Photo: Imagn Images

Welcome to Week 11 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

$55k Salary Cap:

• QB: Josh McCown ($5,500)
• RB: Ben Tate ($6,500)
• RB: Pierre Thomas ($5,800)
• WR: Victor Cruz ($6,800)
• WR: Alshon Jeffery ($6,500)
• WR: Kendall Wright ($5,400)
• TE: Jimmy Graham ($8,000)
• K: Garrett Hartley ($5,200)
• DEF: Ravens ($5,300)

Dodds has this team projected for 126.1 points and spending $436 per fantasy point. This team is very efficient. Bloom likes this team too, with a very respectable project point total of 122.2 points and $450 per fantasy point.

$60k Salary Cap:

• QB: Tom Brady ($8,900)
• RB: Ben Tate ($6,500)
• RB: Pierre Thomas ($5,800)
• WR: Vincent Jackson ($8,000)
• WR: Alshon Jeffery ($6,500)
• WR: Eric Decker ($5,800)
• TE: Jimmy Graham ($8,000)
• K: Garrett Hartley ($5,200)
• DEF: Ravens ($5,300)

Dodds has this team projected for 131.1 points and spending $458 per fantasy point. This is another incredibly potent and efficient team. Bloom actually likes this team even more than Dodds does, projecting it for a total of 132.3 points and spending $454 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 Josh McCown. This article is crafted on Wednesdays and published on Thursdays, so we obviously had no idea of the impact the weather would have in Chicago. That said, 216 yards and one touchdown didn't kill you if you spent wisely elsewhere.

This week, we're doubling down on Mr. McCown ($5,500) once again. Last week was McCown's floor, and it came in a game with terrible weather, a long delay that interrupted potential offensive flow, and very bad field conditions. He was also playing against a solid defense in Baltimore. This week, he's on the road, but he'll be indoors on a perfect surface against a lesser unit. McCown is a low-end QB1 play at the 27th-highest salary in a week with 28 starting quarterbacks.

Last week's choice at running back was Brian Leonard. It appeared that Leonard would lead a committee in Tampa Bay. That notion, however, was wildly incorrect as Bobby Rainey saw the vast majority of the work, leaving little opporunity for Leonard. 

This week's selection is a little higher-priced than our typical "scrub" running back, but we can't get away from Pierre Thomas ($5,800) at Atlanta. We like Thomas regardless of the New Orleans backfield situation, but if Darren Sproles doesn't play (which isn't looking likely based on Wednesday reports), Thomas should be in every Thursday contest lineup. For those playing in non-Thursday games, a true bargain basement selection is Chris Ogbannaya ($4,600). He gets a reeling Pittsburgh defense and gets much more volume than your typical $4,600 player.

Last week, we went with Kendall Wright for the second straight week. Wright made us look reasonably wise, catching nine passes for 80 yards last Thursday night. We also chose Golden Tate, who only caught one pass for 26 yards, continuing our trend of hitting one sleeper at wide receiver and missing terribly on the other.

For the third straight week, we're going with Kendall Wright ($5,400). Wright's salary continues to stay at the same level (slightly up from $5,300 last week) despite his increasing production. Wright's yardage totals in his last six games are as follows: 74-69-98-69-78-80. Touchdowns are the only thing missing from Wright's recent resume, and that kind of production suggests they're coming soon.

Our second receiver selection is Dwayne Bowe ($5,000). Bowe has been a huge disappointment all season, but he is coming off two stronger games. In Week 9 against Buffalo, he had seven receptions for 67 yards on 12 targets. He came out of the Week 10 bye with four catches, 57 yards, and a touchdown on 14 targets. Alex Smith is looking his way more, and Kansas City's schedule is softening up. That's a nice recipe.

Last week, we picked Rob Housler at tight end in a favorable matchup at Jacksonville. He didn't score a touchdown as he did in Week 10, but he caught a very respectable six passes for 70 yards.

This week, we're going with John Carlson ($5,000). Carlson's quarterback situation is a mess, but he has filled in admirably for Kyle Rudolph. We think that continues against Green Bay's defense, which is allowing the 11th-most points to tight ends in half-PPR scoring. Carlson has seven targets in each of his two starts. Rudolph only had seven or more targets once (a game with 11).

Last week, we chose Houston thinking that they'd be facing a hobbled Terrelle Pryor. The outlook on Houston improved as news broke that Matt McGloin would start for Oakland instead. However, McGloin's NFL debut went surprisingly well, which would have made the Houston pick a poor one if not for the punt return touchdown they had. The Texans had just two sacks and zero takeaways.

This week, we're going with Cleveland ($5,000). They may be a low-ceiling defense with Pittsburgh's offense ticking lately, but they're a high floor with Pittsburgh's offensive line still allowing sacks and potential turnovers.

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 

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.