FanDuel's Sunday Million Week 14 Recap

Chad Parsons's FanDuel's Sunday Million Week 14 Recap Chad Parsons Published 12/11/2017

 

FanDuel offers some of the biggest payouts in all of daily fantasy sports. Among them is the $1.4 million FanDuel Sunday Million contest where a $7 entry has a shot at the $250,000 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 14 of the Sunday Million shook out:

 

DFS Screen Name Points Prize Money
1st topthat1 196.60 $250,000
2nd dinkpiece 184.84 $125,000
3rd thatstunna 183.14 $75,000
4th mooreville 182.94 $50,000
5th jbuck03 182.64 $30,000


The winning lineup by topthat1 featured one of the highest floor combinations of the season. Their weakest performer was Harrison Butker at kicker, still with 17 FanDuel points and more than 3x value. More than half of the winning lineup was comprised of 5% ownership or fewer options, including Demaryius Thomas and Trey Burton at 2% each. This week's top-10 had little continuity between lineups outside of DeAndre Hopkins and Trey Burton as centerpiece players in eight or more of the top-10 lineups. Tophat1 stacked Case Keenum with Adam Thielen and the pair combined for more than 40 FanDuel points on reasonable salaries. 

Position Player Salary FanDuel Points Ownership
QB Case Keenum $7,500 21.2 3%
RB LeSean McCoy $9,000 21.6 21%
RB Jordan Howard $7,000 28.0 5%
WR DeAndre Hopkins $8,600 30.4 30%
WR Adam Thielen $7,500 19.5 12%
WR Demaryius Thomas $6,300 19.3 2%
TE Trey Burton $4,500 21.6 2%
K Harrison Butker $4,800 17.0 12%
DST Broncos $4,700 18.0 3%
    $59,900 196.6  


WHAT WORKED?

*High ownership with high-value return*

Giovani BernardOne of the chalk plays of the week, Bernard paid off with 3x value on his $5,100 salary with Joe Mixon out of the lineup. Bernard totaled 130 yards and six receptions as 27% of entries owned the Cincinnati back.

Todd Gurley: The high-salary stud continued to perform well with 3x value on 19% ownership. The Rams did not win against the Eagles in the race for the NFC No.1 seed, but Gurley's two-way acumen is rivaled by few backs in the NFL with 135 total yards and two rushing touchdowns.

Kareem Hunt: While Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce were disappointments, Hunt was back with 14% ownership and 3x value, his best return since way back in Week 3 of the season. Hunt found the end zone and accrued 138 total yards.

Jamaal Williams: The Green Bay back dominated snaps over Aaron Jones yet again and his 11% ownership was rewarded with 4x value with seven receptions, 118 total yards, and two touchdowns as the Packers stayed alive in the playoff race with Aaron Rodgers potentially returning next week.

DeAndre HopkinsThe carousel of quarterbacks continued for Houston with Tom Savage and T.J. Yates seeing time due to a Savage injury in Week 14. Hopkins was owned by 30% of the contest and surged to more than 3x value despite a lofty $8,600 salary, posting 11-149-2.

Marquise Goodwin: The 49ers receiver has been on a tear of late and this week he returned a solid profit on his bare-bones $5,700 salary with 6-106-0 as the 49ers won on the road in Houston.

Harrison Butker: The Chiefs kicker was owned by 12% of the entries and surpassed 3x value with four field goals, including one from 50+ yards.

WHAT FAILED?

*High ownership with low-value return*

Alex SmithA week after being a DFS darling with four touchdowns, Smith failed to find the end zone in the win over Oakland with 292 empty yards and an interception, sagging to 1.5x value on 17% ownership.

Lamar Miller: The equation for Miller to be a sturdy play this week aligned with only Andre Ellington behind Miller on the depth chart and a likely positive game script against San Francisco. Miller's 22% ownership barely returned 1x value, however, with 60 total yards and two catches as Houston lost by 10 points to the 49ers.

A.J. Green: At 18% ownership, Green returned less than 1x value with 5-64-0 and a lost fumble on his balmy $8,300 salary.

