WEEK 8 - 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 8 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 8, 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
Cincinnati Bengals -- QB Andy Dalton ($8,300) and WR A.J. Green ($7,800) or TE Tyler Eifert ($7,200)
Andy Dalton has been nothing short of fantastic through the Bengals first 6 games. He now has 1,761 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions and also has another 2 touchdowns on the ground. This week it is a matchup against the Steelers secondary who have shown signs of getting in some high scoring games in the past. The pair of A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert have been the main reasons for the strong start for Dalton this season as Green has been targeted 50 times for a 35/531/3 statline and Eifert a remarkable 28/342/6 on 40 targets. It is hard to argue stacking either one of the two receiving options and it might even make sense to roster the trio of Dalton/Green/Eifert and hope for a high scoring divisional affair between the Steelers and the Bengals.
San Diego Chargers -- QB Philip Rivers ($7,900) and WR Keenan Allen ($8,100) or TE Ladarius Green ($3,500)
Philip Rivers now has 2,453 passing yards in 7 games played and is on pace for well over 5,000 passing yards on the season. Rivers has 15 touchdowns and is averaging over 2 touchdowns a game. This week the matchup looks good against the Ravens secondary who have been struggling so far this season. You have one of the highest firing offenses going against one of the softest secondaries making this one of the top stacking options with Keenan Allen at wide receiver and Ladarius Green at tight end. Allen is averaging 12 targets a game (84 on the season) and has 62 receptions for 690 yards and 3 touchdowns. Ladarius Green is coming at a discount at only $3,500 with Antonio Gates banged up. Green has back to back games with touchdown receptions and actually has 4 touchdowns on the season. Green is one of the better value plays at FantasyScore this weekend and if you are not paying up for the likes of a Tyler Eifert he makes for a great play at the tight end position.
New York Giants -- QB Eli Manning ($7,600) and WR Odell Beckham Jr ($8,200)
The New York Giants are sitting in first place in the NFC East and Eli Manning is leading the charge with 1,776 passing yards with 11 touchdowns. The matchup is a good one for the Giants passing offense against a Saints defense that has struggled down the field to defend the deep balls. Odell Beckham Jr. is the major peice for Manning down the field and the two together have potential any given week to hook up for a multi touchdown game. Beckham has 42 catches for 524 yards and 4 touchdowns on the season and with a nice matchup this week he looks to add to those numbers and the combo of Manning and Beckham will likely be a lot lesser owned than that of the Bengals and Chargers stacks.
VALUE STACKS
New York Jets -- QB Ryan Fitzpatrick ($5,700) and WR Brandon Marshall ($7,300)
Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to surprise with his play this season as through 6 games he has 1,472 passing yards and 11 touchdown passes and a rushing score. He has averaged 10 targets to star WR Brandon Marshall which has turned into 41 receptions for 578 yards and 4 touchdowns. Marshall has 4 of 6 games with 100+ yards and the same amount of games where he has scored a touchdown. You get a nice price savings with Fitzpatrick at only $5,700 and Marshall at $7,300 compared to some of the other big QB/WR combos.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- QB Jameis Winston ($6,000) and Mike Evans ($6,900)
Jameis Winston has had a nose for the endzone to start his NFL career as he now has 10 touchdowns in his first 6 career games with at least one touchdown in each game and only two games with just a single touchdown. The price is nice on Winston at $6,000 in a divisional matchup against the Falcons and he should be able to find ways to get his team into the endzone at least a couple of times once again. Although Mike Evans has gotten off to a bit of a slow start on the season as a whole, he looks to be healthier after coming off a great Week 7 game against Washington where he caught 8 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets. Vincent Jackson is banged up and will likely miss this weeks game which will only bring more targets to a healthy Evans. Both Winston and Evans are priced nicely to allow you to get them in your lineup as a value stack and have the salary to build around them.
FADES
Quarterback -- Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints ($8,200)
Drew Brees only has 8 touchdowns in 6 games so far this season and remains at a high price of $8,200 despite the lack of touchdown production. He has 4 games where he threw a single touchdown pass and the other 2 he threw a pair of touchdowns. Now a home matchup against the Giants looks a little nicer on paper but Brees just doesn't have the big name receiving options that he once had and age is clearly slowing him down.
