DAILY FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT STRATEGY 

Just like we state on players designated a Q or "Questionable", it's important that you understand, research and analyze players that are returning from an injury and those that are a "game-time decision".  Remember Todd Gurley in the 2018 Super Bowl Vs. the Patriots?  Well, he was cleared to return only as a decoy and that hurts.

Rotowire has a great inactives listing and remembers it's an hour before kickoff that teams have to announce who's in and who's out.  https://www.rotowire.com/football/lineups.php

Here's what it looks like before the announcement of injured players or inactive.

Don't lock up your draft picks days before - DFS is a game of decision making & analysis until the end.  And even then on DraftKings, you can change your players that play in the afternoon games for other players that play in the late games as well.

As stated above, review your draft picks for those that play in the afternoon and un-draft them if you need to or their status may have changed to Questionable or removed from the Q list.

Thinks of our Daily Fantasy Football Calculator as a "Draft Kit", "Mock Draft" or "Cheat Sheet" generator as it allows you to plan, organize and review your draft picks.  Plan, Plan, Research, go back to the drawing table and draft again until you have validated your decision.

Those Vegas bookmakers have been in business for years for a reason and most of the time their game scoring predictions are pretty accurate.  I look at the odds on Covers.com and SportsBook.com  as part of my DFS strategy.

Know your rankings.  When you see an offense that is ranked 20th, well you can research further and see that in the Pass phase they are ranked 7th, in the run game 18th and in the receiving 3rd (just made these numbers up) and they are facing a defense that is ranked 10th overall, but 29th against the pass and 32nd vs the run and receiving.  This translates to a variance of -22 in the passing game, -14 in the run game and -29 in the receiving game.  And with this, I would draft the QB and WR/TE from this team.  The higher the variance, the better.

n Daily Fantasy Football there are many stats to consider, but nothing is more critical than the “PLAYER USAGE” OR “DISTRIBUTION PERCENTAGE” by a player and this is what this report gives you by each phase of the game, including Run, Receiving and Touchdowns also by type – Run or Receiving TD.

NFL Classic

In salary cap contests, participants will create a lineup by selecting players listed in the Player Pool.

Contest results will be determined by the total points accumulated by each individual lineup entry (scoring rules summarized below).

Participation in each contest must be made only as specified in the Terms of Use. Failure to comply with these Terms of Use will result in disqualification and, if applicable, prize forfeiture.

Scoring

Scoring Notes

• Points Allowed (PA) only includes points surrendered while DST is on the field – doesn’t include points given up by the team’s offense (e.g. points off offensive turnovers).
• The following scoring plays will result in Points Allowed by your Defense/Special Teams:
  • Rushing TDs, Passing TDs, Offensive Fumble Recovery TDs, Punt Return TDs, Kick Return TDs, FG Return TDs, Blocked FG TDs, Blocked Punt TDs
  • 2pt conversions
  • 2 Point Conversion/Extra-point Returns
  • Extra-points
  • Field-goals
• A fumble recovery will be awarded to a Defense/Special Teams if the team’s offense recovers a fumble by the opposing defense (e.g. after an offensive turnover).

Lineup Requirements

Lineups will consist of 9 players and must include players from at least 2 different NFL games. The 9 Roster positions are:

It is very important that you understand that Q means "QUESTIONNABLE", which means tred lightly.  Which means the player is:

A) Really getting over an injury

B) The coach is playing mind games

C) Is ready to play

D) All of the above

If you selected D, you're right.  No one knows until game time, so again tread lightly.  Look up the player in the news, see what NFL analyst is saying and look at local news - sometimes they may know more than NFL experts.  Remember Tood Gurly in the 2018 playoffs, great for 1 game, bad for one and absent form the Super Bowl.

Knowing the depth chart of a team is very important as you will be able to find players that may have a bigger role than a starter or if the starter is injured that backup player may get the same usage percentage as the starter.

Look at the defense's depth chart as well as it will paint a very clear picture of whose on the team as you may forget who is where.

A not so new contest in DFS is "Captain's Mode" so your options may be Aaron Rodgers or Mitchell Trubinsky and if you're a Bears fan the temptation to pick your QB is there, but are you really going to beat against Aaron Rodgers a future Hall of Famer, while Mitch is just getting started.  If you lean to take a newbie, think it over.  

Apply the same thinking to MVPs. 

I'm a Giants fan and when I first got started playing DFS it was touch to pick a defense that would be going against the Giants.  It gets easier as you go and makes the game a lot more interesting. Now, I have no such issues. Remove your ego and emotions and remember that you're playing for a big prize and nothing else matters.

