The NFL Draft is complete, and it’s time for all of us fantasy football addicts to get to drafting. If high-stakes fun is your thing, FantasyPros is back with their Fantasy Football Player’s Championship (FFPC) league for 2023, and it’s a doozie. However, with an entry fee of $350 and a top prize of $1 million, this league isn’t for the faint of heart. Compete to win in the world’s largest fantasy football tournament, with over $6 Million in prizes, including a record $1 Million grand prize. Join the FantasyPros Championship today! Here’s some fantasy football draft strategy specific to FFPC Leagues to help you dominate your drafts.
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FantasyPros FFPC League Draft Strategy (2023 Fantasy Football)
Your draft strategy will look slightly different from most leagues in this unique format. It is a full point per reception (PPR), 1QB formatted league. Here’s how your starting lineups will look week in and week out.
- 1 QB
- 2 RBs
- 2 WRs
- 1 TE
- 2 FLEX (RB/WR/TE)
- 1 Kicker
- 1 Defense
Yes, you read that correctly. FFPC is still rocking with kickers and team defense. In addition, they’re giving you two flex slots to allow diversity in your starting lineups.
The scoring for the FantasyPros FFPC league is in-line with the standard FFPC scoring. However, for those who need to become more familiar, here are the most important things you need to know.
Passing
- 0.05 points per passing yard (350 passing yards = 17.5 fantasy points)
- 4 points per passing TD
Rushing
- 0.1 points per rushing yard (100 yards rushing = 10 fantasy points)
- 6 points per rushing TD
Receiving
- Full Point Per Reception (PPR) scoring for all positions except TE
- 1.5 PPR for the TE position
- 6 points per receiving TD
The key takeaway is that the TE position gets a nice little bump with an additional 0.5 PPR premium.
High Stakes Drafting
Now that we’ve covered roster spots and scoring, it’s time to dig into the draft.
FFPC allows for a total of 20 roster spots. Once in season, you can add and drop players through a blind bidding process with a $1,000 Free Agency Acquisition Budget (FAAB). However, trading is not allowed. This means that your stud fantasy assets will be the ones you grab in the 20 rounds of the draft, so you must be very thoughtful and tactical when selecting your players. While every good fantasy manager takes risks in their drafts to find value, knowing when and how to manage that risk throughout the draft process is critical to success.
TE Premium Goggles
It’s easy to get sucked into the TE hype when you are in a format that awards additional PPR points, even more so when you can potentially start multiple players at the position. However, we all know what a wasteland the position can be in fantasy. In 2022, only five TEs had more than 70 receptions, and just 14 had more than 50. In a 12-team league like the ones at FFPC, that doesn’t shout positional depth, even with the premium scoring.
If you want to make the PPR premium work for you, go after TEs with a high target volume and an accurate QB. Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews are the most obvious candidates for the position, but unless you have an early first-round pick in your draft, they’ll be off the board before you pick. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be streaming the position all season.
Evan Engram (TE – JAC) & T.J. Hockenson (TE – MIN)
The Jaguars’ Evan Engram was targeted by QB Trevor Lawrence 97 times in 2022, with a catch rate of 75.3%. Heading into 2023, all signs point to him again being a focal point of the Jacksonville passing attack. In addition to Engram, Vikings bookend T.J. Hockenson averaged 8.2 targets per game after being traded away from Detroit, with a catch rate of 73.2%.
If you’re not feeling like paying up in the first few rounds to get a premium TE, later-round options could provide unexpected value.
Cleveland TE David Njoku was targeted by QB Deshaun Watson 27 times in their five games together. Heading into a new season, with the rust shaken off, Watson will again look toward the sizeable athletic pass catcher as a reliable target with a 73.4% catch rate in 2022.
Big, reliable targets are a rookie QBs best friend. The Houston Texans signed former Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz in free agency this offseason, giving recently selected signal-caller C.J. Stroud a safety valve. Schultz has been as reliable as they come, with a career catch rate of 72.8%.
What About QBs?
Unlike Superflex formats, QBs don’t generally fly off the board in 1QB formats. First, there are the no-brainer early-round picks at the position, such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts. Next, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson will likely be off the board by Round 4. However, not all hope is lost if you don’t grab one of these guys. So here are a few QBs who can save your rosters in later rounds of drafts.
While some are fading Justin Fields heading into 2023, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the kid from Ohio State. It’s true his first few seasons have been a bit rough. However, he showed an ability to get outside the pocket and make plays as the season trucked on, and now he has some legitimate weapons. The Bears added TE Robert Tonyan and WR D.J. Moore this offseason to go alongside Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet. In addition, they brought in veteran RB D’Onta Foreman to help with the rushing workload.
If you’re more of a “late-round QB value” type of manager, you’re missing out on the top-tier players at the position. However, there is some solid value in the double-digit rounds at the position. Jared Goff, who is currently coming off the board in the 10th round of FFPC drafts, quietly had an efficient season in 2022. Heading into 2023, the team brought in talented rookie TE Sam LaPorta and surprise top-15 pick RB Jahmyr Gibbs to give the veteran signal-caller more weapons to work with.
