The Reid Option: Week 5

Each week, Sammy Reid will break down each position in detail, pinpointing his favorite plays at various salary ranges. Who should we be focusing our core on this week? Read below to find out!

Week 5

The times, they are a-changin’, my friends.

Scoring in the NFL is up – way up. There have been 17.3% more touchdowns scored from this season to last, and there are eight QBs on pace for 5,000+ passing yards, when last year’s league leader finished with 4,577 (h/t Davis Mattek and Adam Levitan). 38% of NFL teams are averaging more than 280 passing yards per game; last season zero teams did. Five teams are scoring more than 30 points per game, last season zero teams did.

Obviously, we’re dealing with a somewhat small sample of four weeks here. But with the rules changes and the evolution of offensive systems, I’m a believer that it’s real. As is always the case in DFS, those who adapt to changing environments the quickest will be the ones making the money.

The first half of 2016 was the best run of NFL DFS I’ve had. This was the season where the Zero-RB draft strategy became mainstream, and DFS players took those same ideas into the daily game, anchoring their cash lineups with the Antonio Browns and Odell Beckhams every week. Meanwhile, the bellcow backs – particularly David Johnson and Le’Veon Bell – were priced ~$1500 lower on DraftKings while getting 25+ touches per game … and people weren’t playing them! It look until midseason for the sites to adjust their pricing and for the DFS market to correct their behaviors. Meanwhile, we were printing money.

Our Premium content can help you make better picks every day

  • To read this full article for this week’s NFL games, you need to have a subscription to RG Premium.
  • A Premium subscription will allow you to access this article, as well as Consensus Value Rankings, daily picks from top-ranked players, and much more.
Start your FREE 7-day trial
  • If you have already used your free trial, you can purchase a weekly pass to quickly gain access to Premium Content!
Purchase a week pass

About the Author

SammyReid
Sammy Reid (SammyReid)

Sammy is a former online poker professional and Hearts champion who has been playing competitive fantasy sports for more than 15 years. A student of both sports and game theory, Sammy has been grinding DFS cash games since 2013. You can find more of his work in the 2017 edition of Joe Pisapia’s Fantasy Black Book, at FantasyInsiders.com, RosterCoach.com, and the Baseballholics Anonymous podcast.