Sonic’s MME Player Pool 3.25
Sonic is a Milly Maker winner and large-field tournament mastermind who focuses on mass-multi-entry play
Take What the Slate Gives You
Every slate writes its own script, but Week 3 went full Tarantino — chaos, blood on the floor, quarterbacks dropping like extras. Value is popping up like whack-a-mole, which is perfect timing with some expensive studs sitting in prime spots. Sure, we’ll jam in the best-on-paper plays — everyone will — but the real trick is pairing them with leverage pieces and building a story that holds water. DFS isn’t prophecy; it’s improv jazz with spreadsheets. That marriage of math and creativity is what makes our game great.
Football is weird. Some of the chalk is going to fail — it always does. And since we need the near-nuts in MME, we can count on a few of these “must plays” not delivering the score we’re looking for. The good news is this slate gives us ways to grab a couple of the best spots while putting ourselves in position to benefit if the rest of the chalk misses. That’s TOURNAMENT DFS 101, and this week it’s written in bold, all caps, double-underlined. This can be done roster by roster (I love handbuilding!) or as the guiding approach to your portfolio of 20 or 150.
I’ll be playing most all of these guys, but on rosters where I’m not, I’ll be trying to punish those who are.
Jordan Mason
I think we’ll see Mason land around 30% ownership once the cards flip on Sunday.
- Fade Mason, play $2400 Bengals DST – That’s a story of systemic failure for the Vikings offense and another potential anti-Carson Wentz mutiny brewing. If that script hits, Mason’s chalk turns into rubble.
- Fade Mason, play Justin Jefferson – Instead of eating 30% ownership on a chalky RB, pivot to a future Hall of Famer at a third of the ownership. Jefferson projects around 11%, he’s still wicked good at football, and Wentz can’t really be worse than J.J. McCarthy was in his two starts… can he?
- Play Mason with Vikings DST – This story is about game script falling exactly where Minnesota’s staff wants it. Brian Flores’ defense confuses Jake Browning, sacks and turnovers pile up, the Vikings slam the brakes on PROE, and Mason gets his 30 touches.
Mac Jones/Ricky Pearsall/Jake Tonges/Marvin Harrison Jr.
What if chalk Christian McCaffrey and Trey McBride don’t find the end zone? Maybe the whole game fails… or maybe the production just comes from off the beaten path. In the Milly Maker, freaky shit happens — we’ve all seen it. So let’s click the cheap QB nobody wants (thanks for the Mariota/Wentz gifts), stack him with inexpensive, low-owned players who actually have roles in the offense, and run it back with a likely beneficiary of McBride’s ongoing end zone allergy. Yes, it’s a very “Sonic” play. And yeah, I’ll catch some shit in Discord given the 99% chance it flames out — but if it hits? That’s how you leapfrog 50,000 lineups in one shot. Further freakiness with Jauan Jennings — or his fill-ins if his shoulder keeps him out — is very much on the table.
Be Pushed or Fold
Some offenses this week look like they’d rather turtle up than take shots — unless their opponent forces the issue. That’s got me strongly considering:
- Rams across from any piece of the Eagles passing game
- Bengals across from Vikings pass catchers.
- And (gulp) Browns across from Jordan Love and his receivers
Sure, Dontayvion Wicks and Luke Musgrave (Tucker Kraft appears to be on the wrong side of a Q tag) are cheap enough that if they catch four balls and/or stumble into the end zone once, they won’t bury you. But to actually smash — especially as part of a Jordan Love stack — we’ll need Joe Flacco and the Browns to surprise this Packers defense, make some noise early and open things up.
*Ownership projections are subject to change before lock. Check OWS projections on Sunday morning.
