Friday, November 6, 2015

Week 9 DraftKings Fantasy Roundtable

This week's discussion focused on replacement running backs, budget quarterbacks, defense/special teams plays, and off-script games. It was a great session with the DraftKings staff and should give our readers plenty of insight heading into their Week 9 contests.

Some excerpts are below, and the full article is here.

Williams a Lock?
This topic discussed DeAngelo Williams and if he represents a good value play at his $5,500 price tag.
Chris Feery: I agree with everyone so far. Williams is far from a lock this week and will probably be very highly-owned. Also, as the others have mentioned, the better approach to attacking the Raiders would be through the air, making Roethlisberger and company an appealing target. Will just mentioned a great alternative in Jeremy Langford at $4,000, and there are few others we can look at in the same price range as Williams. A little to the north on the salary scale, we have Doug Martin at $5,700. Martin was underwhelming last week, but prior to that he had scored 23+ points for three consecutive weeks. As a cheaper alternative, consider Danny Woodhead at $4,800. Woodhead is another player coming off of a down game, but could see a nice bump in opportunities as the Chargers sort through their injury issues. 
Budget QBs
This discussion centered around Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota as they are the next opponents for the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, respectively. But the guys took this one in other directions and recommended other low-priced quarterbacks with better prospects this week.
John Lee: ...and this is why we play DFS! I agree with Dan that Carr is intriguing in the same price range as Winston and Mariota, but I am not fond of John's Fitzpatrick selection. Both will face suspect secondaries, but I suspect the Jets will try to protect Fitzpatrick and any chance they have at a wild-card bid this year; if he aggravates the thumb injury while sitting in the pocket looking for a receiver against the Jaguars, nobody is going to forgive first year head coach for allowing it to happen. Instead, I expect a run-first approach from the Jets, although I do agree it is a tough matchup against a very stout rush defense.
Defense Plays
This topic discussed team defenses for this week, particularly as compared to Atlanta, who gets to face a very weak San Francisco team starting Blaine Gabbert this week.
Dan Hindery: The choice of defense for Week 9 is going to be a tough one, and I do not know if a real consensus play will end up emerging by Sunday morning or if there will be a cluster of defenses all ranked similarly. My shortlist top-five for Week 9 includes:
New Orleans ($2,200) - Sure they just got torched for 49 points. But the Tennessee offense is a mess, and they are projected to score fewer than 20 points this week by Vegas. Perhaps it is a better GPP play than a cash game option, but the extra $1,000 or so in savings compared to the top defenses could really provide a boost to a cash game lineup as well. There is also an interesting precedent here; Houston got torched for 42 first half points in Week 7 and came back against Tennessee in Week 8 and held them to six points, notched seven sacks, and collected three turnovers.
New England ($3,300) - New England is favored by 14 points, which means Washington will almost certainly be playing from behind and forced to go pass-heavy. Kirk Cousins has been turnover-prone throughout his career. New England has been one of the better D/ST options all season with 26 sacks in seven games. But they have yet to score a touchdown, which is the only thing that has kept them from having a big week. At some point, they are due to find the end zone.
Off-Script Games
Here, we discussed how we use Vegas to help us project games but that they're sometimes wrong. We're trying to identify the Week 9 games that won't go according to script.
John Mamula: I was surprised to see the Vegas projection of 49 total points in the Chicago Bears-San Diego Chargers game. I see this game coming in about six or seven points fewer than what Vegas is projecting. I do not see either offense producing as they have done in the past without their key playmakers.
Philip Rivers is leading the league in passing with 2,695 passing yards and 336 passing yards per game this season. He has thrown for multiple touchdowns in every home game this season. However, Rivers has lost his number one passing target, Keenan Allen. Through eight games, Allen had 67 receptions for 725 yards. This loss will have an effect on the entire offense and limits Rivers' upside. On the other side of the field, the Chicago Bears will be without the centerpiece of their offense, Matt Forte. Alshon Jeffery should be held in check by up-and-coming cornerback, Jason Verrett.
Enjoy the full article. It was a great week of discussion!  

Week 9 Punt Plays

Week 9 Punt Plays


Every week John Lee, Cecil Lammey and I (Jeff Pasquino) discuss our punt plays for DraftKings on The Audible to close out our weekly DFS DraftKings podcast.  These are players that we are looking at to fill in a last spot on our lineups that are relatively cheap.  We have all been there - we have only a few bucks left and 1-2 spots to go in our roster, and we need a good value play to fill in that gap.  The rules we play by are that the player must not cost more than $3,500.

