DFS Fantasy Football: The Basics
Joe Matz and myself from the newly created “Daily Fix” podcast here at Fantasy In Frames are here to provide you with a three part series introducing you to DFS Fantasy Football! They’ll be covering topics ranging from teaching you the basics of the sports and tips for success, to learning which pitfalls to avoid while playing. Right now, let us start off with the basics.
If season-long fantasy football is a marathon, daily fantasy football is a 100-meter sprint.
-Me…and others I would imagine
If you are someone who struggles with setting your lineup each week, forgets to add someone from the waiver wire for guys you have on a bye or who are injured, and/or are frustrated that your top pick from this year’s fantasy draft didn’t pan out then DFS might be the game for you! Daily Fantasy is an alternative where you can still participate in the fun of fantasy football but without the year-long commitment. The contests range from one game to a whole week of NFL action, but never any more than that. It is that simple to play!
In Daily Fantasy, you select a team based on a set salary for that week or slate of games. If you want to start a team of all guys who went to your favorite college, you can. My wife enjoys picking rosters based on how attractive they are in their picture. The possibilities for your lineup are practically endless, as long as you stay in the salary allotment. You can play head to head against a friend, in a weekly league against 10-20 of your friends/colleagues, or you can play in tournaments against thousands of other users with guaranteed prize pools. DFS is the future of fantasy football and there already are millions of people playing on daily fantasy sites. If you love season-long fantasy football, you will love DFS or if you never could get into season-long fantasy this could be an alternative you will enjoy.
Now, why do I, personally, love Daily Fantasy Football?
I’m glad you asked!
Why I Love Daily Fantasy Football
Daily Fantasy Football can make the worst slate of NFL games entertaining because of your vested interest due to your lineup. You feel like a genius when a number 4 receiver for a team who you have in your lineup scores a touchdown. You feel even smarter when you realize you were in the 1% of entrants who had him in their lineup. It is an easy way to stay connected with friends from high school or college by doing what friends do best: Ragging on each other and talking trash when your lineup trounces theirs in a head-to-head matchup. Or even better if you defeat a group of friends in a weekly pool.
Most of all, daily fantasy doesn’t take the commitment that season-long does to be successful. You need not worry about season-ending injuries, trades, picking up free agents, or taking someone out of your lineup who is on a bye. Finally, instead of one person winning at the end of the season in season-long fantasy leagues, bragging rights and the spoils of winning($) are up for grabs every week.
Now my podcast partner, Joe Matz and I, have been fans of the DraftKings platform for YEARS.
Why?
Find out on our first podcast episode of “The Daily Fix Podcast” on The Fantasy In Frames Podcast Network this coming Friday! We’ll be live streaming the show at 8 pm EST on the Fantasy In Frames Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch social media pages at @FantasyInFrames.
With that said, I’m still going to cover both scoring settings for FanDuel AND DraftKings so that you can make an informed decision as to which platform suits you!
DraftKings Rules and Scoring
In traditional DraftKings pools, you build a lineup of nine players with a $50,000 salary.
The nine positions are: QB/2RB/3WR/TE/FLEX/DEFENSE
The scoring is similar to most typical Fantasy Football Leagues:
Passing: +1 Point for every 25 passing yards(+0.4 Points/Yard)/ +4 Points for Passing TDs/ +6 Points for rushing TDs/ -1 Point for an INT/ +3 Points for surpassing 300 yards passing
Rushing: 1 Point every 10 yards(0.1 Points/Yard)/ +6 Points for a rushing TD/ +3 Points for surpassing 100 yards rushing
Receiving: +1 Point every 10 yards(+0.1Pts/Yard)/ +1 Point per reception/ +6 points for a Receiving TD/ +3 Points for surpassing 100 yards receiving
Miscellaneous Offensive Scoring: +6 Points for Punt/Kickoff/FG Return for a TD/ -1 Fumble Lost/ +2 Points for a 2 PT Conversion(Pass,Run,Catch)/ +6 Points Offensive Fumble Recovery TD
Defense: +1 Point for a Sack/ +2 Points for an Interception/ +2 Points for Fumble Recovery/ +6 for Interception or a Fumble returned for a TD/ +6 Points for a Blocked Kick/Punt/+2 Points for a safety/+2 Points for a blocked kick/+2 Points for a 2pt Conversion or Extra Point return
Defenses start with 10 points at the beginning of the game due to the opponent having 0 points.
