Fantasy Football, NFL Playoffs 2020: Rankings for every position
By Drew DeLuca
High Priority Draft Targets
1. Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens are odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl, and it’s hard to argue with Vegas on this one. The Ravens will play two games and are as likely to take the field for three as anyone.
2. Kansas City Chiefs: The squad most likely to beat Baltimore is the Kansas City Chiefs, which happens to be the only playoff team to beat the Ravens this season. That said, their task will be tougher on the road in Crabcake City.
3. San Francisco 49ers: No team is better positioned to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, so the 49ers appear in this tier by default. That said, the NFC should emerge as the least predictable of the two conference brackets: the strength of the next two competitors listed below is unquestionable, and the No. 5 seed came oh-so-close to sweeping them last week in a game with playoff implications on the line.
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Medium Priority Draft Targets
4. New Orleans Saints: The Saints are the squad most likely to take care of business at home and advance from the Wild Card Round; Dalvin Cook is banged up, and Adam Thielen hasn’t been the same since returning. A lot hinges on which Marshon Lattimore shows up in the Divisional Round. If we get “Good Marshon,” a talented Saints defense will level up as a unit and give the Vikings their second-most embarrassing playoff exit in recent memory.
5. Green Bay Packers: It’s hard to get a stronger home-field advantage than Lambeau Field in the playoffs. The Packers’ defense has been up & down this year, but betting on Aaron Rodgers to play at least two games is always a wise proposition.
6. New England Patriots: The Patriots are used to going as Tom Brady goes, but this team has ridden on the back of its defense all year, the AFC’s strongest. As a team, they’re not as strong as past iterations of Super Bowl champions from the Boston area, nor are they on Kansas City or Baltimore’s level.
Low Priority Draft Targets
7. Seattle Seahawks: As the class of this tier, some might argue that the Seahawks should appear in the level above, but as slight favorites on the road in Philly, they don’t get their 12th man advantage. However, the reappearance of Javeon Clowney to the front seven levels up the pass rush and the recent returns of Quandre Diggs and Shaquill Griffin strengthen the secondary.
8. Houston Texans: If the Texans take care of business against a tough Bills team, they’re likely to face Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Baltimore; if they’re lucky, they draw Patrick Mahomes. Oof. At least they’re likely to play two games.
9. Philadelphia Eagles: The Eagles have the best chances of any WildCard underdog, but they’ll have their hands full, given the extent of their well-documented skill position injuries on offense. The loss of the Seahawks’ top three running backs should allow a top-three rush defense to key on Russell Wilson.
10. Buffalo Bills: Head Coach of the Year candidate Sean McDermott wrapped up an impressive regular season, as his men gave the perennial Super Bowl contending Patriots a run for their money in a quest for Buffalo’s first AFC East title in nearly a quarter of a century. The Bills should give the Texans a great game, but their odds of making it past the Divisional Round are very slim.
Very Low Priority Draft Targets
11. Tennessee Titans: The Patriots offense has been anemic, so the Titans should at least hang around and make it a game. However, New England is highly likely to make Tennessee’s playoff journey a short one, and the odds of getting past the Chiefs or Ravens are even longer.
12. Minnesota Vikings: SKOL! The Vikings have one of the most iconic home field chants in all of football, but we won’t see or hear it from the fans of this No. 6 seed. The Saints will be playing with a chip on their shoulder after last year’s playoff exit, one of the least important reasons why Minnesota stares down the longest odds of any WildCard underdog.
A trip to San Francisco awaits if the Vikings somehow manage to take down the Saints in the Superdome.