WEEK 15 - 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 15 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 15, 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
Detroit Lions -- QB Matthew Stafford ($6,400) and WR Calvin Johnson ($7,800)
Matthew Stafford now has 9 touchdown passes over the past 3 games with at least 23 completitions in each of those games. Look for the trend to continue with a road matchup against the Saints in the dome. The Saints have been getting in plenty of shoot out type of games all season long and this matchup has all the makings to deliver much of the same. This is also the Monday Night Football game and happens to have the highest Vegas total of the week at 51 points with Detroit only being a 3 point underdog. From those 9 touchdown passes for Stafford over the past 3 games, 4 of them have went to Calvin Johnson who has seen 27 targets in those games. Calvin Johnson has had an up and down season but just looking at the stats so far on the season 71/981/7 it has still been a very productive season.
Atlanta Falcons -- QB Matt Ryan ($6,200) and WR Julio Jones ($8,400)
Matt Ryan has been bad this season as he only has 17 touchdown passes compared to his 14 interceptions. His price has took a major nose dive because of his play on the field and he is now a very reasonable $6,200 in a great passing matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He does have 5 games this season with multi touchdown performances and that is exactly what you are looking for here and you will probably get a very low ownership as most will be looking to roster Julio Jones but not stacking him with his quarterback. Jones has 27 targets over the past two games and is the one player on the Falcons that you can trust to give you some solid production. He hasn't scored a touchdown over the past 5 games but with this matchup against the Jaguars he could be in line for a multi touchdown game with 10+ receptions.
Arizona Cardinals -- QB Carson Palmer ($8,600) and WR Larry Fitzgerald ($7,900)
Carson Palmer is putting together a brilliant 2015 season with 4,003 passing yards and 31 touchdown passes he is on pace for his best season of his career. He has posted back to back solid performances with a combined 666 passing yards and 4 touchdowns against the Rams and Vikings. It is hard to envision a scenario where he doesn't pass for 300+ and 2 touchdowns against the Eagles on Sunday Night. The matchup is a good one for Palmer and he will have all three of his go to WRs in Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, and John Brown healthy and ready to roll. Fitzgerald has a good history against the Eagles and he has also seen a resurgence in 2015 and is having a fine season with a 96/1088/7 statline on 129 targets. Palmer and Fitzgerald have some good chemistry going right now and that should likely lead into Fitzgerald finding the endzone once again as he is on a 5 game scoreless streak.
VALUE STACKS
Detroit Lions -- QB Matthew Stafford ($6,400) and WR Golden Tate ($5,700)
Matthew Stafford now has 9 touchdown passes over the past 3 games with at least 23 completitions in each of those games. Look for the trend to continue with a road matchup against the Saints in the dome. The Saints have been getting in plenty of shoot out type of games all season long and this matchup has all the makings to deliver much of the same. This is also the Monday Night Football game and happens to have the highest Vegas total of the week at 51 points with Detroit only being a 3 point underdog. Much like his teammate Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate himself has been on a bit of a tear. He comes at a $2,100 discount compared to Calvin and has 3 touchdowns in the past three games himself. Tate has seen 28 targets for 24 receptions, 173 yards and 3 touchdowns in the past three games where Stafford has been on fire. It might not even be a bad idea to do a triple stack with Stafford, Johnson and Tate and hope that three can use the matchup to their advantage and connect for 3 or 4 touchdowns.
Cincinnati Bengals -- QB A.J. McCarron ($5,300) and WR A.J. Green ($8,100)
You have to consider the A.J. double stack for the Bengals this week as McCarron is now under center for the Bengals at a $5,300 price. The 49ers have not been the best overall team this season but their defense continues to play hard each week and although the matchup looks good for the Bengals it is just not a great one. McCarron took over for an injured Andy Dalton last week and passed for 280 yards and a pair of touchdowns and interceptions. Even though McCarron will likely make his share of mistakes he will also throw the ball down the field trying to make plays. McCarron and Green connected for 6/132/1 last week and the two connecting for a touchdown once again this week is very likely. Although Green's price tag is high at $8,100 when you pair him up with McCarron at $5,300 you get a nice QB/WR combo at a very modest price.
