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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 7 of the Sunday Million shook out:
|
DFS Screen Name | Points | Prize Money |
1st | csalmon | 196.22 | $500,000 |
2nd | rrpatter52 | 195.26 | $200,000 |
3rd | rayofhope | 192.06 | $100,000 |
4th | redsoxfan77 | 191.76 | $50,000 |
5th | bigikeboxing | 191.36 | $25,000 |
The winning lineup by csalmon was a blend of chalk (LeSean McCoy, Ezekiel Elliott of note) and low-owned players to pay off for the victory in Week 7. The Bears defense nearly hit the rarified air of 7x value at 0.9% ownership. The Bears did little on offense against Carolina, but five sacks, three turnovers, and two defensive touchdowns sparked the victory for the team and csalmon in this week's contest. Kai Forbath was another key differentiator for csalmon with six field goals, including two 40+ yard kicks and two 50+ yard conversions for a total of 5x value at 2.4% ownership. Jason Witten saved his day with a one-handed touchdown in Dallas' blowout and Adam Thielen was the relative disappointment of his roster at less than 1x value despite 12.4% ownership across the contest.
Position | Player | Salary | FanDuel Points | % Owned |
QB | Tyrod Taylor | $7,000 |
20.0 |
4.6% |
RB | LeSean McCoy | $7,900 | 24.7 | 17.2% |
RB | Ezekiel Elliott | $8,700 | 40.4 | 21.0% |
WR | Mike Evans | $8,100 | 18.3 | 7.1% |
WR | Jarvis Landry | $7,000 | 18.8 | 12.0% |
WR | Adam Thielen | $6,900 | 6.6 | 12.4% |
TE | Jason Witten | $5,300 | 13.4 | 4.5% |
K | Kai Forbath | $4,700 | 24.0 |
2.4% |
D | Chicago Bears | $4,300 | 30.0 | 0.9% |
$59,900 | 196.22 |
WHAT WORKED?
The Ezekiel Elliott Get Well Game: Each lineup in the top-10 had Elliott and 21% of the contest overall. Elliott posted three total touchdowns and more than 200 total yards as Dallas cruised past the 49ers on the road. This marked Elliott's highest yardage and touchdown total of the season.
LeSean McCoy Back on Track: After a five-game drought without a touchdown, McCoy hit paydirt twice against Tampa Bay on 122 total yards. With Ezekiel Elliott in all 10 top-finishing lineups, McCoy was the RB2 for 6-of-10 and 17% for the contest overall.
Julio Jones Finds the End Zone: With a strong matchup against the Patriots pass defense, Jones was owned by a balmy 34% of contest lineups. He was on his way to a tepid showing until a late highlight-reel touchdown boosted his 9-99-1 stat line. Until this week Jones had 25 receptions on the season without a touchdown.
Evan Engram: While owned by only one of the top-10, Engram had 10% ownership overall and nearly hit 3x value on $5,500 salary with 6-60-1 as the go-to option in the Giants' struggling passing game.
Ryan Succop: At 16% ownership overall and 60% of the top-10, Succop was the Titans offense, accounting for all of their points in the low-scoring victory over Cleveland. This was Succop's fifth game with at least three field goals on the season and the veteran is 20-of-22 on field goals overall. Succop hit more than 3x value in Week 7.
Jaguars Defense: While not the highest-scoring defense of the week, Jacksonville surpassed 3x value at 13% ownership. They pitched a shutout against Indianapolis and sacked Jacoby Brissett a whopping 10 times.
WHAT FAILED?
Chris Ivory: At a bargain salary of $5,600 with Leonard Fournette inactive, the stars were aligned for Ivory to be one of the chalk value plays of the week against the Colts. However, Ivory struggled to 47 total yards and lost a fumble, marring a day where he did find the end zone. T.J. Yeldon posted multiple long runs and Corey Grant was involved in the Jaguars comfortable win. Ivory had 19% ownership but less than 2x value returned.
Demaryius Thomas: With Emmanuel Sanders out of the lineup, Thomas was owned by 9% of the contest. His lone impact play - and 80+ yard reception - was called back by penalty and Thomas had 2-9-0 otherwise as one of the biggest disappointments of the week as Denver was shut out by the Chargers.
A.J. Green: After a strong start, Green fizzled down the stretch as Cincinnati struggled to a sound defeat by Pittsburgh. Green's 14% ownership returned less than 1x value with 3-41-0.
