NFL DFS: Getting Started

“Theonly place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” –Vince Lombardi

One-week fantasy football has grown in popularity over the last few years and for good reason. The money being awarded to the winners of NFL DFS tournaments has exploded, reaching its peak when DraftKings hosted their Daily Fantasy Football World Championship, with a $15 million prize pool that awarded $5 million to the lucky first-place winner. DraftKings and FanDuel are now running weekly Millionaire Makers awarding $1 million to first-place finishers every week this season. What better way to enjoy the NFL season than to go after a million-dollar prize. It’s more appealing, too, because you can draft a new team each week and not have to worry about shuffling around injured players and draft busts.

Many DFS players consider NFL DFS preferable to MLB and NBA DFS because fantasy players get multiple days between games to research their teams. In addition, there are many great resources out there to break down players’ performances from the previous week and to project their success moving forward. For the casual player who wants to dabble in DFS, I always starting with the NFL. It’s the same advice I give to family and friends. There are plenty of statistical considerations to get into, but first let’s break down the differences between DraftKings and FanDuel’s scoring systems.

Something that immediately stands out here is that the two NFL DFS systems are very similar, down to the points per yard on passing, receiving, and rushing yards. However, you’ll see that DraftKings awards a full point per reception, while FanDuel gives 0.5 points, a seemingly small distinction but one that may play into your roster construction, as your high-volume receivers, running backs, and tight ends are twice as valuable on DraftKings.

Another key distinction here is that DraftKings awards an extra three points for the milestones of three hundred passing yards, one hundred receiving yards, and one hundred rushing yards. This should definitely factor into your NFL DFS lineup construction, as you’re looking for players on DraftKings who are likely to have a huge breakout game, so you can get those NFL DFS bonus points on top of all the points they’ve already accumulated for you with their raw yardage.

The defensive scoring is as follows:

Defensive scoring is exactly the same. You’ll get big NFL DFS points from defenses who don’t give up many points and get a lot of turnovers. This shouldn’t be all that surprising for you, though, so let’s take a look at roster construction for the two sites.

As we get into NFL DFS rosters, it’s important to note that neither league includes kickers anymore, a change that went into effect for FanDuel in 2018. The positions you must fill on each site are:

The NFL DFS lineup construction has changed over the years, so now the two leagues are exactly the same in this regard. If you’re familiar with football, you should recognize all these positions.

Except one, that is. Let’s talk about the FLEX. The FLEX spot for both sites can be filled with either an RB, WR, or TE. This gives you the opportunity to have 3 RBs in your lineup, something that may pay off for you if you identify backs who are lining up against weak run defenses in NFL DFS, especially in games their teams are favored to win, likely resulting in heavy second-half touches during garbage time to run the clock down and preserve the win.

If you remember the NFL DFS scoring breakdown, though, DraftKings awards a full point per reception while FanDuel gives only 0.5 and DraftKings gives bonuses for yardage milestones, so the way you use this FLEX position should differ between the two leagues. When you’re on DraftKings, you should strongly consider using the FLEX for pass-catching running backs and highly-targeted receivers and tight ends.