Stoweby’s Showdown for 11.22 Chiefs at Raiders is going to be a fun event this evening so let’s enjoy ourselves and treat it for what it is, a good game that we can take a few shots on. Don’t get tilted over these, they arte hard to win. DraftKings calls them “Showdowns,” and FanDuel doesn’t really have a name for them other than “Single-Game Contests,” but whatever we call them they require an understanding of game narratives and game theory – which means we need to target low-ownership players that will give us the best opportunities within the narratives and game outcomes we’re expecting.
My picks will focus almost exclusively on finding GPP-winning combinations that have a chance at taking down the contests you’re entering, be they single-entry or MME. While we can’t cover all the possible combos or provide full lineups for you to deploy, the goal here is to give you the tools to win and highlight some names that will help make for profitable results.
If I enter five lineups in a large-field GPP, at least three of those lineups will focus on the most likely game outcome (based on Vegas odds, props and totals), with one or two contrarian builds. As we know, late-breaking news can have a significant effect on full slates, and that’s just amplified with single-game contests. If you have any questions leading up to lock, please consult our NFL DFS experts in Discord.
Let’s get to the game!
Some notes on the differences between MVP on FanDuel and DraftKings: The 1.5x point boost on FD comes with no salary penalty, while and DK also bumps the salary to 1.5x – a crucial factor in deciding who we can and cannot afford on both sites. We can use this to our advantage on FD by occasionally targeting non-QBs to establish more variance and more unique lineups, and on DK it allows us to build more hearty overall stacks when we punt the MVP position with a cheap but high-upside player.
Vegas Total: 56 points Chiefs: -7.5
I find it so strange that Vegas has so little faith in their home team. I know it is the Chiefs but they have outperformed expectations every step of the way and they have already shown that they have the ability to play up-tempo and they beat the Chiefs by 8 in KC earlier this year. I see this one being close for four quarters so for all of you playing props I’d recommend taking the Raiders +7.5 -116. It’s obvious that Patrick Mahomes is going to be the chalk even at $20,100 and I won’t argue if you go that route but there are two guys I really like. Derek Carr is $14,700 and went for 347 yards passing and 3 TD’s in there last meeting and I’ve been much more optimistic on the Raiders this year than most. Tyreek Hill became a much more intriguing option with news that Lamarcus Joyner on the Covid-19 list and unable to play leaving Amik Robinson in his stead. I know Joyner isn’t anything special but Robinson is a complete mess. no way he keeps up with his 4.45 40 time and overly aggressive nature at DB. The Cheetah is likely going to burn him any time the Raiders go man and even in the cover-2 man under concept Hill will burn these guys with crossing routes. My deep contrarian play is Clyde Edwars-Helaire. Now bear with me. Every year Andy Reid goes through these stints where he gets too cute with the play calling and he completely forgets that he has a running back. He will do it for three or four weeks and then get back to normal. I don’t know if he just uses the later half of the season to test things out to get ready for the playoffs, or if he just looses his mind every year for a while but it always happens. If you want to run a script that matches the Vegas line and bank on the Chiefs dominating an Edwards-Helaire captain play could potentially break the slate. I know I am leaving big play guys out but you know who they are if you want to use them. They’ll be listed as flex plays below but we could have gone 8 deep with captains today but these are just my favorites for various reasons.
First thing that sticks out tonight is that I’m not going to recommend either defenses at flex outside of maybe a super contrarian game script if you are running 150 lineups. The Chiefs are the Chiefs and Derek Carr is great overall when it comes to limiting turnovers. Kickers are in play and if you want to bank on a shootout you’ll need big play options like Henry Ruggs and Demarcus Robinson in your lineup. Luckily the Chiefs are pretty condensed with their playmakers so I’ll likely not using anyone besides Harrison Butker or Demarcus Robinson as ancillary flex options.
Raiders: Darren Waller, Josh Jacobs, Henry Ruggs, Nelson Algholor, Daniel Carlson, Hunter Renfrow, Bryan Edwards
Chiefs: Demarcus Robinson, Mecole Hardman, Le’Veon Bell, Harrison Butker
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Stoweby’s Showdown for 11.22 Chiefs at Raiders . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. Any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
The NFL DFS season continues with this week’s Monday night showdown, and we’re helping you win big money in the final Week 10 NFL DFS contests!
DraftKings calls them “Showdowns,” and FanDuel doesn’t really have a name for them other than “Single-Game Contests,” but whatever we call them they require an understanding of game narratives and game theory – which means we need to target low-ownership players that will give us the best opportunities within the narratives and game outcomes we’re expecting.
My picks will focus almost exclusively on finding GPP-winning combinations that have a chance at taking down the contests you’re entering, be they single-entry or MME. While we can’t cover all the possible combos or provide full lineups for you to deploy, the goal here is to give you the tools to win and highlight some names that will help make for profitable results.
