Afternoon-Only 13.23

Mike Johnson (MJohnson86) has racked up nearly $500,000 in DFS profit as an NFL tournament player with success in all styles of contests

FINDING AN EDGE

The whole idea behind this piece of content is that it is unique. Specific content and strategies for the “non-main slate” contests are very rare in the DFS industry and most players who enter them are casual players or doing so on a whim after their main slate entries had things go wrong, and they want something to root for or to chase their losses during the late games. Edges are getting harder and harder to find in DFS as information gets better, projections get sharper, and the field gets more experienced. These smaller slates present a clear opportunity and advantage for those that focus on them, as most players will just take their thoughts from the main slate and approach these lineups the same way without considering how much having seven to nine fewer games (depending on the week) changes the strategy. The biggest win of my career came on an “Afternoon Only” slate in January of 2021, and I hope to share some of my insights on the format to help you attack this niche corner of NFL DFS.

This Week’s Slate

• Only a three game slate this week and one of the games (CLE/LAR) has a lot of questions around it due to the strong Browns defense and Joe Flacco starting. 
• A lot of really expensive players on the slate between the SF/PHI game, the three main guys on the Rams, and Mike Evans/Rachaad White/Adam Thielen for the Panthers.
• There aren’t really any comfortable spots where the price tags are cheap, making it necessary to take some risks and be willing to think outside the box. 
• Chris Godwin is the only major injury question we are waiting for news on. If Godwin is out, it would raise the projections for Mike Evans, Rachaad White, Cade Otton, and Trey Palmer. However, sometimes removing a piece like Godwin can hurt a team and lower their ability to move the ball. That game will be very interesting to see how it plays out and Godwin’s status is something I will be considering around my builds with some lineups taking the value he opens up on the Bucs and other lineups banking on the team/game struggling to find points.

Ownership Strategy

• Ownership will be higher for pretty much every player on “short slates” just because there are fewer players to choose from. This will be especially true for “chalky” players from the main slate.
• This means getting these players right is even more vital than on a main slate. There are fewer alternatives to choose from so if they have a big game and you aren’t on them it is much harder to find other ways to make up those points.
• This also means it is easier for lower owned players to pay off, as there are fewer players at their position that they need to have “fail” for them to be worth the risk.
• Correlation is even more important than on the main slate because the useful fantasy games that pay off for the slate are likely to be clumped up from the same games. I always make lineups with a game stack (QB + at least one pass catcher + at least one opponent) and then one or two “mini-correlations” from other games.

QB Strategy