Each week this season, we will spend some time on Tuesday analyzing the highest scoring lineups from the previous weekend's DraftKings Millionaire Maker contest. We highlight trends and strategy such as how much to spend per position, which stacking strategies (if any) have been successful, and which position has been best used in the flex spot. We will also compare results from the 2015 season to our in-depth study of the results from the 2014 season and see if the conclusions we drew over the offseason hold up when more data is added to the equation.
We will also look forward to the upcoming Millionaire Maker contest and point out some players who are in the same price ranges and have matchups similar to the players that helped previous DraftKings contest winners take home huge cash prizes.
THE WINNING LINEUP
DraftKings user skeener917 had a major sweat Monday night. He entered the evening with 271.14 points and was able to hold onto first place by 0.1 points and hold off a late charge from a Jeremy Langford owner and take home the $1,000,000 first prize. The winning entry utilized the week's best stack: Marcus Martiota and Delanie Walker. skeener917 flexed a running back and used the trio of Chris Ivory, DeAngelo Williams and Lamar Miller. At wide receiver, he hit on Antonio Brown and Michael Crabtree from the Raiders-Steelers shootout. He also got just enough out of Julian Edelman and the Jets DST to put him over the top.
THE TOP 20
Below are the lineups of the top 20 finishers in DraftKings' Week 9 Millionaire Maker tournament (RB1, RB2, and WR1-WR3 are ordered by price):
| QB | RB1 | RB2 | WR1 | WR2 | WR3 | TE | FLEX | DST | |
| 1 | Mariota | Ivory | De. Williams | Edelman | An. Brown | Crabtree | Walker | L. Miller | Eagles |
| 2 | Carr | De. Murray | De. Williams | An. Brown | Em. Sanders | Crabtree | Walker | Langford | Eagles |
| 3 | Roethlisberger | Ivory | De. Williams | An. Brown | Jeffery | Watkins | Walker | Crabtree | Broncos |
| 4 | Mariota | Freeman | De. Williams | An. Brown | Jeffery | Crabtree | Walker | Langford | Vikings |
| 5 | Mariota | De. Williams | L. Miller | An. Brown | Jeffery | LaFell | Walker | Beckham | Broncos |
| 6 | Roethlisberger | De. Williams | Langford | An. Brown | Landry | Crabtree | Walker | Peterson | Jets |
| 7 | Mariota | De. Williams | Langford | An. Brown | Em. Sanders | Jeffery | Walker | Cooks | Jets |
| 8 | Mariota | De. Williams | Langford | Ju. Jones | An. Brown | St. Johnson | Walker | Peterson | Jets |
| 9 | Roethlisberger | De. Murray | L. Miller | An. Brown | Evans | Crabtree | Walker | Hurns | Eagles |
| 10 | Roethlisberger | Ingram | De. Williams | An. Brown | Jeffery | Crabtree | Walker | L. Miller | Bears |
| 11 | Carr | Freeman | De. Williams | Jeffery | Crabtree | St. Johnson | Walker | An. Brown | Jets |
| 12 | Rodgers | L. Miller | Langford | An. Brown | Cobb | Crabtree | Walker | Landry | Jets |
| 13 | Mariota | Peterson | De. Williams | An. Brown | Evans | J. Hunter | Walker | Jeffery | Jets |
| 14 | Roethlisberger | Ivory | Langford | An. Brown | Jeffery | Watkins | Walker | De. Williams | Broncos |
| 15 | Carr | Freeman | De. Williams | An. Brown | Cooper | Crabtree | Walker | Langford | Broncos |
| 16 | Newton | De. Williams | K. Williams | An. Brown | Evans | Matthews | Gates | Langford | Jets |
| 17 | Roethlisberger | De. Williams | Langford | An. Brown | Jeffery | Crabtree | Walker | Gurley | Broncos |
| 18 | Roethlisberger | Ivory | De. Williams | An. Brown | Decker | Crabtree | Walker | Jeffery | Eagles |
| 19 | Carr | L. Miller | Langford | An. Brown | Cooper | Crabtree | Walker | Beckham | Giants |
| 20 | Mariota | De. Williams | Langford | Ju. Jones | An. Brown | St. Johnson | Walker | Em. Sanders | Jets |
THE TOP 3 PLAYS OF THE WEEK
The biggest key to Week 9 success was probably Delanie Walker at tight end. His 30.5 points pale in comparison to the highest scorers at other positions, but he was the one player who really separated from the pack at his position. Walker was owned by 95% of the top finsihers. The other pair of key players both suited up for the Steelers; DeAngelo Williams (85%) and Antonio Brown (100%) were the top scorers at their positions. Both Williams and Brown were highly owned, but the majority did not pair the RB-WR duo. Those who did go the slightly unorthodox route of pairing the Steelers RB/WR duo were rewarded handsomely for their approach.
