This article is part of our DFS Football 101 series.
Last week, we introduced Rotowire users to FantasyScore with an article focusing on the daily fantasy site's NBA contests on Christmas Day.
This week, we're going to take a look at the NFL contests for the wild-card round of the playoffs, but not before recapping some of the highlights that make FantasyScore an attractive new location for DFS enthusiasts.
First and foremost, the layout of the site is fantastic, offering simplicity without any sacrifice in terms of features. From the contest lobby to the lineup page to the player cards, FantasyScore makes it easy to assemble and track your teams, as everything looks very clean. Of course, this is important not only because it makes the website more enjoyable to use, but also because it portends increasing player traffic. In an industry with plenty of competition, daily gamers tend to gravitate toward the websites that don't cause headaches.
Another huge plus with FantasyScore is the presence of daily snake drafts, in addition to the salary-cap games that have come to dominate the DFS industry. Even better, draft contests are available in two different formats, with some scheduled to start at a specific time, while other "draft & go" contests start five minutes after they're filled. Drafts are an especially attractive alternative when dealing with a small slate of games, such as that for the NFL playoffs or Thursday nights in the NBA.
Keeping with the theme of contest diversity, FantasyScore offers a simple setup for creating your own games, with a slew of different options in terms of draft/salary cap format, league size, entry fee, payout structure and public/private. Feel free to send me a challenge for an NBA/NFL contest at username JD0505.
Other Cool Features on FantasyScore
- There's an immediate 50 percent deposit bonus good for up to $250. Rather than dripping into the account slowly, it will all be available to play with from the get-go.
- Late swaps are allowed. If the contest starts at 7 pm, you can still switch players in a 10 PM game up until the real-life game is about to begin.
- The 'global replace' feature allows you to switch out any one player for another in all of your contests. This, along with late swap, makes it much easier to handle those obnoxious late scratches.
- Player salaries and information can be exported to Microsoft Excel with a single click, allowing you to easily use solver or other means to produce an optimal/preferred lineup.
- There's an easy-to-use lineup generator, powered by numberfire's projections, for NFL salary-cap contests. You can automatically exclude or include specific teams, players and games.
- There are pages for 'My Leagues' and 'My Lineups' that show all of your leagues or lineups in one place. Again, this makes it much easier to deal with any late changes, and it's helpful when trying to keep an eye on all of your action.
- The site is powered by RealTime Fantasy Sports in association with USA Today. The connection with USA Today means you'll get to see the latest fantasy news on the right side of the draft lobby, and it also may explain why the site looks so good.
FantasyScore's Wild-Card Round NFL Contests
There are plenty of contests available for this weekend's games, including the $2,500 Sunday Showdown ($5 entry, 550 spots) and $2,000 Sunday Tailgate ($10 entry, 220 spots).
The Showdown pays out the top-100 places, with $650 going to first place. The Tailgate pays out the top-40 finishers, with $750 for the victor. Both are salary-cap contests, adhering to the following rules…
Roster Composition
-1 QB
-2 RB
-2 WR
-1 TE
-1 Kicker
-1 Team D/ST
-1 FLEX (RB/WR/TE)
Scoring
- 1 point for every 10 yards rushing or receiving (.1 pts/yard)
- 1 point for every 20 yards passing (.05 pts/yard)
- 1 point for every reception
- 6 points for a rushing/receiving touchdown
- 4 points for a passing touchdown
- -1 point for an interception
- 2 points for a two-point conversion (rushing, passing or receiving)
- 3 points for a field goal, plus .1 points/yard for every yard after 30 (3.5 points for 35-yard FG, 4.5 points for 45-yarder, etc.)
- 1 point for a successful PAT
- 6 points for a defensive/special team touchdown
- 5 points for a shutout
- 3 points for allowing 1-5 points
- 1 point for allowing 6-10 points
- 2 points for an interception or fumble recovery
- 2 points for a safety
- 1 point for a sack
It's essentially the PPR scoring format that most fantasy players are used to, but with a few minor changes. Passing yards get a boost, with one point for every 20 yards, as opposed to the typical point for every 25 yards. Long field goals are also a bit more important, as a 60-yarder would net you six points, whereas most leagues/sites have a five-point maximum. Lastly, the prevention of scoring is de-emphasized for team defenses, as there are no fantasy points rewarded/subtracted when the team gives up more than 10 points.
