JMToWin is a high-stakes tournament champion (Thunderdome, Luxury Box, Game Changer, Wildcat, King of the Hill/Beach, Spy, etc.) who focuses on the DraftKings Main Slate
This is, instead, a look at the player pool I’ll be fishing
:: covered in-depth in the Angles Pod (it’s highly recommended that you listen to the breakdown of the roster in order to see the thinking behind it, and in order to understand what we’re talking about when we look at a “bottom-up build”)
:: my “Tier 1” plays: the plays I feel confident leaning into across different types of builds; these players have a high ceiling and a low likelihood of price-considered failure
:: games, offenses, situations, or scenarios I’ll be looking to build around across my rosters
:: unique player pairings that can be used as foundational building blocks for tournament rosters
:: players who don’t fit into the categories above — either Upside pieces who don’t have the floor to be Blue Chips (and are not being focused on within my game-focused builds) or players who may not have a strong shot at ceiling, but are worth keeping in mind from a “role” perspective
:: a new category for 2024! — these are players who are not going to be “featured” on my tighter builds (i.e., one could show up on a tighter build, but they are not being prioritized as such), but who I will be mixing and matching across some portion of my MME builds
Full breakdown (of what this is, and what the thinking is behind these players) can (and should) be found in the Angles Pod (on the One Week Season podcast feed).
C.J. Stroud
Bucky Irving
Rachaad White
Nico Collins
Brian Thomas Jr.
Adonai Mitchell
Dalton Schultz
Kayshon Boutte
Cardinals
Free
Build with a salary cap of $44k or below!
1st Place = 150 Edge Points + Rare Blue Name Tag in Discord
2nd Place = 75 Edge Points
3rd Place = 40 Edge Points
*1 Edge Point = $1 in DFS courses on OWS
No players line up as Blue Chips for me this week
“Jags can’t get pressure.”
The Jags can’t get pressure.
Stroud has taken a step back this year. But as explored in DFS Interpretations, a lot of this (not ALL of this; but a lot of this) has been due to his poor play under pressure, and his poor handling of protection looks from his offensive line. This week, however, Stroud gets the Jags, who generate pressure at the second lowest rate in the league and blitz at the lowest rate in the league. Stroud’s second- and third-best fantasy games of his career have come in this matchup, and he and Nico Collins ($14.3k in combined salary) have combined for 60+ points in back-to-back games vs the Jags.
With Trevor Lawrence expected to return this week, we also have an underpriced Brian Thomas Jr. on the other side of this game, likely to see plenty of downfield work if Stroud/Nico are cooking. This is a great spot for ignoring the implied team totals and thinking about the upside. I really like this block this week.
Currently, Nico is not trending for too much ownership (around 12%), while Stroud is going overlooked. (BTJ is looking likely to be popular.) With the ceiling on this stack (85+ points if everything comes together), you’ll be in really good shape if this one hits; though this won’t be enough on its own to put you on a clear pathway to a tourney win. Still look to do something unique or different on a roster that’s using this stack.
The story plays out differently, and you don’t get first place — which is really all that matters.
A look at some of the rules I’ll be applying in the Bink Machine this week.
So far, I’m not seeing any super unique rules to hit on this week. If I spot anything deeper into the weekend, I’ll drop it into my Sunday Morning Update!
This is my narrowest pool, which means it’s the pool likeliest to change a bit as I move deeper into builds. If it changes throughout Saturday night, I’ll add an update in this space.
If I were building for single-entry // three-entry Max, my tightened-up player pool would be:
C.J. Stroud || Baker Mayfield || Justin Herbert || Anthony Richardson || Drake Maye || Lamar Jackson || Jalen Hurts
I’ll see you at the top of the leaderboards this weekend!
-JM
