Playoff Preview

Round 1 Matchups

Justin (11-3) vs Ryan (7-7)

Two years ago these two teamed up and captured the first and only co-owner championship. This year the pair will meet in the playoffs after Justin called Ryan's name with the first pick in the playoff opponent draft.

Justin has remained atop the league standings all year after striking gold with two late round QBs to pair with a deep roster of WRs and RBs. It's not all roses heading into the playoffs. Justin is coming off his worst outing of the season after managing to score only 586 PTS last week and C.J. Stroud is still in concussion protocol. If Stroud can't go, Tommy DeVito will likely start in a tough matchup in New Orleans.

It felt like Ryan's season ended in Week 5 when Justin Jefferson went down. However, Ryan's patience (or maybe lack of interest?) has paid off with a healthy Jefferson matching up against the Bengals secondary this weekend. The QB combo of Hurts (#2 QB) and Russell Wilson (#14 QB) has kept Ryan in most games this season, but figuring out which RBs & WRs to start every week is not an easy exercise with this roster.

Prediction: Ryan shocks the league and squeaks out a win with Stroud missing this weeks game.

Dave (10-4) vs Cha (7-7)

Back in late September these teams completed the biggest trade of the season when Cha sent Josh Allen to Dave for Mike Evans, Alexander Mattison, Kenny Pickett, and $100 in FAAB. The trade sparked a good deal of debate and Dave appeared to have traded his way into a super team. 

I'm not quite sure Dave ever reached super team status, but his combo of Josh Allen (#1 Overall), McCaffery (#5 Overall), and Lamar Jackson (#4 Overall) is at least the best big 3 I can remember on the same team. The rest of the roster is good to solid, but an injury to a red hot Tank Dell and an up and down season from Stefon Diggs has left Dave with a few decisions to make this week.

Cha comes into the playoffs on a three game losing streak, all to playoff teams. The aforementioned trade hasn't exactly worked out for Cha, though Mike Evans has been up to his old tricks until last week's matchup against the Falcons. The return of Kyler Murray has given Cha some stability at QB but Joshua Dobbs was recently benched, forcing Cha to finally play Jordan Love.

Prediction: Josh Allen puts up huge points and Dave rolls to an easy victory. 

Andrew (9-5) vs Mike (7-7)

Andrew absolutely crushed the draft this year and has rode that roster to his best regular season finish yet. The Burrow injury seemingly killed Andrew's title hopes but Brock Purdy is apparently an MVP candidate and is currently the #6 player in fantasy. D'Andre Swift has fallen off a bit the last few weeks but the rest of this team enters the playoffs red hot. 

Mike finished with a 7-7 record for the second season in a row and still has only one winning season to his name. This year's team features a Pat Mahomes and Travis Kelce stack that hasn't lived up to the hype the past several weeks. Jake Browning has put up good fantasy numbers the last couple of weeks and has been targeting Chase a good amount. The rest of the roster is pretty meh.

Prediction: The 49ers put up a million points and Andrew moves on to the next round.

Mitch (7-7) vs Eric & Tim (7-7)

An all Cincinnati playoff matchup! Neither of these teams are any good but the rules say someone has to win! These teams swapped DK Metcalf and Terry McLaurin for Kyren Williams and Christian Watson a few weeks back. DK posted a big number a couple of weeks ago for the co-owners while Scary Terry has been mid at best. Menwhile Kyren Williams is the #5 RB despite missing 4 Games and Christina Watson broke out of his season long slump for a few weeks before returning to the injured list.

QB play has been a big problem for Mitch's team since rookie Anthony Richardson went down in Week 4. The solution seems to be acquire as many QBs as possible, as Mitch currently has 6 QBs on his roster. Picking between Nick Mullens, Billy Zappe, and Willy Levis is impossible. Nico Collins untimely injury is a big concern as well with no healthy replacements on the bench.

A real interesting matchup to watch here will be the Detroit Lions backfield this Saturday evening in Denver. The Co-Owners will start David Montgomery while Mitch counters with Jahmyr Gibbs. The rest of the Griddle Bois lineup looks until you remember it's not 2020 and Cooper Kupp, Zeke, and Saquan's best years are likely behind them.

Prediction: Mitch squeaks out a close one after setting a PERFECT lineup.