DraftKings Week 1 Recap
I’m honored and excited to bring you a new weekly column where I break down the previous week’s Optimal Lineup on DraftKings. I will also break down my cash game lineup for the week and give my thoughts on what went right or wrong that week.
For Week 1, I thought it would be interesting to break down the team that won the NFL Sunday Million instead of the Optimal Lineup. Before we get into his picks, we have to give a huge congrats to markgenorex who put the lineup together and took home the cool $100,000 prize. Here is his winning lineup with my thoughts on each pick:
NFL Sunday Million 1st Place Lineup
QB
Peyton Manning – 22.46 FP’s
I was a huge fan of Manning this week for both GPP’s and cash games. He arguably had the highest floor and the highest ceiling of any QB in Week 1. The thing to note with Manning is that in GPP’s you have to surround him with his weapons. That way, you get points from both sides when the Broncos score. Manning got off to a blazing start in the Sunday night game, but after the Broncos got up by 21, he took his foot off the gas pedal a bit. He still finished with 22.46 FP’s though which was enough to put markgenorex on top.
RB
Montee Ball – 16.3 FP’s
As you will see below (in the breakdown of my lineup), Ball was one of my favorite plays of the week. What I found interesting here was the fact that he paired a QB and a RB from the same team in a GPP. The general school of thought is that it’s tough for a QB/RB combination to pay off in a GPP because most of their production is mutually exclusive. It’s not like a QB/WR combination where they both earn points every time there is a catch made. That said, I liked the strategy because Manning always gets his RB’s involved in the passing game and the Broncos were projected as one of the highest scoring teams of the week.
RB
DeMarco Murray – 25.3 FP’s
Murray was one of those plays where you look back and think, “Why did I not play him more?” The Niners/Cowboys game had one of the highest totals of the night and everyone knew that this wasn’t going to be the same 49ers defense that we have seen in the past. They have lost too many key pieces. After a fumble on his first carry of the season, he bounced back nicely and ended up having a huge fantasy outing. He scored 25.3 FP’s which was the 4th highest total of any RB in Week 1.
WR
Eric Decker— 12.4 FP’s
I certainly can’t argue with this pick as Decker was in my cash game lineup. The thought process on Decker in Week 1 was pretty simple: he’s a PPR beast that is going to see a ton of targets this season. Geno Smith is a much better QB than he is given credit for and the Jets were facing a weak Raiders secondary. While Decker was pretty quiet, I understand the pick.
WR
Allen Hurns – 30 FP’s
Overall, this was a terrific lineup through and through, but the two big difference makers were Allen Hurns and Julius Thomas. Cecil Shorts was ruled out of Week 1 which is why a lot of people targeted Marquise Lee in tournaments and cash games. Allen Hurns, on the other hand, flew under the radar. He had two big TD catches early in the game and was leaving everyone wondering why they didn’t take Hurns over Lee as he was $500 cheaper.
WR
Emmanuel Sanders – 14.8 FP’s
It has to make me feel pretty good knowing that a few of my cash game players were on the 1st place team in the Sunday million right? The problem was that those players were all decent picks and not the great picks that carried markgenorex to victory. Sanders was an obvious play this week with Wes Welker suspended and Eric Decker in New York.
TE
Julius Thomas – 38.4 FP’s
I’m not sure if you are counting, but this is the 4th Broncos player in this lineup. Complete stacks don’t typically pan out in the NFL, but taking a QB and pairing him with his 2-3 favorite weapons is one of the best GPP strategies out there. Thomas carried the load for the Broncos with 3 TD’s and well over 100 yards. He was head and shoulders above any other TE option this week.
FLEX
Mark Ingram – 19.1 FP’s
Ingram turned out to be a very sneaky pick in Week 1. He was expected to see more touches with Darren Sproles now in Philly, but I’m not sure anyone was expecting the Saints to run the ball so much down near the goal line. The Saints rushed for 3 TD’s on the day while Drew Brees only threw for a single TD. Typically, those numbers are reversed, but that wasn’t the case this week. Ingram finished with 61 yards from scrimmage and two huge rushing TD’s.
DST
Texans – 24 FP’s
More times than not, the difference between a GPP winning team and a team that just cashes is the D/ST position. We heard all preseason long about this Texas defense, but no one seemed to target them against the Redskins who were employing a new offense. This was a great pick that really paid off as J.J. Watt and company shut down RGIII and the Redskins.
