WEEK 13 - FANTASYSCORE GPP OFFERINGS
FantasyScore is a USA Today Sports Media Group fantasy sports game that is powered by RealTime Fantasy Sports. It is a DFS site that can give you the excitement of playing fantasy football each week during the NFL season. FantasyScore offers Draft Leagues (Draft & Go) and Salary Cap leagues weekly during the NFL season.
In this feature we are going to look at the GPP contests and offer the top stacks, fades, and ownership projections for each upcoming week.
For Week 13 of the NFL season, FantasyScore is offering three big GPPs for buy-ins of $1, $5, and $10. The $1 GPP is limited to 1,000 total entries and pays the top 200 places, with $135 going to first place. The $5 and $10 GPPs are limited to 500 total entries, with both paying out the top 100 places. The top prize in the $5 contest is $450, while the top prize in the $10 contest is $1,700.
FantasyScore will also be hosting a $25,000 Football Championship for Week 16 for which you can qualify during Weeks 1-15 via satellite tournaments. There will be a total of 105 "golden tickets" available to be won via satellite contests from Weeks 1 to 15 and the Championship pays the top 20 winners, with $10,000 going to first place. In Week 13, FantasyScore will run a $20 satellite with 50 total entries, where 4 golden tickets will be awarded, and a $5 satellite with 170 entries, where the top 3 finishers will receive a golden ticket.
TOP STACKS
Carolina Panthers -- QB Cam Newton ($8,700) and WR Greg Olsen ($7,500)
There is not much to say about Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers so far this year as they are undefeated and Newton is having an MVP type of season. Newton now has 20 passing touchdowns on the season and 7 more on the ground through the first 11 games of the season. In Week 13 he will have the best matchup out of any of the starting quarterbacks as he gets the Saints on the road where shoot out type of games have been happening all season long. Back in Week 3 when the Panthers and the Saints met, Newton had a great game passing for 315 yards with a pair of passing touchdowns and another 33 yards rushing with a touchdown. That same game he threw both of his touchdown passes to his TE Greg Olsen who had 11 targets for 8 receptions, 134 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Saints have struggled against the pass all season long and even more importantly have really struggled to defend the TE position and everything is setting up for Newton and Olsen to have a Week 3 type of performance once again.
Pittsburgh Steelers -- QB Ben Roethlisberger ($8,400) and WR Antonio Brown ($8,800)
Both the Colts and the Steelers are sitting at 6-5 records in the AFC and are fighting to get a playoff berth. This should be a back and forth type of game once again as the Steelers have home field advantage on their side and with Roethlisberger and Brown connecting so far through out the season you have to pencil them in to have another great game. Roethlisberger has had an injury filled season with only playing in 7 games so far this season but he has been averaging well over 300 yards in each of those games and has 11 touchdowns on the season. Antonio Brown saw a tough matchup last weekend against the Seahawks and will be looking to bounce back from a 6/51/0 stat line as he has 126 targets on the season which is good for 85/1192/5. The Roetlisberger/Brown connection is one of the most predictable in all of football as the two have always had great chemistry and no matter the matchup or game plan the two will find ways to connect with each other.
New York Giants -- QB Eli Manning ($7,900) and WR Odell Beckham Jr ($8,700)
The key to this stack is that there is no Revis this week as he is injured for the Jets. This will open up the passing game for the Giants and Eli Manning and Odell Beckham will have plenty of opportunities down the field. Eli Manning has quietly had a decent season with 3,021 passing yards and 23 touchdowns on the year. His favorite target is easily Odell Beckham Jr who has been targeted 122 times for 72 receptions, 1,005 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns. On top of the numbers the Giants also struggle to run the ball as they don't have much of a reliable running game at all and this allows for Manning to throw the ball more down the field.
VALUE STACKS
Kansas City Chiefs -- QB Alex Smith ($5,500) and WR Jeremy Maclin ($6,700) or TE Travis Kelce ($6,200)
Alex Smith often gets the tag of game manager at the quarterback position and rightfully so as he now plays in the Andy Reid system and mistakes are always looked down upon. So far in 2015, Smith has thrown for 2,681 yards with 12 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. Smith has not thrown an interceptions in the teams last 8 games and in that stretch the Chiefs have gone 5-3 with winning their last 5 games straight. Smith also can do some damage with his legs as he has 303 rushing yards and a touchdown on the season. His main weapons in the passing game are TE Travis Kelce who he has targeted 78 times for 54/689/4 line on the season and WR Jeremy Maclin with 84 targets for a 57/772/3 stat line. The passing matchup is a good one this week against the Raiders in a divisional matchup that could see plenty of scoring from both teams.
