While the FFPC Main Event gets most of the attention during redraft season — and rightly so, as the biggest high-stakes fantasy contest around — we shouldn’t forget about FFPC’s sister tournament that features just as big a grand prize and an even bigger prize pool.
The FantasyPros Championship features a $350 buy-in and a $1 million top prize. It also offers a slightly flatter payout structure. Plus, there are some indications it might not completely fill. This effectively lowers the rake for everyone, as it increases your expected value without changing your entry fee.
Perhaps the best reason to consider entering teams into the FantasyPros Championship is that, because the buy-in is lower, the level of competition is also likely to be lower. While the $2000 buy-in of the Main Event all but ensures that only the most serious fantasy players will enter, the $350 buy-in of the FantasyPros tournament is likely to attract more casual players.
One way this difference can be exploited is by finding where ADPs diverge most between Main Event drafts and FantasyPros drafts. To be sure, those who are drafting in the FantasyPros Championship are still sharp drafters. But any time there are gaps in market prices, there are arbitrage opportunities, and edges to be exploited. With that in mind, here are some of the best current values in FantasyPros Championship drafts.
Quarterback
Trevor Lawrence
| Main Event ADP | FantasyPros ADP | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 142.1 | 146.3 | 4.2 |
For the most part, quarterbacks go earlier in the FantasyPros Championship than they do in the Main Event. Of the 24 QBs who have been picked in at least 10 Main Event drafts, only four have a later ADP in the FP Championship. Only one (Justin Fields) has a larger positive difference between his ME ADP and his FP ADP than Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence is consistently going in a range with Jared Goff and Tua Tagovailoa. Over the past two weeks, Tagovailoa’s ADP has started to creep up, while Lawrence’s has fallen somewhat. Tagovailoa’s weapons justify the price increase, but we shouldn’t be too sure the Jaguars won’t have a similarly potent offense. Gabe Davis is potentially on a fifth-year breakout trajectory, and rookie Brian Thomas is the WR class’s Freak Score leader.
Tight End
Brock Bowers
| Main Event ADP | FantasyPros ADP | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 64.7 | 71.3 | 6.6 |
Any excuse to make Brock Bowers a foundational part of your draft plans is one you should not be passing up. But you don’t need much of an excuse to draft Bowers in the FantasyPros Championship, where he is more than half a round cheaper compared to his Main Event ADP.
Other tight ends going in the same range have arguably just as many question marks, and a lot less upside.
The likelihood that we’re talking about Bowers as a first-round pick in FFPC drafts next year is not as remote as you might think.
