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Yahoo Friends & Family Playoff Draft

What does a restless fantasy scribe do when the NFL season ends? Well, among other things, he assembles his flatliner roto friends and does a playoff draft.

That's what the Yahoo Fantasy Five (plus honorary member Chris Liss) did on Monday. The playoffs make for a tidy six-team league, since 12 teams go to post and all positions will be drained by the end of the proceedings.

[Join FanDuel's $1.75M Wild Card fantasy league: $25 to enter; top 14,530 teams paid]

Consider our specs, and then dive into the results, if you care to.

- Rosters: 2 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 2 TE, 4 Flex (limited to RB/WR/TE), 2 PK, 2 DEF

- No weekly lineups, no pickups, no further moves: everyone counts when they're on the field.

- Scoring: Mostly standard, though TD passes are 4.5 points, receptions are .75 points, and defenses get a mild gain for incomplete passes against and third-down stops.

Some general strategy considerations and other points of interest:

-- You're drafting teams and scenarios as much as players in this sort of league. In-season, no one would ever start Doug Baldwin over Calvin Johnson. In a pool like this, it's something to consider. The first thing you calculate in playoff leagues is this: how many games is each team likely to play?

-- Your early picks (especially your first pick) declare a path that needs to be followed to some degree. If you draft one of the designer (and favored) quarterbacks, surely you will revisit that roster and pluck several additional players, if possible. You want the most plausible winning scenario you can build.

-- Because each fantasy roster is capped at two quarterbacks, two kickers and two defenses, it makes sense to wait on those positions if you haven't filled them and the pickings get slim. The other side of it: some owners might consider it critical to fill those postions early, with the expected games-played factor coming largely into play. I knew one thing coming into this year's dance: I wasn't going to get stuck with the Arizona QB situation.

-- In a playoff draft, a PK or D/ST pick in the middle rounds can be justified, since the position is now a finite resource. With the overflowing selections you're afforded in standard fantasy, that isn't the case.

-- Once you get locked into some teams, you're probably locked out of other teams who have opposing scenarios (though in some cases someone might justify loading up on opponents if you see a ton of scoring possible in a specific matchup).

Here's how the draft went down, pick by pick:

Professionals at work
Professionals at work

 

Breezy round-by-round analysis? Sure, I can provide that.

Round 1: The four quarterbacks felt standard, but the interesting picks are Rob Gronkowski at 4 and Marshawn Lynch at 5. I could see someone going Tony Romo over Russell Wilson at 2, theoretically, because Romo is easier to pair with notable teammates, and more likely to throw up a monster passing game or two. That said, just riding shotgun with Wilson puts me in a good place. And I feel confident Seattle is making another deep run.

Round 2: Five of the six teams go with a cross-conference pick, opening up the second front, as it were. And as you'd expect, the one same-conference pick is a double up, Funston taking a second Cowboy. I regret not adding more Broncos to go with the dynamic Anderson, a mistake. I misjudged the markets for Emmanuel Sanders and Julius Thomas later on.

Round 3: Two of us opt for a second quarterback from a favored-team position, while the other four teams stock up with a star receiver (interesting that none of those four wideouts are linked to their quarterbacks). I felt wide receiver was one of the deeper positions, as a name-brand talent was available into Round 8, depending on how much team and physical risk you were willing to accept.

Round 4: I need to start pairing my two quarterbacks with some teammates, but I misjudged the Doug Baldwin market and got sniped at 24. I also took the first flier on a non-favored player, thinking Jeremy Hill will run wild at Indianapolis, and perhaps the Bengals can squeeze into a second game. I also think the RB board is absolute skank, so I made it more of a priority than perhaps some other teams did. Interesting to see Evans opt for Sanders (Round 3) and T.Y. Hilton (Round 4) over a Rodgers playmate in Randall Cobb. But some prefer diversification in this format.

Round 5: Behrens takes the second underdog player, Matthew Stafford up against Dallas, and Calvin Johnson falls later in the round to Del Don. I think upsets are far more likely in the AFC Wild Card round, but no team is a prohibitive favorite this weekend. Funston takes an early stab at the Seahawks defense, perfectly reasonable in this format (though it might be hard to back it up with many teammates).

Round 6: I give Baltimore the best chance to win of the four Wild Card underdogs, so I can get behind Del Don's pick of Flacco, despite the modest scoring expectations I hold for their initial draw. And with that pick, Liss is completely in punt mode at quarterback: he'll take the final two QBs with his last two picks.

Otherwise, it's a tight-end heavy round, with Olsen (Round 5 wheel), Fleener, Thomas and Willson all going. I would have preferred several of those players to my Willson selection at No. 35, but at some point I need to link Russell Wilson up to someone. I have my eye on Paul Richardson later on (spoiler: it doesn't work).

Round 7: Pricy defenses can work in this format, which justifies the Patriots pick to Behrens. He now has three New England pieces (Brady, Vereen, Pats defense). Liss is the other man stockpiling Pats, selecting Stephen Gostkowski to go along with Julian Edelman and LeGarrette Blount. I added Stephen Hauschka as a third Seattle piece, and make a joke about his Arizona kicking chops (he went John Starks 1994 on us in Week 16, missing from all over the joint).

Rounds 8-9: So much for my Richardson hopes; Evans snaps him up at pick 43 (after a Martavis Bryant hookup with Big Ben). I guess I'll gamble with the Jermaine Kearse hamstring. Del Don didn't chase Manning interests heavily, but he did opt for the Defense and Kicker in this sequence. No one really knows what to expect with A.J. Green (Pick 45) and especially Le'Veon Bell (Pick 51). Remember, we drafted Monday. I grabbed Heath Miller and no other Steeler - in fact, I went Ravens heavy later - a strategy which might not make sense out of the moment.

Round 10-11: The Patriots and Colts can be dodgy with their backfields, which is why you see Jonas Gray and Boom Herron drafted now. Baltimore's possible upset picks up some steam, with the Smith receivers getting selected.

Round 12-13: After punting several rounds at tight end, Behrens finally steps in with Tim Wright and Andrew Quarless. Two teams that could go deep, certainly, and the QBs throw flips to almost anyone at the goal. Robert Turbin is another Seattle piece for Funston, even as he entered that fray a little later. Liss shows his affinity for small receivers, pairing Welker with Edelman.

Round 14-16: Behrens opts for three straight Cardinals . . . My Donte Moncrief pick makes little sense to my roster composition; I usually am more scenario-driven and less talent-focused in my playoff leagues. I also have the most underdog players (six) in the league, compared to just one for Funston (Behrens 4, Liss 5, Del Don 6, Evans 4) . . . Nifty of Funston to get so many favored players, and to link up Wayne (Pick 87) with his uniform number . . . Liss preferred the Bengals defense over the Lions and Cardinals defenses, which I think is the right call, more upset potential . . . Although Del Don matched my six underdog players, he streamlined his picks, limiting them to just two teams, Baltimore and Detroit . . . Evans used traditional drafting theory with his kickers and defenses, selecting them with his 12th, 14th, 15th and 16th-round picks.

Here's what the final rosters look like:

Too late for Ben Tate 
Too late for Ben Tate

Just 11 games left to digest and savor, amigos. Enjoy the playoffs.