How playoff best ball works
Draft your team of nine players before Wild Card weekend, then watch. Every player you draft scores in every game his NFL team plays, from Wild Card weekend to the Super Bowl. No lineups, no bench: all nine count.
Set up the league
The commissioner, the person who creates the league, chooses the scoring and the pick clock and shares one invite link. Joining is always free. Leagues hold up to 12 teams. In a Premium league, members can add more than one team before the draft; extra teams are drafted automatically for now.
The draft
A slow snake draft: everyone picks in turn over a few days, and the order reverses each round. Each pick gets 2, 4, 8 or 24 hours, and the clock stops from 1 to 8 a.m. Eastern. Drafts open Sun, Jan 10 and need to finish before Wild Card kickoff on Sat, Jan 16. The order is random, drawn when the draft starts, and each team makes nine picks, one for each slot. You get an email when you're on the clock, plus a text or push alert if you turn them on. If time runs out, autodraft takes the highest player in your queue who fits an open slot, or else the best available player who fits.
Your team
Your team is the nine players you draft. Nine slots: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, FLEX (an RB, WR or TE), K and DST. Every pick fills one, and there's no bench. Each player you draft goes into an open slot for his position, or into FLEX if he's an RB, WR or TE; if no open slot fits him, you can't draft him.
Who you can draft
You draft from players on the 14 playoff NFL teams: quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, tight ends, kickers and team defenses. Each player can be drafted by only one team in your league. He can still be on teams in other leagues.
QB: Patrick Mahomes, QB, KC, 43.77 points, still playing
RB: James Cook III, RB, BUF, 54.60 points, eliminated
RB: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, DET, 32.50 points, eliminated
WR: Xavier Worthy, WR, KC, 25.30 points, still playing
WR: A.J. Brown, WR, PHI, 22.50 points, still playing
TE: Travis Kelce, TE, KC, 24.10 points, still playing
FLEX: Kareem Hunt, RB, KC, 24.60 points, still playing
K: Jake Elliott, K, PHI, 24.00 points, still playing
DST: Philadelphia Eagles D/ST, DST, PHI, 34.00 points, still playing
2024 playoffs · half PPR
Scoring
Points come from real NFL box scores, using Standard, Half PPR or Full PPR scoring (PPR: points per reception), and Premium leagues can set every value. Scores update every couple of minutes during games. See the scoring tables.
Eliminations and byes
When his NFL team is eliminated, a player keeps every point he scored, including in that last game. He just has no more games. Your team is never eliminated: it stays in the standings through the Super Bowl. The top seed in each conference skips the Wild Card round, so its players score 0 that round and can play at most three games. Everyone else's players can play four. There are no waivers, so you can't pick up a replacement for an eliminated player.
Drafted
James Cook III, RB, BUF, drafted at pick 3.03
Every pick fills one of your team's nine slots. James Cook III went at pick 3.03.
Scoring
Saquon Barkley, RB, PHI, 81.20 points, still playing
Every game his NFL team plays counts. Saquon Barkley scored 37.20 in the Divisional round and 81.20 over 3 games through the Conference Championships.
Bye
Patrick Mahomes, QB, KC, on a bye
The Kansas City Chiefs were the AFC 1 seed, so they skipped the Wild Card round. Patrick Mahomes scored 0 that round and can play at most three games.
Out
Derrick Henry, RB, BAL, 45.00 points, eliminated
The Baltimore Ravens were eliminated in the Divisional round. Derrick Henry keeps his 45.00 points; he just has no more games.
2024 playoffs · half PPR
Substitutions
Substitutions are off unless the commissioner turns them on in League settings. Then only the commissioner can make one: they swap a player on any team for one at the same position who wasn't drafted in your league, starting from a round they choose, even one already played. The original player's points count for the rounds before it, and the substitute's from that round on. The team page marks every substitution, so everyone can see it.
Winning
Most total points after the Super Bowl wins the league. A tie goes to the higher Super Bowl score. If the tied teams' Super Bowl scores match too, they share the place, so a tie for first means a shared league title.
Following along
Before each round, everyone gets an email listing their players who play that round, and after it, a recap with the standings.
Get the signups-open email
We'll email you when league signups open.