If I enter five lineups in a large-field GPP, at least three of those lineups will focus on the most likely game outcome (based on Vegas odds, props and totals), with one or two contrarian builds. As we know, late-breaking news can have a significant effect on full slates, and that’s just amplified with single-game contests. If you have any questions leading up to lock, please consult our NFL DFS experts in Discord.
Let’s get to the game!
Some notes on the differences between MVP on FanDuel and DraftKings: The 1.5x point boost on FD comes with no salary penalty, while and DK also bumps the salary to 1.5x – a crucial factor in deciding who we can and cannot afford on both sites. We can use this to our advantage on FD by occasionally targeting non-QBs to establish more variance and more unique lineups, and on DK it allows us to build more hearty overall stacks when we punt the MVP position with a cheap but high-upside player.
The easy choice for the captain chalk is Dalvin Cook, who’s season low is 17.1 DK points in Week 2 against Indy. This season he’s scored 21.8, 17.1, 29.9, 31.6, 19.9, BYE, INJ, 51.6 and 42.2 DK points – numbers bolstered by the fact that he’s scored at least one TD in every game he’s played this season (12 TDs in seven games). He seems matchup-proof at this point.
We could pivot to Kirk Cousins if assume the Bears will stack the box against Cook, and while Cousins isn’t the most reliable real-world QB (or fantasy producer), he’s notched four weeks with at least 20 DK points and he has a bevy of offensive weapons at his disposal: Cook, veteran WR and PPR maven Adam Thielen, talented rookie wideout Justin Jefferson and stalwart TE Kyle Rudolph.
The Vikings are without Irv Smith Jr. this week, which likely dings their red zone efficacy, but the gloriously man-bunned Tyler Conklin could soak up a few extra targets in his stead. Conklin played some in 2019 and has yet to be targeted this season, but he’s the only other active TE on the Vikings roster. He’s dirt cheap and probably not a guy I’d use in more than 1/10 GPPs.
Additionally, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that capable RB Alexander Mattison sees a few additional carries this week, as Cook has logged 30 and 22 carries in his last two games. Outside of that lot and a smattering of the Vikings DST mixed into my builds, I don’t see too many other impact players for Minnesota.
The Bears have a team total under 20 in this game, which is never a good sign for fantasy production. Nick Foles has his moments, so he’s the most obvious choice for a contrarian builds – which have merit based on both game script and the Vikings’ record against opposing QBs.
I’d love to plug Foles and Allen Robinson into some lineups right away, but AR2 is questionable with a knee injury and we could see more targets heading the ay of both Anthony Miller and rookie Darnell Mooney. Mooney, even as the Bears deep threat, might even be the safer play of the two given Miller’s spotty performance this season – though Miller has a been a favorite feast-or-famine GPP play for me over the past couple of seasons since he seems to make some truly amazing catches when he’s on his game.
Bears TE Jimmy Graham is another relatively safe fantasy option that maintains some upside, and the Vikings yield about a third more production to opposing TEs than the average NFL team. He’ll be a staple of my builds in all formats.
The backfield is a mess, with the team promoting Lamar Miller from the practice squad to help Ryan Nall with RB duties. Miller hasn’t taken the field since 2018 because of an ACL injury and he was cut from the Patriots roster this summer. He could be a free space at just $200 on DK, but he’ll likely split work with Nall and Swiss army knife Cordarrelle Patterson in Week 10. This relatively ugly committee should still be led by Nall, with David Montgomery still in concussion protocol and ruled out for Week 10.
Lastly, there’s no way we can omit the Bears DST – a strength of this team and a glaring GPP possibility when we’re honest about the fallibility of Cousins and the 3-5 Vikings in general. I’ll have shares of both them and K Cairo Santos in GPPs.
Remember to build your team based on a narrative that makes sense, and utilize the WinDaily fantasy toolbox for cheatsheets and projections that can help you tremendously with lineup building.
DO: Build a trio (or quartet) of offensive weapons for a team that makes sense together
DON’T: Forget about the defenses – as both QBs have been known to look downright foolish on the football field.
DO: Use Dalvin Cook somewhere in your lineup – unless you’re planning on him getting injured, which is both mean and dumb.
DON’T: Be afraid to completely fade the Vikings passing game in your “Cook at CPT” builds.
Now that we’ve established some narratives and MVP candidates, the best way to round out this piece is with a list of my favorite options in descending order, based on overall value (a combo of salary and projected points):
DraftKings calls them “Showdowns,” and FanDuel doesn’t really have a name for them other than “Single-Game Contests,” but whatever we call them they require an understanding of game narratives and game theory – which means we need to target low-ownership players that will give us the best opportunities within the narratives and game outcomes we’re expecting.
My picks will focus almost exclusively on finding GPP-winning combinations that have a chance at taking down the contests you’re entering, be they single-entry or MME. While we can’t cover all the possible combos or provide full lineups for you to deploy, the goal here is to give you the tools to win and highlight some names that will help make for profitable results.