Running Back -- Alfred Blue, Houston Texans ($5,000)
Arian Foster is now out for the season and the Texans running back situation is now a mess with Blue, Polk and Grimes fighting for carries. Predicting who will get the carries in Houston now is almost impossible until we see how the team reacts over the next couple of weeks. Blue seems like the name that people are plugging into the starting role and has had one solid game this season where he ran 31 times for 139 yards and a touchdown back in Week 3 against Tampa Bay. Other than that game he has not seen more than 9 carries in a single game.
Wide Receiver -- Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders ($7,100)
Amari Cooper has come onto the NFL scene in a nice way to start his career. In 6 games he has 33 receptions, 519 yards and 3 touchdowns and has shown a great connection with Derek Carr. It is going to be a tougher matchup this week as the Raiders play the stingy New York Jets defense and the Carr and Cooper offense might be better off avoided in this game.
Tight End -- Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings ($4,600)
Kyle Rudolph looked to have a breakout season on the horizon but 6 games in he only has 18 catches for 123 yards and 3 touchdowns. The touchdowns are a nice bonus but just the 3 catches and 20 yards a game average are hard to count on if the touchdown doesn't happen. Dropping down in price to Green at $3,500 makes a lot of sense.
Defense and Special Teams -- Denver Broncos ($3,400)
Why are the Broncos 6-0? Well it is all because of their defense as they have been electric in getting to the quarterback and creating turnovers. They have 25 sacks, 9 interceptions and 4 touchdowns in 6 games this season. Sunday Night is going to be a different story as the defense will see the likes of Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense. I don't expect the Packers to make many mistakes in this game in what should be a back and forth offensive game. The Broncos defense has only played Baltimore, Kansas City, Detroit, Minnesota, Oakland and Cleveland so far so the Green Bay offense is head and shoulders above those teams and should put up plenty of points.
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
Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers ($7,900) = 21.29%
Ryan Fitzpatrick, New York Jets ($5,700) = 16.03%
Brian Hoyer, Houston Texans ($5,400) = 11.91%
Running Back
Todd Gurley, St. Louis Rams ($8,300) = 32.30%
Chris Johnson, Arizona Cardinals ($5,900) = 29.20%
Devonta Freeman, Atlanta Falcons ($8,700) = 21.37%
Wide Receiver
Stefon Diggs, Minnesota Vikings (6,500) = 36.79%
Nate Washington, Houston Texans ($3,200) = 24.10%
John Brown, Arizona Cardinals ($5,200) = 19.54%
Tight End
Ladarius Green, San Diego Chargers ($3,500) = 42.86%
Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints ($2,700) = 18.27%
Crockett Gillmore, Baltimore Ravens ($2,400) = 7.34%
Defense and Special Teams
St.Louis Rams ($2,600) = 36.79%
New Orleans Saints ($1,200) = 13.21%
Atlanta Falcons ($2,000) = 8.36%
LOW/VALUE OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Matt Cassel, Dallas Cowboys ($4,900) = 0.08%
Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers ($6,000) = 0.12%
Zach Mettenberger, Tennessee Titans ($4,600) = 0.33%
Running Back
Eddie Lacy, Green Bay Packers ($7,000) = 0.94%
Frank Gore, Indianapolis Colts ($5,400) = 1.47%
Latavius Murray, Oakland Raiders ($5,700) = 2.12%
Wide Receiver
Randall Cobb, Green Bay Packers ($7,600) = 1.02%
Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos ($8,400) = 1.51%
T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts ($7,800) = 2.16%
Tight End
Gary Barnidge, Cleveland Browns ($7,100) = 1.06%
Jimmy Graham, Seattle Seahawks ($6,600) = 1.35%
Heath Miller, Pittsburgh Steelers ($2,900) = 1.43%
Defense and Special Teams
Cleveland Browns ($2,100) = 0.08%
Baltimore Ravens ($2,200) = 0.16%
Indianapolis Colts ($1,800) = 0.29%