STACKS
It was almost another clean sweep for the strategy of stacking with 95% of the top finishers stacking their quarterback with one or more of his top targets. The week's most successful stack was Marcus Mariota and Delanie Walker with 35% of the top finishers owning the duo. Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown were also owned by 35% of the top finishers. Derek Carr with Michael Crabtree (10%) and Carr with both Crabtree and Amari Cooper (10%) were also successful stacks employed by multiple top 20 finishers.
QUARTERBACKS
Unlike Week 8 when Drew Brees separated from the pack, there were a number of quarterbacks that finished with similar scores in Week 9. Marcus Mariota (35%), Ben Roethlisberger (35%), Derek Carr (20%), Cam Newton (5%) and Aaron Rodgers (5%) all had strong weeks. Overall, the quarterbacks averaged 31.24 points at a salary of $5,980 (5.2x).
From a bigger picture perspective, few of the cheapest options at other positions came through in Week 9. Thus, it was much tougher to pay up for quarterbacks like Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers and still assemble a top lineup.
Looking forward to Week 10, Derek Carr ($5,800) is still inexplicably cheap. We recommended him here last week and while Minnesota is a tough matchup on paper, Carr has been so hot that he appears to be matchup-proof (just ask the Jets). Kirk Cousins ($5,200) faces the same Saints defense that has allowed huge games to Marcus Mariota and Eli Manning the past two weeks. Lastly, Peyton Manning ($6,200) has quietly averaged more than 300 passing yards per game over the past three weeks. He heads home to face a shaky Chiefs pass defense. If Manning is going to have a big week this season, Week 9 sets up as his best opportunity.
RUNNING BACKS
DeAngelo Williams was a popular play in Week 9 and he rewarded those who believed in him (despite a tough matchup on a paper) with 41.5 points. Williams was owned on 85% of the top rosters, split evenly between RB1 (40%) and RB2 (40%) with one FLEX appearance. Overall, the RB1s averaged 29.8 points at a salary of $6,135 (4.9x). The RB2s averaged 33.4 points at a salary of just $4,775 (7.0x). As we noted here last week, there was all kinds of value available at running back in Week 9.
Looking forward to Week 10, the value is much tougher to spot at RB. The sub-$4,800 running back options mostly have tough matchups. At $4,900, both LeGarrette Blount and Darren McFadden are intriguing as mid-low priced options with decent matchups against the Giants and Buccaneers respectively. Overall, it looks like a week in which paying up at RB makes sense with players like Mark Ingram ($6,400), DeAngelo Williams ($6,500) and Todd Gurley ($7,300) all having nice matchups.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Despite not finding the end zone, Week 9 was dominated by Antonio Brown. He was owned by over 30% of the entrants into the Millionaire Maker contest and every single one of the top finishers. Brown was rostered primarily as a WR1 (80%) and was the primary reason the WR1 position averaged 44.5 points. At an average salary of $8,155, the position hit a huge 5.5x multiple. The WR2s averaged 28.1 points at a salary of $6,810 (4.2x). The WR3s averaged 27.9 points at a salary of $4,640 (6.0x).
Despite many owners targeting very inexpensive WR3s, 75% of the top finishers paid at least $4,900 for thier WR3s. It paid to go against the crowd this week in terms of going cheap at WR3.
Last week, we recommended a WR1-WR2 duo of Julian Edelman and Antonio Brown. That duo was rostered by the million dollar winner. Heading into Week 10, it feels like a week to go cheap at WR1 with a sub-$7,000 option. Mike Evans ($6,800), Randall Cobb ($6,700) and Allen Robinson ($6,700) each standout as WR1 or WR2 options with major scoring potential. Going cheaper than normal at WR1 also allows you to roster at least one $6,400+ running back.
TIGHT END
For the second straight week, we can keep the tight end writeup short and sweet. 95% of the top finishers rostered Delanie Walker. Walker took advantage of a crazy bounce that he turned into a long score. There's certainly plenty of luck involved in this daily fantasy hobby...
Walker scored 30.5 points in a week in which none of the other relatively highly owned tight ends really stood out. At a salary of $4,200, he hit a multiple of 7.3x.
FLEX
The Flex spot was split evenly between running backs (50%) and wide receivers (50%). The most popular move was reserving the FLEX spot for a Monday night "hammer" with both Alshon Jeffery and Jeremy Langford appearing on at least three of the top 20 rosters in the FLEX position. Overall, the flexes averaged 27.3 points at a salary of $6,085 (4.5x).
TOURNAMENT PLAYER INFORMATION
The top two finishers were both single entry contestants. Overall, 55% of the top finishers were single entries. The higher-than-normal amount of single entries at the top of the leaderboard can perhaps be attributed to the DeAngelo Williams-Antonio Brown duo winning the day. The negative correlation play is not one regularly favored by the professional players.