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Notorious’ Week 1 DK Lineup
It was a very interesting Week 1 in the NFL. As always, the term any given Sunday came into play as we saw some very surprising things that no one saw coming (i.e. Jamaal Charles seeing only 11 touches for 35 yards). It was a low scoring week overall and while my team wasn’t at the top of the leaderboards, it cashed in every double-up. Here’s a breakdown of my Week 1 cash game lineup on DraftKings:
QB
Andrew Luck – 31.7 FP’s
Heading into Week 1, I knew that Luck was going to go overlooked in cash games. There was a ton of talk about the new additions to the Broncos defense and little to no talk about all of the weapons that the Colts have surrounded Luck with. I also liked the fact that he was going to be forced to air it out for the majority of the game in order to try to keep up with Manning and the high-scoring Broncos offense. Overall, I was happy with his play as he threw for 370 yards and 3 scores (2 passing, 1 rushing) which was good enough for the 3rd most fantasy points of any QB in Week 1.
RB
Montee Ball— 16.3 FP’s
I was a little surprised that Ball wasn’t more highly owned on DK this week. Their salaries were pretty tough Week 1 and it was hard to spend up on the top RB’s without skimping out on some of the other positions. With Moreno out of Denver, Ball was a no-brainer for me in Week 1. I figured that he would get around 20 touches in a Peyton Manning offense which is typically fantasy gold. Overall, he had a decent game with 85 total yards and a TD. He didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but was more than serviceable for the price.
RB
Arian Foster – 16 FP’s
I took a bit of a chance on Foster this week for cash games. Heading into Week 1, he was declared the healthiest that he has been in a quite a while. When Foster is healthy, he’s a top 10 fantasy RB thanks to his ability to run and catch the ball out of the backfield. What I liked even more about Foster was the fact that he is one of the few every down backs left in the NFL. Foster had nearly 30 touches on the day and racked up 120 total yards, but failed to find the endzone which did hurt his fantasy production.
WR
Marqise Lee – 12.2 FP’s
I spent up a bit at the QB and RB positions so I knew I had to save some salary cap somewhere. After Cecil Shorts was ruled out of Week 1, Lee was locked in as the Jaguars #1 WR and was close to minimum salary on DK. I was expecting the Eagles offense to have a little bit more success against the Jags early on which would force Henne to air it out. While that wasn’t the case until the very end of the game, Lee had 3 big catches on his final drive to give him a respectable 6 grabs for 62 yards.
WR
Emmanuel Sanders – 14.8 FP’s
After the Wes Welker suspension, I knew that Sanders was going to be one of the most popular plays across the industry in Week 1. Not only did he look great in the preseason, but he was facing a mediocre secondary and his price was very affordable on DK. The Broncos went to him early and often and it looked like he was well on his way to a huge fantasy outing. But after the Broncos got up by 21, they stopped throwing the ball downfield. Overall, Sanders had 6 receptions with 88 yards from scrimmage. It’s hard to complain about that for a player at his price poing.
WR
Roddy White – 18.2 FP’s
White was my lone fantasy TD for a long period of time and I was more than glad to have it as I could tell this week was going to be a low scoring affair. I loved White as a cash game play this week because he was coming into the season healthy for the first time in 2 years. They were facing the Saints in what is always a shootout between these two teams. I also like Jeremy Maclin at a similar price point, but I though White had the much higher floor of the two.
TE
Jordan Cameron – 6.7 FP’s
This is where my lineup took a turn for the worse. I was debating between two combinations of players for my TE/FLEX spots. I was either going to go with Julius Thomas and Fred Jackson, or I was going to go with Jordan Cameron and Eric Decker. I still feel like I made the right decision as I was high on Decker and Cameron with a full PPR scoring system on DK, but obviously Julius Thomas would have been the better route to take. Cameron ended up with a very disappointing 2 receptions for 47 yards.
FLEX
Eric Decker – 12.4 FP’s
Decker was one of my favorite plays on full PPR sites in Week 1. Geno Smith is a lot better quarterback than he is given credit for and the Raiders secondary is nothing to write home about. For whatever reason, it took Decker a couple of quarters to get going. In the end he finished with 5 receptions for 74 yards. Not the worst performance, but certainly not what I was hoping for. I’m still high on Decker overall though and will be targeting him heavily in the next few weeks.
DST
Buccaneers – 2 FP’s
I had the Arizona Cardinals locked in as my D/ST this week as they have a terrific defense and were playing at home. But once Cam Newton was ruled out, I quickly made the change to the Buccaneers defense. Little did I know, Derek Anderson brought his big boy game and moved the ball at will against this Buccs defense. All in all, the Buccs were a disappointment as they could only muster up 2 FP’s.