Daily Fantasy Sports: A FanDuel Primer and Week 11 NFL Plays

Today I’d like to introduce you to another titan in the daily fantasy sports industry, FanDuel. If you’re looking for action, FanDuel is a great place to be as the site gives away more than $10 million in prize pools each week and offers a $2.5 million prize pool in the NFL Sunday Million.

There are countless contests running daily for every major sport. Sunday is, of course, the ultimate day for football. Touring the lobby alone could probably result in you losing track of time perusing all of the various contests they’ve got for you to try out. Pretty much any size contest you’d like to enter, with any buy-in from $1 to $5,300 is offered at FanDuel.

The $2.5M NFL Sunday Million

FanDuel’s signature event is a $25 buy-in, multi-entry tournament with a $2.5 million purse. The winner will nab a whopping $300,000, with 2nd place scooping $100,000. I’m a big fan of the way FanDuel pays out tournament winnings. The Sunday Million pays out 18 percent of entries and has a somewhat flattened payout structure so you have a good chance at a nice return if you happen to put together a solid team.

Building a NFL FanDuel Lineup

FanDuel users build NFL lineups that consist of a quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker and a defense. The salary cap is $60,000 and player salaries range from $4,500 to this week’s highest salary of $10,400 for none other than Peyton Manning. The scoring is fairly similar to any other fantasy football league, with four points for passing touchdowns, six points for all other touchdowns, points for yardage, and a half point per reception.

Week 11 FanDuel Plays

FanDuel’s sharp pricing can make it challenging for you to build a roster full of studs. But who doesn’t enjoy a challenge? To get you started lets look at a high, mid, and low priced player options at each position that I think could be valuable additions to your lineups this week.

Quarterback

Andrew Luck ($10,200) – This is an easy one. New England @ Indianapolis will see Luck at home and indoors in the highest projected scoring game of the week. This game has shootout written all over it and Luck would be a nice way to capitalize.

Robert Griffin III ($7,400) – RG3 as he’s more widely known, has been a major fantasy disappointment after the tremendous rookie year he flashed. This weekend, however, he gets the Tampa Bay Buccaneer defense that I believe can cure his troubles.

Shaun Hill ($5,000) – Okay, I’m a little insane. Shaun Hill was just renamed the starter for the St. Louis Rams this week after losing his job earlier in the year. For that reason, his price is the bare minimum. He probably won’t win you anything on his own. But as long as he’s serviceable, his bargain barrel price will free you up to play some real studs elsewhere. And he is at home in a game against Denver that is going to require him to throw the ball. A lot.

Running Back

Matt Forte ($9,300) – Anytime you can get Matt Forte in a game the Bears are supposed to be ahead in, it’s a good idea. Forte is on the field so much for this Bears team, and he’s so talented, that it almost certainly leads to a big fantasy day.

Alfred Morris ($7,300) – RG3 isn’t the only one on Washington who gets to face that terrible Tampa Bay defense. This matchup sets up really well for his teammate Morris, who has performed quite a bit better in his career when Griffin was healthy.

Jerick McKinnon ($5,500) – All running backs in this price range will be inherently risky. But the talent and opportunity that McKinnon has going for him simply don’t match the price here. McKinnon is a particularly strong large field tournament option.

Wide Receiver

Julio Jones ($8,200) – This week it’s hard to go wrong with any of the top four priced options at wide receiver. So I thought I’d dig down a little and point out Julio Jones, who gets a Carolina team that just can’t cover anyone. Julio is a machine and should probably be closer to the $8,800 range where the top options are.

Kelvin Benjamin ($6,600) – I hate to point out the obvious, but here we are. In PPR scoring, Benjamin is the 11th highest scoring receiver on the season. On FanDuel, he is the 27th most expensive receiver. No brainer.

Jordan Matthews ($5,500) – Mark Sanchez seems to love Matthews. And at $5,500 that’s enough for me to go with it. That’s not to mention that Matthews has already as a rookie turned into one of the top slot receivers in the league. Slot receivers tend to be more consistent week to week than outside receivers, and Matthews ranks in the top 10 in almost all of the slot specific categories at Pro Football Focus.

Tight End

Rob Gronkowski ($8,100) – If you’re reading this, I assume you watch football. And if you watch football, I don’t need to explain this selection. Enough said.

Antonio Gates ($6,700) – Fountain of youth alert! At age 34, Antonio Gates is having a throwback season to the times when he was a dominant tight end. Philip Rivers, his quarterback, is playing great and Gates already has 9 TDs to show for it. He’s a decent bet to score at home against Oakland this week.

Travis Kelce ($5,900) – Football Twitter’s favorite darling, Travis Kelce may finally get his first real big shot this weekend. He’s having a solid year while playing only about 55 percent of the snaps each week so far. This week the Chiefs other tight end, Anthony Fasano, could miss the game at home against the Seahawks. If he does, the physically freakish Kelce could see all the playing time he can handle.

Kicker and Defense

Hope to get lucky! While I kid some, there is a ton of variance in these two positions. I like to focus on home favorites for defenses and kickers on teams that rate to score big points.

In recent weeks I’ve struggled with not getting in the FanDuel tournaments I’ve wanted to play because they’ve filled up before Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Like I said, the action is fast and furious at FanDuel. This week, just to be safe, I entered them on Monday and Tuesday. So if you’re looking to get in on the action for this Sunday, get on it!

Find me on Twitter @IanJ300 if you want to chat about DFS.

Card Player readers should check out FanDuel’s daily fantasy football leagues. The site gives away more than $10 million in prize pools each week and offers a $2.5 million prize pool in the NFL Sunday Million.

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