Big Events Breakdown Week 7: Four Grinders Take Down Qualifiers!
Another week of million dollar qualifiers is in the books and, as usual, there were several RotoGrinders members who showed up at the top of leaderboards across the industry. I’m sure you’re all aware by now, but Fanduel, Draftstreet and DraftKings are giving away $1,000,000 to the winner’s of their respective football championships, and another round of qualifiers kick off this Sunday. StarStreet is also providing their users with quite a treat, sending their finalists to the Playboy Mansion to compete for $250,000. Big prizes will continue to be up for grabs for weeks to come, but let’s take a look in the rearview mirror and review the big Week 7 winners… All RotoGrinders members will have their names bolded.
This week was highlighted by Shanksalot and maxdalury dominating across the industry, in addition to Westy and dreazzy taking down qualifiers on StarStreet and Fantasy Feud. Without further ado, let’s get into the highlights from Week 7.
Fanduel $109 FFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | silvercat | FFFC Finals Seat + Trip to Vegas |
| 2 | trentsteele | $4,000 |
| 3 | naapstermaan | $2,000 |
| 4 | cardog777 | $1,000 |
| 5 | csuram88 | $700 |
| 6 | tommyg1979 | $600 |
| 7 | ineedmoney23 | $600 |
| 8 | vila | $600 |
| 9 | robbie622 | $500 |
| 10 | primetime420 | $500 |
Trentsteele hit gold with the Peyton Manning to Eric Decker combination, but it wasn’t quite enough to push him to victory. He’ll have to settle for second place, but the $4000 should give him the bankroll to keep going for the top spot. Trent is currently 853rd on our overall leaderboard. Naapstermaan used the same Denver combination to come up with a third place finish. He is holding down the top spot in our TPOY rankings. Csuram88 finished a few spots back in fifth place, and he currently resides in the top 10 in our overall, TPOY, Monthly and NFL Grinder leaderboards. Tommy G (tommyg1979) put together a 6th place finish with Peyton and Forte paving the way to a cool $600. Tommy is 425th on the overall rankings and 149th on the TPOY leaderboard. Ineedmoney23 finished in seventh, and this should help his case for moving into the top ten in the TPOY rankings, as he is currently in 14th. Primetime420 rounds out the top ten thanks to big days from Harry Douglas and the Panthers D, and he finds himself in the #3 spot in the TPOY rankings.
Fanduel $25 FFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | shanksalot | FFFC Finals Seat + Trip to Vegas |
| 2 | shanksalot | $2,500 |
| 3 | shanksalot | $1,200 |
| 4 | shanksalot | $600 |
| 5 | packshow412 | $300 |
| 6 | rastaganinja6 | $250 |
| 7 | tas13 | $200 |
| 8 | shanksalot | $200 |
| 9 | hoff21 | $200 |
| 10 | vrusso18 | $175 |
Sir shanksalot absolutely dominated this tournament. He occupied half of the top ten when all was said and done, and will be heading to Sin City to compete for the $1,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros. Shanksalot had Andrew Luck, Matt Forte, Harry Douglas, Megatron, and A.J. Green in a good number of his lineups, so you can understand why he’s headed to Vegas. He’s currently 25th in the TPOY rankings and 163rd in the overall rankings, but expect those numbers to rise in the next few weeks with the dough he added to his account in Week 7. Hoff21 hit on his receiver trio of Boykin, Megatron and Vincent Jackson, leading to a 9th place finish. He is currently in 309th on our Monthly Grinder leaderboard.
Fanduel $10 FFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | cager26 | FFFC Finals Seat + Trip to Vegas |
| 2 | izzyt292 | $1,500 |
| 3 | killa157 | $750 |
| 4 | jmullins020 | $350 |
| 5 | yoshi7867 | $250 |
| 6 | raidizzz | $125 |
| 7 | jone33 | $125 |
| 8 | steveyballgame | $100 |
| 9 | tkatris22 | $100 |
| 10 | bubbajones | $100 |
Sadly, not a single Grinder finished in the top ten in this one. The player pool is so huge in this tournament that you’ll see a few weeks with a bunch of weird, random names at the top of the scoreboard.
Fanduel 300K Sunday Bomb
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | raidernation05 | $25,000 |
| 2 | mattmishler | $12,000 |
| 3 | awoods518 | $8,000 |
| 4 | murdahewrote18 | $5,500 |
| 5 | chuckles80 | $4,000 |
| 6 | antvii | $2,500 |
| 7 | runninggood247 | $2,000 |
| 8 | dannylongisland | $1,500 |
| 9 | wfree1176 | $1,200 |
| 10 | jimmygriggs | $1,000 |
Jimmygriggs saves us from going two straight tournaments without a top ten finish. Fanduel is the site with the largest player base by a landslide so it is somewhat understandable. Griggs is 287th in the TPOY rankings and 363rd on the NFL Grinder leaderboard.