0 Points Allowed +10 Points
1-6 Points Allowed +7 Points
7-13 Points Allowed +4 Points
14-20 Points Allowed +1 Points
21-27 Points Allowed 0 Points
28-34 Points Allowed -1 Points
35+ Points Allowed -4 Points
FanDuel Rules and Scoring
A traditional FanDuel lineup is identical to its DraftKings counterpart, 9 players (QB – 2 RBs – 3 WRs – TE – Flex – Defense) except that the salary cap is $60,000 rather than $50,000.
Scoring on FanDuel is also the same as DraftKings save for three notable exceptions:
1. Receptions on FanDuel are only worth 0.5 points.
2. There are no bonuses for hitting the 300 yards passing or 100 yards rushing/receiving marks. Each passing yard nets you 0.04 points and each rushing/receiving yard 0.1 points, with no exceptions. 3. A lost fumble is -2 points (I don’t know why they made a lost fumble subtract twice as many points as an interception, but as a Giants fan I do believe it to be a direct attack on Daniel Jones).
All other scoring is identical between the sites. With fumbles generally hard to predict the two main things to keep in mind are that DraftKings is full PPR, while FanDuel is only half, & that DraftKings hands out yardage bonuses so there’s more reason to target boom or bust players on it than FanDuel.
Now while knowing the rules is super important, so is knowing the terminology behind playing Daily Fantasy Football.
Please make sure to familiarize yourself with some of the key terms below!
Daily Fantasy Terms
50/50: A league /entry type where 50% of the entrants win money and 50% of the entrants do not. If I enter a $100 50/50 (also known as a double-up contest) contest with 10 entrants, the Top 5 or half of the field would receive $180 and the bottom half would receive nothing. You might be asking if it’s referred to as a double-up why am I not receiving double the money I entered? Just like a casino the fantasy site will take a rake. Which is normally 5-10%.
DK: DraftKings, one of the two major daily fantasy sports sites. The big difference between DraftKings and Fanduel is that Draftkings is a PPR format where you receive a full point for every reception made by players in your lineup. DraftKings also adds bonuses to your players for reaching statistical markers, i.e. when a QB throws for 300 yards, a player has 100 yards receiving or rushes for 100 yards.
FD: FanDuel, one of the two major daily fantasy sports sites. I mentioned above that Draftkings offers a full point per reception. FanDuel offers half a point per reception for players in your lineup. Another difference is FanDuel has kickers in their lineups and DraftKings does not.
GPP/Tournaments: GPP stands for Guaranteed Prize Pool. Both sites will list tournaments that have a guaranteed prize pool no matter the total amount of entrants. These are large tournament pools, and they have a high number of max entries. Meaning one person could have up to 150 lineups in that pool.
Fade: When you are avoiding a particular player or game when you are setting your lineup.
Chalk: A player that will be highly owned in DFS lineups. In many instances you want to avoid having players who will be highly owned, but if you believe in a player enough you shouldn’t allow a player being highly owned to prevent you from including him in your lineup.
Now why shouldn’t you try to use a player who is widely owned? Find out on FRIDAY!
Stack: Pairing of two or more players on the same team. Typically pairing a QB with a RB, WR, TE, or a combination.
Punt: When you decide to take one of the lowest salary guys available at a position. This strategy is typically used when there isn’t a clear-cut player at that position or much disparity between the high-end and low-end players in that price range. This allows you to fit higher-priced players into your lineups.
Floor: The lowest projected outcome for a player. A player with a high floor would be a good option at any position.
Ceiling: The highest projected outcome for a player. A player could have a medium to low floor but a high ceiling. This would be a high-risk, high-reward play at that position.
DK Positions/Salary: When filling out a DraftKings’ lineup you have $50,000 to use on the 9 positions that need to be filled in your lineup. The positions are QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, Flex, and Defense. Typically, players’ price tags range from just over $9,000 down to $3,000 with Defenses’ price tag going as low as $2,000.
Tinkering: This is a term mostly used by us during the podcast, but its definition is when you start making changes, typically in the last few hours before your contest starts, normally due to having some salary remaining in your lineup. Don’t be a victim to tinkering, or as Joe and I call it the “tinker stinker”.