Why You Should Try Rosters
Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed many here on RotoGrinders are becoming aware of the rake on the major sites. Some have also voiced their complaints about the Monday night game being left off the main NFL slate. Still others have complained about “sharks” entering every contest. While making your concerns heard is one option, the other is finding a different site that offers contests suited to your wants. I did some research on smaller sites, and one that caught my eye was Rosters.
Like many players, I want to play on a site where I know my funds are secure. Rosters is backed by professional poker player Phil Ivey. It is also part of the iTeam network. For those of you not familiar with the iTeam network, it is a group of “skin sites.” The contests on each of the sites share a user base with others within the network. Pricing is the same across all the sites, so you may enter a GPP against a player who entered their lineup on a different site within the network. Either way, all sites within the iTeam network segregate player funds in a separate account from operating funds.
So why play on Rosters? First off, you can literally try the site for free. If you click through this link and make a $10 deposit you will instantly receive $20 bonus dollars. On top of that, you will receive one year of Rosters incentives from RotoGrinders. That includes player projections, expert picks, ability to edit projections in the lineup builder, and Expert Chat with Notorious. If you don’t enjoy Rosters, you can still keep the RG incentives. Even though the advice is specific to Rosters, you can certainly apply some of it to other sites you play on.
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The other reason to play on Rosters is that your opponents (especially the sharks) largely focus on the sites with larger tournaments. Even if you see a top player on Rosters, they probably can’t devote as much time to finding the site-specific values as you can. As the character Brill said in the movie Enemy of the State, “In guerrilla warfare, you try to use your weaknesses as strengths. If they’re big and you’re small, then you’re mobile and they’re slow. You’re hidden and they’re exposed. You only fight battles you know you can win. That’s the way the Vietcong did it. You capture their weapons and you use them against them the next time. While this isn’t quite guerrilla warfare, we can certainly use the same tactics here. If you have a small bankroll you can freely move it between sites with ease. You are small and agile; your opponents are big and immobile!
Alright, enough small talk. If you are still reading, I’m assuming you are at least considering Rosters. What’s the best way to attack a smaller site where less content is available to guide a newer player? The easiest strategy is to “capture their weapons and use them,” as Brill said. In this case, what we want to do is find the site most similar to Rosters and then compare pricing to find inefficiencies.
First off, Rosters is not a late swap site. When the first game in a contest locks all players lock regardless of their start time. This is the same as what FanDuel does. For NFL, Rosters uses the following lineup format: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, FLX, K, D/ST. For those scoring at home, this is basically a FanDuel roster except a flex is used instead of a third WR. I wouldn’t say Rosters is highly similar to FanDuel, though, because Rosters awards one point per reception (PPR) instead of a half point. Rosters also uses a $90,000 salary cap. Since we can’t find a site that is identical in pricing to Rosters, we’ll research the best values two different ways. One is by simply comparing the salary rank on DK/FD compared to Rosters. For example, Matt Ryan is the fifth-most-expensive QB on DK, sixth on FD, but tenth on Rosters. That’s a pretty good value. The other thing we will do is use the RotoGrinders projections (that you’ll get for free when you sign up through our link) to find the best values on a points per dollar basis. Let’s get right into it!
Quarterback
Matt Ryan ($12,900) – What is Matt Ryan doing all the way down here as the tenth-most-expensive QB? He’s playing opposite Drew Brees (who is the most expensive QB) in the game with the week’s highest over/under. Even better, the big sites have left the Monday game of their main slate, so we’ll be able to get Ryan lower-owned than he should be. The New Orleans Saints’ secondary will consist of Sterling Moore, DeVante Harris, and Ken Crawley. Do I really need to say anything more? This is an affordably priced QB in the highest scoring game in a matchup against the worst defense.
Joe Flacco ($12,100) – There are several other options I could mention here, but I don’t need to rehash why you should play Drew Brees, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, etc. Instead, I’m providing another value option so you can really stack the rest of your Rosters lineups. Flacco is the 15th-most-expensive QB on Rosters, while he comes in at 15th and 16th at DraftKings and FanDuel. Here at RG, we have him projected at 17.63 points. That’s in the middle of the pack, but I personally like Flacco more than many others. The Jaguars had the 31st-ranked pass defense last year per Football Outsiders DVOA. It hasn’t improved much this season, as they still rank 26th. In terms of fantasy production, Jacksonville allows .691 points per attempt (31st in the league), and you know Flacco is going to air it out, as Baltimore absolutely cannot run the ball this year.
Running Back
DeMarco Murray ($10,400) – Since Rosters is a full PPR site, we want to select our RBs similarly to how we would on DraftKings. If we’ve already done our research this week, we know that the Raiders have allowed 500 yards in each of their first two games. We also know that DeMarco Murray has been targeted on 18.9% of the Titans’ passing attempts. That is tied with DeAngelo Williams for the highest among RBs. The projections here at RotoGrinders have Murray as the eighth-highest-scoring RB, but he’s priced 17th on Rosters.
Melvin Gordon ($11,000) – If this is starting to sound like every other article you’ve read this week, then my message is coming across. You can use the research you’ve already done to try out Rosters. Gordon projects as the fourth-highest-scoring RB this week, but he’s priced like the 12th on Rosters. Gordon’s opponent (the Colts) has already allowed three top-10 RB performances in just two weeks. Yes, that’s right, two different RBs on the Lions put up a top-10 performance against this run defense.
Wide Receiver
T.Y. Hilton ($13,400) – You may have heard that the Colts will be without Donte Moncrief this week. You may have also heard that T.Y. Hilton has been targeted on 30.7% of the Colts passing plays (11.5 per game). Jason Verrett is the Chargers’ best defensive back, but he plays less than 5 percent of his snaps in the slot, while Hilton lines up there 62 percent of the time, per Pro Football Focus. The Colts are likely to take the path of least resistance this week with a heavy dose of Hilton. He’s priced as the 16th-most-expensive WR on Rosters even though he has the seventh-highest projection.
Tajae Sharpe ($9,000) – My guy Tajae Sharpe just can’t get any love across the industry. Even though he has the 31st-highest-projection, he’s priced 50th on Rosters, 45th on DK, and 56th on FanDuel. Sharpe is averaging nine targets per game for a 26 percent market share. He’s playing against the aforementioned Raiders defense that has allowed 500 yards in each of its first two games.
Tight End
Delanie Walker ($7,900) – I apologize for mentioning three Titans here, but how could I pass this value up? Delanie Walker is the seventh-most-expensive TE on Rosters (fourth on FD and DK). Our projections here at RotoGrinders have Walker fourth at 15.72 points. While he’s a great target on DK/FD, he’s an even better target where he costs a lower percentage of salary. I won’t end up playing three Titans in my lineups, but I will consider Walker if I don’t have Murray or Sharpe already.
Jacob Tamme ($5,600) – Remember what I said earlier about the big sites leaving off the Monday Night game? That’s led to many content sites not providing much analysis for that game. Jacob Tamme is averaging eight targets per game. He’s playing in the highest over/under of the week. He’s projected as the sixth-highest-scoring TE here on RotoGrinders. Guess where he is priced! 46th! Let me say that again, four-tee-sixth! FOUR, ZERO, SIX! If that doesn’t convince you to sign up for Rosters, I don’t know what will. I’m off to build some lineups now. I hope you’ll meet me there.