If I enter five lineups in a large-field GPP, at least three of those lineups will focus on the most likely game outcome (based on Vegas odds, props and totals), with one or two contrarian builds. As we know, late-breaking news can have a significant effect on full slates, and that’s just amplified with single-game contests. If you have any questions leading up to lock, please consult our NFL DFS experts in Discord.
Let’s get to the game!
Some notes on the differences between MVP on FanDuel and DraftKings: The 1.5x point boost on FD comes with no salary penalty, while and DK also bumps the salary to 1.5x – a crucial factor in deciding who we can and cannot afford on both sites. We can use this to our advantage on FD by occasionally targeting non-QBs to establish more variance and more unique lineups, and on DK it allows us to build more hearty overall stacks when we punt the MVP position with a cheap but high-upside player.
Vegas: 44.5 Point total Ravens -6.5:
Vegas is projecting this to be a low scoring tough slog and with rain and wind around 20 MPH at kickoff if you wanted to go with defenses and runners you can choose that as an alternate path than what I mention below. It’s 2020 and more often than not we see crazy things happen contrary to popular opinion every night.
I am going to get this out there first. Living in North Carolina I’ve been forced to watch Cam Newton throw the ball since long before I ever wrote DFS articles. Once the health became I problem I knew the wheels would fall off. His throwing mechanics, accuracy, and tendency to get moody on the sidelines would eventually cause a good deal of problems. He has played one top ten defense all season and was benched after throwing three picks and ended the game with 2.82 points. But, with that being said I recognize my bias here and he makes a lot of sense as a contrarian captain play for much the same reason. I’m not the only person who feels this way and I think we’ll be surprised by just how low his ownership will be at captain. He also presents a clear path with Jakobi Meyers as his main weapon and it looks like Ravens DB Jimmy Smith won’t be playing tonight so Josh McDaniels will surely try to scheme Cam’s favorite guy open. We all know what Lamar Jackson brings to the table so no need to say much and if pairing him with a pass catcher you have two main options in Mark Andrews and Marquis Brown. Both of them have been largely absent this season but someone has to score and the added dynamic of Lamar running the ball may just cause Bill Belichick to make him win through the air so I think you have to pair him with one or the other at minimum. Finally, according to Ian Rappaport he expects Damien Harris to play and he seems to be their best back right now. But Ian Rappaport is one of the absolute worst NFL “insiders” in the business consistently giving you incorrect information causing you to make bad choices (he said CMC and Mike Davis were going to split carries last week….) so until I see official word I will plan on Rex Burkhead as a deep contrarian play as he has shown a high ability to play option football and I think we’re going to see a heavy dose of that tonight from both teams.
Both Defenses are in play tonight due to both QB’s struggling to throw the ball and the rain and wind. Kickers worry me for the same weather reasons but I’ll have them sprinkled in, mainly Justin Tucker. I personally love Isaiah Ford but he’s a smaller receiver who his better with timing throws that need an accurate QB throwing it. Cam is inaccurate and high on his throws so beyond a cheap punt play I don’t feel great there. Dez Bryant is still on the practice squad so the Dez truthers will have to wait at least another week.
Patriots: Defense, James White, Damiere Byrd, Isaiah Ford,
Ravens: Defense, Mark Ingram, JK Dobbins, Willie Snead, Justin Tucker
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Stoweby’s Showdown for 11.15 Ravens at Patriots . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. Any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
To quote the great Michael Rasile, “It’s a great day to be alive.” NFL DFS GPP season is here and it’s time for us to get rolling again for Week 10. For those who haven’t read it yet, please check out the Week 10 Cash Game Checkdown for your bankroll sustaining, cash game build advice.
In addition, I would strongly advise reading my NFL DFS Strategy article I published this offseason, before diving into the 2020 NFL DFS season. If you have any questions or would like some further help when building your lineups, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly on Twitter.
For those looking to get different and make a splash in some GPPs, the time is now. We’ll usually be taking some heavy stances on lower-ownership players, but at times, there is certainly good “chalk” to eat. Let’s get into it.
Please note, everyone on our cheatsheet and the Cash Game Checkdown are also in play for GPPs. This is more to uncover some players people are not talking about… and they should be.
*Keep in mind, you DO NOT NEED to just build your GPP lineups around these players. Players from the Cash Game Checkdown are there because they have extremely high floors and high ceilings. They are key components you should probably build around no matter what type of contest you’re in*
NEW: Adjusted Expected Team Totals Rankings for Week 10
*Obviously, Aaron Jones and Alvin Kamara make a ton of sense to roster. With the weather and the savings, I prefer Aaron Jones, but we will see a bit of Jamaal Williams this week. I do not think either of these guys are “must-plays” in GPPs, but you definitely want to give them a lot of consideration in your NFL DFS GPP lineups*
Good luck to all this week in your NFL DFS GPP lineups!
