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FanDuel offers some of the biggest payouts in all of daily fantasy sports. Among them is the $2.75 million FanDuel Sunday Million contest where a $7 entry has a shot at the $500,000 first-place payout. This week in the contest there was a decent overlay and nearly 25% of the field finished in the money for at least a 42% profit on their entry fee. 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 of $500,000.
Here is how Week 4 of the Sunday Million shook out:
|
DFS Screen Name | Points | Prize Money |
1st | buckba | 202.22 | $500,000 |
2nd | pompyouup | 202.12 | $200,000 |
3rd | newtdog2013 | 198.22 | $100,000 |
4th-10th | saunde102083 | 197.22 | $16,785 |
11th | tommyboychi32 | 195.92 | $4,000 |
For the fourth week in a row in 2017, the contest's winner was a relative newcomer.
The winning lineup was far more chalk in Week 4 than last week. Buckba had six players with at least 10% ownership, going off-script notably for Deshaun Watson (stacking him with DeAndre Hopkins) and the kicker Greg Zuerlein (3.3%) and Steelers (3.9%) choices. Zuerlein was one of the top values of the week at 5.5x and Watson-Hopkins combined for more than 55 FanDuel points. Buckba paid up for running backs as LeVeon Bell and Todd Gurley hit near 4x value each. Larry Fitzgerald, the most chalk play at 22% on their roster, ended up as the lowest value at 1.7x.
Position | Player | Salary | FanDuel Points | % Owned |
QB | Deshaun Watson | $7,300 | 34.72 | 6.3% |
RB | LeVeon Bell | $8,600 | 32.60 | 10.7% |
RB | Todd Gurley | $8,000 | 31.00 | 19.6% |
WR | DeAndre Hopkins | $7,300 | 21.70 | 16.2% |
WR | Keenan Allen | $7,300 | 16.30 | 15.4% |
WR | Larry Fitzgerald | $6,700 | 11.20 | 22.0% |
TE | Charles Clay | $5,300 | 13.70 | 13.0% |
K | Greg Zuerlein | $4,900 | 27.00 |
3.3% |
D | Pittsburgh Steelers | $4,500 | 14.00 | 3.9% |
$59,900 | 202.22 |
WHAT WORKED?
Stacking Deshaun Watson: Houston rolled to an easy win and Watson was on 90% of the top-10 unique lineups of the week. Even the non-Watson roster included DeAndre Hopkins or a clean sweep of 10 lineups with the high-volume Houston receiver. 30% of the lineups even super-stacked Watson and Hopkins with Will Fuller, who returned to his first game action of the season on Sunday, logging two touchdowns. At 1% ownership for the entire contest, Fuller was a gutsy call which paid off with strong finishes for those stacking with other Houston options.
Stud Running Backs: Three running backs (LeVeon Bell, Todd Gurley, Ezekiel Elliott) encompassed 19 of 20 running back spots in the top-10 lineups. Bell was the lowest owned for the entire contest at 11%, but the other three were at least 19%. The chalk churned out paydays this week.
Hit on Defense: Despite the variety of the top lineups, even Jacksonville approached 3x value with their 15 FanDuel points. The Steelers, Texans, and Seahawks were all solid home winners and the Jaguars (18% owned, 20% in top-10) had the weekly Jets matchup.
Greg the Leg: Greg Zuerlein was the most impactful kicker in the top-10 with 50% ownership compared to only 3% ownership in the contest at large. Zuerlein was in a shootout-potential matchup in a dome against Dallas, the perfect combination resulting in seven field goals including four of 50+ yards.
WHAT FAILED?
Christian McCaffrey: McCaffrey continues to struggle to find the end zone and see optimal touches. Carolina had success with Devin Funchess this week in Cam Newton's bounce-back win in Foxboro, but McCaffrey struggled to 1x value at 14% ownership.
Joe Mixon: At 15% ownership, Mixon was a trendy breakout pick for Week 4 in fantasy football and DFS alike. The missing pieces are two-fold - the Bengals offensive line continues to struggle and the three-headed committee with Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard is pronounced. Mixon is still set to 'simmer' and he barely achieved 1x value on $5,600 salary.