So who made my short list for this week?  Well, I can only use one on the show - and I am not going to steal the thunder from our three picks that make the airwaves - but I will share a few guys that did not make it for the final cut.  Some of them look pretty solid this week, so give them a read and tell me what you think, either in the comments or on twitter (@JeffPasquino).  Here goes:

Marques Colston, WR, Saints ($3,400) - Drew Brees threw seven touchdowns last week - do I need to say more?  Get a piece of the New Orleans' offense against Tennessee in Week 9.

Dorial Green-Beckham, WR, Titans ($3,100) - Speaking of those Saints, they did just give up 49 points and still found a way to win.  "DGB" offers big upside if Marcus Mariota can find him deep.

Dontrelle Inman, WR, Chargers ($3,000) - Monday Night Football is ripe for fantasy goodness with the Bears and Chargers squaring off.  What do those two nicknames have in common?  Same as their teams - no "D".  Get some Chargers in your lineup this week.

Chris Thompson, RB, Washington ($3,300) - The Patriots are going to get up on the scoreboard early, but Washington is going to have to try and move the ball somehow.  Thompson can catch the ball out of the backfield and is solid running after the catch, so in full PPR he offers some nice upside.  Remember - even garbage time production counts in fantasy.

Heath Miller, TE, Steelers ($2,700) - Ben Roethlisberger is back and he needs short route pass catchers with no Le'Veon Bell.  That sounds like a solid reason to grab his favorite tight end, who could have a solid day and offers great GPP upside if he gets in the end zone in Week 9.

Thanks for reading as always, and be sure to check out The DraftKings' Audible episode every week, and subscribe to The Audible on iTunes.  Good luck this week!

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Thursday DraftKings Lineups from Footballguyscom Staff

Looking for last minute lineup suggestions for your Thursday DraftKings Cash Games?

Nine of the Footballguys.com DraftKings players have shared some of their favorite lineups.

QB choices like Tom Brady and Philip Rivers

RB studs like Devonta Freeman and Jeremy Hill

Even a lineup using the Bengals defense against a soft Cleveland lineup tonight.

Check it out here.

There are sample Sunday lineups here too!

Check out our full range of weekly DraftKings Content.

FootballGuys' Daily Fantasy Hour hosted by RotoGrinders, Week 9 Edition

Every Wednesday night, RotoGrinders' daily fantasy expert and voice of the industry, Dan Back, hosts an hour-long show with FootballGuys' analysts, Austin (6mil) and John Lee (tipandpick). The guys recap last week's games, injury situations, recency biases, WR/CB matchups to avoid/exploit, and much more for the upcoming DFS week. Along the way, there are some laughs and some very good DFS analysis; if you haven't yet watched, please do so tonight to get an edge on your DFS opponents in Week 9--we are betting you are going to love it!


If you want to take the show on the road with you to listen during your workout or on your commute home, download it on iTunes here.


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

CFB Recap Week 9: SEC Conference 

This past Saturday, we saw two big changes at the quarterback position in the SEC Conference. One produced stellar returns both on the field and for DFS purposes. Freshman sensation Kyler Murray showed off why he was so highly-touted while leading Texas A&M to victory and provided a stellar return of 37.52 points on DraftKings. Faton Bauta's chance at the helm for Georgia did not go as swimmingly as he was picked off four times in a losing effort. For a full recap of the week that was for Texas A&M, Georgia and all of the other SEC teams in action last week, check out our SEC Conference recap for Week 9. We go through each game in depth and offer up a sneak peek at what lies ahead for each team and how you can apply it for DFS purposes. You can check out this week's article here and be sure to visit Footballguys for all the info you need to build some winning College Football lineups.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Week 10 College Football MACtion Tuesday-Wednesday Slate Breakdown

As we are now into the last quarter of the season, baseball is finally over which means one thing, MACtion. For those of you who have not played college football before, MACtion is described as the mid-week games between Mid-American Conference opponents which have a history of being very high scoring and very popular among daily fantasy players due to being fun games to watch.

Below is the first of our weekly slate breakdown on DraftKings, this week starts slow with only two games.

Quarterbacks-

1) Matt Johnson- $8,900 For those of you who have not seen Matt Johnson play this season, he is one of the best quarterbacks in college football this season. He has thrown for 300+ yards in every game this season. The matchup is a difficult one as he is facing an Ohio Bobcats team that only has allowed 198 yards passing so far this season, but he was in a tough matchup last week against Kent State and still managed to throw for 430 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is a must start this week.