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @stixpicks and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT account here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Model powered by AETY and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate as sports FINALLY return.
As a newer DFS player most of us started off the same way. We were either watching television or listening on SiriusXM and we heard a commercial that went along the lines of “Do you think you know NFL? Do you play seasonal fantasy sports? Do you want to win money instantly? Have a chance to be like (insert name here), he/she won a million dollars playing daily fantasy sports on (insert website). Well sign up today and start winning”. In 2013 that was me, the site was Fanduel, and the player was Chris Prince. I proceeded to enter my money, and I was immediately hooked. Unfortunately, I also was not aware of sites like Win Daily Sports for a couple of years and I was doing like most new players and did nothing but chase the bright shiny Millionaire Maker contests. It took me a long time to realize what full time players already understood, the Milli Maker contests are a waste of money for the average player and that I needed to focus on single entry tournaments and 50/50’s. Not just that when you dig into it because not all single entry contests are created equal. With Win Daily Sports NFL Contest Selection week 10 we will tackle individual contests selection and why It is important.
Subscriber Questions: I will try to address any questions from our Win Daily Sports family that you may have that I haven’t already covered below.
What is the Difference in build structure between Cash and GPP contests? Your build structure will be vastly different between these types of contests. When building cash lineups the two biggest differences are that first, you don’t fade the highest ownership players like you would consider doing in GPP’s. High ownership is irrelevant because you aren’t worried about finding sneaky low owned players to separate yourself from the rest of the field to get to the top of the leaderboard, you just need to get above the cash line. You don’t get style points for finishing first. Second, you do not want to stack games like you would in GPP’s i.e. Playing a QB and 1-2 pass catchers from one team and running it back with a player from the opposing team. The reason for that is your goal is to minimize your risk and consistently score enough points to simply beat half of the field. If you have your players spread across multiple games and one guy gets hurt or has a bad game it won’t hurt any corresponding players on your team and you can still cash, whereas if your QB has a bad game and you stacked two of his receivers with him you’re now down 3 players and likely dead in the water. At most in cash games I may pair a QB with ONE receiver on RARE occasions and I will use a running back paired with a defense if the matchup is extremely good. One other key difference between the two is that you should largely avoid things like bad matchups in cash (such as a good running back in a bad matchup or a QB in a game with windy conditions), but you will take risks on those plays in GPP’s in an attempt to get a huge performance at low ownership. I hope all of that makes sense to everyone.
I’m going to just put this in here because no matter how many ways I say it people seem to not hear me. If you are playing with a limited bankroll as a new player or simply want the easiest path to make steady winnings DO NOT PLAY SHOWDOWNS. Your chances to win a showdown slate is worse than any other type of contest and if you are relying on it to make up for a bad main slate or think you can predict it accurately enough to be profitable over the long term you are doing it wrong. You’ll be broke and out of the DFS community before we ever get a chance to help you. Ok you’ve been warned. It’s just for fun and maybe you’ll get lucky, that’s it.
One thing that I feel is tremendously important is understanding the vocabulary within DFS. New players can sometimes be overwhelmed and a little embarrassed to ask what in the world we are talking about in our articles and in discord. First thing, don’t be. There is not a single content creator that will give you a hard time for not knowing what something means. We have a lingo all our own and it can take a little time to get up to speed and experienced players can sometimes get into the weeds when having nuanced conversations and inadvertently leave newer players not having any idea what we are saying.
GPP or Guaranteed Prize Pool/Tournament:
These are tournaments where the pay structure is pre-defined prior to the start of the contest and the pay structure increases the higher you finish in the final standings. They can either be single entry or multi entry. The Millionaire Maker is the most notable example.
Cash Contests/Double-Ups/50-50’s:
These are contests where if you finish above a certain point in the field you are payed a pre-determined amount that does not change based on final standings. Finishing in the top 50 percent (50-50’s) on FanDuel or roughly top 40 percent (double ups) on DraftKings will result in a positive outcome. These are the easiest contests to cash and the best place for new players to focus on while building bankroll.
MME/Multi Entry/Mega Multi Entry:
Contests where you are allowed to enter more than lineup in a given contest. These contests can range from 3-entries up to 150 entries per contest. These are the most difficult kinds of contests for people to win and with the exception of the 3 entry max should be avoided by most players who do not have an already established bankroll.
Single Entry Contests:
Contests that only allow you to enter a single lineup in a given contest. All new players and even established players should focus the majority of their bankroll on this style of contest. The potential winnings are not nearly as attractive to new players as the giant MME contests but they are by far the best choice for sustained growth. There are both GPP and Cash versions of single entry contests.
