The NFL playoff field is determined nand the seeds have been determined. With the Wild Card Round matchups set, it’s time for playoff best ball. Below are my rankings for DraftKings playoff best ball. First, I want to briefly talk about the game itself.
▶ Drafting Super Bowl Matchups
Playoff best ball rewards knowledge of the game within the game more than any other fantasy format. In tournament formats, the bulk of the money is paid to the top handful of finishers, meaning prioritizing the ability to win first place is key. We do that by drafting teams that can field a full roster for a given Super Bowl matchup. My rankings are heavily skewed toward the teams with the best odds to make the Super Bowl. Christian McCaffrey scoring 25 PPR points a game sounds great in theory. In practice, the 49ers are +1300 to make the Super Bowl. The Chargers are more likely to win their conference. McCaffrey’s fantasy output is only good for as long as the 49ers, who are underdogs this week, can hang around.
▶ Advancing Still Matters
To win all the money, you have to get to the big dance. The easiest way to have a team advance to the final round is to draft NFL teams that can face each other in the conference championships. This prevents your players from knocking each other out in the opening rounds. The NFL re-seeds every round, meaning the highest remaining seed will always play the lowest. The easiest way to avoid this is to stack teams that don’t play each other in the opening round. Beyond that, the Wild Card teams will always be likely or guaranteed to face the No. 1 seed if they advance to the Divisional Round. So, don’t pair a No. 7 seed with that conference’s No. 1 seed, for example. The second and third seeds can only play each other in the Divisional Round if both advance, making them bad draft partners as well. My rankings try to reflect these dynamics, but playoff best ball is so unique that rankings can only act as a starting point. The best way to get a feel of how to build winning teams is to simply start drafting and think about how the bracket can play out in a way that advances most of your players to the conference championship round, with at least a full roster possible for the Super Bowl.
With that out of the way, here are my rankings. You can copy and paste them into Excel/Google Docs, download as a CSV, and upload them to DraftKings to have them as your default rankings.
| Name | Position | Team | ADP | ID |
| Puka Nacua | WR | LAR | 1.2876328 | 1162128 |
| Saquon Barkley | RB | PHI | 5.7610726 | 883302 |
| Christian McCaffrey | RB | SF | 2.2159033 | 830517 |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba | WR | SEA | 4.245231 | 1214087 |
| James Cook III | RB | BUF | 5.9174886 | 1131012 |
| Drake Maye | QB | NE | 7.5429955 | 1286803 |
| Josh Allen | QB | BUF | 3.906735 | 868199 |
| Matthew Stafford | QB | LAR | 10.281387 | 323205 |
| Davante Adams | WR | LAR | 9.674076 | 611417 |
| Kyren Williams | RB | LAR | 11.885844 | 1167361 |
| A.J. Brown | WR | PHI | 10.199378 | 944826 |
| Nico Collins | WR | HOU | 13.636866 | 1074698 |
| George Kittle | TE | SF | 11.131711 | 733672 |
| Travis Etienne Jr. | RB | JAX | 14.775053 | 978577 |
| Jalen Hurts | QB | PHI | 16.026613 | 913271 |
| Stefon Diggs | WR | NE | 18.14081 | 694041 |
| TreVeyon Henderson | RB | NE | 16.589018 | 1287837 |
| DeVonta Smith | WR | PHI | 19.996426 | 1060262 |
| Courtland Sutton | WR | DEN | 22.290344 | 838878 |
| RJ Harvey | RB | DEN | 23.371582 | 1172401 |
| Dallas Goedert | TE | PHI | 23.998035 | 791365 |
| Brock Purdy | QB | SF | 18.96564 | 1121761 |
| Jauan Jennings | WR | SF | 24.447233 | 867009 |
| Hunter Henry | TE | NE | 26.721191 | 744425 |
| Jakobi Meyers | WR | JAX | 25.817884 | 880151 |
| Trevor Lawrence | QB | JAX | 24.875334 | 1110711 |