Tyreek Hill: At 22% ownership, Hill (along with teammate Travis Kelce) was a disappointment with a shade more than 1x value return. Hill had 4-75-0 but was stopped just short of the end zone with his best chance to score a touchdown this week.

Larry Fitzgerald: At 17% ownership, Fitzgerald hit not hit even the 1x value baseline with 5-44-0 as Arizona squeaked out a home win over Tennessee.

Travis Kelce: One of the chalk picks of the week at 32% ownership, Kelce barely hit 1x value with 7-74-0 on his lofty $8,000 salary.

Greg Zuerlein: After being one of the most impressive kickers of the season, Week 14 was not in line with Zuerlein's typical results, returning 1x value on 27% ownership with a mere five extra points in the shootout loss against the Eagles.

Packers DST: The Browns are an ideal matchup for opposing defenses, but Deshone Kizer played one of his cleaner games from the pocket of the season. The 9% ownership of Green Bay barely hit 1x value with two sacks and two turnovers.

Bengals DST: The Bears blew out Cincinnati and the Bengals' 11% ownership returned only a single FanDuel point with two sacks and 33 points allowed.

Finish QB RB1 RB2 WR1 WR2 WR3 TE K DEF
1 Keenum McCoy Howard Hopkins Thielen D.Thomas Burton Butker DEN
2 Wilson Gurley Hunt Hopkins Allen Goodwin Burton Lambo DEN
3 Wentz McCoy J.Williams Hopkins Jeffery Kupp Burton Coons DAL
4 Wentz McCoy Hunt Hopkins Gordon Agholor Burton Gould DEN
5 Wentz Gurley M.Davis Hopkins Allen D.Thomas Burton Butker DEN
6 Wentz Gurley Bernard Hopkins Allen D.Thomas Burton Butker LAC
7 Wentz Gurley J.Williams Hopkins Jeffery Agholor Burton Gould GB
8 Hundley Howard J.Williams Hopkins D.Bryant Adams Kroft Gould DET
9 Wentz Gurley Morris Hopkins Jeffery Kupp Burton Coons DEN
10 Prescott Hunt J.Williams Hopkins Thielen D.Bryant Cook Butker IND


MOST OWNED IN THE TOP-10 LINEUPS:

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:

SHOOTING THE NEEDLE

Brett HundleyAt 1% ownership, one of the top-10 finishers used Hundley (stacking with Davante Adams) to fuel an impressive finish. Hundley nearly hit 4x value as he led the comeback win over still-winless Cleveland with three touchdown passes and 296 total yards.

Theo Riddick: With Ameer Abdullah out, Riddick surged with his 1.9% ownership to approach 5x value with 93 total yards, six catches, and two rushing touchdowns in Detroit's road win in Tampa Bay.

Demaryius ThomasThe Denver receiver hit his highest value rate of the season, more than a 3x return as his salary and ownership plummeted in recent weeks. With 1.9% ownership, Thomas posted 8-93-1 as Denver shut out the Jets.

Dede Westbrook: The Jaguars rookie receiver hit 3x value with 5-81-1 on 1.7% ownership in Jacksonville's impressive Week 14 win over Seattle.

Trey Burton: With Zach Ertz out, Burton was owned by 2% of the contest entries and nearly hit 5x value on his $4,500 salary to the tune of 5-71-2. Burton was also owned by the winner of the contest this week.

Jared Cook: At 1.4% ownership, Cook nearly hit 3x value with 5-75-1 as Oakland played catch-up against Kansas City and struggled to push the ball downfield.

Josh Lambo: As Jacksonville secured a key win over Seattle, Lambo hit three field goals, including one from 50+ yards and hit 3x value on 1.7% ownership.

Broncos DST: Denver logged the shutout against the Jets for the 10-point FanDuel bonus and collected four sacks and two turnovers for nearly 4x value on 2.9% ownership.

Lions DST: With 1.5% ownership, Detroit forced five turnovers in Tampa Bay and sacked Jameis Winston three times for nearly 3x value on their $4,700 salary.

Panthers DST: Like Detroit, Carolina's defense at low ownership at 1.4% and returned around 3x value with six sacks and forcing three turnovers against Minnesota.

Head over to FanDuel now and catch the action for Week 15.

Photos provided by Imagn Images

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