WEEK 5 - 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 5 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 5, 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
Denver Broncos -- QB Peyton Manning ($8,300) and WR Demaryius Thomas ($8,500)
Peyton Manning looked a little sluggish to open the season as he struggled against the Ravens in Week 1 only completing 24 of 40 passing attempts for 175 yards and 0 touchdowns and an interception. Since then, Manning has thrown for 6 touchdown in 3 games and looks to have a better connection with his WRs. With a divisional road game against the Raiders, Manning could come out with a statement type of game and target Demaryius Thomas throughout the game running up the score and padding the stats. Manning has already targeted Thomas 50 times through 4 games for 33 receptions and 361 yards and a touchdown and could get into the endzone once or twice in this game.
San Diego Chargers -- QB Philip Rivers ($7,400) and WR Keenan Allen ($7,000)
Antonio Gates returns from suspension and adds a much needed target for Rivers and could take some coverage away from Keenan Allen. Rivers has been great to start the season and is averaging over 300 passing yards and 2 touchdowns a game through the team's first 4 games. Rivers has looked Allen's way 46 times for 33 receptions 387 yards and 3 touchdowns so far and the two seem to be on the same page as Allen had 15 receptions in Week 1 and another 12 in Week 3 alone.
New England Patriots -- QB Tom Brady ($8,800) and TE Rob Gronkowski ($7,800)
The tight end position feels like it is up in the air again this week with teams on bye weeks and with injuries but no fear Rob Gronkowski is back this week and is an auto pick for the TE position. Brady and Gronkowski have been dominant to say the least so far this year. Brady has 9 touchdowns through the first 3 games and 4 of those touchdowns have come from Gronkowski.
VALUE STACKS
Philadelphia Eagles -- QB Sam Bradford ($6,000) and WR Jordan Matthews ($6,000)
The entire Eagles offense has been a major disappointment so far this season as Sam Bradford has only completed 88 of 145 passes and because of that his price is down at only $6,000. Bradford does have 6 touchdowns on the year and only one of those is to Jordan Matthews. Matthews has had at least 8 targets in each of the first 4 games and for the Eagles to turn things around it is going to have to come from a big game from their top WR and Matthews has potential to catch 8-10 passes in a back and forth type of game against the Saints.
Jacksonville Jaguars -- Blake Bortles ($5,000) and Allen Robinson ($4,900)
Blake Bortles has quietly pieced together a 4 game stretch with some decent numbers with 996 passing yards 6 touchdowns and 91 yards rushing. Maybe not the greatest numbers by the elite QBs standards but for a Jacksonville Jaguars offense that has been struggling for years this is a very welcoming feat to start out the 2015 season. The Jaguars finally get a favorable matchup as they will play the Buccaneers on the road. Allen Robinson has been Bortles favorite go-to WR all preseason and it has showed in the regular season as well. Although Robinson has been a little bit up and down through the team's first 4 games he has the ability to make huge plays in an instant as he showed in Week 2 against the Dolphins where he caught 6 passes for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bortles and Robinson should be in line for a solid game as the two have connected so far for 15 receptions, 330 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 39 targets.
FADES
Based on price and matchups alone you are going to have some players that are highly owned in Week 5.
Quarterback -- Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders ($6,300)
The Broncos defense is for real this season and they are the ones that are responsible for the team's 4-0 start. Now with the Broncos headed to Oakland to take on divisional rivals Raiders they are going to bring the pressure to second year starter Derek Carr. Carr has been good over the past 3 weeks as he has collected 7 touchdowns and has a pair of 300+ passing yard games but in a game where the Broncos defensive line will be attacking them Carr will be forced to act quick and might result in a couple of turnovers.
Running Back -- Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals ($6,800)
Jeremy Hill remains one of the toughest RBs to roster each week as he has been very up and down and is very reliant on scoring touchdowns. He has 5 touchdowns on the season but those 5 have come in 2 different games where the other two games he totaled 60 yards. With the Bengals having a tough matchup against the Seahawks it is going to be hard to find a way to justify putting Hill in your lineup.
Wide Receiver -- Vincent Jackson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($4,800)
It might sound silly to predict Vincent Jackson to have an off game after he just caught 10 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown but Jackson has had a history of having a big game here and there but also having games where he only catches 2 or 3 passes (which he has done twice so far this season). Mike Evans is back on the field and healthy and it could be a game script that limits the targets to Jackson and feeds them over to Evans. The Buccaneers need to get the ball to Evans and I would not predict another game where Jackson sees 15 targets as he did in Week 4.
Tight End -- Jimmy Graham, Seattle Seahawks ($7,300)
Jimmy Graham is the highest priced TE this week at $7,300 and rebounded in Week 3 with a nice 7 catch 83 yards and a touchdown game followed that up with a 4 catch for 29 yards game on Monday Night. It is hard to justify the high price tag for Graham right now as you can pay up a few hundred dollars and take the clear number one TE in all of football in Rob Gronkowski.
Defense and Special Teams -- Arizona Cardinals ($2,700)
The Cardinals defense has played great the first few games but the hit a bump in the road last week against the Rams. Now they get a matchup against the Lions who just suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Seahawks and are sitting at 0-4 to start the season. The Lions are going to look to put some points on the board and rebound and starting the Cardinals defense might look good on paper but this also could be the game where Calvin Johnson finally breaks out.
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
Tom Brady, New England Patriots ($8,800) = 19.75%Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars ($5,000) = 13.62%Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons ($7,800) = 9.28%
Running Back
Le'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers ($8,100) = 46.66%Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs ($8,100) = 30.98%Devonta Freeman, Atlanta Falcons ($7,800) = 18.72%
Wide Receiver
Allen Hurns, Jacksonville Jaguars ($2,600) = 33.64%Julian Edelman, New England Patriots ($7,800) = 23.66%Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons ($8,900) = 22.57%
Tight End
Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots ($7,800) = 31.63%Owen Daniels, Denver Broncos ($4,000) = 14.27%Gary Barnidge, Cleveland Browns ($4,200) = 9.50%
Defense and Special Teams
Atlanta Falcons ($1,500) = 23.17%New York Giants ($2,100) = 13.84%Jacksonville Jaguars ($1,500) = 9.17%
LOW/VALUE OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks ($7,800) = 0.16%Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers ($6,200) = 0.16%Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions ($6,300) = 0.43%
Running Back
Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals ($6,800) = 1.30%Melvin Gordon, San Diego Chargers ($5,600) = 1.79%Latavius Murray, Oakland Raiders ($6,000) = 2.28%
Wide Receiver
Golden Tate, Detroit Lions ($6,000) = 0.49%Torrey Smith, San Francisco 49ers ($3,800) = 0.60%Brandin Cooks, New Orleans Saints ($6,000) = 1.79%
Tight End
Zach Ertz, Philadelphia Eagles ($4,000) = 0.60%Tyler Eifert, Cinncinati Bengals ($6,200) = 0.81%Larry Donnell, New York Giants ($4,500) = 1.14%
Defense and Special Teams
Dallas Cowboys ($2,000) = 0.11%St. Louis Rams ($2,400) = 0.16%San Francisco 49ers ($1,700) = 0.22% Follow @JamesBrimacombe