How to Build the Perfect Fantasy Football Playoff Roster

Quarterbacks

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

Because you get a multiplier for each round your players reach in the playoffs, you want to load up on players who think will make a deep playoff run. I will become very clear, very quickly that I believe the Ravens and Eagles will face off in the Super Bowl. If you strongly believe in a different outcome, you can also use this strategy instead of the exact same players. 

I went with Jackson and Hurts here because not only are they both top-tier fantasy quarterbacks, but both will have massive games as they lead their team to the big game. The fact that both of these guys also play in round one and immediately start getting points is also an added bonus you don't get if you have all your chips in on the Chiefs or Lions - and in order to win these tournaments you should have all your chips in.

Call your shot and roll strong. No position is more important to still have going at X4 when the Super Bowl comes because they score the most points, which will give you a huge advantage if you can manage to nail both correctly.

Running Backs

Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens

Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

James Cook, Buffalo Bills

Henry and Barkley were no-brainers here. Not only are they the two best fantasy running backs, but they are also on my SB prediction teams. After that, I then have to make some decisions.

Ideally, I would have gone with Isiah Pacheco over Cook because I believe the Chiefs make it to Championship Sunday, but his health and usage at the end of the year make him too risky for me. Cook also serves as a slight hedge if the Bills can knock off the Ravens in the second round and they should be a shoo-in to give you at least two games. 

Gibbs I have slated to play in the third round as well and wouldn't be surprised if they did manage to beat the Eagles. So I'm grabbing an elite player who is already in the second round and has a good chance to play in the Super Bowl. It is worth noting that David Montgomery is expected to be available when the Lions return to action next week, so Gibbs may not have the upside we've been spoiled with during the fantasy football playoffs. 

Wide Receivers

A.J. Brown, Philadelphia Eagles

DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia Eagles

Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit Lions

Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens

This is the group that may raise some eyebrows. I started by grabbing both the Eagles' wideouts. They'll both have ups and downs, so I'll get all those highs hopefully X4 and bank on them maintaining a solid floor.

Next, I went with Bateman. Probably not someone you expected to see here, but this is the kind of call that can win your whole tournament. Ideally, this team would have Zay Flowers on it, nevertheless, he's already been ruled over this weekend and is no lock to play next weekend should the Ravens advance. It comes down to Flowers isn't consistently good enough to risk not having for two rounds when Bateman has been sneaky good this year and should get WR1 targets to pair with his big-play upside while Flowers is injured.

I ultimately decided that I'd rather have two rounds of St. Brown at X2 and X3 than roll the dice on Flowers returning in week 2 to get that X4 in the Super Bowl. St. Brown being such a better player made it an easy choice in the end. If Flowers was fully healthy, it may have been St. Brown and not Bateman who was the odd man out. Famous last words, but I am quite confident he has an excellent playoff run this year. 

Tight Ends

Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles

Not much to think about here. Most of the tight ends are all bunched up to begin with and both these teams have a tight end who could very easily be the best on any given week of the playoffs. Just took multipliers here and went with my Super Bowl guys. 

Kickers

Philadelphia Eagles Kickers

The way my league is set up, you pick a team for kickers and not the individual so you don't have to worry about injuries. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have kickers in it at all.

Anyway, I went with the Eagles over the Ravens because Justin Tucker has been bad this year and Jake Elliott has been very good. 

D/ST

Philadelphia Eagles D/ST

Even though I do expect the Ravens to ultimately beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl, I still went with Philly here. Assuming things do play out as I'm expecting, the Eagles have an easier task on defense.

No disrespect to Jordan Love, Baker Mayfield, and Jared Goff who are all solid QBs in the NFC, but going head-to-head with Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes in rounds two and three is much more concerning to me. Both defenses would have their hands full in the Super Bowl if they faced off. A slight edge goes to Philly here, even though it's very close.