2) Phillip Ely- $6,600- The former Alabama quarterback is finally showing some of the talent that he had coming out of high school. Over the last two games, Ely has thrown for 682 yards and 9 touchdowns.

3) Drew Hare- $6,300-  Drew Hare has struggled recently and it is primarily due to not running the ball for the touchdown quantity that we saw last season. The primary reason for this is how great Joel Bouagnon and Jordan Huff have been that Hare does not need to be running the ball on the goal line. Hare is a good option this week as he has upside due to his running ability, however we prefer Ely due to being a slightly safer option due to his most consistent game log.

4) Derrius Vick- $5,600- Don't let the last name fool you, Derrius is not related to Michael and is not a  running quarterback. He is a quarterback who is a three touchdown underdog on the road which is not a great option for this week.

Running Backs

1) Joel Bouagnon- $6,000 He is the clear-cut number one running back on this slate, as he has run for 100+ yards in four straight games. He is the only running back who is not in a time share situation. Find a way to fit Bouagnon in your lineup

2) Kareem Hunt- $5,600- Kareem Hunt has been dealing with injuries all season and is finally showing signs that he maybe healthy. He has not been as explosive as he has been in the past, but to get a running back who is getting 15-20 carries who has a history of putting up huge games in these mid-week slates dating back to last season. Northern Illinois has allowed three running backs this season to go over 100 yards rushing, and Hunt has an opportunity to be the fourth.

3) Terry Swanson- $4,600- Terry Swanson is a better value than Hunt, as he has been splitting carries and finding the end zone at a better rate than Hunt, but he does have more risk. The reason he is ranked lower is if one of them were to lose carries due to game script it would likely be Swanson.

4) Travis Greene- $5,300- Like Hunt, Travis Greene is another running back who was great last year, but this year has been hobbled by injury. Over the last four games, Greene is averaging 16 carries per game, which is a great sign that his health is improving, the issue is that he is just not finding the end zone at the same rate that he did last year. This is largely due to having Matt Johnson return as their quarterback this year so they have transitioned to a pass heavy offense. Greene is a nice option, but due to the inconsistency in finding the end zone we are likely going to be spending up at other positions.

Wide Receivers-

1) Roger Lewis- $7,800 Lewis might be the best wide receiver in college football. In six of the last seven games, Lewis has gone over 100 yards with a touchdown. He has three games this season with 200+ yards. He is a must start this week.

2) Kenny Golladay-$5,200- While Kenny Golladay isn't the same player now that Tommylee Lewis has come back from injury early in the season, he is still one of the most consistent players on this slate having four straight games of six or more receptions.

3) Corey Jones- $5,400- Corey Jones' recent surge in production has been directly correlated with the improvements that Phillip Ely has had over his last two games. Jones has returned to 2014 form having 15 receptions for 178 yards and two touchdowns over the last two games. While the matchup is not an ideal one this week due to Northern Illinois only allowing 223 yards passing per game, these stats have largely been deflated due to not facing pass heavy offenses so far this season. We expect another good game from Jones and makes for a nice stack with Ely.

4) Ronnie Moore- $5,900- Ronnie Moore is a great GPP option this week but is not a great cash game lineup play. The primary reason for this is that he is the second most expensive wide receiver this week, and he is not consistent enough to be trusted. While the matchup isn't ideal, Bowling Green has proven that they are matchup proof, it is just that there are safer options such as Golladay and Jones which allow you to save more of your salary.

Cheap Flex Plays Under $4,500
1) Jordan Huff- $3,400

2) Tommylee Lewis- $3,600
3) Cody Thompson- $4,000
4) Alonzo Russell- $4,200

Sunday, November 1, 2015

The Contrarian: Week 8 

Looking for some last minute under the radar plays for your lineups? Then check out The Contrarian for Week 8 where we go position by position to help you identify some potential hidden gems. A little uniqueness mixed-in with your favorite must-plays of the week has proven to be winning formula. We've been looking back at the Top 10 finishers in the Millionaire Maker tournament to gain some perspective on just how much uniqueness we need to break through to the top of the charts. While each week is different and there's no magic number or formula, a clear pattern is developing. What's a good baseline number to shoot for in terms of lower-owned players? You can find the answer here and be sure to check out Footballguys for all the info you need to build some winning lineups.