Just like we state on players designated a Q or "Questionable", it's important that you understand, research and analyze players that are returning from an injury and those that are a "game-time decision".  Remember Todd Gurley in the 2018 Super Bowl Vs. the Patriots?  Well, he was cleared to return only as a decoy and that hurts.

Rotowire has a great inactives listing and remembers it's an hour before kickoff that teams have to announce who's in and who's out.  https://www.rotowire.com/football/lineups.php

Here's what it looks like before the announcement of injured players or inactive.

Don't lock up your draft picks days before - DFS is a game of decision making & analysis until the end.  And even then on DraftKings, you can change your players that play in the afternoon games for other players that play in the late games as well.

As stated above, review your draft picks for those that play in the afternoon and un-draft them if you need to or their status may have changed to Questionable or removed from the Q list.

Thinks of our Daily Fantasy Football Calculator as a "Draft Kit", "Mock Draft" or "Cheat Sheet" generator as it allows you to plan, organize and review your draft picks.  Plan, Plan, Research, go back to the drawing table and draft again until you have validated your decision.

Those Vegas bookmakers have been in business for years for a reason and most of the time their game scoring predictions are pretty accurate.  I look at the odds on Covers.com and SportsBook.com  as part of my DFS strategy.

Know your rankings.  When you see an offense that is ranked 20th, well you can research further and see that in the Pass phase they are ranked 7th, in the run game 18th and in the receiving 3rd (just made these numbers up) and they are facing a defense that is ranked 10th overall, but 29th against the pass and 32nd vs the run and receiving.  This translates to a variance of -22 in the passing game, -14 in the run game and -29 in the receiving game.  And with this, I would draft the QB and WR/TE from this team.  The higher the variance, the better.

n Daily Fantasy Football there are many stats to consider, but nothing is more critical than the “PLAYER USAGE” OR “DISTRIBUTION PERCENTAGE” by a player and this is what this report gives you by each phase of the game, including Run, Receiving and Touchdowns also by type – Run or Receiving TD.

NFL Classic

In salary cap contests, participants will create a lineup by selecting players listed in the Player Pool.

Contest results will be determined by the total points accumulated by each individual lineup entry (scoring rules summarized below).

Participation in each contest must be made only as specified in the Terms of Use. Failure to comply with these Terms of Use will result in disqualification and, if applicable, prize forfeiture.

Scoring

Scoring Notes

• Points Allowed (PA) only includes points surrendered while DST is on the field – doesn’t include points given up by the team’s offense (e.g. points off offensive turnovers).
• The following scoring plays will result in Points Allowed by your Defense/Special Teams:
  • Rushing TDs, Passing TDs, Offensive Fumble Recovery TDs, Punt Return TDs, Kick Return TDs, FG Return TDs, Blocked FG TDs, Blocked Punt TDs
  • 2pt conversions
  • 2 Point Conversion/Extra-point Returns
  • Extra-points
  • Field-goals
• A fumble recovery will be awarded to a Defense/Special Teams if the team’s offense recovers a fumble by the opposing defense (e.g. after an offensive turnover).

Lineup Requirements

Lineups will consist of 9 players and must include players from at least 2 different NFL games. The 9 Roster positions are:

It is very important that you understand that Q means "QUESTIONNABLE", which means tred lightly.  Which means the player is:

A) Really getting over an injury

B) The coach is playing mind games

C) Is ready to play

D) All of the above

If you selected D, you're right.  No one knows until game time, so again tread lightly.  Look up the player in the news, see what NFL analyst is saying and look at local news - sometimes they may know more than NFL experts.  Remember Tood Gurly in the 2018 playoffs, great for 1 game, bad for one and absent form the Super Bowl.

Knowing the depth chart of a team is very important as you will be able to find players that may have a bigger role than a starter or if the starter is injured that backup player may get the same usage percentage as the starter.

Look at the defense's depth chart as well as it will paint a very clear picture of whose on the team as you may forget who is where.

A not so new contest in DFS is "Captain's Mode" so your options may be Aaron Rodgers or Mitchell Trubinsky and if you're a Bears fan the temptation to pick your QB is there, but are you really going to beat against Aaron Rodgers a future Hall of Famer, while Mitch is just getting started.  If you lean to take a newbie, think it over.  

Apply the same thinking to MVPs. 

I'm a Giants fan and when I first got started playing DFS it was touch to pick a defense that would be going against the Giants.  It gets easier as you go and makes the game a lot more interesting. Now, I have no such issues. Remove your ego and emotions and remember that you're playing for a big prize and nothing else matters.