Mike’s Saturday Player Grid 15.23

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

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The Format

My “Player Grid” for this week’s Saturday slate will take the same format as what I did for the Thanksgiving slate – which has the feel of my usual “Afternoon Only” article that I do every Sunday. A full-fledged Player Grid would involve too many players for a slate with such a limited player pool to begin with. Rather, this slate very closely resembles what we see every Sunday with only three to four games in the late window. The added caveat for these fun slates is that we get time between each game to learn from what has happened already and the ownerships that have flipped over.

QB Strategy ::

• Quarterback is always an important position, but that importance goes to another level on these small slates. There are two main reasons for this. First, on average quarterbacks score the most points of any position and we can only start one of them. Second, correlation is even more important as the slates get smaller and there are fewer scoring opportunities to go around. By choosing the right quarterback, you are also increasing the chances that you are right at two other positions. Again, the shorter slate condenses the scoring across all lineups, making each position more vital to separating and giving yourself a chance to win. This is why quarterback strategy has its own section:
  • The interesting thing about the quarterback position on this slate is the fact that there are no true “studs” available. All of these guys come at reasonable price tags and four of the six QBs are not their team’s planned starter. 
  • Jared Goff is probably my favorite QB option on the slate from a strategy perspective. The Denver defense is pretty bad against the run and has been stingy against the pass, but the Lions offense can be really good, especially at home. Goff is the de facto highest-priced QB on the slate and isn’t someone who stands out as “worth it” to most people when considering they can just pay down for players viewed in a similar light. Anyways, despite being the highest-priced QB on the slate he’s still not that expensive and it wouldn’t be surprising for him to lead the slate in scoring at single-digit ownership.
  • Nick Mullens is very interesting to me on this slate as well, with the lowest salary of the bunch and having elite pass catchers at his disposal. We’ve seen good NFL play from Mullens in the past when he was with the 49ers and I think that is very possible again this week against a Bengals defense that tends to give up a lot of yards.
  • In that same game, we have now seen Jake Browning have back-to-back very good games utilizing his elite weaponry. The Vikings defense is solid and just pitched a shutout against the Raiders, but the high blitz rate Minnesota employs could open them up to some explosive plays from Ja’Marr Chase.
  • The Lions pass defense has taken big steps backward in recent weeks and Russell Wilson is quietly having a very nice season as the Broncos sit in the thick of the AFC playoff hunt. 
  • I don’t think I’ll be playing Minshew or Trubisky as that’s not a game I’m overly excited about targeting. 

My guess on final ownership::

• Russell Wilson and Jake Browning – 20-30%
• Nick Mullens and Gardner Minshew – 10-20%
• Mitchell Trubisky and Jared Goff – 5-8%

Defense Strategy ::