FanDuel Weekly Salary Cap Guide: Week 10

Welcome to Week 10 of the FanDuel Salary Cap Guide. In this guide, Jeff Haseley and I will put together the best FanDuel lineups we can craft by using FBG's projections and a metric of Dollars Spent per Fantasy Point. For a more descriptive introduction to what we're doing here, check out the Week 1 Version.

BUILDING THE OPTIMAL LINEUPS

This week, we're just projecting one lineup for each salary cap level. After all, the real fun of this article is reading about the bargain players and using the sheet to create your own lineup.

$55k Salary Cap:

• QB: Josh McCown ($5,800)
• RB: Danny Woodhead ($6,600)
• RB: Pierre Thomas ($5,600)
• WR: Pierre Garcon ($7,400)
• WR: Andre Johnson ($6,900)
• WR: Antonio Brown ($6,900)
• TE: Antonio Gates ($5,600)
• K: Garrett Hartley ($5,100)
• DEF: Colts ($5,100)

Dodds has this team projected for 116.2 points and spending $473 per fantasy point. Bloom's projections for this same squad yield a point total of 112.5 points and $489 per fantasy point.

$60k Salary Cap:

• QB: Josh McCown ($5,800)
• RB: Zac Stacy ($7,500)
• RB: Pierre Thomas ($5,600)
• WR: Pierre Garcon ($7,400)
• WR: Andre Johnson ($6,900)
• WR: Antonio Brown ($6,900)
• TE: Jimmy Graham ($8,700)
• K: Matt Prater ($5,400)
• DEF: Titans ($5,800)

Dodds has this team projected for 126.5 points and spending $474 per fantasy point. Bloom actually likes this team better than Dodds does, projecting it for a total of 127.7 points and spending $470 per fantasy point.

"SCRUB"-BING FOR VALUE

If you've ever done an auction draft, you've likely heard the phrase "stars and scrubs." For those unfamiliar, it's a strategy in which a team spends the majority of their money on high-dollar players and hopes to fill the rest of the roster with low-dollar "lottery ticket" types. This can be a viable strategy in FanDuel too. Let's see some of this week's low-dollar players who might compliment the "stars" on the roster.

Last week at quarterback, we suggested Jake Locker. He only passed for 185 yards and zero touchdowns as Tennessee dominated St. Louis on the ground. Luckily, Locker was a small part of that domination as he did get a rushing touchdown to salvage some value.

This week, we're really going to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Seneca Wallace ($5,000) may not have looked the least bit impressive on Monday Night Football, but a quarterback thrown into the game after nearly zero practice reps all season long is far different than a guy who has worked with the "1's" for a whole week leading up to a game. Wallace has a lot of things going for him. Mike McCarthy is a great offensive mind, his receivers and running game are top-notch, and he gets a Philadelphia defense that has been far from sharp against the pass this season. Wallace may not be as good as a then-healthy Matt Flynn, but we all remember what Flynn did in his financial windfall of a performance during Week 17 outburst on New Year's Day, 2012.

Last week's choice at running back was Mike James. Despite a tough matchup against Seattle, James came through with 166 total yards and a passing touchdown.

This week's selection is Andre Brown ($5,200). His return comes at a good time for the Giants. The word is that he will see action on all three downs, but also that he'll be eased into the picture. Our take on that is if he does well early, he'll stay in the game. It's a great matchup vs. Oakland this week, and we like his chances of decent yardage and a score.

As mentioned last week, wide receiver has been an up and down proposition in this space. Last week, we gave you a little bit of each as we selected Darrius Heyward-Bey (who had one catch for 11 yards) and Denarius Moore (who had 82 yards on five receptions in a "that won't kill your chances of winning" type of effort).

This week, we're going with Kendall Wright ($5,200). There will definitely be scoring opportunities for the Titans against the Jaguars, who have allowed the most points (264) of any team in the league. Wright is the team's leading receiver and should be featured often throughout the game.