Draftstreet $420 DFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | maxdalury | DFFC Main Event Entry |
| 2 | dinkpiece | $4000 |
| 3 | FFLKing | $2200 |
| 4 | maxdalury | $1600 |
| 5 | stlcardinals84 | $1200 |
| 6 | SnoopyWins | $1100 |
| 7 | EmpireMaker2 | $1000 |
| 8 | mbomb44 | $900 |
| 9 | Funciello | $800 |
| 10 | Leatherhead | $800 |
A big congratulations to maxdalury for barely edging out dinkpiece for 1st place and a trip to Vegas! Maxdalury’s lineup was very well rounded and he got solid production out of almost all of his players. He is currently in the top ten of both our overall and monthly leaderboards. Dink needed just a litttttle more out of Wes Welker in the Sunday night game, but Decker stole the show and left Welker out of the endzone. A co-host of GrindersLive and an Expert Picks writer for RotoGrinders, stlcardinals84 took home 5th place with a Rodgers-to-Boykin connection. STL is 5th in the overall rankings, 4th in the TPOY rankings, and 9th on the Monthly Grinder leaderboard. Mbomb44 finished in 8th place with a bevy of Packers in his lineup, and he is currently holding down 3rd on the overall leaderboard as well as 4th on the NFL Grinder leaderboard.
Draftstreet $109 DFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SalCaps | DFFC Main Event Entry |
| 2 | TheOnlyLimitIsTheSky | $3300 |
| 3 | Chop | $1800 |
| 4 | SalCaps | $1200 |
| 5 | maxdalury | $900 |
| 6 | shanksalot | $700 |
| 7 | dinkpiece | $600 |
| 8 | sween3 | $600 |
| 9 | msidla | $500 |
| 10 | ronnymor2 | $500 |
A regular top-ten finisher in Draftstreet qualifiers, Chop (headchopper) takes down 3rd place in this one; he’s 7th in the TPOY rankings, 8th on the Monthly Grinder leaderboard, and 17th in the overall rankings. Calvin Johnson and Vincent Jackson put Chop in a good spot going into the late games. No surprise to see maxdalury in the top five after winning the $420 qualifier. Shanksalot kept the Andrew Luck and Matt Forte theme going from his Fanduel entries, good for sixth place. Dinkpiece, our 8th overall ranked Grinder, followed just behind in 7th. Msidla (aka Mattness) took down 9th place, and he is currently 24th in the TPOY rankings in addition to being 19th on the Monthly Grinder leaderboard. Ronnymor2 rounds out the top ten with another Manning-to-Decker combo. He’s 19th in the TPOY rankings, and 83rd on the overall leaderboard.
Draftstreet $22 DFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | StreetCredKid | DFFC Main Event Entry |
| 2 | billsfan777 | $2400 |
| 3 | drewlevin68 | $1200 |
| 4 | Golf Coach | $650 |
| 5 | Whitey0302 | $450 |
| 6 | MikeMatika | $350 |
| 7 | atrain1224 | $250 |
| 8 | niebs1792 | $150 |
| 9 | knagle27 | $100 |
| 10 | Dsa71692 | $100 |
Had it not been for an injury to Doug Martin and T.Y. Hilton throwing up another dud, Billsfan could definitely be heading to Sin City. At least the $2400 will allow him to throw plenty of lineups at this tournament in Week 8. He’s 80th on the Monthly Grinder leaderboard and 309th in the overall rankings.
Golf Coach used a Stafford-Megatron combination which landed him in 4th place. He is just outside the top 100 of the overall and TPOY rankings. Niebs1792, the 8th place finisher, is just starting out with his DFS career, and this finish shows that he’ll continue to climb up the rankings.
Fantasy Feud $109 FOC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | dreazzy | FOC Entry |
| 2 | GordieHoweHatTrick | $555 |
| 3 | dreazzy | $400 |
| 4 | GordieHoweHatTrick | $300 |
| 5 | GordieHoweHatTrick | $200 |
| 6 | westy | $0 |
| 7 | GordieHoweHatTrick | $0 |
| 8 | Gateman07 | $0 |
| 9 | ehafner | $0 |
| 10 | dreazzy | $0 |
Congratulations to dreazzy (aka duebby) for taking home the FOC entry! He dominated this contest overall, ending up with three top-ten finishes. Jacquizz Rodgers, Jarrett Boykin, Jordan Reed… this guy hit a home run on all of his sleepers on FF. Dreazzy is 447th on the NFL Grinder leaderboard. Westy finished in sixth place, and he is currently 93rd in the overall rankings in addition to holding down 15th on the NFL Grinder leaderboard. Gateman07 (50th in overall rankings, 29th on NFL Grinder leaderboard) overcame an awful game from Nick Foles to finish 8th, followed by ehafner, our 2nd overall ranked Grinder, in ninth place.
