I do a few postseason competitions. Not big money; I kind of like to relax and enjoy the games this time of year. But I know a couple of ones I do are ones others do, so I thought I'd share my lineups and thinking for some of these.
Of course, we have a playoff product, which can be purchased in the store and which closely aligns with my expectations for the playoffs. But it's a different kind of animal, with roster building and rankings related to leagues where rosters change from week to week, or perhaps one draft with friends. Here are some specific recommendations for the comps I do (and based on comments in the past I know some readers do).
Two general pieces of advice. The first is obvious: it's good to draw out how you think the playoffs will go, who is or isn't going to the Super Bowl. So do that first. And the second is to be careful about biases. Main example, you'll see people say, Lamar always struggles in the playoffs. In fact, Baltimore has lost as a playoff favorite twice: his first season as a starter (2019), and last year. One other playoff loss in that time frame, at Buffalo. Doubt the Ravens, that's fine, but some national narratives, as always, don't really hold up.
How the playoffs will go. The NFC is pretty wide-open. Ways to highlight this: 1) Last week a game was played where the winner became the No. 1 seed and the loser the No. 5. 2) The No. 4 seed won at the No. 1 this season. The No. 6 seed beat the No. 2. The No. 7 lost to the No. 2 by 5 points (it was 31-29 in the final minutes). I believe it will be either Detroit or Philadelphia advancing, but the Bucs-Commanders winner has a puncher's chance despite their flawed defenses, and would the Rams winning a couple of games be that surprising? They've done it before. As result, I'm wary of relying too heavily on Lions or Eagles. Detroit seems like a team of destiny, the Eagles seem to have a better defense, but one of those teams losing to the Rams, Vikings or Packers would not shock the world.
The AFC is a little different. What are the chances of any of the 4-7 seeds going to the Super Bowl or even winning multiple games? Houston, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Denver. The answer is none, there are none chances of the Houston-LA winner going to Kansas City or Buffalo and winning a game. Not gonna happen. As a result, I will be picking KC, Buffalo and Baltimore players with full confidence I'm going to get Super Bowl participants from that grouping. I don't think it's as certain in the NFC. I understand the Chargers have their fans and if Denver can win in Buffalo maybe they can also win in Kansas City (should have during the season), but in the real world it's unlikely and I'm comfortable betting against it.
RTSports Playoff Challenge fantasy football. This is one I've been playing for about 10-15 years now, and I've generally done pretty well. You pick a 14-player roster before the playoffs start and can't make any adds or drops once the playoffs begin. You can make lineup changes (start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 RB-WR-TE flex, 1 PK, 1 Team D), you just can't change your roster. The people who lose this thing, it seems, tend to lock in too aggressively onto 1-2 teams, confident that no one is beating Kansas City/Detroit/Philadelphia. So they end up with a lot of eliminated players and can't field a lineup in the Super Bowl. Or they focus so much on the Super Bowl that they dismiss the wild-card round and end up with a deficit they can't make up. Or they don't properly look at scoring etc.
I'm going with 3 QBs: Allen, Lamar, Mahomes. Fully confident one of these guys is going to the Super Bowl. If you're anti-Lamar or pro-KC you could go just Allen and Mahomes, and probably have a QB every week (with no QB, you're probably not winning your 10-team league, which is how this competition works). At RB, I'm taking the two best NFC guys (Gibbs and Barkley), figuring I'll have 1-2 nice options every week and probably one of them in the Super Bowl. In the AFC, Henry and Cook for sure. At the moment, I'm not using Pacheco. My rationale is KC has probably a 1-in-3 chance of making the Super Bowl, and the way they're using their backfield these days, Pacheco has a 1-in-3 chance of being their best running back. And there's a better than average chance KC will be facing a top-10 run defense in two of its three games, since Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia all have one (Houston, Buffalo and LA are 11, 12 and 14). So I'm passing on Pacheco, hoping KC doesn't make the Super Bowl, and that Pacheco doesn't put up good numbers for KC even if they do.
That's 7 of my 14 spots, leaving me 7 spots for WR, TE, PK and Defense. Usually, I don't roster a defense. Scoring is 1 point for sacks, 2 for takeaways, 6 for touchdowns. Points allowed is a joke; to get more than 1 point, your defense has to hold a team to 5 points or less. Which almost never happens. Defensive touchdowns are also really rare. And then you have to pick the right one. Not worth the roster spot, IMO.
