Lineup Breakdown: Analysis of Week 8 Winning Lineups

One game from Week 8, the Giants and Saints shootout in New Orleans, provided a ton of fireworks. Unsurprisingly, players from that game were featured on the winning rosters of both the $4M Sunday Million at FanDuel and the Millionaire Maker at DraftKings. First things first, let's take a look at the winning lineup from the $25 buy-in FanDuel $4M Sunday Million taken down by "westcoast4."

Like many of the big winners this year, "westcoast4" had limited DFS experience before their huge win. "Westcoast4" has 33 wins at FanDuel split 18 in NFL contests and 15 in NBA contests. By hitting on some chalk plays, nabbing key pieces from the shootout in New Orleans and identifying some low-owned, big scoring performers, "westcoast4" hit big and took down $500K!

QB - Drew Brees ($7,900) vs New York Giants (3.8% owned) - Brees' point output accounted for a bit over 22% of the team total. That's what happens when a quarterback spins seven touchdown passes and accounts for a staggering 505 yards passing. The expression video game numbers is thrown out frivolously, but these were legitimately video game numbers produced by Brees. Not only were they video game numbers, they were jacking up Brees' rankings and playing the computer on rookie setting type offensive numbers. At a sub-5% ownership rate, Brees set this team apart from the competition right out of the gate in a big way.

RB - Todd Gurley ($8,100) vs San Francisco 49ers (45.1% owned - Gurley was once again a chalk selection this week even after a price bump, but once again, those who faded him paid the price. Wisely, "westcoast4" used one of his two running back positions on the stud rookie runner. For the fourth straight week, Gurley surpasses 125 yards rushing and he found the end zone one time on a brilliant 71-yard rush. He added three receptions for 13 yards receiving. He's a stud, and game flow worked out as many expected.

RB - Ronnie Hillman ($6,100) vs Green Bay Packers (4% owned) - While Gurley was a chalky play who panned out because his game went according to plan, Hillman was the type of contrary play who panned out thanks to oddsmakers missing. The Broncos remained undefeated by squashing the visiting, and previously unbeaten, Packers. Hillman wasn't even the leading rusher on his own squad (a distinction that belongs to season-long bust C.J. Anderson who rushed for 101 yards and a score on 14 carries), but the San Diego State product led the team in carries with 19 and totaled 60 yards while finding the end zone twice. Because the Broncos weren't stuck in the position of playing catch up, like many expected, Hillman received plenty of work. That said, and interestingly enough, he scored the game's first two touchdowns. Everything beyond those scores was gravy for those who rostered him.

WR - Stefon Diggs ($6,700) @ Chicago Bears (30% owned) - Back to the chalk plays, and as we saw on Thursday when ownership rates came out, Diggs was a popular play. The rookie continued his scorching hot run as Teddy Bridgewater's favorite target and he caught six of 12 targets for 95 yards and a score. According to ESPN, 25 of Bridgewater's 30 passes were intended for receivers, and thus, Diggs' 12 targets accounted for almost exactly half of the targets to Vikings' pass catchers. With such a crazy volume of work every week, don't expect Diggs' ownership rate to drop anytime soon, but do expect his price to continue to rise.

WR - Brandin Cooks ($6,800) vs New York Giants (4.9% owned) - Continuing the theme of alternating chalk plays with low-owned difference makers, Cooks paid off as a sub-5% owned stud in Week 8. By hooking Cooks with Brees, "westcoast4" doubled up on scoring for the two touchdown passes from Brees to Cooks. The second-year wide receiver did more than haul in two touchdown grabs, he added four more receptions bringing his line to 6-88-2, and he easily provided value on his salary.

WR - Odell Beckham Jr. ($8,700) @ New Orleans Saints (9.1% owned) - The Saints weren't the only team that produced points in New Orleans, the Giants made it a true shootout by hanging 49 points of their own. On a related note, how does Rob Ryan still have a job? Anyway, OBJ looked a heck of a lot like his rookie season self tallying a line of 8-130-3. And, oh yeah, he was hyper efficient since he was targeted just nine times. Don't expect OBJ's ownership to remain under 10% when the Giants travel to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers this week.

TE - Greg Olsen ($6,400) vs Indianapolis Colts (14.8% owned) - It was essentially a two tight end race in feature GPPs this week with Rob Gronkowski not in the player pool due to the Patriots playing in the Thursday Night Football game. Olsen didn't turn in a monster effort, but his 16.9 points bested the 5.9 points turned in by Tyler Eifert, the more popular play at the position. Eleven points matters, and it is one of the small gains that helped provide "westcoast4" a $500K payday.

K - Dan Bailey ($4,600) vs Seattle Seahawks (1.6% owned) - There were kickers who scored more than the 14 points posted by Dan Bailey, but at just $100 above the minimum salary, the 14 points were plenty and allowed "westcoast4" to spend up elsewhere. Ultimately, that's about all you can reasonably ask for from your kicker.

DST - Houston Texans ($4,700) vs Tennessee Titans (4.6% owned) - This is one of the more impressive hits. There were a number of more popular defenses, including the wildly popular St. Louis Rams. The Rams scored just 12 points though, and the Texans were responsible for 20 fantasy points. They stifled backup quarterback Zach Mettenberger and ripped off seven sacks and one interception while holding the Titans to just six points. The Titans have mustered just 13 points with Mettenberger starting the last two weeks. Gamers should consider following "westcoast4's" suit and pick on the Titans if Marcus Mariota is forced to miss more time.

