The National Fantasy Football League Championship (NFFC) is a pretty, pretty, pretty fun time.

Sure, all fantasy football drafts are fun, but some of the unique factors in NFFC land are objectively awesome:

• 6-point passing TD: Tired of dual-threat QBs being way better in fantasy than in real life? This helps mightily.
• Third-round reversal: Picking from the first few spots of the first round no longer leads to such an advantage at the two-three turn; instead, draft order reverses after the first two rounds are complete.
• Team kickers: Nameless, faceless fantasy football assets that help prevent managers from having to overly worry about the least “football” position in all of football.

Oh yeah: Having the opportunity to turn a $350 squad into $250,000 isn’t too shabby either.

The Fantasy Life squad is THRILLED to have NFFC as our official high-stakes fantasy partner this season and have had a great time streaming multiple drafts already.

Every draft room is different – this one in particular was wild – but at the end of the day: Any fantasy draft still comes down to trying to get better players than your opponents (wild concept, I know).

What follows are my favorite high-stakes picks in NFFC-specific drafts.

Looking to get in on the high-stakes action at NFFC? Sign up here to join in on the pursuit of the $250,000 grand prize!

Deshaun Watson, QB - Browns

Watson is my single favorite QB target in fantasy football if fading the true early-round options.

He presents the same sort of alien-level dual-threat upside as guys like Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Jackson, while re-finding pre-2021 form could quickly enter the ex-Texans QB into the Round 3 conversation this time next year.

After all, Watson is one of just five QBs to ever average at least 20 fantasy points per game, even when including last year’s dumpster fire.

So why is Watson this cheap? Most likely because:

1. He was horrendous last season. He literally tied Zach Wilson in EPA per dropback (-0.09).
2. Some drafters understandably don’t want to take Watson given all of his off-the-field issues.

The Browns have added newfound pass-game weaponry and, reportedly, are willing to turn Kevin Stefanski’s typically run-first offense into the Watson show.

“It’s just preseason.”

I know, but it’s also fair to say Watson was looking a bit more like his old self in Arrowhead last weekend compared to last year.

If you ask yourself, “What can I get in this round that I can’t get later?”, the answer in Round 9 is usually Watson.

James Cook, RB - Bills

On the one hand, Cook was really good as a rookie, averaging more yards per carry (5.7) than any RB not named Breece Hall (5.8) and posting the position’s eighth-best PFF receiving grade (71.8) among 55 qualified RBs.

He might have fumbled away his first career carry, but credit to the rookie for not letting the football hit the ground on his next 126 touches.

On the other hand, the Bills never quite trusted him as an early-down answer, as virtually all of his games with double-digit rush attempts came during a Bills blowout.

Jan 2, 2023; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Buffalo Bills running back James Cook (28) runs the ball as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt (29) looks to make the tackle during the first quarter at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

The presence of Damien Harris and Latavius Murray has caused many to assume that Cook will be an afterthought on the ground this season.

But could that be a bit overblown considering neither veteran fetched a contract worth even $2 million this season?

There’s also the reality that Harris has played in just 38 of a possible 66 regular season games since entering the league in 2019, and Murray turns 34 in January.

While the dual-threat tendencies of Josh Allen haven’t led to bunches of expected PPR points for Bills RBs, the offense has been more willing to leave a single RB out on the field longer than most.

Word out of training camp certainly seems to paint the picture that the latter scenario is at least plausible for 2023.

“Cook went coast-to-coast as their unquestioned top running back at camp, displaying excellent pass-catching skills and a good knack for finding running lanes between the tackles…

…Cook also separated himself from backups Damien Harris and Latavius Murray, with Murray giving Harris a run for the primary backup duties due to his performance…With a cleared runway, Cook appears to be locked into a significant role barring injury.”

Cook’s ADP isn’t exactly dirt cheap at the moment, but there’s potential here for him to provide:

1. Spot starts boomed by explosive pass-catching ability, and (wait for it)…
2. League-winning upside should Harris (again) struggle to stay healthy, resulting in the Georgia talent being the next man up to receive a featured role.

There are several intriguing backs priced in the RB3 range at the moment; don’t be afraid to throw some darts at the one (likely) in the best offense with the most demonstrated pass-down chops.

Diontae Johnson, WR - Steelers

You might have heard Johnson didn’t score a single TD in 2022. His 147 scoreless targets are 38 more than the next-closest tally since the metric began being tracked in 1992.