Fantasy Feud $22 FOC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GordieHoweHatTrick | FOC Entry |
| 2 | dreazzy | $250 |
| 3 | dreazzy | $155 |
| 4 | dreazzy | $125 |
| 5 | Makisupa | $100 |
| 6 | naapstermaan | $75 |
| 7 | dukedog71 | $60 |
| 8 | dreazzy | $55 |
| 9 | stevietpfl | $50 |
| 10 | Johnny.Rosie | $45 |
Dreazzy takes home 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th place in this one. You know you’re doing something right when you take up almost half of the top ten. Makisupa finished fifth, followed by Naapstermaan in sixth place. Dukedog71, our 30th overall Grinder, finished seventh, and stevietpfl (75th in TPOY rankings, 81st on NFL Grinder leaderboard) came in ninth place.
StarStreet $1K PFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | onesandzeros | PFFC Main Event Entry |
| 2 | shanksalot | $1100 |
| 3 | mdube16 | $900 |
| 4 | radthad954 | $0 |
| 5 | hoochy_24_82 | $0 |
| 6 | PrimeTime420 | $0 |
| 7 | JohnnyDakota | $0 |
| 8 | BirdWings | $0 |
| 9 | tommyg1979 | $0 |
| 10 | naapstermaan | $0 |
Grinders always dominate these StartStreet Q’s. Shanksalot was just a few points away from taking down yet another major qualifier, but he will have to live with second place and $1100. Not too shabby. Mdube16 (aka esmmark) finished third, and he currently sits in 69th in the overall rankings. Radthad954 (40th in TPOY rankings, 95th on NFL Grinder leaderboard) finished fourth, followed by hoochy_24_82 (aka killab2482) in fifth, and PrimeTime in sixth. RG Expert Picks writer and our 4th overall Grinder BirdWings took down eighth place, followed by Tommy G and Naap to round out the top ten.
StarStreet $109 PFFC Qualifier
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westy | PFFC Main Event Entry |
| 2 | MAC8680 | $700 |
| 3 | RotoGrindersCal | $209 |
| 4 | Al_Smizzle | $169 |
| 5 | bluestem89 | $159 |
| 6 | RotoGrindersCal | $109 |
| 7 | RotoGrindersCal | $109 |
| 8 | tommyg1979 | $109 |
| 9 | naapstermaan | $109 |
| 10 | onesandzeros | $109 |
Congrats to Westy on winning a trip to the Playboy Mansion for the PFFC! I see this guy in the top ten of tournaments every week so it might not be the last entry he ends up with. MAC8680 was right on Westy’s tail thanks to huge games from Luck, Megatron and Boykin, but couldn’t quite dethrone him and ended up in second place. Our very own Cal (RotoGrindersCal) takes down 3rd, 6th and 7th place by using a combination of Luck, Forte and Megatron in his lineups. Cal is 12th in the TPOY rankings and 28th on the NFL Grinder leaderboard. GrindersLive host and our #5 Tournament player Al_Smizzle finished 4th, followed by bluestem89 (36th in the overall rankings) in 5th. Tommy G and Naap (8th and 9th place) once again round out the Grinders in the top ten.
DraftKings Sunday 200 Grand ($200K Guaranteed)
| Finish | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | lggarruto | $25,000 + FMGF Entry |
| 2 | Mandeer | $12,500 + FMGF Entry |
| 3 | shanksalot | $9,000 + FMGF Entry |
| 4 | maxdalury | $6,750 + FMGF Entry |
| 5 | vengven | $5,000 + FMGF Entry |
| 6 | BipRoberts | $4,000 |
| 7 | tcrack69 | $3,000 |
| 8 | steviemac21 | $2,250 |
| 9 | Jardine91 | $1,750 |
| 10 | TONYCUNST | $1,250 |
Lggarruto takes home 25 grand and an FMGF Entry thanks to big games from Gore, RGIII, A.J. Green and Vincent Jackson. Not a single one of his players was owned in more than 8.5% of the league, but yet he almost hit on every one of them. Shanksalot continued his dominance of the industry by taking home another $9,000 and an FMGF entry to boot. Maxdalury followed close behind in 4th, and vengven (503rd in the overall rankings) took home fifth place, the last spot to receive an FMGF entry. Jardine91 struck gold on both Reed and Boykin, leading to a ninth place finish.
DraftDay’s Bracket Blitz Heating UP
This week features the “sweet 16” in DraftDay’s Bracket Blitz, several of which are RG members. I’ll go more in-depth into the elite eight match-ups, but for now I want to wish Notorious, kingspoint11, DKMaestro, TheTakeOVER, Westy, and killab2482 in advancing this far in the $255 bracket. In the $11 bracket, we still have a few weeks to go before we are down to the sweet 16. There is plenty of cash up for grabs in this one so good look to all the RG members in taking down the big dance!
Thursday leagues kick off tonight, so the wait for Week 8 is almost over. The big qualifiers don’t get underway until Sunday, so we still have a few days to prepare and research for what will hopefully be another week of RotoGrinders dominance. Of the twelve major tournaments this weekend, five of them were won by RotoGrinders members. Good luck to all of you in Week 8!