now faces the decimated Ravens defense.
Scrolling further, Cade Otton is more or less the 2nd target on the Bucs unless Godwin plays this week, and whenever he’s the 1st or 2nd target for Baker, Otton has a great week for fantasy, basically guaranteed. Chase Brown finally looked alive last week, and now gets to face the squishy New York Jets in the middle of a QB mid-off competition. And if you want to get truly disgusting on one of your teams, take Tyler Allgeier. Miami couldn’t stop a nose bleed on defense, and the Falcons could blow out the Dolphins so badly that Allgeier ends up getting a large workload against a bad defense as a basically undrafted RB.
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
Josh Allen | Lamar Jackson | Caleb Williams
Running Backs – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Bijan Robinson | Saquon Barkley | D’Andre Swift
Wide Receivers – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Ja’Marr Chase | Courtland Sutton | Michael Pittman Jr.
Tight Ends – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Tyler Warren | George Kittle | Cade Otton
Flex – Expensive | Mid-Range | Free
Rome Odunze | Quinshon Judkins | Chase Brown