Attempting to discern whether Johnson’s 2022 was simply terribly unlucky, or more so the result of him simply not being a great football player, is one of the more important questions of the offseason.

A few pieces of evidence that scholars (me) have compiled in an effort to prove that Johnson is in fact good at football:

• Johnson’s scoreless 2022 campaign didn’t provide high-end counting stats, but his first-read target share and overall WR score (ESPN) put him in the company of guys like Stefon Diggs, Tyler Lockett and Tee Higgins.
• One only needs to go back 12 months to find a rather awesome 107-1161-8 campaign (WR8 in PPR points per game) that featured plenty of borderline erotic route-running ability.
• The Steelers signed up to pay Johnson $18.355 million per year – more than all but 13 players at the position.

There are plenty of similar upside WRs in this range who I wouldn’t have a huge problem with others preferring.

Either way: Failure to draft at least four (ideally five) WRs by the end of Round 9 leaves the squad awfully short on upside at a position that requires three starters in NFFC formats.

Target distribution between Johnson and everyone else wasn’t close when Kenny Pickett was under center last season, and Johnson’s newfound elevated preseason aDOT could mean more big plays than usual for the 27-year-old talent.

Do you hate targets? I don’t. Draft Diontae Johnson.

DeVante Parker, WR - Patriots

The crowded nature of this passing game has depressed the ADP of everyone involved.

Luckily, training camp intel has provided some recent clarity:

Reminder: The Patriots gave Parker a new three-year contract worth up to $33 million in late June. There is only $14 million guaranteed, but at a minimum that’s enough money to more or less cement his spot in starting three-WR sets.

Parker flashed some patented grown-man catches throughout 2022 while posting 5-156-0 and 6-79-2 blowup performances.

It’s not a complete given that he works ahead of JuJu Smith-Schuster in Mac Jones’ pecking order, but his terribly low ADP makes this a reasonable bet.

The 30-year-old veteran has been dubbed a fantasy football sleeper for what seems like 50 straight offseasons; just realize Parker carries one of the better target projections for any WR priced outside of fantasy’s top 150 picks.

If offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien proves that last year’s troubles were simply a result of the Matt Patricia experience, expect Parker to be a major beneficiary of the turnaround.

Darren Waller, TE - Giants

The ex-Raiders veteran finds himself inside of a passing game in dire need of a true alpha receiver, considering their current starting trio is tentatively expected to feature Isaiah Hodgins, Darius Slayton and Parris Campbell.

Maybe Waller won’t have the same chemistry with Daniel Jones as he did with Derek Carr, but offensive coordinator Mike Kafka certainly learned a thing or two about featuring his TE in the passing game during his time as the Chiefs QB coach and passing game coordinator from 2018 to 2021.

Betting on Waller is betting on the soon-to-be 31-year-old TE to keep keeping on as one of the position’s single-best producers.

Fantasy Life Projections have Waller leading the Giants in targets and it’s not particularly close.

I believe Waller is fully deserving to join Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson, Kyle Pitts, Dallas Goedert and George Kittle in a big upside TE1 tier after Kelce, and it’s tough to say that anyone in that group has a larger overall target ceiling.

There’s also a major difference between a player being “injury prone” vs. “already hurt”.

Don’t let past issues completely cloud your analysis of one of the position’s few talents with legit BOOM upside.

Saints DST

Having a ridiculously easy schedule to start the season allows drafters to keep the Saints defense until a Week 7 matchup against the Jaguars:

• Week 1: vs. Titans (19.25 implied points)
• Week 2: at Panthers (21)
• Week 3: at Packers (21.75)
• Week 4: vs. Buccaneers (17.75)
• Week 5: at Patriots (22)
• Week 6: at Texans (19)

Hell, even that game is in the Superdome – and then the team gets two more theoretically great matchups against the Colts and Bears before having a tough road trip to Minnesota and a Week 11 bye.

The league’s reigning ninth-ranked scoring defense managed to perform rather great in 2022 despite inconsistent offensive performance and injuries to high-priced secondary starters CB Marshon Lattimore (7 games played) and S Marcus Maye (10).

It’s not guaranteed that the group simply keeps on keeping on after losing defensive linemen Marcus Davenport, David Onyemata, Shy Tuttle and Kentavius Street in free agency, but the schedule Gods have done the Saints some SERIOUS early-season favors.

The Saints deserve to be the first DST off the board after the 49ers and Eagles.