FanDuel offers some of the biggest payouts in all of daily fantasy sports. Among them is the $2.75 million FanDuel Sunday Million contest where a $7 entry has a shot at the $500,000 first-place payout. This week in the contest there was a decent overlay and nearly 25% of the field finished in the money for at least a 42% profit on their entry fee. Each week FanDuel will be running a Sunday Million GPP Contest and we will break it down here at Footballguys.com and see what the keys were to having the top lineup on the week and taking home the top prize of $500,000.
Here is how Week 6 of the Sunday Million shook out:
|
DFS Screen Name | Points | Prize Money |
1st | pokey7777777 | 194.42 | $500,000 |
2nd | rep3407 | 190.10 | $200,000 |
3rd | echouse1 | 188.90 | $100,000 |
4th | babyjames2 | 188.70 | $50,000 |
5th | mattsink92 | 188.30 | $25,000 |
The winning lineup by pokey7777777 was a unique one with only three players of double-digit ownership rate. The margin of victory was less than the long Mike Evans touchdown in the closing minutes of the Arizona-Tampa Bay game as Evans was on his way to a disappointing FanDuel performance in the neighborhood of 1x value before the highlight catch. While Larry Fitzgerald and Rob Gronkowski were close to chalk plays, the winning lineup included the Saints defense at 2% ownership, churning out nearly 8x value with five sacks, five turnovers forced, and THREE defensive touchdowns in one of the craziest games in recent memory.
Position | Player | Salary | FanDuel Points | % Owned |
QB | Carson Palmer | $7,100 | 21.9 | 2.7% |
RB | LeVeon Bell | $9,000 | 26.6 | 11.0% |
RB | Mark Ingram | $5,900 | 27.5 | 7.8% |
WR | Mike Evans | $8,100 | 17.0 | 5.1% |
WR | Larry Fitzgerald | $6,600 | 22.8 | 12.7% |
WR | DeSean Jackson | $5,900 | 11.3 | 7.1% |
TE | Rob Gronkowski | $8,000 | 23.3 | 12.8% |
K | Wil Lutz | $4,700 | 11.0 |
8.0% |
D | New Orleans Saints | $4,200 | 33.0 | 2.0% |
$60,000 | 194.42 |
WHAT WORKED?
Ride the Deshaun Watson Wave: Watson has been the centerpiece of many high finishers in this contest in 2017 to-date. Watson, while his salary continues to rise, enjoyed a strong matchup against Cleveland with three touchdowns and more than 3x value. The field was on Watson at 31% ownership and 6-of-10 top finishers rostered Watson. With a Week 7 bye and Seattle in Week 8, the chalk will shift to other quarterbacks in the next couple of weeks.
LeVeon Bell: Bell was coming off 25 touches, but only 91 total yards and zero touchdowns in Week 5. 11% of the field (and 70% of the top-10) owned Bell at a hearty $9,000 salary and were rewarded with 35 touches and nearly 200 total yards and a touchdown against Kansas City.
Mark Ingram: With Adrian Peterson traded to Arizona, the New Orleans backfield was clarified for Ingram and Alvin Kamara. Both had affordable salaries as a low-cost RB2 and Ingram paid big dividends as the Saints led for most of the game against the Lions. Ingram logged his heaviest workload of the season (30 touches) and surpassed 150 total yards with a couple of touchdowns. 70% of the top-10 owned Ingram, returning 4.6x value.
Antonio Brown Touchdown Regression: Brown's volume has been one of the more bankable projections this season with at least nine targets in every game. The stud wide receiver had a single touchdown on 40 receptions entering Week 6, a touchdown regression's dream scenario. It took a tipped pass late in the game with Brown racing down the sideline to ice the win Kansas City, but Brown found the end zone and nearly hit 3x value on his top $9,200 salary.
Larry Fitzgerald: Fitzgerald has enjoyed a soft schedule to open the season and Tampa Bay has been one of the best matchups for opposing passing games. Fitzgerald was once-again affordably priced in the WR2/3 zone for FanDuel and Fitzgerald's weekly floor of targets is high (six is the low-water mark back in Week 2). Fitzgerald was peppered with targets to the tune of 10-138-1, returning more than 3x value. 13% of the field and 70% of the top-10 owned Fitzgerald this week.
Rob Gronkowski Touchdown Regression: Gronkowski has been such an elite touchdown scorer in his career that his 10% touchdown rate in 2017 was on the regression watch list. Gronkowski did not score in Week 4 and was inactive Week 5. Against the Jets, Gronkowski collected a season-high 10 targets with two touchdowns. Despite the top salary, Gronkowski paid off with nearly 3x value and 70% of the top-10 owned him this week.
WHAT FAILED?
