When looking to improve your daily fantasy sports game, solid assessment is just as important as the lineup building process and research.  It is easy to use the terms blasted off, or stinks, to describe how a lineup performed,  but the key is understanding why.  My goal when building a lineup is to have a valid explanation on how it was constructed, and how it will win.  I continue to urge everyone that if unsure about why you see or not see a player recommended, that you ask why.  After the slate is completed, it is always best to go back and re-assess how it performed. This strategy works for not just your lineups, but others as well.  Below is a look at the NFL week seven paylines for some top contests.

FanDuel:

NFL Sunday Double Big Up: $5 entry fee, top 10,000 win 

https://www.fanduel.com/games/21503/contests/21503-212169412/entries/1297450639/scoring

The winning lineup scored 178.66 points, with the pay line at 120.16  

The FantasyAlarm Optimal Lineup scored 117.06 with the pivot lineup at 114.02 points.  Both cashed in 50/50’s.

News and Notes:  

This large double up ended up with some highly owned players. 

Ezekiel Elliott’s 40.4 FD point game made it on 37% of lineups, while pairing him up with Dak Prescott seemed to be popular, with Dak checking in on 26% of lineups.

While Dak’s ownership was high, it was the Super Bowl rematch game that was targeted with a few players, as FD includes the late night game, while DK does not.  Tom Brady was the highest owned QB at 32.8%, but Julio Jones was on more lineups, checking in on 49.1% of them.  Other higher owned options from this game were Stephen Gostkowski at 21.2%, and Rob Gronkowski at 13..7%.  

Those that didn’t go with Elliott mainly pivoted to LeSean McCoy.  His 24.7 FD points were on 44.1% of lineups.  The Vikings Def was highest def option, but only managed 6 FD points for the 43.6% of lineups they were on.

Busts:  With 62.1% ownership, it’s hard to call Chris Ivory a bust play, but users were expecting more than his 8.7 FD points.  Even worse though were RiShard Matthews and A.J. Green.  Matthews’s 5.5 FD hurt that 47.5% of lineups he made it onto, while those that payed $3,000 more for Green didn’t fare much better.  His 5.6 FD points were on 15.2% of lineups.  In the middle, price wise, between those two was Adam Thielen.  He managed only 6.6 FD points on 19.7% of lineups.

$2M NFL Sunday Million:  Top 78,250 win, $500,000 to first.

https://www.fanduel.com/games/21503/contests/21503-212169321/scoring

The winning lineup scored 196.22 points, with the pay line at 120.34

News and Notes:  

For almost the second week in a row, the winning lineup could have won the $500,000 having their highest scoring player come from their DEF spot.  The Bears Def scored 30 FD points at 0.9% owned, only second on the team to Elliott’s 40.4 points.  Elliot was also their highest owned player at 21%.  

One of the complaints from users about FanDuel is that they still use a kicker position spot.  The winning team, and 2.4% of other lineups received 24 FD points from Kai Forbath. 

Overall, ownership levels were failrly spread out in this large gpp, as it tends to be in certain large gpp’s with high cash game ownership plays.

A smaller gpp contest, the $50,000 NFL Squib, was a single entry, $1 buy in contest with 59,523 entries.  The top score was 191.86 points, with the cash line at 120.26 points.    Mark Ingram was 30.1% owned for this contest, which seemed to be the highest.  Adrian Peterson disappointed for the 22.4% of lineups, while Elliott shined on 19.3%.

DraftKings:  

NFL Sunday Massive Double Up:  $5 entry fee.  34,482 entries, top 15,000 win.

https://www.draftkings.com/contest/gamecenter/46787215?uc=878265571

The winning lineup scored 217.46 points, with the pay line at 132.46.

The FantasyAlarm Optimal Lineup scored 148.96, with the pivot option at 147.62.

News and Notes:  

You’re welcome to play these large double up contests, but it’s good to know that  81 users entered the max 100 lineups for this contest, taking up 23.5% of all lineups entered for this contest out of the 34,000 plus entries.

We saw some crazy high ownership levels again this week for cash games on DK.  Chris Ivory was on 77.05% of lineups, the most of any player.  Pairing him with LeSean McCoy was the popular play, as he finished second with 71.65% ownership.  By comparison to FD, Elliot was still the fourth highest owned RB for this double up, but down at 18.63% owned.  

QB wise, fairly surprising was Tyrod Taylor, who was the top QB, and sixth highest owned overall player at 37.39%.  With no Brady, and some other cheap QB options on DK, only two other QB’s made it on over 10% of lineups.  Brett Hundley’s cheap price made it onto 19.80%, while Dak Prescott hit on 13.98%.  The fourth highest was your other cheap option in C.J. Beathard, checking in at 8.70%.

Two receivers made it into the top five highest owned players, but it wasn’t Jones, who was not on this slate, or Matthews (13.44%).  Demaryius Thomas took the top spot on 52.79% of lineups, with Pierre Garcon second at 37.66%.

The Vikings Def was once again the popular choice, ending up in the top spot at 27.44%.  Three cheap options followed them, as the Rams (19.39%), Chargers (14.31%), and Bears (10.95%) all came through on the lineups they were on.

Busts:   Eric Decker makes the top of this list, as he was on my lineup, as well as 24.5% of lineups.  He had as many points as Isaac Bruce on Sunday, and was the fourth highest owned WR.  Only roughly just 200 less lineups, Bennie Fowler had to join Thomas, and the other Bronco disappointments.   

NFL $4MM Fantasy Football Millionaire Maker:  217,062 entries.

https://www.draftkings.com/contest/gamecenter/46765664

The winning lineup scored 229.66 with the pay line at 136.36

News and Notes: 

Single Bullet Winner!  The winning user submitted just one entry, and won by a solid 15 DK points.  They had seven of their nine roster spots hit for at least 24 DK points.

Their running back trio were the only players at over 10% ownership levels for the winner, with 7% and under for the rest of the team.  McCoy (30.12%), Elliott (22.96%), and Mark Ingram (16.09%) were three of the top eleven highest owned players in this contest.  While Le’Veon Bell came through at 17.13% owned, the other two  running backs in the overall top eleven did not fare as well.  Chris Ivory once again was the top overall player owned, but at only 37.66%.  Adrian Peterson finished sixth, at 22.72%.  Add in Thomas at your highest owned WR again at 25.50%, and you can see the advantage of fading some of the chalkier plays, but also the advatage of taking the right chalky plays.  

Overall, ownership levels were fairly spread out.  There were only 3 QB’s, but 10 RB’s, 13 WR’s, 4 TE’s, and 3 DEF spots at over 10% owned.    

Follow the alarms:  Leonard Fournette made it onto 1,042 lineups, Sterling Shepard on 1,538 lineups, and Willie Snead on 325 lineups.