James Gagnon continues with his weekly recap of the NFL action at FanDuel and DraftKings
How The Millionaire Winners Won
DraftKings
1DontTryThisAtHome1 wins the Millionaire Maker at DraftKings
1DontTryThisAtHome1 won the week 13 DraftKings Millionaire Maker Tournament. With a usually inadvisable 5 man stack from the Steelers, the name couldn’t fit better…it’s not a strategy for the faint of heart. The five Steelers; Big Ben, DeAngelo, AB, Martavis, and the Pit D combined for a total of 146.56 points. Outside of Antonio Brown, none of them were overly expensive. Hell, Pit D was actually on the low end of defenses with the late punt return by AB being the final 6 points scored by 1Don’tTryThisAtHome1, and the points that held him at first through Monday Night’s kick fest.
The rest of the team was filled out masterfully as Don’tTryThis got Allen Robinson and his 46.3 points before AR15 jumps into the elite salary tier of wideouts. Scott Chandler was at a great price point, and produced very well, although he was owned by a lot of teams. Jeremy Maclin proved that KC wide receivers can catch touchdowns and had his second big game in a row. The team was rounded out with a nice 12-catch performance from running back Buck Allen. Against Miami, in Miami, plenty of owners shied away from Buck and it’s not like they were really all that wrong. Baltimore didn’t play a great game and Buck didn’t do much with his rush attempts. But in Draftkings, where they award a full point per reception, a back who catches the ball well and who plays for a team lacking receiving options, Uncle Buck Allen will be a good matchup play going forward.
Players Owned On The Top-10 Teams
QB
B. Roehtlisberger – 6 of 10 teams
R. Fitzpatrick – 1
T. Brady – 1
M. Mariota – 1
C. Newton – 1
RB
J. Allen – 9 of 10
D. Johnson – 7
D. Williams – 3
T. Rawls – 2
L. McCoy – 1
J. Stewart – 1
S. Draughn – 1
WR
A. Robinson – 10 of 10
A. Brown – 9
B. Marshall – 4
M. Bryant – 3
D. Amendola – 3
J. Maclin – 2
D. Baldwin – 2
D. Parker – 1
E. Decker – 1
TE
S. Chandler – 4 of 10
D. Walker – 3
G. Olsen – 2
J. Thomas – 1
FanDuel
OkieBoy211 – 224.56 points
QB – B. Roethlisberger – 33.86 pts – 16.6% – $8,100
RB – J. Allen – 29 pts – 7.3% – $6,800
RB – D. Johnson – 19 pts – 30.3% – $5,900
WR – A. Brown – 33.8 pts – 29.3% – $9,000
WR – A. Robinson – 38.3 pts – 9.9% – $8,000
WR – M. Bryant – 19.4 pts – 14.7% – $6,900
TE – D. Walker – 19.2 pts – 12% – $6,000
K – D. Bailey – 15 pts – 2.3% – $4,600
DT – KC – 17 pts – 2.4% – $4,700
As you can see, OkieBoy211’s lineup wasn’t much different than the DraftKings’ millionaire as they both rostered the same 5 players, out of a total of 8. While OkieBoy211 scored over 50 points less than 1Don’tTryThisAtHome1, there are a few factors at play; the smaller pool of players in FD, the .5 PPR instead of the full point in DK, and the Kicker instead of a Flex player are the biggest reasons.
Nevertheless, a Pittsburgh stack was instrumental in Okie taking home a nice chunk of change. David Johnson was highly owned and didn’t “blow up,” but he didn’t let anyone down and he was well worth his price. Delanie Walker continued his great 2015, and it looks like the Mariota-Walker combo will be around for a while.
Top Performers by Position
Quarterbacks
- Cam Newton was a predictable play, owned by 24.7%, against New Orleans and didn’t disappoint.
- Big Ben continued his torrid streak with that crazy Steelers offense, yet somehow still only cost $6,600.
- Even missing all of his weapons, Brady was the most expensive QB on the board. His ownership was low due to his high salary and lack of a healthy supporting cast, but he still had a great fantasy game playing comeback and getting tons of garbage yardage.
- Marcus Mariota has the legs to get him through his growing pains as a passer, but he doesn’t have far to go there either. Most of his 100+ rushing yards came on a huge play though, so temper your expectations if you roster him expecting those types of yards on the ground regularly.
- Russell Wilson also stayed hot. Wilson came into the season as one of the most expensive QB’s, but this week he only cost $5,600, which is only $100 more than Mariota. He put up a great performance against a good Minnesota D, in Minnesota. Wilson might be more than just a matchup play at the price.
Running Backs
- J. Allen got only 6.3 of his 38 points on the ground as he caught 12 balls for 1 TD and 107 yards for the remainder of his points. That’s a roguh stat line from an unproven back on a rough team. He has a good price point, I just don’t think any of what he does right now is predictable with so much of his value through the air and Matt Schaub being his QB. Then again, “Dumpoff Matty” might be the reason for the success, you decide.
- J. White is another RB who did his damage through the air. And we all know we can’t trust a Patriots RB from week-to-week. If you can take anything from this, take the fact that the top 2 scoring backs had horrible games on the ground, meaning that a RB who gets targets is the best type of RB for you to target in this game in today’s NFL. Keep an eye on The Riddick in the upcoming weeks for a big game.
Wide Receivers
- Allen Robinson led all receivers and is atop the WR leader board with the likes of A. Brown, B. Marshall, and ODB Jr. Hurns missed the game, which gave AR15 more opportunities and he took advantage. It still doesn’t matter though as Robinson is one of the most targeted receivers and has a decent QB throwing to him and a decent cast surrounding him. Robinson is on the cusp of being elite.
- Antonio Brown has blown away the cusp of being elite and is in a world of his own. He’s scored over 40 points in 3 of his last 4 games and is worth every penny of his most expensive player in the game price tag.
- Brandon Marshall is playing the B-Marsh of old as he seems to be healthy and is getting a ton of balls thrown his way by Fitzpatrick. The Jets offense runs through Brandon Marshall!!!
- Odell Beckham Jr. rounds out the list of studs and goes into week 14 as the most expensive WR with a favorable matchup against Miami. My gut screams that this is a trap, but my gut doesn’t know that Jr has only scored under 20 points on 3 of his 12 games played this year.
That does it for this week, folks. Have fun in your yearly leagues as this is the 1st round of the playoffs for most of us. And if you didn’t make the playoffs, go enjoy some DFS fun.