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There is still an opportunity to participate in NFL playoff leagues for fantasy football, as the Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC) Playoff Challenge 2 begins with this week’s Divisional Round matchups. When constructing your fantasy football playoff lineups for this bonus competition, the first step is to forecast how far you believe every team can potentially advance the rest of the way. This exercise is very important in the FFPC Playoff Challenge 2, where you can only choose one player from every team.
To help you build out your squads, I have constructed my NFL Playoff Power Rankings for purposes of the FFPC Playoff Challenge 2. You can also use this as a loose guide for any fantasy football playoff format that are still ongoing. You can pick only one player per team in the FFPC Playoff Challenge 2, and the FFPC format boosts TE scoring to 1.5 points per reception. Roster requirements and scoring for the FFPC Playoff Challenge 2 can be found here.
Each team breakdown features my preferred picks from that roster and highlighted stats to note, including some defensive numbers that can be key when making picks from teams of projected opponents.
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Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia has the fourth-best Vegas odds to win the Super Bowl, even behind the 49ers, which I don’t agree with. I see them as having the easiest path to three more games. The Giants are feisty and will give them a fight, but Philadelphia is simply the better team. Brock Purdy is not walking into Philly and winning the NFC title, and a matchup with the Cowboys can be a great game, but I will take Jalen Hurts over Dak Prescott in the big spot.
The Eagles led the NFL in rushing TDs (32) and Miles Sanders nearly doubled his previous career high with 11 rushing TDs. Hurts’ 13 rushing TDs were the second-most by a QB in NFL history. A.J. Brown has five-plus receptions, 80+ yards, and a TD in his last two playoff games. The defensive unit stacked up 70 sacks, the third-most in a season all-time.
Top Lineup Picks (In order of lineup preference): Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Miles Sanders, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Kenneth Gainwell
Kansas City Chiefs
The assumption is that the Chiefs will move past the Jaguars and advance to the AFC Championship Game, although nothing is a given in the NFL playoffs. Buffalo or Cincinnati would not be an easy out after Jacksonville, but you should get at least two games from your Chiefs players. Your key lineup choice will be between Travis Kelce in a TE premium format or Patrick Mahomes.
Considering you can also roster Hurts, Josh Allen or Joe Burrow, for example, Kelce appears to be the sensible move, but he will also be widely rostered in the FFPC format. Kelce had a TD catch in each of the three games in the 2022 postseason and he has 95+ rec. yards in six straight playoff games, the longest streak in NFL history.
Andy Reid has 19 postseason wins, tied for third-most ever by a head coach. Kansas City led the NFL in total offense (413.6 yards per game) for the third consecutive season and led in scoring offense (29.2 points per game). Jerick McKinnon has 441 scrimmage yards (110.3 per game) in his past four postseason games. JuJu Smith-Schuster has a TD in two of three career playoff games.
Top Lineup Picks: Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Jerick McKinnon, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Isiah Pacheco, Kadarius Toney, Clyde Edwards-Helaire ( his return could potentially cut into Pacheco’s output), Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Buffalo Bills
Beating the Bengals is not assured if Allen keeps tossing interceptions, as he had two more in the Wild Card Round against Miami. The Bills have the second-best odds to win the Super Bowl, but only the Bengals might have a tougher road to get there. Untimely Allen turnovers can be the critical undoing against Cincinnati and Kansas City. You could get three games out of Bills players, but they might also be one and done in this FFPC contest.
The good news is Buffalo is 13-1 in home postseason games since 1970. The Bills ranked second in NFL in scoring defense (17.9 points allowed per game) and second in total offense (397.6 yards per game) and scoring offense (26.8) during the regular season. Allen has 11 passing TDs in four career home playoff starts. Gabe Davis bas caught a TD pass in three consecutive playoff games. Dawson Knox has a TD catch in three of four postseason games.
Top Lineup Picks: Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Dawson Knox, James Cook, Devin Singletary, Khalil Shakir
Cincinnati Bengals
The defending AFC Champions can certainly repeat, as the Bengals might overcome expectations in the playoffs for the second consecutive season. They do have the best WR pairing of any team remaining. Cincinnati ranked fourth in the NFL in total offense (378 yards per game) during the regular season. Burrow has 2+ TD passes in five of his last six road starts.
Chase has 80+ yards in four of five career postseason games. Tee Higgins has 95+ yards in three of his past four playoff games.
Top Lineup Picks: Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Mixon, Hayden Hurst, Tyler Boyd
San Francisco 49ers
Purdy has enjoyed a magical tale, but he will face his toughest defensive test this week, and I cannot see him overcoming the Eagles’ defense if the 49ers do advance. The next two defenses he will potentially see are a significant upgrade over who he faced so far. Dallas, to start, led the NFL in takeaways (33) and was third in sacks. Purdy will be asked to carry the offense more and the run of success will end in the next two games.
Reasons to believe in the 49ers? They led the NFL in total defense (300.6), scoring defense (16.3), and turnover margin (+13), tied for first in INTs (20), and ranked second in rush defense (77.7 yards per game). George Kittle had four games with two TDs in 2022, the most by TE in a season since 2015. Deebo Samuel has averaged 97.9 scrimmage yards in seven career playoff games. Brandon Aiyuk, a good play who may be less widely rostered, has 65+ yards in three of his four career playoff games.
Top Lineup Picks: Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Brock Purdy, Elijah Mitchell
Dallas Cowboys
I do believe Dallas will take out San Francisco and advance to its first NFC title game since 1997. Prescott is coming off the best game of his career and I think he delivers in the clutch this week while Purdy fizzles when it counts most. You can get two games out of a Cowboys offense that ranked fourth with 27.5 points per game and has scored 24+ points in 11 of the last 12 games, including the postseason.
Dalton Schultz had seven receptions for 89 yards in last season’s Wild Card game against the 49ers. Prescott has a passing TD and rushing TD in four straight playoff games, the longest streak in NFL history. CeeDee Lamb, who faces the 49ers’ 20th-ranked pass defense this week, has 10 TD receptions this season including the playoffs.
Top Lineup Picks: Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Dalton Schultz, Tony Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Gallup, T.Y. Hilton
New York Giants
Under Brian Daboll, my personal pick for Coach of the Year, the Giants do have a puncher’s chance of upsetting the Eagles. But facing the league’s second-best defense after having fun against Minnesota’s 31st-ranked unit will be a much different task. Isaiah Hodgins has a TD catch in five of his past six games.
Top Lineup Picks: Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones, Isaiah Hodgins, Richie James, Darius Slayton
Jacksonville Jaguars
Picking from the Jacksonville roster is about who will give you the best one-and-done production. Evan Engram, who I like as a flex option to run the second TE in this FFPC contest, was tied for third among TEs with career-best 73 catches in catches during the regular season. The Chiefs allowed nine TD catches to the position, which was tied for 28th. Travis Etienne has 100+ scrimmage yards in four of his past five games.
Top Lineup Picks: Travis Etienne, Evan Engram, Trevor Lawrence, Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Marvin Jones
Scott Engel's fantasy and betting analysis is also featured at The Game Day.
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