DFS Football 101: Important Tips for New Players, Round 12

Over the last several weeks, I have written about the quarterback position, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends in how to approach them in GPPs and Cash games. This week we wrap it up with a focus on the defense/special teams.

For this series of articles, the site I am focusing on is DraftKings. DraftKings is a full-point PPR site, with a FLEX, no kickers, and 3-point bonuses for 300 passing yards and 100 rushing/receiving yards. The salary cap is $50,000 and the average cash game score in most weeks is around 150 points. The reason that is important is we need to determine what "multiplier" or "value" is required to hit. A "multiplier" is calculated by taking the players' score, dividing by the salary, and multiplying by 1000. For example, Sammie Coates was $3600 in Week 5 and scored 34.9 points. The multiplier calculation would be (34.9/$3600)*1000=9.7x value.

So if we know that 150 points is the target and $50,000 is the salary cap, the target for any projection on a player needs to be at least 3x. The challenge in this is finding the most consistent players from week to week that will hit 3x value. It is a balance between what positions to pay up for versus where you decide to take value. Often times the matchups and pricing will dictate your weekly strategy.

Let's look at the D/ST position and build a system for cash-game targets.

DST Stats (352 total through Week 12)
Average Score: 6.7
Average Salary: $2855
Average Value: 2.5

DST (Hit at least 3x – 108 through Week 12)
Average Score: 13.2
Average Salary: $2839
Average Value: 4.7
Average Pct Hit Value: 30%

The salary range for D/ST's on DraftKings is $2000-$3900. This equates to 4%-8% of the total cap ($50,000). This is much less than FanDuel so the impact of the D/ST on DraftKings is not as much.

Week – (# of players to hit 3x or greater)

Week 1: 5
Week 2: 12
Week 3: 15
Week 4: 11
Week 5: 9
Week 6: 7
Week 7: 12
Week 8: 6
Week 9: 7
Week 10: 10
Week 11: 8
Week 12: 6

As you can see, D/ST can range anywhere from five in a given week to as high as 15. It is a highly-variant position to try and predict.

Additional Statistics:

• The following team have hit at least 3x value five times:
• Chargers, Chiefs 7
• Bills, Bucs, Eagles, Raiders, Rams, Ravens, Vikings 5
• The following teams have allowed opposing D/ST to hit at least 3x five times:
• Broncos, Jaguars 7
• Cardinals, Panthers, Packers, Saints, Chargers 6
• Browns, Colts, Jets, Titans 5

*Based on just these results, a team to consider this week should be the Bucs who are on the road at the Chargers.

• The following teams have hit 3x value two or less times:
• 49ers, Cardinals, Packers 2
• Bengals, Browns, Cowboys, Jets, Lions, Patriots 1
• The following teams have allowed opposing D/ST units to hit 3x value twice or less:
• Chiefs, Giants 2
• Bengals, Patriots, Raiders, Eagles, Steelers 1

Defense/Special Teams (Week 1-12)

For cash games, you want the defense/special teams with the combined highest average points per game and lowest standard deviation.