Your big winner at DraftKings in Week 8 was "gvalstyle." There's some overlap between this roster and the big winning roster at FanDuel, but there were some interesting differences, too. These differences illustrate there's many ways to skin a cat and shoot to the top of the standings.

QB - Drew Brees ($6,700) vs New York Giants (3.2% owned) - One of the overlapping players between rosters was Brees. Like at FanDuel, he was owned on under 5% of rosters, and as I elaborated on above, he posted literal video game numbers. When your QB nets you over 50 fantasy points, you're off to a hell of a start.

RB - Todd Gurley ($6,300) vs San Francisco 49ers (61.7% owned) - Here's another overlapping piece of rosters. The price hike for Gurley wasn't as substantial at DraftKings as it was at FanDuel, and his ownership was 16% higher at DK. Until the rookie runner sees a significant bump to his salary, he's damn near a must play. He's just $6,900 this week, so go ahead and roster this stud and fill in the pieces around him in Week 9.

RB - Darren McFadden ($3,800) vs Seattle Seahawks (12.7% owned) - McFadden had a tough matchup with the stout run defense of the Seahawks visiting Dallas, but the new starting back for the Cowboys carried a tiny salary into the contest. Because the game remained close, the Cowboys were able to feed him the rock 20 times on the ground, and with game-manager QB Matt Cassel under center, he was the team's leading receiver with six receptions and 49 yards on eight targets. His scoring output wasn't through the roof, but at just $3.8K, it didn't need to be.

WR - Tavon Austin ($4,600) vs San Francisco 49ers (6.0% owned) - By now, I'm sure most of you have seen the DraftKings commercial narrated by Edward Norton in which he discusses sleepers. Whelp, this is just the type of player he's alluding to. Austin's ownership rate suggest a few gamers were keen of his matchup against the 49ers, and I certainly liked him, but he even exceeded my expectations. Austin is enjoying a breakout season and did it all Sunday, rushing for 21 yards and a touchdown on three attempts, and reeling in four receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown on seven targets. Gurley is the premier player in the offense for the Rams, but Austin is emerging as a reliable number-two option for them. And, if you double check the image above, you'll notice Austin actually outscored Gurley in Week 8.

WR - Odell Beckham Jr. ($8,500) @ New Orleans Saints (6.6% owned) - As I noted above, OBJ beasted this week and clowned the secondary of the Saints. His ownership was low, likely as a result of his very good but not elite production this year, but that ownership will be on the rise with him looking like the superstar he was in his rookie season in 2014.

WR - Julio Jones ($9,200) vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers (20.5% owned) - Speaking of superstars, Jones showcased that he remains one of the best players in the game. This game did not go according to script, and the Falcons entered the second half trailing by 10 points. The result was Matty Ice airing the ball out 45 times, and he threw in the direction of his stud wide out 13 times. Jones caught a remarkable 12 of the 13 targets, and turned those receptions into 162 yards receiving and a touchdown. He lost a fumble, but I'm guessing "gvalstyle" forgives him for that blemish in his stat line.

TE - Benjamin Watson ($3,500) vs New York Giants (12.7% owned) - The big winner at FanDuel hooked Cooks with Brees, and the big winner at DraftKings opted to hook Watson with him. The tight ends expected to produce the most points this week, Eifert and Olsen, failed to deliver, but the cheaper Watson delivered for the 12.7% of gamers who spun down to him. This is two big showings in the last three weeks for Watson, and he's clearly emerging as a favorite target of Brees. Watson's track record suggests these kind of performances can't be counted on weekly, but Brees had a pretty solid track record of getting a lot out of his tight ends when Jimmy Graham was in town. When the matchup is right, Watson will remain a really intriguing choice.

FLEX - Jonathan Stewart ($4,100) vs Indianapolis Colts (12.7% owned) - Stewart's sub-15% ownership rate is somewhat surprising for a few reasons. The first is that he was coming off of back-to-back big games. The second is his price tag. Thirdly, the matchup was a plus against a Colts defense that is giving to running backs. Finally, oddsmakers pegged the Panthers as roughly a touchdown favorite depending on when you checked the line. All things pointed towards Stewart paying off his price tag, and "gvalstyle" wisely invested. Stewart was the lowest scorer on the roster, but he provided the necessary salary flexibility to pony up for some of the studs that carried this roster to the top of the Milly Maker standings.

DST - Houston Texans ($3,100) vs Tennessee Titans (3.6% owned) - And I won't re-hash what I wrote above, but this is an overlapping selection from the FanDuel winning roster, and it was a big scorer with 20 fantasy points.

That's gonna do it. "Gvalstyle's" roster featured five players who received yardage bonuses and plenty of touchdowns. He became the newest millionaire playing DFS. Hopefully your rosters featured some of the same players as these two big winning rosters, because if they did, it's almost certain you enjoyed a profitable weekend too. As usual, the biggest winning rosters featured a combination of "obvious" chalk plays who delivered as well as a few masterpieces from low-owned players. If you hope to win big like this, you'll need to do your research. Check out all of our content and tools here at DFC, and hopefully I'll be writing about your winning roster next week.

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