Antonio Brown: JuJu Smith-Schuster found the end zone and LeVeon Bell was the offensive centerpiece in Pittsburgh's comfortable win over Baltimore. At 12% ownership, Brown returned less than 1x value on his balmy $9,200 salary.
Brandin Cooks: The Patriots had success with 30 points scored and Tom Brady logging another strong game, but Brandin Cooks has shown to be one of the higher variance options of the offense. Cooks logged 42 total yards at 13% ownership.
Julio Jones: A bounce-back game was projected for Jones and he was off to a hot start before missing more than half the game with a hip injury. At 4.5 points, Jones derailed 16% of lineups.
Demaryius Thomas: Another big name receiver to hit the snooze button in Week 4 for this contest. Thomas at 8% ownership barely made the box score with 1-11-0 receiving as Denver relied on his defense in their divisional win. Thomas has yet to hit 100 yards or score a touchdown in a game this season and is firmly on the touchdown regression watch list with 18 receptions.
Emmanuel Sanders: Like Thomas, Sanders was a disappointment as Denver took the air out of the ball against Oakland. Sanders was 10% owned returning less than 1x value.
Jason Witten: It was an Ezekiel Elliott and Dez Bryant game for the Cowboys offense. Witten had his second clunker in a row with a single catch. Witten had an end zone target, but Dak Prescott's throw was too far in front of the veteran tight end to potentially save his Week 4 performance.
Ryan Succop: The Titans kicker was 13% owned and barely got on the scoreboard with two extra points in the blowout loss to Houston despite 14% ownership.
Finish | QB | RB1 | RB2 | WR1 | WR2 | WR3 | TE | K | DEF |
1 | Watson | Bell | Gurley | Hopkins | Allen | Fitzgerald | Clay | Zuerlein | PIT |
2 | Watson | Bell | Elliott | Hopkins | Ty.Williams | Fitzgerald | Brate | Fairbairn | SEA |
3 | Watson | Bell | Elliott | Hopkins | Green | Fuller | Ertz | Elliott | HOU |
4 | Watson | Fournette | Elliott | Hopkins | Allen | Funchess | Ertz | Zuerlein | PIT |
11 | Watson | Gurley | Elliott | Hopkins | Thielen | Fitzgerald | Brate | Zuerlein | SEA |
12 | Dalton | Gurley | Elliott | Hopkins | Green | Diggs | Kroft | Elliott | HOU |
13 | Watson | Bell | Gurley | Hopkins | Green | Fuller | Graham | Hauschka | SEA |
14 | Watson | Gurley | Elliott | Hopkins | Green | Funchess | Clay | Walsh | SEA |
15 | Watson | Gurley | Elliott | Hopkins | Fitzgerald | Fuller | Graham | Zuerlein | JAX |
16 | Watson | Gurley | Elliott | Hopkins | Thielen | Hogan | Brate | Zuerlein | JAX |
SHOOTING THE NEEDLE
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:
Cam Newton: At 2% ownership, few were banking on Newton for a rebound game at New England. However, the Patriots defense is proving to be one to exploit as Newton nearly his 5x value with 360 total yards and finding the end zone four times.
Bilal Powell: With Matt Forte inactive, Powell surpassed 4x value on 3% ownership. Fueled by a long touchdown jaunt, Powell had 190 total yards and four receptions at $6,100 salary.
Andre Ellington: While Chris Johnson saw the bulk of early-down work, Ellington was the pass-catching specialist for Arizona with more than 3x value on $4,800 salary. Few were going this cheap at RB2 with Ellington's $4,800 salary, but it paid off with 14.9 FanDuel points and more than 100 total yards.
Danny Amendola: The Patriots receiver came through at 2% ownership for more than 2x value sporting 6-42-1 against Carolina.
Ka'imi Fairbairn: It is tough not to hit value when your team scores 57 points. At 2% ownership, Fairbairn hit 4x value with two 50+ yard kicks and six extra points.
Texans Defense: Houston rolled to a home win and Marcus Mariota's injury did not help Tennessee's chances to stop the momentum wave in-game. Houston at 2% ownership surpassed 4x value forcing five turnovers and a defensive touchdown of note.
Head over to FanDuel now and catch the action for Week 5.