Rake:
Rake is the percentage of the overall prize pool that a given site will remove as profit from what is payed out in the player prize pool. Typically, MME GPP’s and smaller entry fee contests have the highest rake sometimes reaching 16% of entry fees removed while higher entry fee contests can see as low as 8% rake. That 8% will directly affect where the pay line sits as well as payout structure i.e. Top 24% of players will cash as opposed to top 18% or top 5 players winning $10K, $8K, $6K, $4K, $3K as opposed to top 5 players winning $10K, $5K, $2K, $1K, $750. These percentages change every given week and will give us the basis for many of our plays on a given week.
Overlay:
You don’t see this one all that often in NFL contests but overlay does still happen. Overlay happens when GPP’s do not fill up and it provides an additional advantage in your overall chances to win. As an example if a contest that has 10,000 maximum entries and only pays the top 2,000 players that means 20% percent of people will win. If only 8,000 people enter that contest they will still pay the top 2,000 people and you now have a 25% chance to win. That 5% improvement in your odds is huge over the long term for your success. It’s harder to predict but if you have a lineup that you feel very confident in and you watch the contest lobby you can give yourself an edge that not everyone will be looking for.
It’s less about rake or percentages here so this will be the same every week. When it comes to cash contests stick to single only and play in events with between 100-1000 total entries. This range eliminates the random variance that comes with smaller contests and the slightly higher scores that inevitably come from contests with the multi-thousands of entries of games. We’ll get more into that in the coming weeks as we gather data. If you are just starting out a minimum of 70% of your weekly bankroll needs to go towards these types of contests.
I will say that while the sponsored single entry contests all seem to do a pretty decent job with a flatter pay structure FanDuel makes sure to always increase the rake on them and reduce the min cash to 2x or below (1.83x min cash on the $33) on all three contests so unless you are just dead set on it I would avoid for better options. Unlike DraftKings you can usually find GPP’s with at least 2x min cash but they are by no means perfect as you will see below.
FanDuel unfortunately is really limited on “good” contests in the less expensive single entry contests. I’ve asked them to fix it, they never will. The smaller contests i.e. Small Sweep ($25), Small Scramble ($10), Small Spike ($5), and Small Squib ($1) are better with rake, payout structure, cash line, and min cash. So instead of writing them all up I’ll just say fade the bigger contests and go for the smaller ones to build bankroll. It will pay off in the long run, I promise.
FanDuel if you are reading this (which I highly doubt) you need to do better, your higher dollar single entry contests are embarrasing in terms of rake, payout structrure, cash line, and min cash. I couldn’t recommend a single one. DraftKings beats you in every way. The only reason I could even put anything in here is because of a 2 max and 3 max entry contest.
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Sports NFL Contest Selection Week 10 . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this week. If you have any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
DraftKings calls them “Showdowns,” and FanDuel doesn’t really have a name for them other than “Single-Game Contests,” but whatever we call them they require an understanding of game narratives and game theory – which means we need to target low-ownership players that will give us the best opportunities within the narratives and game outcomes we’re expecting.
My picks will focus almost exclusively on finding GPP-winning combinations that have a chance at taking down the contests you’re entering, be they single-entry or MME. While we can’t cover all the possible combos or provide full lineups for you to deploy, the goal here is to give you the tools to win and highlight some names that will help make for profitable results.
If I enter five lineups in a large-field GPP, at least three of those lineups will focus on the most likely game outcome (based on Vegas odds, props and totals), with one or two contrarian builds. As we know, late-breaking news can have a significant effect on full slates, and that’s just amplified with single-game contests. If you have any questions leading up to lock, please consult our NFL DFS experts in Discord.
Let’s get to the game!
Some notes on the differences between MVP on FanDuel and DraftKings: The 1.5x point boost on FD comes with no salary penalty, while and DK also bumps the salary to 1.5x – a crucial factor in deciding who we can and cannot afford on both sites. We can use this to our advantage on FD by occasionally targeting non-QBs to establish more variance and more unique lineups, and on DK it allows us to build more hearty overall stacks when we punt the MVP position with a cheap but high-upside player.
This one is incredibly interesting in terms of Showdown contests go with a number of narratives. Tom Brady and Drew Brees are going back and forth for the NFL’s touchdown record. Antonio Brown returns to action after a lengthy absence as does Michael Thomas. A little less talked about narrative is that Brees has been dealing with a right shoulder issue and I’m not sure of the severity, how long he’s dealt with it, or how it will affect him if at all. Vegas thinks that this will be a close shootout with a total of 50.5 and Tampa being 3.5 point favorites at home so they are thinking pickum. Alvin Kamara will always be chalk when he is in a showdown lineup and for good reason but I think if you were ever to go somewhere else at captain this is the week facing the best run defense in the NFL and arguably the best overall defense and with Michael Thomas looking to return to action potentially changing his target share just a bit through the air. I think the safest pivot will be Tom Brady with a full allotment of weapons, in primetime, after a rough outing against the Giants. The Saints secondary is nothing to be scared of and he will have what is arguably now the best WR core with Antonio Brown, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Scotty Miller, and Tyler Johnson. Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate at tight end, and two backs in Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette who can run inside and catch the ball out of the backfield. I really don’t think the Saints have a chance to stop them, our problem is picking the spots where the points will come from. From the Saints offense we only have 3 primary options tonight in Kamara, Thomas, and Brees so I’m really not going to spend much time there. Overall I count 10 different players on DraftKings the we could consider in your captain spot so my list is not comprehensive by any means tonight, the five up top are just the safest options in my opinion. I think for high upside low owned options Chris Godwin will be extremely low owned given his finger injury and I think everyone is gonna wait a week before running AB out there.
