Find Your Edge: Week 16 - When Backup QBs Become Starters

Director of Data and Analytics, Kevin Cole, returns with a look at how past DFS slates can yield valuable insights to roster construction, decision making, and winning strategies for the coming slate of games. This is a big deal. We’ve collected a massive amount of data on past DFS slates, and Kevin is going to help you “find the edge” buried deep within them.

Week 16

Each week this column looks through the thousands of NFL contests and millions of historical entries in our ResultsDB to find nuggets of info that you can use in upcoming contests.

This week, we’re going to look deeper into the historical success rates of rostering cheap quarterbacks who were elevated into starting roles either due to injuries or late-season starter rest. This week Taylor Heinke is going to start in place of Cam Newton, and he sports a dirt cheap salary of $4K on DraftKings. There’s also a small chance Aaron Rodgers sits, though he’s declared himself good to go.

Beyond Heinke this week, there’s always the possibility that teams with little to gain in Week 17 will sit starters next week. This analysis will give you a jump on using historical data to contextualize the attractiveness of those options.

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About the Author

colekev
Kevin Cole (colekev)

Kevin Cole previously worked on Wall Street as an equity and credit analyst before transitioning to data-related sports analysis. For a number of years, Kevin has specialized in creating predictive sports models that includes published work at Pro Football Focus, Rotoworld, numberFire, and RotoViz. He is now the Director of Data and Analytics at RotoGrinders.