2016 FanDuel WFFC Event Recap
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Congratulations to all who competed at the 2016 FanDuel World Fantasy Football Championship, and in particular to coree27, who took down the $1 million first-place prize! It was an incredibly gutsy call to do a full game stack of the Cardinals/Saints game, and despite getting the negative from Minnesota’s D/ST, he was able to pull through. Also, congratulations to trentmeyer, who I’m sure will be happy with his $500,000, and to fanjuice, who will be awarded $300,000 for his third-place finish.
Here’s Dan Back talking to second-place finisher trentmeyer:
And here, Dan speaks with the champ, coree27:
And finally, here’s a recap of the 2016 FanDuel World Fantasy Football Championship. Thanks for following along, everybody!
7:37 PM ET
Just as escot4 took a negative from Travis Benjamin and still went on to win the 2016 DraftKings FFWC, coree27 weathered a -1 from the Vikings D/ST on the way to winning th 2016 FanDuel WFFC!
7:33 PM ET
Philip Rivers, in a totally shocking move, turned the ball over. Now, all coree27 has to do is wait…
7:32 PM ET
With two minutes left in the final game of the slate, trentmeyer is waiting on the Antonio Gates #narrativestreet TD (just like the rest of the world).
7:17 PM ET
New leader! With a Palmer-to-Brown 30-yard score, coree27 now has a six-point advantage on the field. And don’t panic; Carson Palmer arm still appears to be attached to his body even after throwing it further than 10 yards.
7:10 PM ET
So, false alarm on the John Kuhn warning. It was Tim Hightower that vultured the touchdown, much to the chagrin of trentmeyer, who is in second-place with Drew Brees and Michael Thomas in his lineup. A Brees TD pass would have put him in first, and a Brees-to-Thomas touchdown would have put him comfortably in the lead. I’ve gotten word that trentmeyer plans to spend $400,000 of the half million he wins purchasing Tim Hightower Saints jerseys, and the other $100,000 on matches and gasoline.
7:09 PM ET
JOHN KUHN WARNING! THE SAINTS ARE INSID THE FIVE AND JOHN KUHN IS IN THE GAME!
7:05 PM ET
Man…that’s rough. neworleanssaints1991 is sitting in fifth place, and Latavius Murray is stuffed twice inside the five. A score would have put him within arms’ reach of the $1 million (and let’s be honest…the belt) with his Saints in the red zone.
6:56 PM ET
fanjuice’s reign atop the 2016 FanDuel WFFC leaderboard might be nearing its end. Drew Brees found Michael Thomas in the end zone, and coree27, who stacked up Brees, Brandin Cooks, and Thomas, is nipping at his heels. With Carson Palmer, David Johnson, and Larry Fitzgerald still going, this one should be fun.
6:50 PM ET
News on the BigT444 front – he’s moved into 26th place with David Johnson’s second touchdown run. With all three receivers, DJ, and Philip Rivers playing from behind, he’s got a shot to make some noise!
6:42 PM ET
Check in as Dan Back talks to neworleanssaints1991 about his lineup build. How can you not pull for a guy who has a Saints-based username, rosters three Saints, and wears a Saints t-shirt to the live final? neworleanssaints1991 has fallen a bit in the standings, as he’s currently at 22nd.
6:32 PM ET
Remember when I said there could be some drama towards the end of this tournament (you won’t have to scroll down far)? Well, that was before Devonta Freeman busted loose for a 34-yard TD run, a run that separated fanjuice from the rest of the field by over nearly 18 points. There’s still football left to play, but if the Saints keep giving the ball to Tim Hightower, this one might be over.
6:29 PM ET
Antonio Gates owners (41 percent of the field in this year’s WFFC) just got wind of Hunter Henry’s touchdown:
6:22 PM ET
Lots of movement on the leaderboard after a David Johnson touchdown:
aardvark77, with a Palmer/DJ/Nelson stack plus Michael Crabtree and Matt Bryant, seems to pose the biggest immediate threat to fanjuice. We’ll keep you posted, because there could be some fireworks in the final moments of this tournament.
5:55 PM ET
With one half of football left to play, here’s a reminder of what’s at stake:
There’s some money involved, too, but the belt…the belt is what’s important. Well, the belt and the money.