There are just a plethora of Bucs that are worth considering tonight so I will list my flex plays in order of most to least favorite today. If you run a script where the game will be close like Vegas predicts load on on Bucs pass catchers and if you are running a couple of scrips where the Bucs roll over the Saints like I am it would be good idea to run a pass catcher or two with either Fournette or Jones in a 4-2 split with either Kamara or Thomas and whoever you can fit in as your second Saints player.
Buccaneers: Rob Gronkowski, Chris Godwin, Ronald Jones, Leonard Fournette, Antonio Brown, Ryan Succop, Bucs Defense, Scotty Miller, Tyler Johnson, Cameron Brate
Saints: Emmanuel Sanders, Will Lutz, Jared Cook, Latavius Murray
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Stoweby’s Showdown For 11.8 Saints at Buccaneers . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. Any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
As a newer DFS player most of us started off the same way. We were either watching television or listening on SiriusXM and we heard a commercial that went along the lines of “Do you think you know NFL? Do you play seasonal fantasy sports? Do you want to win money instantly? Have a chance to be like (insert name here), he/she won a million dollars playing daily fantasy sports on (insert website). Well sign up today and start winning”. In 2013 that was me, the site was Fanduel, and the player was Chris Prince. I proceeded to enter my money, and I was immediately hooked. Unfortunately, I also was not aware of sites like Win Daily Sports for a couple of years and I was doing like most new players and did nothing but chase the bright shiny Millionaire Maker contests. It took me a long time to realize what full time players already understood, the Milli Maker contests are a waste of money for the average player and that I needed to focus on single entry tournaments and 50/50’s. Not just that when you dig into it because not all single entry contests are created equal. With Win Daily Sports NFL Contest Selection Week 9 and going forward we will tackle individual contests selection and why It is important. It took some time for me to get this formatted and written for future articles so this week will be DraftKings only. Week 10 I will have both DraftKings and FanDuel so stay tuned.
One thing that I feel is tremendously important is understanding the vocabulary within DFS. New players can sometimes be overwhelmed and a little embarrassed to ask what in the world we are talking about in our articles and in discord. First thing, don’t be. There is not a single content creator that will give you a hard time for not knowing what something means. We have a lingo all our own and it can take a little time to get up to speed and experienced players can sometimes get into the weeds when having nuanced conversations and inadvertently leave newer players not having any idea what we are saying.
GPP or Guaranteed Prize Pool/Tournament:
These are tournaments where the pay structure is pre-defined prior to the start of the contest and the pay structure increases the higher you finish in the final standings. They can either be single entry or multi entry. The Millionaire Maker is the most notable example.
Cash Contests/Double-Ups/50-50’s:
These are contests where if you finish above a certain point in the field you are payed a pre-determined amount that does not change based on final standings. Finishing in the top 50 percent (50-50’s) on FanDuel or roughly top 40 percent (double ups) on DraftKings will result in a positive outcome. These are the easiest contests to cash and the best place for new players to focus on while building bankroll.
MME/Multi Entry/Mega Multi Entry:
Contests where you are allowed to enter more than lineup in a given contest. These contests can range from 3-entries up to 150 entries per contest. These are the most difficult kinds of contests for people to win and with the exception of the 3 entry max should be avoided by most players who do not have an already established bankroll.
Single Entry Contests:
Contests that only allow you to enter a single lineup in a given contest. All new players and even established players should focus the majority of their bankroll on this style of contest. The potential winnings are not nearly as attractive to new players as the giant MME contests but they are by far the best choice for sustained growth. There are both GPP and Cash versions of single entry contests.
Rake:
Rake is the percentage of the overall prize pool that a given site will remove as profit from what is payed out in the player prize pool. Typically, MME GPP’s and smaller entry fee contests have the highest rake sometimes reaching 16% of entry fees removed while higher entry fee contests can see as low as 8% rake. That 8% will directly affect where the pay line sits as well as payout structure i.e. Top 24% of players will cash as opposed to top 18% or top 5 players winning $10K, $8K, $6K, $4K, $3K as opposed to top 5 players winning $10K, $5K, $2K, $1K, $750. These percentages change every given week and will give us the basis for many of our plays on a given week.
