FanDuel Week 5: Talking About Strategy

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So, as we've detailed over the year-plus that we've been sponsored by FanDuel during the season, it's not something that I'm very good at. I think I've finished in the money exactly one time over the years, so it's time to examine where, exactly, I'm in error when selecting my teams and talk about which strategies you use when selecting your teams.

(Yes, I know that someone will say "Your error is playing this in the first place." Let's not, okay?)

So, with FanDuel, you get a $60,000 salary cap to fill nine positions. Those positions are quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker, and a team defense.

Now, at first glance, that looks to be an average of approximately $6,666 for each position. However, there are at least a few positions that you can save money at, since it's rare that you'll spend more than $5,000 on a defense or a kicker. Assuming that you spend that much on those two positions, that would leave you with $50,000 for seven spots or an average of $7,142 per spot. And unless you're plugging Rob Gronkowski in at the tight end spot, you can generally fill that position for a relatively small price tag, too. That would leave you with more money to spend at the "big six" spots in your lineup.

Generally, my philosophy has been to try to get at least one "big name" at both the running back and the wide receiver spots, someone like an Adrian Peterson or Antonio Brown or guys of that nature. Guys like that are, more often than not, guaranteed points. . .unless I plug them into my roster, at which point they immediately find their way into the toilet for that particular week before recovering the next week. But, more often than not, they're the sorts of players that will produce regardless of the match-up they're facing.

From there, I try to find a quarterback that has a match-up they can exploit against a bad defense. Occasionally I might grab a top-end guy (in terms of fantasy) like a Cam Newton or something, but more often than not I'm sort of bargain hunting at that spot. Maybe that's part of the issue with the lineups I field every week.

After I've grabbed a quarterback, I'm left with three other spots to fill, one running back and two receivers, and at that point I'm looking at match-ups as well.

So, when you select your lineups for your weekly fantasy football leagues, what sort of strategy do you generally employ?