Underdog Fantasy Football Best Ball Playoff League Rankings - The Gauntlet (2026)

January 8, 2026

2026 Underdog fantasy football best ball playoff league rankings, for playoff drafts. Read Nick Mariano's latest Underdog playoff best ball rankings for contests like The Gauntlet.

The 2026 NFL Playoffs are here, and fresh drafts are taking place. Below you'll find our 2026 Underdog fantasy football best ball rankings for playoff leagues like The Gauntlet that are played on Underdog Fantasy.

RotoBaller's lead forecaster Nick Mariano has put together these top 100 rankings to guide your 2026 playoff league drafts. Use these best ball rankings for Underdog best ball fantasy football drafts taking place for the 2026 playoffs. 

Be sure to also check out all of our fantasy football playoff league articles, for various types of fantasy football playoff leagues. Good luck!

Underdog Best Ball Playoff League Overview

See the full rules for The Gauntlet. The draft is a 10-round snake draft, consisting of six teams/managers drafting, and the scoring system is half-PPR. Each team that you draft will consist of 10 players. The tournament runs through the Super Bowl, so be sure to select players that you think will make it far into the NFL playoffs and accumulate as many points as possible. The team rosters consists of:

• One QB
• One RB
• Two W/T (WR or TE)
• One FLEX (WR, RB or TE)
• Five bench spots

Underdog Best Ball Playoff League Rankings

For anyone who isn't very familiar with fantasy football best ball leagues, they are essentially draft-only leagues with no moves. Once a best ball draft is completed, nothing else happens -- no setting weekly lineups, no trading, no waiver wire moves. The best combo of fantasy players on your team is automatically calculated and used to determine the highest possible scoring outcome.

Fantasy Football Playoff Outlooks

Davante Adams, WR, Rams

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay said on Monday that the team expects to get wide receiver Davante Adams (hamstring) back for Saturday's Wild-Card playoff game against the hosting Carolina Panthers, according to Stu Jackson of TheRams.com.

Adams has not played since aggravating his left hamstring injury in the Week 15 win over the Detroit Lions. However, he returned to practice last week and should be ready to roll against Carolina to begin the playoffs. Despite missing the final three games of the regular season, the 33-year-old veteran pass-catcher still finished with a league-high 14 touchdown receptions in his 14 games played in his first year with the Rams.

Adams could be a step slower in his return for the postseason, but his chemistry with quarterback Matthew Stafford should be enough to make him a popular DFS play.

Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kenneth Gainwell continued to function as one of his team's most trusted offensive weapons in Week 18, recording 74 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown on 13 touches in a win over the Baltimore Ravens.

While Gainwell scored his touchdown as a rusher, he did most of his work as a receiver, hauling in eight catches for 64 yards on nine targets. The 26-year-old finishes his 2025 season with 1,023 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns on 187 touches across 17 games played.

He earned at least seven targets from Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in four out of the team's final five games. Gainwell will be a free agent once Pittsburgh's 2025 playoff run ends, so he's uncertain to be back with the Steelers next season. However, he could be a valuable PPR option for fantasy managers in 2026, particularly if he ends up playing alongside Rodgers in Pittsburgh for a second straight year.

Parker Washington, WR, Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Parker Washington continues to dazzle of late, hauling in five of his nine targets in Week 18 for 87 yards and a touchdown. That now makes it three consecutive weeks that Washington has led the Jaguars in targets, and the second time he has scored in the past three weeks.

Over the past three weeks, he has seen 29 targets, caught 19 of them, and has racked up 347 receiving yards. With quarterback Trevor Lawrence playing some of the best football of his career, Washington has stood out in a crowded, expansive receiver room that includes Jakobi Meyers, Brian Thomas Jr., and tight end Brenton Strange.

The Jaguars just capped off a 2025 regular season, finishing 13-4 and winning the AFC South. Washington finished the regular season with 58 receptions, 847 yards, and five touchdowns, with a lot of his production coming in the past few weeks and when Thomas Jr. missed time earlier in the season.

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed 31 of 47 passes for a season-high 294 yards and a touchdown to go along with one carry for 20 yards in Week 18's division-clinching win over the Baltimore Ravens.

Rodgers and the Steelers scored all three of their touchdowns in the second half, including the future Hall of Famer finding receiver Calvin Austin III for a 26-yard touchdown to take the lead with 55 seconds left in the game. With his top receiver D.K. Metcalf (suspension) out again, Rodgers relied heavily on underneath targets to running back Kenneth Gainwell, connecting with him a season-high eight times.

In addition, a season-high 218 of Rodgers' 294 passing yards came after the catch, per Next Gen Stats. The 42-year-old signal-caller made big plays when the Steelers needed them and posted his best QBR (65.8) since Week 7 in Cincinnati. The Steelers will now host the Houston Texans next Monday night in the Wild-Card round of the playoffs.

Colston Loveland, TE, Bears

Chicago Bears rookie right end Colston Loveland had a big game in his team's 19-16 Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions, hauling in 10 catches for 91 yards and a touchdown on 13 targets.

The 21-year-old ended his first NFL regular season on a tear, recording back-to-back weeks with double-digit targets, at least 90 receiving yards, and a touchdown. For the season, Loveland finishes with 58 catches for 713 yards and six touchdowns on 82 targets across 16 games played.

After hitting the five-target mark just twice over the first 11 weeks of the season, Loveland earned at least five targets in each of his final seven games of the year. The 10th overall pick in the 2025 draft, Loveland has a chance to establish himself as one of the NFL's premier tight ends as he heads into 2026.

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