Cracking FanDuel - Week 1

Photo: USA Today Sports

Footballguys has partnered with FanDuel and as part of that deal, I will be penning a weekly piece that tries to cover some of the finer points on beating their contests. This article will usually appear on Saturdays and not include the early Thursday games. This first release is coming early though as I will be in Vegas competing in the FFPC contests.

My approach to FanDuel's Daily Games

In salary cap games where other companies are determining prices, I like to see where their thoughts differ substantially from my projections. My value chart below matches up my projections against FanDuel's prices:

Some explanation of my Excel manipulation is in order:

• Everything is sorted by position
• I have converted my projections to FanDuel Fantasy Points. These figures appear in the FP column.
• The Price column reflects FanDuel's Week 1 Price
• The Price per FP column reflects the cost per projected fantasy point (the lower the value the better).
• I have highlighted player's names (in green) that should be strong considerations for your lineups. They generally reflect the most bang for the buck at their respective positions. Players in yellow also are worth consideration when building your roster.

General Thoughts

Situations that stand out to me this week.

• Philadelphia's uptempo read option should produce a lot of fantasy points in their home game against the Jaguars. Key plays: QB Nick Foles, RB LeSean McCoy, WR Jeremy Maclin, TE Zach Ertz, and PK Cody Parkey all could be strong value plays.
• QB Shaun Hill was priced in early August as the backup to Sam Bradford. At $5,000, he is an intriguing play to build around. Minnesota was prone to big pass plays in 2013 which also puts Kenny Britt in play. He is priced at the bargain basement price of $4,500.

Sample Roster ($60K) - Projected Points = 125.0

• QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, Hou - $6,100
• RB LeSean McCoy, Phi - $9,400
• RB Jamaal Charles, KC - $9,800
• TE Jimmy Graham, NO - $8,100
• WR Victor Cruz, NYG - $6,900
• WR Jeremy Maclin, PHI - $5,000
• WR Kenny Britt, StL - $4,500
• TD St. Louis - $5,400
• PK Shayne Graham - $4,700