Keeping the scoring system in mind, here are some of my favorite players on FantasyScore for the upcoming wild-card weekend.
Quarterback: Matthew Stafford, DET (at DAL), $7700 – Stafford is the fifth-most expensive option at his position, ahead of only Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton and Ryan Lindley, the last two of whom it would be hard to make any kind of argument for. That's certainly not the case for Stafford, who gets to face a highly vulnerable Dallas defense that has relied on Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray to alleviate pressure all year. Regardless of what site you're playing on, it's wise to target quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends on underdogs that are facing poor defenses. With Detroit unlikely to have the benefit of protecting a big lead, Stafford is a good bet to go over 300 passing yards, even on the heels of a disappointing season. At five points for every 100 yards through the air, I easily prefer Stafford to his quarterbacking counterpart (Romo, $8000) in Sunday's game.
Running Back: Daniel Herron, IND (vs. CIN), $5100 – Herron will likely slide under the radar, having yet to record a multi-touchdown performance or even triple-digit scrimmage yards. I expect that to end this week, as he's the lead back for an Indianapolis team with a highly favorable first-round matchup. The Bengals haven't looked the part of a 10-win team this season, and they'll likely be without A.J. Green (concussion) for Sunday's game in Indianapolis. The tough Cincinnati front seven of years' past is exactly that, as the Bengals ranked 20th in rushing defense (116.3 yards per game) this season. As for Trent Richardson, I expect the former No. 3 overall draft pick to essentially disappear from the offense, as he did during the playoffs last season. Also, Richardson is listed as questionable due to an illness, though his game day status won't impact my usage of Herron.
Wide Receiver: Antonio Brown, PIT (vs. BAL), $8400 – The Steelers were always going to have a pass-heavy gameplan, facing a Baltimore defense that's fantastic in the front seven but mediocre (at best) on the back end. Then, Le'Veon Bell (knee) was officially ruled out, dropping the team's running back situation from a first-team All-Pro selection to the uninspiring trio of Josh Harris, Dri Archer and Ben Tate. Brown is now a lock to see double-digit targets, and it would surprise absolutely no one if he also finishes with 10 or more receptions. In a PPR format, Brown is essentially a must-use player, even at his price.
Tight End: Coby Fleener, IND (vs. CIN), $5100 – I could also make a solid case for Heath Miller ($5600) and Jermaine Gresham ($4600), due to the likelihood of increased targets in the absences of Bell and A.J. Green. However, Fleener offers easily the highest ceiling, as Miller and Gresham mostly catch passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. For a larger contest – such as the Showdown or Tailgate – I like the upside that comes with Fleener's impressive average of 15.2 yards per catch. Even with fellow Colts tight end Dwayne Allen expected to play, Fleener is a steal as the fifth-most expensive player at his position.
Kicker: Dan Bailey, DAL (vs. DET), $2800 – Basically, I just want to avoid the Saturday games, as Arizona-Carolina figures to be low-scoring, while Baltimore-Pittsburgh will likely be played in sloppy weather conditions. Bailey thus becomes the obvious choice, as he's an elite kicker attached to an elite offense. And, among the four kickers in action Sunday, none has a lower price tag than Bailey's $2800. Of course, Bailey figures to be easily the most popular choice, so there's probably something to be said for using Adam Vinatieri ($3000) in the big contests.
Team D/ST: Detroit Lions, DET (at DAL), $1000 – This is a selection that's almost entirely about price, as I don't have especially high expectations for the Detroit defense. Sure, the unit was fantastic during the regular season, but it wasn't nearly as dominant as the Dallas offense. With the Cowboys also sporting home-field advantage, I'm expecting a solid day from Romo and Co. However, on a site that doesn't award a ton of points for team D/ST, it's still best to go with the dirt-cheap Lions. Every other unit costs at least $2600, and I'd prefer to save my budget for rostering a pair of superstar wide receivers.
FLEX: Calvin Johnson, DET (at DAL), $7700 – You didn't think I would recommend Stafford without Megatron, did you? I know it's tough to roster Johnson and Antonio Brown, but with both guys likely to see a ton of targets against shaky defensive backfields, I'll look elsewhere for thrifty options. Herron, Jonathan Stewart ($5300), Mohamed Sanu ($3400), Steve Smith ($5000), and even Josh Harris ($3400) all qualify, with Sanu and Harris benefiting from the expected absences of A.J. Green and Le'Veon Bell, respectively.