| Khalil Shakir | WR | BUF | 29.791231 | 1130603 |
| Dalton Kincaid | TE | BUF | 26.507015 | 1135513 |
| Bo Nix | QB | DEN | 33.378765 | 1161899 |
| Kenneth Walker III | RB | SEA | 34.953545 | 1164402 |
| D’Andre Swift | RB | CHI | 33.870197 | 1069808 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson | RB | NE | 36.15663 | 1174682 |
| Josh Jacobs | RB | GB | 32.13731 | 944416 |
| Blake Corum | RB | LAR | 46.038307 | 1229540 |
| Colby Parkinson | TE | LAR | 40.600224 | 1060312 |
| Brian Thomas Jr. | WR | JAX | 40.92139 | 1286064 |
| Omarion Hampton | RB | LAC | 36.56208 | 1398572 |
| Ladd McConkey | WR | LAC | 39.76361 | 1218643 |
| Ricky Pearsall | WR | SF | 36.63924 | 1161416 |
| Christian Watson | WR | GB | 41.022762 | 1067918 |
| Brenton Strange | TE | JAX | 42.587715 | 1164940 |
| Caleb Williams | QB | CHI | 44.793453 | 1286445 |
| Colston Loveland | TE | CHI | 47.525276 | 1378821 |
| Sam Darnold | QB | SEA | 42.5129 | 880026 |
| Parker Washington | WR | JAX | 39.344036 | 1229074 |
| Troy Franklin | WR | DEN | 50.00514 | 1286176 |
| Woody Marks | RB | HOU | 51.13144 | 1231652 |
| Luther Burden III | WR | CHI | 44.16219 | 1377732 |
| Dalton Schultz | TE | HOU | 49.583397 | 830523 |
| Justin Herbert | QB | LAC | 53.561558 | 910562 |
| DJ Moore | WR | CHI | 50.44139 | 877790 |
| Kayshon Boutte | WR | NE | 55.510715 | 1213362 |
| Zach Charbonnet | RB | SEA | 49.399796 | 1164530 |
| Rome Odunze | WR | CHI | 58.959045 | 1213727 |
| Tyler Higbee | TE | LAR | 62.740295 | 604176 |
| Quentin Johnston | WR | LAC | 54.281284 | 1213865 |
| C.J. Stroud | QB | HOU | 54.650593 | 1214084 |
| AJ Barner | TE | SEA | 54.66732 | 1229503 |
| Jayden Reed | WR | GB | 60.155834 | 1123398 |
| Jordan Love | QB | GB | 57.057426 | 912137 |
| Jaylen Warren | RB | PIT | 62.87458 | 1176443 |
| DK Metcalf | WR | PIT | 59.09931 | 945633 |
| Oronde Gadsden II | TE | LAC | 60.96513 | 1325624 |
| Kyle Monangai | RB | CHI | 61.50133 | 1250886 |
| Romeo Doubs | WR | GB | 64.508965 | 1122653 |
| Tetairoa McMillan | WR | CAR | 60.85815 | 1380576 |
| Cooper Kupp | WR | SEA | 66.34652 | 698227 |
| Evan Engram | TE | DEN | 60.26655 | 749185 |
| Jayden Higgins | WR | HOU | 63.233955 | 1274492 |
| Ty Johnson | RB | BUF | 61.65834 | 877784 |
| Dawson Knox | TE | BUF | 63.152397 | 884083 |
| Keenan Allen | WR | LAC | 66.24081 | 557210 |
| Austin Hooper | TE | NE | 66.71798 | 739424 |
| Rashid Shaheed | WR | SEA | 63.08957 | 923412 |
| Pat Bryant | WR | DEN | 65.86097 | 1305866 |
| Luke Musgrave | TE | GB | 66.22056 | 1179790 |
| Brandin Cooks | WR | BUF | 65.14771 | 607864 |
| Aaron Rodgers | QB | PIT | 61.27957 | 213957 |
| Pat Freiermuth | TE | PIT | 65.04178 | 1116662 |
| Joshua Palmer | WR | BUF | 64.392075 | 1059612 |
| Jahan Dotson | WR | PHI | 66.542915 | 1121878 |
| Bhayshul Tuten | RB | JAX | 65.541115 | 1327169 |
| Terrance Ferguson | TE | LAR | 65.65719 | 1286179 |
| DeMario Douglas | WR | NE | 64.705086 | 1175693 |
| Rico Dowdle | RB | CAR | 64.00965 | 933480 |
| Kyle Williams | WR | NE | 65.48786 | 1227157 |
| Marvin Mims Jr. | WR | DEN | 67.063835 | 1213799 |
| Tutu Atwell | WR | LAR | 66.277985 | 1106760 |
| Bryce Young | QB | CAR | 62.095627 | 1213257 |
| Kenneth Gainwell | RB | PIT | 59.228283 | 1130705 |
| Jaylin Noel | WR | HOU | 67.55731 | 1286370 |
| Gabe Davis | WR | BUF | 66.87703 | 976761 |
| Christian Kirk | WR | HOU | 68.0812 | 865801 |
| Keon Coleman | WR | BUF | 64.71314 | 1322431 |
| Chuba Hubbard | RB | CAR | 64.8946 | 1062047 |
| Brian Robinson Jr. | RB | SF | 65.953636 | 973966 |
| Olamide Zaccheaus | WR | CHI | 67.502 | 883976 |
| Calvin Austin III | WR | PIT | 66.32142 | 1062765 |
| Tank Bigsby | RB | PHI | 66.181465 | 1215035 |
| Dontayvion Wicks | WR | GB | 67.93716 | 1172428 |
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