Sadly, it's a brutal year for wide receivers in the AFC. The only Pro Bowler (and even that one is a joke) is Zay Flowers, who's hurt. Out this week, and not necessarily playing next week, either. Khalil Shakir, Xavier Worthy, DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown. I've got to pick one of these clowns, and I'm going with Worthy, but not happily. In the NFC, I'm taking Amon-Ra and A.J. Brown, those guys should be good for multiple games, and one likely going to the Super Bowl, but I don't feel strongly enough about either team to also add Jameson Williams or Devonta Smith. So anyhoo, I've got 3 WRs, and then I'm using some top TEs: Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews and Sam LaPorta. (Similar risk to Jameson, but 2-3 games are likely, and he's been very productive lately. So 3 WRs, 3 TEs, and a kicker (who could get me 10-12 points per week, a better bet I think than a D). I'm currently going with Jake Bates, but arguments can be made for the kicker from Philly, Baltimore, Bufalo (all playing this week, which is a plus) or Kansas City.
FFPC Playoff Challenge. This is one I've done the past few years, and did well enough last year to win a couple of free best-ball leagues, one of which I won, so yay. In this one, you set your lineup before the playoffs and that's it -- no moves to make at all the rest of the way, cumulative points from your remaining players, double points in the Super Bowl. You get no more than one player from each team, with a 12-player lineup (QB-2RB-2WR-TE-4FLEX-PK-Defense). So you want to exclude the 2 teams you're confident will lose without doing anything noteworthy, and assign PK and Defense to 2 other such teams. Since QB is usually highest-scoring, it'd be nice to still have that position for the Super Bowl, or at the very least get lots of points on the way (so playing 3 games). My lineup that won some money last year had Kelce and McCaffrey. This is PPR scoring and TE premium (1.5 per reception).
The team I have right now has no Steelers or Texans (my likeliest Week 19 losers/poor offenses), with the Denver defense (maybe they score on special teams or defense) and the Chargers kicker. Since the Denver D probably won't get many sacks or takeaways, maybe I should replace them with LA, and use Boswell or Fairbairn. Counter argument is the Steelers and Texans offenses have been so lousy of late I'm leaning to just stay away.
People can probably guess most of my roster without much trouble. In the 2 RB, 2 WR and 4 flex spots, I've got Gibbs, Barkley, Henry, Jacobs, Puka, Jefferson, Evans and McLaurin. I might switch out Evans for Irving (flex). There is no other viable Washington player (Jayden, yes, but I don't want a QB I expect to get cashed out as soon as this week). At QB I've got Josh Allen; I think Buffalo is winning the next two weeks, and I don't think the Bills have another viable player. If I want to go Mahomes, Lamar or Hurts, I could, but I'd lose Barkley or Henry, and I think Baltimore will lose at Buffalo. And I'd have to use Cook for a Buffalo player. I went with Kelce for my KC player (and my lone TE). I have a day left to make changes and am open to suggestions.
Start players only once competition. This is another one I've done fairly well in; I think people make the mistake of saving too many players and using too many modest options in the early rounds. It's a four-round postseason. You don't need to use an iffy QB choice like Love or Darnold, you can use a top guy every week. Same at TE; you'll get teams going with Schultz or Freiermuth. Not necessary. As long as you stick to the same conference in the initial rounds, you'll be fine come Super Bowl.
My initial lineup is Jayden, Dobbins, Irving, McLaurin, Jefferson, Puka, Ertz and some K or D, haven't locked those in yet. Basically, players from the 3-4-5-6 games in the NFC, which I believe will be higher scoring, don't know for sure who will win, but am confident won't be winning multiple games. Using Jefferson and Puka means I'll get to use both of those top guys rather than trying to guess which team wins, saving one of them, and guessing wrong and not getting to use that guy. Using Jayden probably means I'll be using NFC quarterbacks until the Super Bowl, with some fine options the next two weeks (Hurts, Goff, maybe Baker) and then the AFC QB in the Super Bowl. I could also use Allen this week, then Mahomes or Lamar next week, but like Jayden (or Baker) most in a likely shootout.
Those are my teams. Please feel free to critique or ask questions, or discuss your own playoff rosters and competitions. Good luck!