Lineup Breakdown: Analysis of Wild Card Round Winning Lineups

GPPs with big payouts didn't end with the NFL's regular season coming to a close. FanDuel had a Wild Card Round NFL Saturday Million with $120K paid to first place and DraftKings had a Wild Card Round Millionaire Maker. With just four games and eight teams to pick players from, it's not that surprising that the winning rosters of those contests featured six of the same players. That said, some under the radar players helped push each of the winning rosters to the top of their respective GPP.

The winning roster picked by "buttfumbletwo" featured quite a bit of chalk, but the chalk largely paid off. A cheap backfield duo allowed for spending heavily elsewhere, and that was key for this roster winning. With every player reaching double-digit fantasy points, no one player carried this team to victory.

QB - Kirk Cousins ($8,000) vs Green Bay Packers (27.1% owned) - The Redskins season is over, but not before Cousins turned in a strong fantasy effort passing for 329 yards and a score and rushing for two yards and a touchdown. He did lose a fumble, but in a week where quarterbacks didn't do much fantasy scoring, Cousins delivered the highest fantasy point total at the position.

RB - Fitzgerald Toussaint ($5,700) at Cincinnati Bengals (19.7% owned) - Toussaint had a tough matchup with the stout run defense of the Bengals, and his 58 yards rushing on 17 carries weren't much to write home about. He did, however, add 60 yards receiving on four receptions. In all, 118 yards from scrimmage was a rock-solid showing.

RB - James Starks ($5,800) at Washington Redskins (7.8% owned) - Eddie Lacy got most of the love from the DFS community entering the weekend, but he split the carry workload 50/50 with Starks (12 carries for each). Lacy bested Starks in rushing yards with the former rushing for 63 and a touchdown and the latter rushing for 53 yards and a score. Starks ended up outscoring the more popular Lacy by adding two receptions for 12 yards. As an added bonus, Starks was $200 cheaper than his backfield mate.

WR - Doug Baldwin ($7,300) at Minnesota Vikings (35% owned) - Baldwin's five receptions for 42 receiving yards weren't head-turning totals, but he did what he's done down the stretch quite frequently, and that's reach pay dirt. He caught the only touchdown in the Seahawks and Vikings defensive slugfest in frigid conditions.

WR - A.J. Green ($8,300) vs Pittsburgh Steelers (39.4% owned) - Green outscored the number-one wide out for the Steelers, Antonio Brown, by 0.2 fantasy points, and he checked in at $1,200 cheaper. Opting for the lower owned and cheaper wide out in the AFC North battle was a pivotal move, and Green's line of 5-71-1 was solid if not spectacular.

WR - Martavis Bryant ($6,900) at Cincinnati Bengals (14% owned) - Instead of using Brown, "buttfumbletwo" wisely chose Bryant, who outscored Brown. Bryant took Big Ben's criticism earlier in the week in stride and did a bit of everything catching five passes for 29 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 44 yards on a single carry.

TE - Jordan Reed ($7,400) vs Green Bay Packers (49.7% owned) - I'm downright shocked that Reed was owned on under 50% of FanDuel NFL Saturday Million rosters. Reed had a great regular season and went nuts down the stretch, and fading him seemed like a silly decision. It turned out to be just that, as Reed erupted for a 9-120-1 line.

K - Cairo Santos ($4,800) at Houston Texans (19% owned) - The Chiefs were easily the most impressive team in the Wild Card Round. They thrashed the Texans and provided Santos the opportunity to nail two field goals under 50 yards, one under 40 yards and three point after attempts.

DST - Kansas City Chiefs ($5,100) at Houston Texans (23.8% owned) - The highest scoring "player" of the Wild Card Round was the Chiefs defense and special teams. Things got off to a great start for them with a kickoff return for a touchdown by Knile Davis on the opening kickoff. Scoring for the white-hot Kansas City defense didn't end there. They shutout the Texans, recorded three sacks, one fumble recovering and an eye-popping four interceptions. They flustered Brian Hoyer early, and he was the gift that kept on giving throughout the entirety of the game.

"Uberdetroit007" took down the Millionaire Maker by narrowly edging above 200 total fantasy points. A cheap backfield allowed for big spending elsewhere on the lineup, and one of the backfield options was owned on under 1% of rosters while delivering a hearty 19.4 fantasy points for the minimum salary of $3,000. Every player on this roster reached double-digit fantasy points, and a whopping five bested 20 fantasy points.

QB - Kirk Cousins ($5,900) vs Green Bay Packers (31.8% owned) - Cousins wasn't only the highest scoring quarterback at FanDuel, he was also at DraftKings. His fantasy point output got a slight boost at DraftKings, too, thanks to their 300+ yards passing bonus.

RB - James Starks ($3,600) at Washington Redskins (13.8% owned) - Starks netted an extra fantasy point for DraftKings gamers than those who used him at FanDuel as a result of the full-point PPR scoring at DK. He wasn't a game-changing scorer, but he was very cheap and didn't turn in a dud.

RB - Chris Thompson ($3,000) vs Green Bay Packers (0.6% owned) - I was a week early touting Thompson as a strong GPP pick. Whoops. He was heavily utilized in the passing attack catching eight passes for 89 yards, and he even added 25 yards rushing. He was a great contrarian selection who was on less than 1% of Millionaire Maker rosters.

WR - Antonio Brown ($9,600) at Cincinnati Bengals (66.2% owned) - Brown was a better play on DraftKings than on FanDuel, and he was a super chalky play, as his ownership rate indicates. Brown failed to reach the end zone, but he caught seven passes for 119 yards receiving. With the 100+ receiving yard bonus and a full point for each of his seven grabs, Brown led receivers in fantasy scoring at DraftKings.

WR - Martavis Bryant ($5,600) at Cincinnati Bengals (17.2% owned) - Bryant's well-rounded stat line discussed above was helpful at DraftKings, too. He wasn't his typical big-play self in terms of yards per reception, but even the short receptions added up at a full point for each of his five grabs.

WR - A.J. Green ($7,500) vs Pittsburgh Steelers (47.6% owned) - Green scored one of the two touchdowns Cincinnati scored, and he led the team in receiving yards while tying Tyler Eifert for the team lead in receptions. In all, it was good for more than 18 fantasy points.

TE - Jordan Reed ($6,300) vs Green Bay Packers (54.0% owned) - Reed's ownership rate lagging behind Antonio Brown was ridiculous. He was the highest scorer in DraftKings games, and the only one to reach or exceed 30 fantasy points.

FLEX - Travis Kelce ($4,500) at Houston Texans (11.9% owned) - Reed wasn't the only productive tight end in the Wild Card Round. Kelce finally received the workload he deserves in the passing attack and turned his looks into eight receptions for 128 yards receiving. The strategy of doubling up on tight ends proved to be a good one deployed by "Uberdetroit007."

DST - Kansas City Chiefs ($4,000) at Houston Texans (24.0% owned) - The Chiefs were far and away the best defense to own in the Wild Card round, and it shouldn't be a shocker that they're on the Millionaire Maker winning roster. They embarrassed Brian Hoyer and the Texans and helped daily gamers in a big way.