Current leader fanjuice is looking over his shoulder and hoping Matt Ryan throws a few picks in the second half, as second-place madpenguin12 has Ryan as his QB.
5:47 PM ET
Drew Brees finds Brandin Cooks for another touchdown pass, this one “merely” a 45-yarder. And neworleanssaints1991 is flying up in the standings – he (or she?) is up to 11th. Here’s the lineup:
5:20 PM ET
Yes, there is an open bar in fantasy heaven. But the only drink they serve is the tears of those who faded LeSean McCoy.
5:03 PM ET
After scouring through the lineups in the 2016 WFFC the “old-fashioned way,” I’m confident I’ve found the ownership of almost all players rostered in the tournament. Here’s the list:
A few takeaways: Michael Crabtree was far and away the most popular receiver (unless I’m missing someone), David Johnson and Le’Veon Bell were predictably highly owned, and neworleanssaints1991 stayed true to brand and rostered a Brees/Cooks/Thomas stack. And they just leaped up to 41st in the standings with a 65-yard Brees-to-Cooks touchdown bomb.
fanjuice is still holding down the fort in the top spot, but there’s danger lurking…
4:38 PM ET
Wow…that didn’t take long. After a slow set of early games, the scoring is coming fast and furious in the afternoon games. With a Philip Rivers deep TD pass to Travis Benjamin and scores by Devonta Freeman and Taylor Gabriel, here’s the updated leaderboard:
We’ve got a new leader in fanjuice, but his time at the top may be brief, as he has just two late players in Devonta Freeman and Michael Crabtree, who, at 50 percent ownership, ended up being the preferred mid-range receiver for sharp players. RotoGrinders reps BigT444 (59, 62, 94), and hoop2410 (90) saved a lot of their action for the late games, so here’s hoping they can make up some ground. RotoGrinders contributer tipandpick is showing well, holding his spot in the top 10, while *assani (80) still has Matt Ryan, David Johnson, Taylor Gabriel, Dontrelle Inman, Antonio Gates, and Matt Bryant going.
4:23 PM ET
Anyone own Kerwynn Williams? Anyone?
4:13 PM ET
Remember, the Sunday night game between the Buccaneers and Cowboys is not included in the WFFC slate, which means we have just three games left before a champion is anointed. Two of those games (San Francisco at Atlanta, Oakland at San Diego) figure to be popular given the favorable weather. Stay tuned for updated ownership as more info becomes available.
3:47 PM ET
And we have a new leader! mtrain6 has passed rayofhope with a nice performance from a three-percent-owned Golden Tate. He also went with the Ben/Le’Veon/Brown combo, that, up to this point, has largely disappointed.
3:42 PM ET
Here’s a look at some of the ownership percentages for the early games:
3:22 PM ET
Shady McCoy’s like, “David Johnson who? Le’Veon Bell who?”
3:03 PM ET
An updated look at the standings shows RotoGrinders contributor @tipandpick cracking the top 10! He went with the Bell/McCoy combo at RB, and he added some correlation with the Buffalo defense. Ty Montgomery is going berserk, with his SECOND touchdown of the day. The Packers “wide receiver” has 154 yards on the ground to go with his two scores. He’s two percent owned in the WFFC.
2:24 PM ET
Here’s another glimpse into some of the excitement occurring at the Terranea Resort. It’s been a quiet start to the day with no monster performances as of yet, but we’ve still got a lot of football ahead of us.
2:19 PM ET
Robert Turbin just scored his second rushing touchdown, and the Colts are out front 24-0 on the Vikings. The Vikings D/ST, at 31 percent ownership, figures to be one of the highest (if not the highest) owned D/STs on the slate. They’re at exactly zero points right now, and they’re on offense again having just intercepted Sam Bradford. This could have pretty big implications in the WFFC.
@rayofhope is out to a 12-point lead on the rest of the field, though it’s largely on the strength of having everyone in the lineup in play, save one WR.
1:47 PM ET
Since guys like Erik Swoope are taking all the touchdowns today, I’ll take a moment to give you guys a glimpse into the event. Look at that sweet, sweet championship belt.
