So it's Week 8, and I've been chronicling my FanDuel entries all season. I've run my initial $50 up to $227, so that's pretty neat. You might have noticed if you're paying close attention (and bless you for that) that my rosters have always been Sunday (or Sunday-Monday), meaning I've never FanDueled with a Thursday game.
FanDuel: Set it, don’t forget it
The nice thing about FanDuel is that you can set a lineup and never look at it again. But you shouldn’t.
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Sure, part of that is because these pieces run on Fridays. But heck, I chose that date. I could have included Thursdays. But including Thursdays means locking in your roster by Thursday evening, and missing any injury updates between then and Sunday.
Flexibility is key. Last week, when highlighting my roster, I talked about how excited I was to grab New Orleans tight end Josh Hill at a steep discount, with Jimmy Graham out. And then Graham was active, so on Saturday, I nixed Hill in my lineup and swapped him out. If I had joined a starts-on-Thursday tournament, I wouldn't have had the chance to do that.
If you listen to ESPN’s Fantasy Focus podcast, you’ve heard Nate Ravitz discuss his own fantasy rosters. And he has often mentioned his fantasy methodology: He flips through his rosters on Tuesday and sets a preliminary lineup -- clearing up byes and obvious injury situations, but not digging down deep into the matchups and the like. That way, worst-case scenario, if he forgets to get back to his roster on Friday or Saturday or Sunday morning, he at least has a roster in place.
For slightly different reasons, I do this with FanDuel as well. I need to have a roster for my columns, and I want to have a roster for “I want money” purposes. So I enter the tournaments relatively early in the week, so I know I have an entry. And I give those lineups my best.
And then on Sunday morning, hanging out on my brother’s couch and watching pregame, I go in willing to start over. In general, my lineup won’t change much, but simply getting back in there helps.
Basically, FanDuel is not a “set it and forget it” game. That’s kind of the billing -- you know, it doesn’t require all the attention that a yearlong game does, you can play it quick and move on -- but that’s not what it is. Paying attention still ... pays.
Which brings me to this week’s roster. Well, to this week’s roster as it stands right now. You get it.
| Position | Player | Opponent | Salary |
| QB | Tony Romo | Washington | 8,200 |
| RB | Le'Veon Bell | Indianapolis | 8,400 |
| RB | Jerick McKinnon | @Tampa Bay | 5,800 |
| WR | Dez Bryant | Washington | 8,800 |
| WR | Mike Wallace | @Jacksonville | 7,500 |
| WR | Andrew Hawkins | Oakland | 6,000 |
| TE | Martellus Bennett | @New England | 5,900 |
| K | Robbie Gould | @New England | 4,700 |
| DEF | Dallas Cowboys | Washington | 4,700 |
Remember, start with the discounts. And Jerick McKinnon at $5,800 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is enticing as is the Dallas defense at $4,700 against *cough* Colt McCoy. That Washington matchup is also why I grabbed Romo and Bryant. (Also fun, for these purposes? Having players on Monday. It's much more fun to watch yourself climb up the rankings Monday night than slide down them.)
That Martellus Bennett pick is the interesting one for me, at least as it relates to what I was talking about earlier. Bennett’s been on the injury report this week. Will that make me change come Saturday or Sunday morning? Possibly. I’ll check back.
Now, my 50/50 roster:
| Position | Player | Opponent | Salary |
| QB | Kyle Orton | @NY Jets | 7,200 |
| RB | LeSean McCoy | @Arizona | 8,000 |
| RB | Lamar Miller | @Jacksonville | 7,400 |
| WR | T.Y. Hilton | @Pittsburgh | 7,900 |
| WR | Sammy Watkins | @NY Jets | 7,300 |
| WR | Michael Floyd | Philadelphia | 6,500 |
| TE | Dwayne Allen | @Pittsburgh | 6,000 |
| K | Billy Cundiff | Oakland | 4,800 |
| DEF | Kansas City Chiefs | St. Louis | 4,800 |
This is a little bit of hunch-playing. Grabbing a quarterback/receiver tandem against the Jets is always fun, and I get to own by boy Orton this way. And saving a little on quarterback (which I don’t generally advocate, but whatever), sometimes it makes sense.
From there, I could get a No. 1 running back against Jacksonville (Miller), plus some stars in McCoy and Floyd, and a couple of Colts. Should be a strong team.
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