Lineup Breakdown: Analysis of Week 9 Winning Lineups

There was some monster scoring in Week 9, and the big winners at FanDuel, "rtoraine," and DraftKings, "Skeener917," outscored the respective winners at each site in Week 8. Interestingly, there were only three overlapping players between the two big winning lineups, which proves there are multiple avenues to a big payday some weeks. Without further ado, let's take a gander at the winning lineups from the $4M Sunday Million at FanDuel and the Millionaire Maker at DraftKings.

Wow, a whopping five players on "rtoraine's" roster were owned on less than 5% of the other rosters in this contest, and another two players were on just 5-6% of rosters. Yes, "rtoraine" had two chalk plays who were on more than a quarter of rosters, but suffice to say, the diamonds in the rough came through big time.

QB - Cam Newton ($7,900) vs Green Bay Packers (2.2% owned) - One of those diamonds in the rough starts at the top with Newton. Superman was a one-man show for the Panthers, as he's been most of the season, and he three for three scores on 297 yards passing while adding another 57 yards and a score on the ground. His ability to pile up points with his arm and legs makes him a high-upside GPP play every week, and he delivered in Week 9.

RB - Adrian Peterson ($8,400) vs St. Louis Rams (3% owned) - Todd Gurley was the more popular back in a showdown between the Rams and Vikings in Minnesota, but the veteran reminded the young whipper snapper who's boss. AD rushed for 125 yards and a score on 29 carries. And just for laughs, he added 18 yards on a pair of receptions. Peterson's strong performance against a talented Rams' defense is a reminder he still has plenty left in the tank.

RB - DeAngelo Williams ($6,500) vs Oakland Raiders (26.5% owned) - Williams was one of two members of the Steelers on this big winning roster, and one of just two chalk players. Le'Veon Bell's season-ending injury re-opened the door to Williams starting, and after balling out in two starts earlier in the year, Williams kicked things up to an even higher level totaling 225 yards from scrimmage (170 yards rushing and 55 receiving) while crossing the goal line twice. The 37.5 FanDuel fantasy points posted by Williams were the highest total on this winning team by the slightest of margins, but more on that to come.

WR - Randall Cobb ($7,400) @ Carolina Panthers (5.4% owned) - Not deterred by a tough matchup against the stingy pass defense of the Panthers, "rtoraine" received a healthy 17.9 fantasy points from Cobb on a 4-99-1 line. It wasn't a team-carrying effort, but it was a nice glue effort.

WR - Jordan Matthews ($6,300) @ Dallas Cowboys (1.4% owned) - While Dan Bailey isn't on this winning roster, he certainly had a sizable hand in it coming to fruition. You see, Bailey hit a game-tying field goal to end regulation, and Matthews played some free football. Matthews made the most of the free football by capping an otherwise quiet evening. The second-year wide out entered overtime with a ho-hum 6-89-0 line in regulation, but went off for 3-44-1 in overtime that included the game-winning 41-yard touchdown reception. A boring line turned into a juicy 23.8 fantasy points at a miniscule ownership rate.

WR - Antonio Brown ($8,700) vs Oakland Raiders (25.1% owned) - Why is Brown such a bum? I mean, he didn't even score a touchdown over the weekend. In all seriousness, it's remarkable he didn't reach the end zone, but his lack of a touchdown can be overlooked thanks to a 17-284 line on 23 targets. Nope, none of those numbers are the result of typos, and the result in fantasy scoring terms is 37.1 points. Big Ben will miss a few weeks due to a mid-foot sprain, but Brown made the most of playing with the stud signal caller in Week 9.

TE - Delanie Walker ($5,500) @ New Orleans Saints (6% owned) - Walker scored one of his touchdowns on one of the more bizarre plays I've seen in awhile. Two defenders from the Saints collided on a ball that should have been intercepted, and the ball bounced to Walker, who reeled it in and took it to the house. Overall, he turned in a 7-95-2 line as the top pass catcher on the squad in the absence of Kendall Wright.

K - Josh Brown ($4,800) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3.5% owned) - If you can net between 15-20 fantasy points from your kicker, you're happy. That was the case with Brown, and I'm sure you won't hear any complaints from "rtoraine."

