FanDuel's Sunday Million Week 8 Recap

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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 $400,000 first-place payout. 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. 

Here is how Week 8 of the Sunday Million shook out:

The winning lineup by zoldster including three chalk plays (Ezekiel Elliott, LeSean McCoy, Bengals defense), but most of their lineup consisted of savvy lower-owned options. Four of their nine plays were from the high-scoring Houston-Seattle game, a matchup most DFS players were fading by the common sub-5% ownership of the central figures. Juju Smith-Schuster gained steam throughout the week with Martavis Bryant's falling out with Pittsburgh pining for a stronger role in the offense. His inactive status only aided Smith-Schuster's breakout game and more than 5x value return.Despite strong salaries respectively, the Deshaun Watson-DeAndre Hopkins stack returned 4x value on their combined $16,000 salary. Many weeks top-10 finishers have one sub-par performer in their lineup, but zoldster's lowest value return was the Bengals defense (nearly 3x value) as the well-rounded lineup cleared the field by more than 12 FanDuel points for the No.1 result.

WHAT WORKED?

Ezekiel Elliott and LeSean McCoy: The common successful running back pairing in Week 7 was back for a repeat performance in Week 8. With Elliott still on the field with a looming suspension ruling and Buffalo's offense searching for a passing identity, both were owned by at least 19% of the contest and 60% of the top-10 had both running backs in their lineup. Each was 80% owned by the top-10 and produced roughly 3x value each.

Houston, We Have a Trend: Despite the road test in Seattle, owners were rewarded with banking on Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, and Will Fuller yet again. Watson pushed for 500 total yards, logged four touchdowns, and three of them went to Hopkins and Fuller. The super-stack made sense as the ancillary weapons for Houston are lackluster and Watson is a dual-threat option. Fuller was 8% owned in the contest, but Hopkins and Watson were in the 3% zone, largely ignored.

Juju Smith-Schuster: The writing was on the wall for Smith-Schuster to see an elevated role in Week 8. Martavis Bryant turned into inactive status and Smith-Schuster opened the game with a 40+ yard gain and later added a 90+ yard touchdown en route to 7-193-1 and more than 5x value.

Eagles Defense: While high-priced at $5,400, the field owned the Eagles at 18%, returning nearly 4x value. The 49ers' toothless offense struggled their way through the blowout loss, including four sacks, two turnovers, and a defensive touchdown allowed.

Bengals Defense: One of the chalk plays (24% owned) was Cincinnati hosting Indianapolis. Fueled by a touchdown, blocked kick, interception, and four sacks, they returned 3x value.

WHAT FAILED?

Devonta Freeman: With 13% ownership, Freeman had a single reception and 61 total yards as Atlanta struggled to establish the run game against the Jets.

A.J. Green: The free world was on A.J. Green this week (42% ownership), but Cincinnati's passing game sputtered overall outside of a long Joe Mixon catch-and-run. Green escaped with a short-range touchdown but barely hit 1x value on the day.

Antonio Brown: While Juju Smith-Schuster was a high-value performer this week, Brown returned 1x value on his bulging $9,200 salary and 18% ownership with 5-70-0.

Julio Jones: Barely returning 1x value, Jones logged three receptions at the Jets as Mohamed Sanu was the wide receiver to own for Atlanta this week.

Doug Baldwin: Fireworks abound in the Seattle-Houston shootout, but Baldwin was largely left watching the production pile up for others. At 13% ownership, Baldwin grazed 1x value with 6-54-0 as Russell Wilson threw for 452 yards and four touchdowns.

Keenan Allen: At 10% ownership, Allen and Hunter Henry were the main Chargers pieces to underperform expectations in Week 8. Allen hit 1x value with 4-61-0.

Mike Evans: Yet another big name wide receiver came up with a small return on investment this week in Mike Evans. 11% ownership produced 1x value as Tampa Bay continues to underperform on their offensive talent. Evans' 5-60-0 line was about a best-case scenario considering their three-point offensive output against Carolina.

Nelson Agholor: At a surprising 19% ownership in the contest, Agholor came back to earth with 3-26-0, returning less than 1x value.

Jordan Reed: Missing part of the game with an injury, Reed was also invisible when in the game. At 13% ownership, Reed managed one catch as Jamison Crowder stole the Washington offensive show in the loss against Dallas.

Hunter Henry: Arguably one of the biggest disappointments of the week was Hunter Henry. At 18% ownership, Henry had a single catch and was a complete FanDuel dud as the Chargers managed a mere 13 points in New England.

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:

James White: Each Patriots running back had their pocket of the game where they were featured. White, at 2% ownership and $4,900 salary, logged 5-85-0 through the air and more than 2x value.

Jamison Crowder: Jordan Reed missed some of the game with an injury, Terrelle Pryor's snaps were down, and Josh Doctson has yet to piece together a complete game. As a result, Crowder dominated the Washington passing game against Dallas to the tune of 9-123-0. With less than 2% ownership, Crowder returned more than 3x value.

Travis Benjamin: While Keenan Allen was on the disappointing return list for Week 8, Benjamin hit on 1% ownership for 3x value with 5-64-1 and 14 rushing yards.

Jack Doyle: With questions on the perimeter, Doyle was featured against the Bengals, posting a strong fantasy performance in the first half alone. At less than 3% ownership, Doyle nearly hit 5x value with 12-121-1 on a mere $4,900 salary.

Austin Hooper: Julio Jones struggled against the Jets, but Hooper provided value on his $4,900 salary and less than 1% ownership. His 4-47-1 line returned more than 2x value.

Matt Bryant: Away from the home dome, Bryant pushed for 3x value on 2% ownership with four field goals, one from 50+ yards.

Head over to FanDuel now and catch the action for Week 9.

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