INDIANAPOLIS --- But wait. There's more! The traditional fantasy football season is over, but fantasy leagues for the NFL postseason are popping up more and more these days, including at NFL.com.
The Playoff Challenge at NFL.com is another way to keep playing fantasy football as the Super Bowl approaches. The directions are simple:
Fill out a lineup each week of the postseason.
If you use the same player for multiple weeks in a row, you get multipliers. For example, if you use Andrew Luck this week, and the Colts win, then you get double points if you use him next week as well.
The same goes for teams on a bye. You can slot Peyton Manning into your lineup and get a zero this week. Then you'll get double points next week with him. Don't roster players on a bye though unless you are convinced they are going to win next week. That way you'll get 3x points for conference championship weekend.
Note: the NFL.com Playoff Challenge is standard scoring (no points per reception).
There are many other fantasy playoff leagues that are similar to the Playoff Challenge, where you set your lineup before Wild Card Weekend and accumulate points for the entire postseason with that lineup. The concept is similar: you want players on the two teams you think will make it to the Super Bowl, but instead of setting a lineup every playoff week & getting multipliers for repeat players, your player is just eliminated from your roster if that team loses (killing any chance you have of winning the league if his team gets bounced early). Honestly, it's probably more fun if you just pick players from the two teams you want to root for to go to Super Bowl XLIX.
But here are my fantasy playoff rankings for each position:
Quarterback
Russell Wilson
Andrew Luck
Aaron Rodgers
Tom Brady
Ben Roethlisberger
Peyton Manning
Tony Romo
Cam Newton
Joe Flacco
Matthew Stafford
Andy Dalton
Ryan Lindley
Running Back
Marshawn Lynch
DeMarco Murray
Eddie Lacy
C.J. Anderson
LeGarrette Blount
Dan Herron
Justin Forsett
Jonathan Stewart
Jeremy Hill
Joique Bell
Shane Vereen
Giovani Bernard
Wide Receiver
Dez Bryant
Antonio Brown
Jordy Nelson
Demaryius Thomas
T.Y. Hilton
Randall Cobb
Julian Edelman
Emmanuel Sanders
Kelvin Benjamin
Calvin Johnson
Torrey Smith
A.J. Green
Tight End
Rob Gronkowski
Jason Witten
Coby Fleener
Julius Thomas
Heath Miller
Greg Olsen
Dwayne Allen
Jermaine Gresham
Defense
Seattle Seahawks
New England Patriots
Dallas Cowboys
Indianapolis Colts
Carolina Panthers
Denver Broncos
Baltimore Ravens
Green Bay Packers
Kickers
Stephen Gostkowski
Adam Vinatieri
Steven Hauschka
Dan Bailey
Shaun Suisham
Connor Barth
Mason Crosby
Justin Tucker