DST - New York Giants ($4,500) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1.9% owned) - Late-game "heroics" (okay, I'm stretching the word heroics in this case) are an underlying theme with this big winning squad. Matthews actual heroics winning his team a divisional game and the Giants padding their win with a time-expiring defensive touchdown. The Giants recorded zero sacks, but they recovered three fumbles and scored the defensive touchdown.

"Skeener917's" roster was considerably more chalky than the winning roster on FanDuel, with only one player checking in with an ownership rate below 6%. That said, there were some sneaky good plays mixed in with the chalk players paying off. Overall, this roster featured four yardage bonuses and a staggering 15 touchdowns!

QB - Marcus Mariota ($5,300) @ New Orleans Saints (1.8% owned) - Drafted as a duel-threat quarterback, Mariota hasn't done much with his legs this year, including in this contest, but he sure did exploit a bad secondary of the Saints torching them for 371 yards passing and four touchdowns. The rookie played the part of a savvy veteran in Week 9, netting his interim head coach, Mike Mularkey, a win while racking up 36.34 fantasy points for Millionaire Maker winner "Skeener917."

RB - Chris Ivory ($5,900) vs Jacksonville Jaguars (18.3% owned) - Ivory averaged just a hair over one yard per carry with 26 on 23 attempts, but his two rushing touchdowns saved the day for his fantasy value (and the 18.3% of gamers who used him breathed a sigh of relief for escaping with a "good" effort), and three receptions for 22 receiving yards didn't hurt either.

RB - DeAngelo Williams ($5,500) vs Oakland Raiders (20.1% owned) - Williams is one of the overlapping players from the other roster. As I noted above, he delivered as a starter while Bell was on suspension for the first two games of the year, but Williams was even more impressive in his first start with Bell on the shelf due to injury. Williams fends off talk of decline for 30-plus-year old backs for another week.

WR - Antonio Brown ($8,100) vs Oakland Raiders (31.5% owned) - Teammate Brown joins Williams as one of the three overlapping players. While he score a touchdown, his yardage total was eye popping and worth a bit more on DraftKings than on FanDuel, as was his 17 grabs. In all, he came up just short of the 50-point scored threshold.

WR - Michael Crabtree ($4,900) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (17.6% owned) - Crabtree was grossly underpriced again last week, and 17.6% of gamers in the Milly Maker hopped all over the value. They were treated to a fantasy-friendly line of 7-108-2. That line's befitting a stud, not a player priced like a punt.

WR - Julian Edelman ($8,200) vs Washington Redskins (8.7% owned) - Crabtree's line helped make up for Edelman's merely good showing. The Patriots delivered as oddsmakers projected, and they won by three scores (17 point margin of victory). The result was that Tom Brady threw "only" 39 passes. Edelman's five receptions for 55 yards would have been a real clunker at $8,200, but his touchdown grab got him over the hump and into the teens in fantasy scoring.

TE - Delanie Walker ($4,200) @ New Orleans Saints (7.6% owned) - Walker was the third overlapping player on the two monster winning lineups. His big effort has pushed the Saints to the bottom of the heap defending tight ends from a fantasy scoring perspective, per Pro-Football Reference. As long as Rob Ryan inexplicably has a job as a defensive coordinator, it's wise to attack his Saints defense with a variety of pieces. The Mariota/Walker stack paid off in spades for "Skeener917," and it's unlikely we've seen the last of a stack against the Saints netting gamers big dough.

FLEX - Lamar Miller ($5,000) @ Buffalo Bills (6.6% owned) - The Dolphins were stomped by the Bills, but not due to Miller. He showed off a multi-faceted skill-set leading the team in rushing yards (44) and receiving yards (97) while reeling in seven receptions and rushing for a pair of touchdowns. All in all, 33.1 fantasy points is nothing to sneeze at.

DST - Philadelphia Eagles ($2,700) @ Dallas Cowboys (8.1% owned) - The Eagles were one of my favorite defenses this week for those pivoting off of the Broncos, and while their 12 fantasy points weren't a huge total, it was more than the Broncos mustered. Matt Cassel gave them more trouble than most expected, but four sacks and a pick-six made up for the 27 points surrendered.

That wraps things up. Check out the articles and tools here at Daily Fantasy Cafe throughout the week, and perhaps you'll find the diamonds in the rough like "rtoraine" did when they constructed their big winning roster at FanDuel this past week and find your roster being written about in the upcoming weeks.