C.J. Anderson: Two aspects worked against Anderson this week as one of the chalk running back plays at 24% ownership. First, Denver's projected game script playing with a lead against the Giants never materialized. Second, Denver has more of a running back by committee rotation than Anderson supporters want to acknowledge. Jamaal Charles is mixing in plenty on early downs and Devontae Booker is back and operating as the hurry-up option. Anderson totaled 17 yards without a reception or touchdown in a bust performance.
Devonta Freeman: In what was supposed to be a comfortable win for Atlanta turned into a surprising home loss to Miami. Freeman was 11% owned and barely returned 1x value with 79 total yards and only two receptions. His salary dropped $700 for Week 7.
Keenan Allen: At 13% ownership, Allen had a strong matchup against Oakland with a reasonable $7,200 salary. An empty box score of 5-45-0 was the result as Hunter Henry and Melvin Gordon were the key performers for the Chargers this week.
DeAndre Hopkins: While Deshaun Watson stayed hot this week, Hopkins at 38% ownership was a disappointment, catching two passes for 19 yards. Fortunately, Hopkins found the end zone to salvage 1x value but considering the production of Houston's offense overall and the positive matchup this week, Hopkins qualifies for the list.
Chris Hogan: At 17% ownership, Hogan was a dud against the Jets with a single catch and 0.3x value. This week marked Hogan's lowest volume of the season (four targets) and the first time in more than a month without a touchdown. The good news is Hogan's salary drops $300 for Week 7, the Patriots' Sunday Night matchup with Atlanta.
Julio Jones: At 19% and a strong touchdown regression candidate, Jones was held out of the end zone yet again. 19% of lineups in the contest at Jones at $8,400 and he barely returned 1x value.
Michael Thomas: The Saints offense hummed against Detroit, but Thomas was the notable dud at 15% ownership and 3-11-0 stat line. At $8,500, Thomas was one of the biggest disappointments of the week.
Broncos Defense: At 32% ownership in the contest and the top salary of the position in Week 6, Denver disappointed in the home matchup against the struggling Giants. Instead of feasting on a New York offense without their top-3 receivers and a floundering running game, Denver struggling to score with their own offense and the Giants running game hummed at an efficient not seen yet this season. Denver barely returned 1x value, not forcing a single turnover and salvaging even 1x value due to a blocked kick.
Falcons Defense: Atlanta bombed their home matchup against Miami. With nearly 10% ownership in the contest, Atlanta did not log a sack and had a single turnover for less than 1x value.
Finish | QB | RB1 | RB2 | WR1 | WR2 | WR3 | TE | K | DEF |
1 | Palmer | Bell | Ingram | Evans | Fitzgerald | D.Jackson | Gronkowski | Lutz | NO |
2 | Cousins | Bell | McKinnon | A.Brown | D.Thomas | Fitzgerald | Engram | Lutz | BAL |
3 | Watson | Gordon | McKinnon | A.Brown | Fuller | Smith-Schuster | Gronkowski | Zuerlein | NO |
4 | Watson | Bell | Peterson | Evans | Fitzgerald | Cooper | Gronkowski | Lutz | NO |
5 | Cousins | Ingram | McKinnon | A.Brown | Allen | Fitzgerald | Gronkowski | Lutz | BAL |
6 | Watson | Bell | Ingram | A.Brown | Fitzgerald | Thielen | Engram | Hopkins | BAL |
6 | Watson | Bell | Ingram | A.Brown | Fitzgerald | Thielen | Engram | Hopkins | BAL |
8 | Cousins | Thompson | Ingram | A.Brown | Fitzgerald | D.Jackson | Gronkowski | Lutz | BAL |
9 | Watson | Bell | Ingram | Fitzgerald | Thielen | Landry | Gronkowski | Lutz | BAL |
9 | Watson | Bell | Ingram | Fitzgerald | Thielen | Landry | Gronkowski | Lutz | BAL |
SHOOTING THE NEEDLE
While most rostered options in the top-10 were moderate to highly-owned across the contest, here are some of the top performers with low-ownership in this week's tournament:
Josh McCown: At 1% ownership, McCown surpassed 3x value with 375 total yards and two touchdowns as the Jets hung with the Patriots well into the second half.
Carson Palmer: At 3% ownership, Palmer hit 3x value with his three touchdowns and nearly 300 passing yards against Tampa Bay.
Adrian Peterson: At 1% ownership, Peterson was off the radar of most DFS players this week. Arizona, however, featured Peterson in their high-scoring win over the struggling Tampa Bay defense. At $5,000 salary, Peterson hit 5x value with 134 yards and two touchdowns. In the first quarter alone Peterson nearly hit 3x value.
Kenny Stills: At less than 1% ownership, Stills benefitted from DeVante Parker's inactive status this week. With a $4,800 salary, Stills posted 4-49-1 and nearly 3x value.
John Brown: Another benefactor of Arizona's strong offensive showing was Brown, logging 3-63-1 on four targets, his lowest volume of the season. At 1% ownership, Brown hit more than 2x value.
Head over to FanDuel now and catch the action for Week 7.