New York Jets -- QB Ryan Fitzpatrick ($6,600) and WR Brandon Marshall ($7,700)
Ryan Fitzpatrick has been an unsung hero so far this season for the New York Jets as he has been throwing the ball all over the field and making plays for his team helping give them an indentity and more importantly scoring points. He has 2,476 passing yards on the season with 20 passing touchdowns. He also has 187 rushing yards and 2 scores on the ground. He is often over looked in DFS on a weekly basis because of his name value but this week you have to take a long look at him against a Giants defense that has all sorts of problems defending the pass. He has a pair of reliable WRs in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker as all the WR duo do is catch passes and touchdowns. Marshall is having a fantastic season with 117 targets for 71 receptions, 931 yards and 9 touchdowns. Fitzpatrick and Marshall are on the same page right now and are playing at a very high level and the combo has to be looked at in GPPs this weekend.
FADES
Quarterback -- Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers ($7,100)
The Broncos are a tough defense to play against and I suspect that Philip Rivers will be swarmed by the Broncos defensive line all game long which will result in some costly mistakes and turnovers. Rivers has had a strong season to date as the Chargers have no running game whatsoever so he is being forced to throw the ball a lot as he is averaging over 42 passing attempts a game. With the fact that the Chargers have no running game the Broncos are going to tee up on Rivers early and often and it is going to be a long game for him.
Running Back -- Chris Ivory, New York Jets ($7,300)
The Giants have been solid against the run this season but they have struggled on defense against the pass. The Jets will most likely use Fitzpatrick and the passing game to their advantage this week and Ivory will see his numbers decrease. The big chance for Ivory to do well will be in goal line situations as if the Jets get inside the 5 yard line he will be the one getting the carries and could meet his value with a short touchdown or two but that is not something I want to count on.
Wide Receiver -- Brandin Cooks, New Orleans Saints ($6,400)
This could turn into a shoot out style of game with the Panthers and the Saints and you would think Brandin Cooks would be a big part of that conversation but in reality he might be covered by the top CB in the league in Josh Norman. Cooks is coming off a tough game against the Texans where he only caught 5 passes for 35 yards and no touchdowns.
Tight End -- Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills ($4,200)
Charles Clay has been inconsistant so far this season and since Week 6 he has been all over the place with 3,1,5,1, 5 reception games. He hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 3 and that trend will likely continue at home against the Texans.
Defense and Special Teams -- Seattle Seahawks ($3,200)
The Seahawks defense is always one of the top names you think of each week when you go to set your lineup and plug in the Defense position. The fact is that the Seahawks defense has not been great this season and especially of late. They play a tough Vikings team on the road this week and the Vikings are a team that have been playing it safe and not turning the ball over on offense and it should be a similar game script this week.
OWNERSHIP PERCENTAGE
FantasyScore just announced this week that they will share the percentage owned for all their contests going forward. Now we don't have to guess at which players will be highly owned or which players will be low owned as we will have the current percentage to go off of. I will list the top 3 players at each position below with their ownership percentages as of the time I write this article.
HIGHEST OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($7,500) = 14.84%
Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets ($6,600) = 11.25%
Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers ($8,700) = 10.63%
Running Back
Shaun Draughn, San Francisco 49ers ($4,000) = 29.22%
C.J. Anderson, Denver Broncos ($6,700) = 22.34%
Jonathan Stewart, Carolina Panthers ($5,900) = 19.69%
Wide Receiver
Alshon Jeffery, Chicago Bears (7,500) = 27.03%
Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers ($8,800) = 24.84%
Travis Benjamin, Cleveland Browns ($4,700) = 22.50%
Tight End
Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs ($6,200) = 28.59%
Scott Chandler, New England Patriots ($4,900) = 17.03%
Vance McDonald, San Francisco 49ers ($1,700) = 10.63%
Defense and Special Teams
Cincinnati Bengals ($1,000) = 72.66%
Chicago Bears ($1,400) = 4.38%
Carolina Panthers ($3,300) = 3.59%
LOW/VALUE OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Austin Davis, Cleveland Browns ($4,500) = 0.16%
Eli Manning, New York Giants ($7,900) = 0.31%
Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals ($8,800) = 0.31%
Running Back
DeMarco Murray, Philadelphia Eagles ($6,800) = 0.16%
Latavius Murray, Oakland Raiders ($5,800) = 1.88%
Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals ($5,500) = 2.03%
Wide Receiver
Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys ($8,100) = 0.16%
Jordan Matthews, Philadelphia Eagles ($6,300) = 0.16%
Tavon Austin, St. Louis Rams ($6,200) = 0.47%
Tight End
Gary Barnidge, Cleveland Browns ($6,900) = 0.31%
Jordan Cameron, Miami Dolphins ($4,800) = 0.31%
Antonio Gates, San Diego Chargers ($7,300) = 0.31%
Defense and Special Teams
Baltimore Ravens ($1,800) = 0.16%
Buffalo Bills ($2,400) = 0.16%
Pittsburgh Steelers ($2,000) = 0.16%