Just like in every other fantasy football league, each week is important.
Unlike most leagues, there is at least a $250,000 grand prize (or
more, depending on the league the competition you choose to enter)
waiting for the lucky owner who is able to mix regular-season success
with postseason dominance with the Fantasy Football Players Championship
(FFPC). That means as important as matchups are in the first 11
weeks (two-week, four-team playoffs start in Week 12), they are
exponentially more important in the run during the Championship
Round (Weeks 14-16).
The point to be made here is December is critical not only for
collecting the $1,500 owners get for winning their league, but
also to make sure they stack enough high-scoring weeks on top
of one another over the remainder of the season in order to keep
themselves in the running for the big prize. In short, it is advantageous
for owners to line up as many late favorable matchups as possible
for their best players.
There is one major scoring difference from the TFC Big Board
published earlier this week: the FFPC uses tight end-premium scoring,
which means tight ends receive 1.5 points for every catch
as opposed to the standard one point per reception every other
position gets.
Another nuance is one FFPC veterans are already quite familiar
with: some owners are going to have key players unavailable for
the first week of their playoffs since the FFPC postseason begins
in Week 12.
For all of those unfamiliar with my Big Boards, allow me to explain
the SSI concept as well as the color-coding system before we start:
SSI (Success Score Index) - A rankings metric
that incorporates my fantasy-point projections and includes a
weight to my matchup analysis score. In other words, it allows
me to compare apples to oranges across positions.
Red – For lower-level players, a red matchup
is the most difficult one a player can face. For a second- or
third-tier player, drop your expectations for them at
least one grade that week (i.e. from WR2 to WR3). For
elite players, expect them to perform one level lower than their
usual status (i.e. RB1 performs like an RB2).
Yellow – For lower-level players, he is
a borderline start at best. For a second- or third-tier player,
the slight edge goes to the defense in what is essentially a toss-up.
For the elite players, expect slightly better than average production.
White – This one can go either way, but
I favor the player over the matchup. In some cases, I just don’t
feel like I have a good feel yet for this matchup. Generally speaking,
these matchups are winnable for all levels of players.
Green – For non-elite players, the stage
is set for a player to have a productive day. For the elite player,
this matchup could produce special numbers.
Note: In the final set of Big Boards over
the following two weeks, I will rank at least 200 players and
present my final rankings for kickers and defense/special teams.
Here is the scoring
system that I used to rank the players in the FFPC format:
Doug Orth has written for FF Today since 2006 and been featured in USA TODAY's Fantasy Football Preview magazine since 2010. He is also a high-stakes player who often appears as a guest analyst on a number of national sports radio shows, such as Sirius XM's "Fantasy Drive." Doug is also a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.