As most of the games have entered the second quarter, it’s @rayofhope in the lead, buoyed by an Alex Smith rushing touchdown and 81 receiving yards from three-percent-owned Rishard Matthews. Lots of touchdowns today that seem to benefit nobody – Kamar Aiken, Sterling Shephard, Robert Turbin, Derrick Henry. Ryan Mathews, of all people, just scored on the Ravens’ top-ranked DVOA run defense.
1:38 PM ET
Live look at the 30 percent of live finalists who rostered LeSean McCoy, as Mike Gillislee vultures a three-yard TD run.
1:36 PM ET
We’ve found the lineup that’s going to win all the giblets. In one of his three lineups, BigT444 chose to go with the Ben/Le’Veon/Brown stack, and if they’re able to turn it around and put some points on the board (near the end of the third quarter, they’ve only managed a field goal), he’ll be in prime giblet territory. It seems like most took Ben’s home/road splits and his negative history against the Bengals seriously, as he comes in at just five percent owned. BigT also went with the Forbath/Vikings D/ST correlation, which isn’t panning out thus far.
1:25 PM ET
A few noteworthy ownership numbers for the 1:00 games (in no particular order – I’ll continue to update what I see):
LeSean McCoy – 30%
Odell Beckham, Jr. – 15%
Stefon Diggs – 17%
Le’Veon Bell – 63%
Travis Kelce – 15%
Antonio Brown – 18%
Kyle Rudolph – 12%
T.Y. Hilton – 18%
Bills D/ST – 16%
Vikings D/ST – 31%
Golden Tate – 3%
Kai Forbath – 42%
Sam Bradford – 6%
DeMarco Murray – 7%
Alex Smith – 2%
Ty Montgomery – 2%
Tyrod Taylor 8%
Brandon LaFell 2%
1:15 PM ET
And crappieheel jumps out to an early lead with a 68-yard TyFreak Hill touchdown run. He’s also getting help from the Baltimore defense, who (surprise, surprise) picked off Carson Wentz.
Hello RotoGrinders! It’s Week 15 of the NFL season, which means it’s time for FanDuel’s 2016 World Fantasy Football Championship, set to take place in “heaven,” aka the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. (I’ve gotta admit – I wasn’t a huge fan of FanDuel’s “heaven” marketing campaign for this live final. But after seeing on Twitter some of the pictures of the event’s locale, it’s kind of hard to argue.).
One-hundred qualifiers, including RG’s own BigT444 and hoop2410, made the cut to this year’s WFFC. If you’re reading this, you, like me, are trying to catch a little vicarious thrill, content to be #sportsrich while these guys try to build the perfect lineup en route to becoming #moneyrich. The winner of this year’s WFFC will take home $1 million, with second place winning $500,000, and third place winning $300,000.
Will Le’Veon and DJ see massive ownership once again? Will an underowned QB/WR stack have the success that Siemien/Sanders had last week? Will someone be able to win despite having a negative score in their lineup, as @escot4 did last week at the 2016 DraftKings Fantasy Football World Championship? In this live blog, we’ll answer all these questions and more on the way to crowning this year’s 2016 WFFC champion. Stay locked in here to track ownership percentages, lead changes, and any other drama that unfolds.
A quick word to the wise: following #WFFC2016 on Twitter will not be helpful for you unless want to follow the 2016 World Fly Fishing Championship. It’s no fish allowed at the real WFFC, hosted by FanDuel – only sharks (couldn’t resist the bad pun – sorry).
Updates will begin today at 1pm EST with lineup lock. In the meantime, we’ve got a few videos to get you caught up on the weekend’s festivities.
Highlights from Dan Back’s interview of Joe Montana:
Dan Back discusses biscuits, giblets, proper windmill form, Mortal Kombat, and more with RotoGrinders expert Tony “BigT444” Nieuhaus. In true Joe Namath style, BigT “guarantees” a double chainsaw celebration if he ships the million. If you weren’t pulling for BigT before, you best start.
Dan Back chats with 2016 DraftKings Fantasy Football World Championship $2 million winner @escot4, who looks to be the first DFS player to ever win both the DraftKings and FanDuel live finals in the same year.
Keep it locked here for updates on the 2016 FanDuel World Fantasy Football Championship!