2016 DraftKings FFWC Recap
7:45 PM ET
And it’s final, escot4 has won the $2 Million first place prize with a final score of 199.04! Second place prize of $1 Million goes to pwnasaurus, and third place prize of $750K goes to CasBrM. What makes escot4’s win even more amazing is that it withstood a -0.2 from Travis Benjamin. So if you’ve ever wondered whether you can win a live final with a player who decides to run backwards for 2 yards and then doesn’t catch any of his three targets, the answer is yes! (this was something that kept me up last night so I’m glad I know the answer now). Here’s the final standings and a look at escot4’s winning lineup. Congratulations to everyone involved, who will walk away with at least $15,000 and the memories of a weekend in New York City with some of DFS’s sharpest minds.
7:00 PM ET
The live scoring has been fixed and escot4 is now in the lead by 7 points thanks to Father Taylor Gabriel’s touchdown, Tevin Coleman’s two touchdowns, and the Falcons defense that has absolutely destroyed Jared Goff (literally, I just read on CNN he turned into a bunch of dust on the field). According to ancient tradition (and FanDuel records), escot4 is actually a previous live final winner in 2014 for $2 Million, showing the world that DFS is indeed a game of skill. Will he hold on? Stay tuned.
6:40 PM ET
All the late games are now in the second half, so we’re coming down the wire. Father Taylor Gabriel just caught a 64 yard touchdown but the live scoring on DraftKings is down! We’ll post an update as soon as the scoreboard has been refreshed. In the meantime, pull out your pen, paper, calculator, abacus, etc. and figure out who is actually in the lead.
5:30 PM ET
home_jjjk still has a 10 point lead between 2nd place papagates, but several opponents are lurking. Matt Forte had to call it quits after a first quarter injury. Apparently, Matt Forte’s forte in life isn’t staying healthy. Meanwhile, Carlos Hyde has morphed into Le’Veon Bell circa December 11, 2016 (wait, that’s today). Hyde already has over 100 yards rushing before halftime. Here are the latest standings.
Here’s a final look at ownership percentages. Taylor Gabriel was amazingly the chalk WR today. If he does what 43.3% of owners expect him to do against the Rams secondary, his new nickname might be Father Gabriel as those cornerbacks will be praying for him to stop torching them (The Walking Dead reference if you had no idea what I’m talking about. RIP Glenn). Plenty went heavy on Mike Evans and Cameron Brate in the NO-TB game:
4:30 PM ET
The early slate games are wrapping up and we have a new leader, home_jjjk. Le’Veon Bell ended the day with only 3 touchdowns and a score of 54.8 DraftKings points (I checked the Polk High records and Al Bundy had the equivalent of 60 DK points, so Bell’s effort was admirable). A low owned Trevor Siemian – Emmanuel Sanders stack has vaulted them to the top.
RotoGrinders’ own Wining247 is in second place, where his T.Y. Hilton and Zach Ertz plays both exploded late with 100-yard days. Jack was one of the few to use Dwayne Washington after Theo Riddick was ruled out late this morning. Stay tuned for more updates as the late slate is now underway.
3:15 PM ET
Le’Veon Bell has crossed the goaline for the third time today. One more and he will tie Al Bundy for the most famous four-touchdown game in the history of sports (this is just my opinion). Papagates has supplanted 1ucror as the leader and holds the top two spots on the strength of a Le’Veon Bell-Kirk Cousins-Pierre Garcon stack.
Meanwhile, a deep 80 yard touchdown bomb from Kirk Cousins to DeSean Jackson has bumped SaahilSud up to 3rd place. Several RG members also had Jackson on their roster, causing them to see a jump in the standings. Here’s a look at the leaderboard and Papagates’ leading lineup:
2:30 PM ET
Unlike Kent Bazemore, Le’Veon Bell and Tyler Eifert do care about your fantasy team. Both Bell and Eifert have found the end zone twice already in the first halves of their respective games. Eifert is only 1.7% owned, rewarding all three of his owners thus far. Other big news is that Melvin Gordon has been downgraded to out due to a hip injury, likely causing a mini riot in New York City.
If you’re interested in team RG, here are their current standings: Cal Spears (GrindersCal – #126), Dan Back (db730 – #98), Eric Crain (jakz101 – #13, #20), Tony Niehaus (BigT44 – #57, #71) and Jack Hendrixson (wining247 – #14, #63, #166). And everyone’s favorite story, Mama Seige (pat2222 – #101)!
Here’s a quick look at the leaderboard. 1ucror continues to sit atop first place with a score of 83, led by Bell, T.J. Yeldon, and Bengals defense shutting down RG III in his return.
1:30 PM ET
We’re officially 30 minutes into the live final and have seen a plethora of TDs. The big news is that Melvin Gordon has been carted off, potentially impacting 23.3% of those who rostered him. Here’s a look at the current standings, where papagates is leading on the back of Le’Veon Bell but he does have Gordon as his second running back.
Below are the ownership percentages thus far by position. Le’Veon Bell and David Johnson headline the most owned, while the Luck-Hilton stack was popular. It’s interesting to note that last week’s darling Ladarius Green is only 5.6% owned:
1:15 PM ET
Kickoff is underway and Tyler Eifert is the first touchdown of the day. 1ucror is currently in the lead with all players in the early slate, while RotoGrinders own wining247 is in second place.
11:00 AM ET
Hello RotoGrinders. Welcome to coverage of the 2016 DraftKings Fantasy Football World Championship final held in New York City. One hundred and eighty seat holders will be battling it out today for the $2 Million top prize, including RG’s own Cal Spears, Dan Back, Eric Crain (jakz101), Tony Niehaus (BigT44) and Jack Hendrixson (wining247).
After a week full of friendly insults on Twitter (is that an oxymoron?), it all comes down to this. Once kickoff is underway, we’ll post a link to the contest, take a look at some ownership percentages, and monitor the scoreboard.
Good luck to everyone participating. May variance be on your side.