Lineup Breakdown: Analysis of Week 16 Winning Lineups

There was no Millionaire Maker at DraftKings in Week 16. Instead, they held the NFL $4M Main Event with $1 million awarded to first place. The field was significantly smaller than that which was featured weekly in the Millionaire Maker and was only 2,960 teams, and with a $1,500 buy-in, that's not surprising. FanDuel continued their NFL Sunday Million in Week 16, and the prize remained the same $175K it was last week. Below, I'll break down the lineups that featured four of the same players.

The Week 16 winner of the FanDuel NFL Sunday Million was "onefifty9n2," and, interestingly, the only "teammates" on this squad were the quarterback and defense. That's not your typical stack. Even more strangely, the defense provided nearly double the scoring this squad's quarterback did. Add in a big score from the kicker and some clunker lines from other positions, and this wasn't a typical winning roster from previous weeks in the FanDuel NFL Sunday Million.

QB - Carson Palmer ($8,700) vs Green Bay Packers (3% owned) - Big GPP winning lineups of late have featured some sizable point contributions from the likes of Russell Wilson, Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger, but Palmer posted a modest line of 265 yards passing and two touchdowns with one interception. He only needed to air it out 27 times because the game got out of hand ... more on that to come.

RB - Tim Hightower ($6,300) vs Jacksonville Jaguars (5.7% owned) - Hightower followed up a career-high 28 carry performance in Week 14 with less work and stuck in more of a true RBBC in Week 15, but he bounced back in a big way in Week 16 carrying the ball 27 times for 122 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also added 47 yards receiving on three receptions. His underwhelming showing in Week 15 drove his ownership rate down last week, making his 30.4 points all the more valuable.

RB - DeAngelo Williams ($7,400) at Baltimore Ravens (24.9% owned) - The Steelers were shocked by the Ryan Mallet-led Ravens, but the blame can't be cast in Williams' direction. He continued his remarkable 2015 showing with 100 yards rushing and a pair of scores on 17 carries, and he continued flashing his shocking and previously unseen pass-catching skills with six receptions for 53 yards receiving. He and Hightower were nearly equals in fantasy scoring, and they set the tone with 60+ fantasy points from the backfield.

WR - Brandon Marshall ($8,300) vs New England Patriots (3.8% owned) - Think the Bears sold low on Marshall? He reached the 100+ reception total for the sixth time in his career with a big 8-115-2 line in a much-needed victory for the Jets. He's on a hell of a tear, and if gamers were given a blind game log test and told a receiver from a New York team posted it, many likely would guess Odell Beckham Jr. was the receiver. Nope, and Marshall's ownership hasn't even come close to catching up to his excellence. He was one of a few low-owned gems who helped power this team to $175K.

WR - Keshawn Martin ($5,400) at New York Jets (1.1% owned) - Martin was a punt, and the best thing I can say is that he reached double-digit points. He ran for six yards on one carry while catching seven passes for an unremarkable 68 yards receiving. He was a contrarian pick who wasn't a game-changer, but he didn't derail this team from securing the top spot in the FanDuel NFL Sunday Million, either.

WR - Allen Robinson ($8,400) at New Orleans Sants (26.7% owned) - The Saints have been dreadful defending the pass all year, but they hadn't been quite the disaster against receivers many gamers might have guessed based on the A-Rob love entering Week 16. That said, New Orleans is a below average team defending wide outs, and A-Rob has blossomed into a true WR1 who's one of the most unstoppable forces at his position. The scary part is, it's just year two for him.

TE - Will Tye ($5,100) at Minnesota Vikings (11.9% owned) - Tye was a popular punt play with OBJ suspended, but he laid an egg. Thankfully for "onefifty9n2," there weren't any huge game-changing performances at the position over the weekend, as Jordan Reed went nuts on Thursday. You don't see many GPP winning rosters featuring a sub-5 fantasy point scorer, but boy oh boy did the kicker and defense selections pick up the slack.

K - Blair Walsh ($4,600) vs New York Giants (9.5% owned) - If a kicker can contribute 10-15 points, that's a solid showing. What Walsh did was huge. The big-legged kicker banged in five field goals, including a long of 53 yards, and added four made PATs. In all, his 23 fantasy points would have been an acceptable total at a skill position.