Larry Fitzgerald: The usual high-floor Fitzgerald struggled (along with the rest of Arizona's offense) in the shutout loss to the Rams. At 13% ownership Fitzgerald returned less than 1x value with 3-29-0.
Rishard Matthews: At 13% ownership Matthews was one of the chalk wide receivers yet the Titans struggled to finish drives and Marcus Mariota was limited by injury as Matthews hit 1x value.
Eric Decker: Joining teammate Rishard Matthews on the disappointment list, Decker had the rare empty stat line with no receptions against Cleveland as 7% of the contest rostered the Titans receiver. Decker had a couple opportunities but would have been a FanDuel failure this week even hauling in his most optimal targets.
Rob Gronkowski: With missed opportunities against Atlanta, Gronkowski returned less than 1x value on his 21% ownership as the chalk tight end play of the week.
Adam Vinatieri: In the home dome, Vinatieri posted a goose egg in the shutout by Jacksonville as he was owned by 7% of the contest.
Vikings Defense: Despite nearly 20% ownership, the Vikings failed to force a turnover against Baltimore and their five sacks and 16 points allowed resulted in 1x value.
Saints Defense: At 13% ownership, the Saints were a chalk play as Brett Hundley received his first NFL start. At $4,500 salary, the Saints returned less than 1x value with a single sack and one turnover in their road win.
Finish | QB | RB1 | RB2 | WR1 | WR2 | WR3 | TE | K | DEF |
1 | Taylor | Elliott | McCoy | Evans | Landry | Thielen | Witten | Forbath | CHI |
2 | Prescott | Elliott | McCoy | D.Bryant | Hogan | Stills | Rudolph | Succop | CHI |
3 | Prescott | Elliott | Gurley | D.Bryant | Garcon | Stills | Seferian-Jenkins | Succop | LAC |
4 | Wilson | Elliott | Gurley | Baldwin | Landry | Stills | Graham | Succop | TEN |
5 | Wilson | Elliott | McCoy | J.Jones | Baldwin | R.Anderson | Njoku | Succop | LAC |
6 | Taylor | Elliott | McCoy | J.Jones | M.Thomas | Stills | Graham | Gostkowski | LAC |
7 | Wilson | Elliott | Gurley | J.Jones | Hurns | Stills | H.Henry | Succop | JAX |
8 | Wilson | Elliott | McCoy | J.Jones | Baldwin | Richardson | Engram | Novak | LAC |
9 | Prescott | Elliott | Mixon | J.Jones | A.Brown | Richardson | Witten | Boswell | CHI |
10 | Prescott | Elliott | McCoy | D.Bryant | Landry | Stills | Witten | Succop | BUF |
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:
SHOOTING THE NEEDLE
Jared Goff: At an affordable $7,300 salary, Goff had sub-2% ownership. In the blowout win over Arizona, Goff totaled nearly 250 yards and a pair of touchdowns (one on the ground) to nearly 3x value.
Aaron Jones: With Ty Montgomery active, but still nursing injured ribs, Jones was the unquestioned lead back for the Packers. At less than 1% ownership, Jones surpassed 3x value with 138 total yards and a touchdown.
Robbie Anderson: The Jets were not an attractive haven for FanDuel plays this week, but Anderson found the end zone with a 3-35-1 line and 2x value on 0.6% ownership.
Ted Ginn Jr Jr.: The ancillary Saints receiver had his best game since joining New Orleans with 7-141-0. At 3% ownership Ginn returned more than 3x value.
Paul Richardson Jr: One finisher in the top-10 used a Russell Wilson super-stack with Doug Baldwin and Paul Richardson Jr to fuel his result. Richardson was owned by a mere 0.5% of the lineups and hit 2.7x value with 2-61-1 as a WR3 punt play.
Kenny Stills: With DeVante Parker out in Week 7, Stills was sparsely-owned at 1.3% and churned out more than 4x value with 85 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jarvis Landry had a solid game as well with both receivers posting numbers with Jay Cutler and Matt Moore under center against the Jets.
Kai Forbath: The Vikings kicker was a true difference-maker in the contest, hitting more than 5x value at 2% ownership. He hit six field goals and his day could have been even bigger if not for a missed extra point along the way.
Head over to FanDuel now and catch the action for Week 8.