Our second receiver selection is Steve Johnson ($5,600). On paper, Johnson's matchup is difficult against a Pittsburgh team that is still allowing the eighth-fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers despite last week's meltdown against New England. It's in part due to that meltdown that we're selecting Johnson this week. Pittsburgh top cornerback, Ike Taylor, also suffered a concussion last week and may not play. Pittsburgh's players gave some very telling post-game quotes, leading us to believe that this is a team (particularly a defense) that's on the verge of giving up. Johnson also should get EJ Manuel back this week to help boost his production.

Last week, we picked Tim Wright at tight end. Wright performed quite admirably, snagging four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown.

This week, we're going with Jordan Reed ($5,400). We're not sure why Reed isn't a higher cost this week. He is clearly one of Robert Griffin's top targets. Plus, Washington will be playing Minnesota, who have given up 252 points which is second-most in the NFC behind only Washington. Thursday Night Football players have been ones to avoid for most of the year, but at this price, Reed is too tough to let go.

Last week, we discussed the Colts here. It was a complete and total dud for them, as they only produced one sack and had no takeaways.

This week, we thought about doubling down on the Colts ($5,100) against the Kellen Clemens-led Rams, but instead, we're going with the Giants ($5,300). Before their bye week, Tom Coughlin's crew had two rather inspired performances against Minnesota and Philadelphia, the latter of which came on the road and yielded zero offensive points. This week, they get a team traveling cross-country who has turned the ball over five times in its last two games (both of which were at home) against average-to-poor defenses in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. 

THE "D.I.Y." SECTION

Below, you'll find the spreadsheet with which you can customize your own team. Before downloading, here are a few notes and instructions to help make it work effectively:

• Upon opening, enable macros and data connections when prompted.
• If you're unable to sort by name, salary, projections, etc. on any of the positional pages, your macros are not enabled.
• Begin at the "Front Page" tab and follow the instructions listed in each section.
• Use the drop-downs on each respective position tab to select your players. Please DO NOT be able to type anything in the dark-shaded cells. This entire workbook utilizes formulas, macros, and links. Typing in those cells can ruin its functionality.
• If you don't see a player listed, it's because FanDuel didn't have a salary assigned to him as of Wednesday evening. Adding these players manually wouldn't be helpful since they're not available on FanDuel anyway.
• The "Lineup Page" tab will only add up the salary figures when a full team of nine players is selected.
• We've added a button on the front page that will update the player projections when it is pressed! Again, make sure your macros and data connections are enabled in order to ensure proper functionality. To do this, I had to un-protect the positional worksheets. Again, typing in any of the colored cells can impact/ruin the tool's functionality.
• If refreshing the data isn't working, it may be the version of Excel you're using. Download the sheet again and do not refresh the projections. This will allow you to use the sheet, but you won't get updated information throughout the week. Projections obviously change from Wednesday to later in the week, but this will still give you a good basis for building a team.
• You'll notice some "N/A" fields in the projections That is because one or both of our projectors did not project points for that player, likely due to questionable playing status. By using the new refresh function above as the week goes on, you may see projections for those players if their injury outlook improves and the projectors include them.
• Enjoy!

Create Your Own FanDuel Lineup (Updated Sunday, 11/10 at 9:30am EST)

NOTE: Since there are some folks having trouble refreshing the projections, I'll be updating the sheet on my end this week, allowing you to have fresh projections that include Friday's updates. Please check back Saturday and Sunday as I'll do at least one update. The updated sheet will be available at the same link above. It will overwrite the older version. When updated, I'll include a note letting you know when the tool was refreshed.

For any questions on your weekly fantasy decisions, FanDuel teams, or anything else in the world of fantasy, follow and reach out to us on Twitter @JeffHaseley and @footballbrackts. For questions on the spreadsheet, please e-mail Ryan Hester at hester@footballguys.com. We appreciate and encourage any feedback that can help us get this thing perfect.