DST - Arizona Cardinals ($4,700) vs Green Bay Packers (1.1% owned) - Remember when I said more on the blowout in the Cardinals game to come? Well, yeah, the defense of the Cardinals fueled that. They held the Packers to eight points while recording nine sacks, four forced turnovers and two defensive scores. They damn near doubled Palmer's scoring total, and with Tyrann Mathieu out, the defense rallied and put their monster fantasy scoring output up at a miniscule ownership rate.

"Ehafner" not only finished first in the DraftKings NFL $4M Main Event but also in second. The top two places paid out a cool $1.35M combined, or more than a quarter of the prize pool. That's a hell of a score, but for the purposes of this article, only the GPP winning lineup will be dissected. A high-powered QB/WR stack paid off big, and a whopping four players were under-5% owned. There was some chalk on this roster, too, but the low-owned gems really helped power this roster to the top of the heap.

QB - Blake Bortles ($6,500) at New Orleans Saints (25.6% owned) - The gift that kept on giving to fantasy owners in daily fantasy and season-long leagues was the Saints facing non-Jameis Winston quarterbacks this year. Bortles was the latest to take a blow torch to them and he rattled off 368 yards passing (300+ yard bonus), four passing touchdowns, a two-point conversion and five rushing yards with two interceptions. Bortles is still rough around the edges from a reality standpoint, but his volume and uber-talented pass catchers make him a strong fantasy option.

RB - Doug Martin ($6,600) vs Chicago Bears (18.3% owned) - Martin's been one of the best runners in the league this season, but he turned in a clunker scoring only 10.5 fantasy points in a loss. Two fumbles wiped away two-thirds of his touchdown's fantasy point total, and his yardage was a yawn inducing 55 yards from scrimmage. He was the low scorer on the team, but he reached double-digit points, and that was good enough to help muscle this team to the top of the GPP.

RB - DeAngelo Williams ($6,500) at Baltimore Ravens (20.7% owned) - Williams was one member of the quartet of carryovers from the other GPP winning roster. He was chalky, and he was even more valuable at DraftKings where he received a full point on each of his six receptions and a bonus for 100+ rushing yards.

WR - Brandon Marshall ($7,600) vs New England Patriots (4.3% owned) - Marshall, like Williams, was also a carryover who was even more valuable on DraftKings than FanDuel as a result of the scoring differences between the two sites. He was also low owned in this GPP.

WR - Rueben Randle ($3,500) at Minnesota Vikings (20.5% owned) - Randle was a chalky play thanks in large part to his tiny salary (just $500 more than the minimum for a wide out), but also because he ascended to top wide out duty with OBJ suspended. A garbage-time 72-yard touchdown reception toward the end of the third quarter saved his day, as he only had one other reception for eight yards.

WR - Allen Robinson ($7,500) at New Orleans Saints (24.6% owned) - Robinson makes it three of four carryovers who carried more value on DraftKings thanks to the full point per reception and yardage bonus awarded at DraftKings.

TE - Travis Kelce ($4,300) vs Cleveland Browns (3.6% owned) - Instead of turning to Tye as a punt with an increased role thanks to the OBJ suspension, "Ehafner" turned to the previously discussed Randle and filled the tight end position with a more productive option. Kelce's been a maddening player for season-long and daily gamers alike, squandering some cushy matchups, and playing well in tougher matchups. His 6-46-1 line against the Browns was one of his better lines of the year, and his talent level make him a viable GPP option any week.

FLEX - Javorius Allen ($4,200) vs Pittsburgh Steelers (2.2% owned) - "Buck" Allen was a contrarian selection that took guts and maybe a bit of craziness. The Steelers have been stout against the run most of the year, and he was coming off of a game in which he fumbled his way into the doghouse and played fewer snaps than Terrance West. The Steelers were big favorites, and I'd hazard a guess "Ehafner" was banking on the full point per reception on dump offs to Allen. The Ravens pulled a shocking upset, and Allen's line was quite balanced with 79 yards rushing and a touchdown on 18 carries, and five receptions for 35 yards receiving. In all, his line was worth more than 20 points and on a low ownership. At a bargain bin price, that qualifies as a huge success in the FLEX.

DST - Arizona Cardinals ($3,300) vs Green Bay Packers (0.1% owned) - If you thought gamers were shying away from the Arizona defense on FanDuel, they were even lower owned on DraftKings. The Cardinals look like a nearly unstoppable machine, and while the offense has been getting the bulk of the love this year, "Ehafner" and "onefifty9n2" have a great appreciation for the Arizona defense.