Overlay:
You don’t see this one all that often in NFL contests but overlay does still happen. Overlay happens when GPP’s do not fill up and it provides an additional advantage in your overall chances to win. As an example if a contest that has 10,000 maximum entries and only pays the top 2,000 players that means 20% percent of people will win. If only 8,000 people enter that contest they will still pay the top 2,000 people and you now have a 25% chance to win. That 5% improvement in your odds is huge over the long term for your success. It’s harder to predict but if you have a lineup that you feel very confident in and you watch the contest lobby you can give yourself an edge that not everyone will be looking for.
It’s less about rake or percentages here so this will be the same every week. When it comes to cash contests stick to single only and play in events with between 100-1000 total entries. This range eliminates the random variance that comes with smaller contests and the slightly higher scores that inevitably come from contests with the multi-thousands of entries of games. We’ll get more into that in the coming weeks as we gather data. If you are just starting out a minimum of 70% of your weekly bankroll needs to go towards these types of contests.
$1 Daily Dollar (Single Entry): $20,000 Total Prize Pool, 27% cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st place 5% Prize Pool , Top 10% 16.25% Prize Pool, 15.9% Rake. Both $1 contests pay the same, flat pay structure. $1,000 to first
$1 Singleback (Three Entry Max): $20,000 Total Prize Pool, 27% cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st place 5% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 16.25% Prize Pool, 15.9% Rake. Both $1 contests pay the same, flat pay structure. $1,000 to first
$12 Fair Catch $250K (Single Entry): $250,000 Total Prize Pool. 21.53% Cash (2.08x Min Cash), 1st place 10% Prize Pool ($25,000), Top 10% Payout 24.60% Prize Pool, 14.99% Rake. The largest of the two $12 contests gets the nod this week with a slightly better Min cash line and flatter pay structure up top. $25,000 to first.
$27 Blind Side $50K (Single Entry): $50,000 Total Prize Pool, 22.88% Cash (2x Min Cash), 1st Place 10% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 30.90% Prize Pool, 14.23% Rake. You can see here the top heavy approach becomes apparent with top 10% taking 31% of the winnings but the 2x min cash with payout just shy of 23% is pretty good on the smaller of the two Blind Sides. $5,000 to first.
$50 Red Zone $100K (Single Entry): $100,000 Total Prize Pool, 22.62% Cash (2x Min Cash), 1st Place 10% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 27% Prize Pool 11.97% Rake. Here we see a big drop of more than 2% in rake and the pay structure is way better in all aspects compared to the larger Red Zone contest. Go here for your $50 entry. $10,000 to first.
$100 Spy $500K (Single Entry): $500,000 Total Prize Pool, 20.88% Cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st Place 20% Prize Pool, Top 10% Payout 41.20% Prize Pool 9.99% Rake. We finally get under sub 10% in rake but the min cash drops way down to 1.5x and the top 10% payout balloons to over 40%. Honestly I think I’m avoiding both $100 Spy contests but the smaller one is even worse with the top 10% accounting for over half of the total prize pool. They need to fix this one honestly. 100K to first.
$150 Power Sweep $555K (3 entry max): $555,000 Total Prize Pool, 23.72% Cash (1.5x Min Cash), 1st Place 18.02% Prize Pool, Top 10 Payout 39.01% Prize Pool 10% Rake. Back to our 3-entry max contests this one is pretty good all the way around. 10% rake, sub 40% flattened pay structure (not perfect but manageable) which at this point that’s what you’re going to see, and you are still over 23% for the cash line. 100K to first
$300 Spin Move $125K: $125,000 Total Prize Pool, 20.35% Cash (2x Min Cash), 1st Place 16% Prize Pool, Top 10 Payout 51.20% Prize Pool 9.81% Rake. Extremely top heavy at over 51% going to the top 10 and only a hair over 20% cash but it checks off every other thing we want. Sub 10% rake, under 500 entries, 2x min cash, and single entry. I’m probably firing this one up this week.
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Sports NFL Contest Selection Week 9 . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. If you have any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
DraftKings calls them “Showdowns,” and FanDuel doesn’t really have a name for them other than “Single-Game Contests,” but whatever we call them they require an understanding of game narratives and game theory – which means we need to target low-ownership players that will give us the best opportunities within the narratives and game outcomes we’re expecting.
My picks will focus almost exclusively on finding GPP-winning combinations that have a chance at taking down the contests you’re entering, be they single-entry or MME. While we can’t cover all the possible combos or provide full lineups for you to deploy, the goal here is to give you the tools to win and highlight some names that will help make for profitable results.
If I enter five lineups in a large-field GPP, at least three of those lineups will focus on the most likely game outcome (based on Vegas odds, props and totals), with one or two contrarian builds. As we know, late-breaking news can have a significant effect on full slates, and that’s just amplified with single-game contests. If you have any questions leading up to lock, please consult our NFL DFS experts in Discord.
Let’s get to the game!