Value RBs
The best way to give yourself a chance at winning in the FantasyPros FFPC league is to find players who will outperform their cost. This is especially true for the RB position. The top 24 backs will be off the board by the end of the sixth round, so getting depth in the later rounds can be tricky, but it’s not impossible.
Giving a valuation to ball carriers falling into the double-digit rounds of your draft isn’t necessarily about a player’s ceiling. At this tier, you want backs with a reliable floor that you can plug into a flex slot or rely on for bye weeks. These are some later-round RBs I am targeting in FFPC drafts.
Commanders RB Anotion Gibson is in a position to be just that type of fantasy asset. The Commanders did draft a ball carrier in the draft. However, that selection came in the sixth round in the form of Kentucky RB Christian Gonzalez. As a result, head coach Ron Rivera will likely rely on Gibson and second-year RB Brain Robinson to anchor the backfield for QB Sam Howell. This situation will be similar to 2022, but without J.D. Mckissic to eat into Gibson’s passing game work. The overall PPR RB27 in 2022 is going as the RB42 in FFPC drafts.
You don’t have to love a team to like a player’s situation. This is the case with new Texans RB Devin Singletary. He will indeed be sharing a backfield with second-year RB Dameon Pierce. However, Pierce is not a pass-catching type of back, whereas Singletary has logged 50 or more targets in three of his first four NFL seasons in Buffalo. In a PPR league, passing targets matter for RBs, and Singletary is currently lasting to the back of the 12th round in FFPC drafts.
Remember Jerick McKinnon? All he did in 2022 was win your fantasy leagues with a late-season surge in Kansas City. After some uncertainty early in the offseason, McKinnon signed a deal to return to the World Champion Chiefs. The team hasn’t made any moves outside of McKinnon at RB, and unless injuries change the landscape of the backfield, he could be in for another impressive campaign. The 2022 overall PPR RB20 is falling to the 13th round of FFPC drafts as the RB56.
WRs Aplenty
Wide receiver might be the most loaded position in all of fantasy football. With NFL teams migrating towards a more pass-heavy approach, three-receiver sets have become the norm in the league. This has led to top-tier talents like Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase and Tyreek Hill coming off the board in the first round of FFPC drafts. In all, there are seven WRs landing in the top 12 in FFPC average draft position (ADP) and 15 in the top 30.
However, in PPR double-flex formats like the FantasyPros FFPC league, even a backend WR3 and WR4 tier players have value on your rosters. Here are a few late-round WRs that could get you in the hunt for the $1 million prize.
New team, new Elijah Moore, or so fans of the former Jets WR hope. Moore was often forgotten in his first two seasons in New York, which isn’t surprising given the lack of adequate QB play. Now, the once heralded pass-catcher has a new home in Cleveland and a competent QB in Deshaun Watson. With an entire offseason to create chemistry, Moore will undoubtedly be involved in an offensive attack looking to air the ball out more than they did in 2022.
Moore won’t be the team’s WR1: that distinction goes to veteran Amari Cooper, the 2022 overall WR10. However, since Moore is falling back to the 11th round (WR47), he fits the bill as a value WR to target deeper in your FFPC draft.
It’s always the hope that vaunted rookies take flight in their rookie seasons, but not everyone can be Justin Jefferson. Giants WR Wan’Dale Robinson suffered the fate of an injury-riddled season in his freshman campaign, which shows in his current draft stock. He is currently going as the WR61 in the 14th round of FFPC drafts. That is a steal for a guy who could end up as the WR1 for his team.
Sure, he’ll compete with Parris Campbell and rookie Jalin Hyatt for targets, but that likely won’t matter. In six games in 2022, Robinson was targeted 31 times. His best game was his last of the season, where he was targeted 13 times, catching nine passes for 100 receiving yards. QB Daniel Jones trusts Robinson, and his ADP makes him a late-round steal for your FFPC squad.
This is another case of a previous season’s injuries tanking a player’s ADP. After finishing 2021 as the overall PPR WR11, Hunter Renfrow was plagued by injuries, missing seven games in 2023. The Raiders added some depth at WR this offseason, bringing in veteran Jakobi Meyers from New England. However, they also traded away TE Darren Waller, who was more in line to steal targets away from Renfrow. Furthermore, the team will ride with QB Jimmy Garoppolo, who favors middle-of-the-field receivers.
He certainly isn’t the sexiest of picks at WR, but he is being drafted in the 19th round as the WR78. So more likely than not, he will far outperform his ADP and be a late-round value in your FFPC draft.
Kickers and Team Defense, Oh My!
While team defense and kickers have been phased out of many fantasy football leagues, FFPC is holding on. However, just because you can draft them doesn’t mean you should. You don’t want to waste a pick on an asset you can easily stream all season long. Both slots are generally match-up dependent, and you’ll want to explore all your options from week to week. Not to mention these slots provide the lowest fantasy point output of any on your team. Instead, save those late-round picks on some dart throws that will become clearer as an asset or detriment as the season approaches.
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Nate Polvogt is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Nate, check out his archive and follow him @NatePolvogt.
