How Branduel Works

Branduel is a 32-player season-long fantasy football league built on top of DraftKings Fantasy. Every week you build a lineup in the DraftKings app and score points. Those points aren't just for show — they determine your head-to-head record against a specific opponent, exactly like an NFL team playing its schedule.

Each of the 32 players is randomly assigned one of the 32 NFL teams at the start of the season. That assignment gives you your schedule (who you play each week), your division, and your conference. It has no effect on your actual DraftKings lineup — you can pick any players available in the contest regardless of team.

• ›Create a DraftKings Fantasy account if you don't have one. Send your DraftKings username to the commissioner to receive contest invites.
• ›Each week a contest is sent via email and the DraftKings app. You join the contest and build your lineup for that week.
• ›The contest used is the THURS–MON slate, which covers all games from Thursday night through Monday night.
• ›Roster format: QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 Defense. Scoring is DraftKings standard PPR.
• ›Payouts are NOT through DraftKings. Entry fees are collected by the commissioner at the start of the season and paid out at the end.

• ›You must lock a lineup before the Thursday game kicks off each week. Failing to submit a lineup results in a 0-point score for that week, which severely hurts your playoff chances and points-based payout eligibility.
• ›You can adjust your lineup as many times as you want after Thursday, as long as the players you're inserting haven't started playing yet.
• ›Strategy tip: lock a placeholder lineup with no Thursday players, giving yourself until Sunday 1 PM to finalize your lineup after watching Thursday and early news.
• ›Watch start times on international game weeks — some games kick off earlier than usual.
• ›If you know you'll be unavailable (travel, no internet), plan ahead and lock your lineup early. Reach out to the commissioner.

The NFL plays an 18-week regular season. The Branduel season compresses those 18 weeks into a shorter regular season using double header weeks.

Double header weeks are set by the commissioner before the season starts and are published in the schedule. If you participate in multiple leagues using this format, be aware that double header weeks may differ between leagues.

When your assigned NFL team has its bye week, you still participate — you still build a lineup in DraftKings and score points. Here's what changes:

Because different players have bye weeks at different times, W/L records will not always align during the regular season. This is expected and tracked accurately in the standings.

Standings are computed live from entered scores. Within each division, teams are ranked using the following tiebreaker chain — applied in order until the tie is broken:

1. 1Overall wins (most wins first)
2. 2Division wins (most division wins first)
3. 3Total points scored (all games including bye weeks)
4. 4Head-to-head record (between the tied players)
5. 5Conference win/loss record
6. 6Net points in conference games
7. 7Net points in all games
8. 8Commissioner coin flip (logged and posted publicly)

After the regular season, 7 teams from each conference (AFC and NFC) advance to the playoffs — seeded using the same rules as the NFL:

• ›Seeds 1–4: Division winners (ranked by record/tiebreakers)
• ›Seeds 5–7: Wild cards (best remaining records in the conference)
• ›Seed 1 receives a first-round bye
• ›Wild Card round: 4 vs 5, 3 vs 6, 2 vs 7
• ›Bracket proceeds through Divisional, Championship, and the Branduel Bowl (AFC vs NFC champion)
• ›A separate losers bracket runs simultaneously to determine 5th–8th place finishes, which carry payout implications