Some notes on the differences between MVP on FanDuel and DraftKings: The 1.5x point boost on FD comes with no salary penalty, while and DK also bumps the salary to 1.5x – a crucial factor in deciding who we can and cannot afford on both sites. We can use this to our advantage on FD by occasionally targeting non-QBs to establish more variance and more unique lineups, and on DK it allows us to build more hearty overall stacks when we punt the MVP position with a cheap but high-upside player.
The theme of the day for the majority of our games this weekend is weather and this Cowboys/Eagles contests is no different. With sustained winds over 15 MPH and gusts into the mid/upper 20’s we’re need to temper our expectations for offensive production. It’s not really like we were expecting much from Dallas and the Eagles offensive weapons have largely been limited all season so the 42.5 point total feels like a decent number albeit I’m in the mood for unders today and to this point I’m being rewarded for it. Chalk tonight is far and away Boston Scott tipping our projections at 30% in the captain spot and for good reason. Dallas can’t stop anything, he’s cheap, and the weather favors the running game as I already mentioned. If you want to pivot and you feel that the weather will not inhibit the pass and somehow Dallas can stay close (I doubt it), a pivot to Carson Wentz and pairing him with Travis Fulgham or Dallas Goedert will be a fine contrarian option. There is one other EXTREMELY contrarian path and it ties into the Eagles passing narrative, you pair Ben DiNucci with someone like Amari Cooper and pray the lack of film on him allows a few big plays in the first half before the Eagles make an adjustment. I really can’t stress this enough, this last option is high risk but it leverages heavily against the game script that 99 percent of people will be on tonight. If you use this one don’t @ me in discord to tell me it was a bad play. It’s showdown. If you aren’t playing all or nothing you shouldn’t be playing. Ezekiel Elliott is in my captains list for the obvious reason that he is their only real chance to win tonight. He needs 30+ touches at minimum to have a shot but to be honest I don’t trust Mike McCarthy’s ability to do anything correctly so play any Dallas players at your own peril.
You probably hate me right now if you’re a Cowboys fan but I’m gonna keep this fles section pretty straight forward. If you are expecting this game to be as bad as I am for Dallas tonight I would really only consider playing one Cowboy and only in a flex postion. My favorite two guys for that are Zeke or kicker Greg Zuerlein. Sorry Dallas.
Cowboys: (Do I have to?), Amari Cooper, Dalton Shultz, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Tony Pollard, Greg Zuerlein
Eagles: Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward, Richard Rodgers, Corey Clement, Jason Huntley, Jake Elliott
Thanks for taking the time to look through my Win Daily Stoweby’s Showdown For 11.1 Cowboys at Eagles . Looking forward to seeing some green screens this evening. Any questions about the breakdown, I will be available all day in the WinDaily Discord chat. Don’t forget to subscribe to the WinDaily Youtube channel and follow @WinDailySports on Twitter to stay current and up to date on all of our fresh new content!
To quote the great Michael Rasile, “It’s a great day to be alive.” NFL DFS GPP season is here and it’s time for us to stay hot. It was a strange week of scoring in Week 7 for NFL DFS GPP lineups but we can right the ship this Sunday. For those who haven’t read it yet, please check out the Week 8 Cash Game Checkdown for your bankroll sustaining, cash game build advice.
In addition, I would strongly advise reading my NFL DFS Strategy article I published this offseason, before diving into the 2020 NFL DFS season. If you have any questions or would like some further help when building your lineups, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly on Twitter.
For those looking to get different and make a splash in some GPPs, the time is now. We’ll usually be taking some heavy stances on lower-ownership players, but at times, there is certainly good “chalk” to eat. Let’s get into it.
Please note, everyone on our cheatsheet and the Cash Game Checkdown are also in play for GPPs. This is more to uncover some players people are not talking about… and they should be.
*Keep in mind, for the stack options, you obviously do not need to use everyone listed. You can always just use one or two of those players if that fits your build more appropriately*
NEW: Adjusted Expected Team Totals Rankings for Week 8
1. Kansas City Chiefs – 25.67
2. Green Bay Packers – 23.60
3. Seattle Seahawks – 23.45
4. San Francisco 49ers – 23.33
5. Los Angeles Rams – 22.28
*Great tool for evaluating DFS stacks and what offenses are likely to score the most via touchdowns (no special teams included)*
Good luck to all this week in your NFL DFS GPP lineups!
Make sure you follow me on Twitter at @stixpicks and be sure to sign up for an ALL ACCESS GOLD ACCOUNT account here at Win Daily Sports. Gain access to our Projection Model powered by AETY and jump into our Discord where we will have our experts talking plays across every sport and slate as sports FINALLY return.
At WIN DAILY®, our motto is to “change your game and change your life.” We want to help you win that bet, parlay, and big DFS tournament and have some fun while you do. Our goal is to help you turn your love of sports into a profit center while playing responsibly and enjoying your time with a like-minded community.