FADES
Quarterback -- Eli Manning, New York Giants ($7,200)
Eli Manning is having a nice season stats wise with 3,655 passing yards and 28 touchdown passes but he has never faced a defense like the Panthers yet. The Panthers are the best team in the NFL right now on offense and defense but often a lot of people think first of Cam Newton when they are thinking about the Panthers success. The defense is one of the key ingredients in the Panthers remaining undefeated as they showed in last week's shut out win against the Falcons. Although Manning has thrown for 28 touchdowns he also has a tendency to turn the ball over as we have seen in years past and he does have 10 interceptions so far this season. Look for the Panthers defense to pressure Manning all day long and try to force him into bad decesions. Josh Norman will be all over Odell Beckham Jr so Manning will be forced to look to some of his other weapons as well and they are not nearly as reliable as Beckham Jr.
Running Back -- Matt Forte, Chicago Bears ($6,900)
Matt Forte draws a tough matchup against the Vikings team that he met in week 8 and ran 10 times for 41 yards with 4 receptions for 28 more yards. He was also injured in that game and didn't return until Week 12. It might be best to avoid Forte this week as he is coming off a 10 carry for 45 yard and touchdown performance against Washington. Forte has all the tools to put up productive numbers but at $6,900 it might be best to pay a little more for the RB on the other team this week.
Wide Receiver -- Danny Amendola, New England Patriots ($6,600)
The Patriots continue to have injuries on offense and they also continue to make adjustments on the fly. Amendola has been one of those midseason adjustments as he has seen 44 targets over the past 4 games. I just think the $6,600 price is a little steep this week the targets might decrease as the Patriots will build an early lead and lean on the running game.
Tight End -- Eric Ebron, Detroit Lions ($4,000)
As much as I love the Lions passing game this week I only want to roster the WRs in Johnson and Tate and want to fade Ebron all together. Ebron only has 7 catches in the past 4 games and those are games where the offense was clicking and Stafford was putting up some big numbers. I will pass on Ebron and take my chances with the big three in the offense.
Defense and Special Teams -- Pittsburgh Steelers ($2,000)
The Steelers are coming off an emotional win over the division leader Cincinnati Bengals and could be in for a little bit of a let down against the Broncos. Although the Steelers defense has been much better this season this game could be one that turns out to be a higher scoring game than expected and turnovers are going to be hard to come by.
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
Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks ($8,900) = 16.84%
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions ($6,400) = 16.49%
Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals ($8,600) = 15.79%
Running Back
Denard Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars ($3,200) = 23.86%
Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings ($8,100) = 22.46%
David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals ($6,300) = 20.00%
Wide Receiver
Golden Tate, Detroit Lions (5,700) = 26.67%
Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons ($8,400) = 24.21%
Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions ($7,800) = 19.30%
Tight End
Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints ($3,500) = 37.54%
Julius Thomas, Jacksonville Jaguars ($5,700) = 12.98%
Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots ($8,200) = 12.98%
Defense and Special Teams
Kansas City Chiefs ($2,700) = 24.91%
Seattle Seahawks ($3,400) = 14.04%
San Francisco 49ers ($1,200) = 12.63%
LOW/VALUE OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Sam Bradford, Philadelphia Eagles ($4,800) = 0.35%
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers ($8,400) = 0.35%
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins ($6,000) = 0.70%
Running Back
Ronnie Hillman, Denver Broncos ($5,800) = 0.35%
Matt Forte, Chicago Bears ($6,900) = 1.05%
Latavius Murray, Oakland Raiders ($5,800) = 1.05%
Wide Receiver
Michael Crabtree, Oakland Raiders ($6,300) = 0.35%
Jordan Matthews, Philadelphia Eagles ($6,300) = 0.35%
T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts ($7,300) = 0.70%
Tight End
Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs ($6,700) = 0.35%
Gary Barnidge, Cleveland Browns ($7,300) = 0.70%
Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings ($3,700) = 0.70%
Defense and Special Teams
Arizona Cardinals ($3,000) = 0.35%
Tennessee Titans ($1,600) = 0.35%
Baltimore Ravens ($1,800) = 0.35%