Building A Winner 6.25

Tony focuses his DFS play on FanDuel single-entry and 3-max contests. He thrives in unique formats and positional twists, always looking for hidden edges that others overlook

This article is designed to complement Mike’s weekly Fanduel Player Grid and other OWS Fanduel scroll content by giving you my view on the slate from my perspective as a Fanduel player who focuses on smaller-field, SE/3-max types of tournaments. My usual process is to build a handful of unique lineups for these types of contests each slate and a majority of my weekly DFS bankroll is dedicated to them.

As you will see as you go through the article, based on the week at hand, I find what I think is the critical starting point I want to use for my rosters. This could be a certain game environment, a specific position or positional dynamics, extreme chalk pieces, or low-owned stacks that I am interested in. Each week is unique, so the “Starting Point” for each week will be dynamic and the rest of my thoughts will build from there, helping you see how I am building my lineups and allowing you to form your own thoughts.

Starting Point

• The Week 6 main slate is another 10-gamer with the Texans and Vikings on bye, an early morning London game, and a double-header on MNF. There are seven early kickoffs and just three in the later window. 
• The slate is setting up pretty similarly to last week for me, with so many great RB options that you wish you had more spots to play them all. My goal is to find some of the more unique combinations of strong RB plays that I can on a slate where there are several ways to approach the position.
  • There are simply more expensive RB options this week than last week (top of pricing over $10k, six $8k backs this week vs four last week).
  • While there are still some strong values, they weren’t values exposed after pricing had been out, so they aren’t in the $4k-$5k range like they were a week ago.
• The two top RB values this week each fall in the mid-high $6k range this week, being priced as if their injured RB teammates might play, before they were each later ruled out. Both backs had huge fantasy production for a combined $10,100 in FD salary in Week 5. They are projected to be the two highest-owned players on the FD main slate this week and could push close to 40% owned, especially in SE contests. 
• The starting point for my SE/3-Max rosters this week is considering how to handle these two similarly-priced chalk RB options on my main FD teams:
  • Rico Dowdle ($6,600) had a massive 234 scrimmage yard game last week, including 206 yards and a TD on the ground. He was 2nd on the team with four targets and had 26 total touches. This week, he plays as a home underdog against Dallas, his former team, in the game with the highest implied point total of the slate (49.5).
  • Rachaad White ($6,800) handled 14 of Tampa’s 17 RB carries for 41 yards and a pair of TDs last week and added 4-30 receiving. This week, the Bucs host the 49ers as three-point favorites in another game with a strong total (47.5).

Running Back Approach