The Football Diaries: Week 10
Today I want to do things a bit differently. The salaries were really soft on DraftKings this week, so I cut back my play a bit. Instead of a normal 100 teams in the Millionaire Maker, I rolled out 60. Instead of running out 10 different cash-game lineups, I didn’t play any.
The soft pricing is a difficult thing to navigate around for a DFS player. Some of the numbers were staggering. In a field with nearly 53,000 teams, we had LeSean McCoy owned on 52% of the teams. Kelvin Benjamin at nearly 47% was also in that club. Julio Jones at almost 45% clocked in heavy. Throw in Julius Thomas at 32.7% and you can see the incredible overlap brewing.
What I will say to this issue is the following: If DraftKings thinks that setting these types of salaries are good for the Millionaire Maker tournament, then by all means do what’s best for the contest. If they think this tournament is going to attract a new, casual fan and they want to dummy down the salaries for it, then fine, I’m all for it. However, I can assure you it’s not good for the rest of us who actually know the game and don’t need dull salaries. So, out of respect to the players who are already here and playing and spend their bankroll on your site week after week, I would say: please compromise. How about a different set of salaries for the Millionaire Maker and then the rest of the games? Dummy it down JUST for that tournament, but leave the other games sharp. That way, if the new players are coming in just for that tournament to get their feet wet, then that’s what they see. Don’t take it out on the rest of us and destroy one of only 17 weeks of NFL action we get by posting these farce salaries.
So, with that in mind, I’m going to show you a breakdown of how I spent my roster spots for my 60 Millionaire Maker teams. The percentage next to the players name is the percent that he appears on a roster for MY 60 teams.
| Player | Ownership |
|---|---|
| Julio Jones | 93.3% |
| Kelvin Benjamin | 76.7% |
| Calvin Johnson | 70.0% |
| LeSean McCoy | 66.7% |
| Seahawks | 36.7% |
| Jordy Nelson | 35.0% |
| Antonio Brown | 31.7% |
| Jared Cook | 31.7% |
| Josh McCown | 31.7% |
| Broncos | 28.3% |
| Cam Newton | 21.7% |
| Chris Ivory | 20.0% |
| DeMarco Murray | 20.0% |
| Bobby Rainey | 18.3% |
| Jimmy Graham | 18.3% |
| Julius Thomas | 18.3% |
| Matt Ryan | 15.0% |
| Justin Hunter | 13.3% |
| Matt Forte | 13.3% |
| Vernon Davis | 13.3% |
| Lions | 11.7% |
| Mark Sanchez | 11.7% |
| Vincent Jackson | 11.7% |
| Greg Olsen | 10.0% |
| Austin Davis | 8.3% |
| Justin Forsett | 8.3% |
| Marshawn Lynch | 8.3% |
| Ronnie Hillman | 8.3% |
| Brandon Marshall | 6.7% |
| Charles Sims | 6.7% |
| Darren Sproles | 6.7% |
| Demaryius Thomas | 6.7% |
| Mike Evans | 6.7% |
| Ravens | 6.7% |
| Steven Jackson | 6.7% |
| Aaron Rodgers | 5.0% |
| Alshon Jeffery | 5.0% |
| Cardinals | 5.0% |
| Charles Clay | 5.0% |
| Chiefs | 5.0% |
| Denard Robinson | 5.0% |
| Dez Bryant | 5.0% |
| Jamaal Charles | 5.0% |
| Percy Harvin | 5.0% |
| Randall Cobb | 5.0% |
| Roddy White | 5.0% |
| 49ers | 3.3% |
| Delanie Walker | 3.3% |
| Jeremy Maclin | 3.3% |
| Kendall Wright | 3.3% |
| Reggie Bush | 3.3% |
| Torrey Smith | 3.3% |
| Z. Mettenberger | 3.3% |
| Zach Ertz | 3.3% |
| B. Roethlisberger | 3.3% |
| Brandin Cooks | 1.7% |
| Clay Harbor | 1.7% |
| Davante Adams | 1.7% |
| Fred Jackson | 1.7% |
| James Starks | 1.7% |
| Martavis Bryant | 1.7% |
| Raiders | 1.7% |
| Saints | 1.7% |
| Steve Smith | 1.7% |
| Travaris Cadet | 1.7% |
Basically, you can see that I just saw the salaries and realized there was no use in fighting it this week, so I pounded away with the chalky players. There’s not much of a decision-making process that went into players like Julio Jones against a weak secondary at that price. Same with Kelvin Benjamin at slightly above minimum salary.
What I would say that, no doubt, cost me any real chance at winning any money was the LeSean McCoy pick. It was twofold. First off, he underperformed. He stunk basically. At that cheap price and with such a juicy matchup, he was a guy I felt needed to be played heavily. I felt this week wasn’t going to be about finding the great, undiscovered gems, and rather it would be more about who is going to put together that perfect combination of studs. So, owning McCoy and having him play poorly was the first bad aspect of that roster choice.
The underlying implications? Due to the fact that it’s not optimal to play your QB and RB from the same team in big tournaments, that’s 66.7% of my teams that I couldn’t use Mark Sanchez on. That’s my biggest regret: I didn’t use Sanchez at that gimme price enough, due to being so heavy on McCoy.
My big “against the grain” move was to own way more of Jared Cook than anyone else. The price on Julius Thomas was a joke. He was the obvious pick and his ownership percentage amongst the masses reflected it. I was hoping perhaps he wouldn’t get too much of the action and that the game would get out of hand, meaning before you knew it there would be no more passing in Oakland. That didn’t happen – Thomas grabbed his two TDs and sunk that line of thinking.
Also to be noted is that some of the guys that are on one or two teams from the Sunday night/Monday night games are guys that I late swapped. I realized I had a bunch of teams that were bunched up with the McCoy/Benjamin combo, so I swapped those guys out for different combinations before the Sunday Night game kicked off. That’s why you see Davante Adams, James Starks and some of those guys on the list.
Now, this is something to keep in mind for the future, because although I thought McCoy and Benjamin were hands down the best players to own, the swaps to guys like Sproles, Marshall and Olsen paid off. I did not swap to Jordan Matthews, but hypothetically that could have been a tournament winner under the right circumstances.