How to Draft for Both Ceiling and Floor: Principles for Building a Winning Roster in the FantasyPros Championship

Ross Durham
August 30, 2023

For fantasy drafters who want to compete for $1,000,000 in the 2023 FFPC Main Event, but can’t justify the $2000 buy-in, I have good news: the FFPC FantasyPros Championship is the perfect way to dip your toe in the water. Like the Main Event, the grand prize is a cool million. Unlike popular best ball tournaments (and like the Main Event) The FantasyPros Championship is a managed league, with waivers and setting lineups. And even if you come up short during the tournament portion of the season, drafters who win their individual 12-team leagues can opt for a free entry into next year’s Main Event. The capper — entry into the FPC is a far more palatable $350.

Despite similarities with the Main Event, the FPC is a unique tournament structure. It combines a tiny 12-week regular season with a two-week individual league playoff. Two or three teams from each league then enter a tournament pool where the cumulative points leader Weeks 15-17 takes home the million dollar prize. Since the payout for winning the individual league championship is relatively low, our goals should be to win Weeks 1-12, then maximize our overall points in Weeks 15-17, goals that are often at odds with each other during roster construction.

So how should we build our rosters? Let’s look at a FPC team Shawn Siegele and I recently drafted to help illustrate some of the unique considerations to help us take down the grand prize.

The Anchor

Justin Jefferson (1.01)

Not that drafting Jefferson needs any elucidation, but Jefferson may be more valuable than ever in this format. With a bye during the less significant league championship rounds, and maybe the best Week 15-17 schedule in football, no one else was in consideration.

The Foundation Players

One of the tenets for drafting in all formats here at RotoViz has long been betting on player talent over early-season workload. It’s one of the principles that creates antifragile teams that actually get stronger during the chaos of the NFL season. We always want to bet on talent, including in the FPC. But with such a short regular season we have to take a balanced approach that includes players with established roles on their teams. The last thing we want to do is build a juggernaut team that starts 0-4 and misses the playoffs entirely.

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Ross Durham

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