Alright guys, let’s take a chance to catch our breath.
Wow, what a year so far it has been. From 2014, Daily Fantasy Football has grown so much with advertisements, big winnings, and everything in between. Even here, Razzball didn’t have that much to do with DFS, now we have special contests, cheat sheets, strategy articles (3 cheers!), and a lot of that has to do with you, the readers, and the general public.
However, it is important to take a chance to stop, collect ourselves, and take an opportunity to fix mistakes, change strategy, and figure new ways to cash in with different lineups. This article will touch on mistakes, new strategies to implement, and players that have impacted DFS greatly. Let’s get to it.
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Studs, Busts, and Everything in Between
To start to analyze this season so far, we have to take a look at players that have been great, players that have been not-so-great, and players that have been alright.
Players That Have Been Great
Tom Brady, QB NE (26.18 pts per game)Â – I wrote about Brady to begin the year as a difference-maker in your GPP and Cash lineups. Like the media has said over and over again, the 2015 Patriots are in full revenge mode, and should continue to run the table. Players should have known about this from the beginning because a mad Tom Brady is a good Tom Brady, and if you didn’t play him before, play him now (even though his salary is through the roof).
Devonta Freeman, HB ATL (24.30 pts per game)Â – Let’s be real here for just a second. I didn’t think he would do well, and you probably think he wouldn’t do this well either. Well, he did, and I would like to tell you that he won’t from here on out, but the fact of the matter is that he probably will. Atlanta looks like a playoff contender under new HC Dan Quinn, and Freeman has to be a part of it.
DeAndre Hopkins, WR HOU (19.80 pts per game)Â – The main factor of why I thought Hopkins wouldn’t be so hot was because of Houston’s QB situation. However, Mallet did alright, and Brian Hoyer is actually decent. So, Hopkins was able to thrive until last week, but one bad week shouldn’t discourage you.
Players That Have Sucked
Eddie Lacy, HB GB (7.47 pts per game)Â – Yuck. What happened? No one can really say. Yes, he is a little chubby, but is he lost in the offense? Maybe. Is he not taking advantage of the running lanes? Possibly. The world may never know.
Charles Johnson, WR MIN (2.59 pts per game)Â – I don’t know about the general consensus of fantasy writers and owners, but I was expecting a little bit more from Johnson. It looked like he could be the WR1 in Minnesota, and a breakout year could be in store. The exact opposite occured, with now Stefon Diggs looking like the true #1 receiver.
C.J. Anderson, HB DEN (5.75 pts per game)Â – (Sigh) What a bust. Complete. And udder. Bust.
Now that we have dived into certain players we have loved and certain players we have hated, remember that there are certain players who have been alright, and could start to produce. Jay Cutler is a name that comes to mind. Now that we have discussed players, let’s talk strategy.
Basic Strategy Changes
A term that I say too often, and will continue to say: Let’s face it. So let’s face it, it is important to be true with one’s conscious, so let’s face it. Let’s face it, the people that read my weekly columns try to take down the big cash prizes, for lack of a better name, the GPP tournaments. I never fully explained myself in the first article that I ever wrote for Razzball discussing GPP’s vs Leagues vs 50/50 vs H2H. Well, to be quick, the amount of players in the tournament go from High-Low in the type of contests I just discussed.
So what does this mean? It is important to understand which players the field will take. How to win the $500,000 Fanduel gives to this week’s $4M Sunday Million Challenge is in the fine details. % own. For example, Todd Gurley was Week 7’s top HB. And who could blame the field? Jeff Fisher feeds him the ball, and he was in a delicious matchup in the Browns run defense. As a result, a ton of players selected him to be on his team. And he didn’t disappoint. Some may, and this means most of the field has a player on their team with 3 fantasy points. However, the real money-maker wasn’t Todd Gurley, it was Lamar Miller with 37.10 pts last week against Houston. I selected him on a couple of my lineups because most of the field wouldn’t be on him. And what happened? Some scrub named brettg83 went home with $500,000 as he finished in 1st place. And who did he have? Lamar Miller. He also had Todd Gurley, but pivoted away from Devonta Freeman.
He also had Andrew Luck, Todd Gurley, and Lamar Miller. I wrote about these players, and I am offended that he did not text me to offer me some of his loot. Well then brettg83, I guess we can’t be friends then. Your lost.
Stacking
A basic strategy to implement, stacking is the idea behind selecting players on the same NFL team onto your fantasy team. A good way to get 2x or even 3 or 4x the points. Think about it. Andy Dalton has a big game, throwing for 4 TD’s. However, if the Red Rifle threw these 4 TD’s to A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert equally, you know have more points than you did before. Some great Stacking methods are: HB and D/ST, QB-TE, QB-WR-WR, etc.
Contrarian Plays
Like I wrote about before with Lamar Miller vs Todd Gurley, a smart way to win big prizes in GPP’s is to select the players that the field won’t select. For example, think of last week. Everyone had lineups that featured Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers, based off of matchups and recent performance. But a good contrarian play could have been Ryan Fitzpatrick, who did really well against New England, who ended up with 20.70 pts. Carson Palmer finished with 19.20 pts, and the smart owners who went with Fitzpatrick (who was extremely low-owned) beat out the majority of players with Palmer. Sometimes the smart plays are the better ones, and sometimes Colin Kaepernick does well, however if you have every single chalk play in your lineup, chances are you will not place in the money. It works both ways, because if you all select players you project will be 4-6% owned, chances are you won’t place either.
Conclusion
It has been a great year so far, so let’s keep it up. Players have been great, players have been good, and players have sucked. You have won $124.45, $10.50 and you haven’t won at all.
Trust your gut, trust the numbers, and trust the matchup. If you do all that, you’re chances are good.
And I hear that Zach fella knows what he’s doing.
Just kidding, he thought Mike Wallace would do well two weeks ago.
You Can Follow Zach on Twitter @ohuhave12
