This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Football series.
FanDuel offers a variety of contests that start with the Thursday night game and include the rest of the games for that week. I have had a lot of success with these contests lately, so I wanted to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of entering FanDuel's Thursday night contests. There is a certain amount of risk involved because rosters do lock at 8:25 PM (ET), so if you select a player that is out, you are out of luck.
Thursday Contests Strategies (50/50 and Head-to-Head)
You should always take a conservative approach when it comes to 50/50 and H2H contests. You do not need huge performances to win a H2H or finish in the top half of a 50/50 contest. Stick with guys that are high volume and reliable like Julian Edelman , Antonio Brown or Peyton Manning. Do not use the high upside, low volume players like CJ Spiller or Percy Harvin.
The most important thing to consider is injury status. Because rosters lock on Thursday night, you must roster guys that are healthy. You do not want to take zero at any position. If they have a Q (questionable) next to their name, do not use them. Even if you have a good feeling about a player's status, do not play him if he is questionable. A lot can happen in three days and coaches love to play games with the injury reports. In most cases, I would even stay away from the guys with a P (probable). Some guys like Tom Brady are probable every game, so do your research on the probable guys before you use them or totally exclude them. Players listed as probable will most likely play, but there is a chance of a setback before their game or they may not be 100 percent.
Do not target players in the Thursday night game. I'm not saying do not use them. If there is a player you really like, go for it. I know it will be really tempting to throw a few guys out there, so you have someone to root for on a Thursday night, but do not do it if that is the only reason.
Thursday 50/50 and H2H's are battles of attrition. As long as you roster solid teams with healthy players, you should win some games by default. Other fantasy players will not be as risk adverse as you, so they will play injured guys or load up on the Thursday night game.
Thursday Contests Strategies (Guaranteed Price Pool Tournaments)
I love Thursday GPP's. There is something very satisfying from setting a lineup Thursday and being done with it until Monday night. It can be very frustrating if players that you select are out and you can't do anything about it, but it is nice to have lineups entered, submitted and in play for the next four days.
FanDuel offers a variety of Thursday GPP's, below is a list of most of them:
Instead of the risk adverse approach discussed for 50/50 and H2Hs, you need to be much more aggressive for the Thursday GPP's. Take some chances. If a guy is questionable, but you think he will play and you like his matchup, get him in your lineup. It is a very big risk, but if he does play and has a monster game, you are in a great position (think Brandon Marshall in Week 2). Questionable players will be under owned in the Thursday contests, so take advantage when possible. Also, be speculative when creating your rosters. If a starting running back is questionable, but it looks like he will not play, do not be afraid of rostering his backup. You may be able to get a great value for a player that will not be highly owned because others will be afraid that the starter might play.
The popular opinion among daily fantasy experts is to completely fade the Thursday night game. Players in the game will be heavily owned because people love to have some action on the game. I do agree with this to a point, but I would not totally rule out everyone. For example, I really liked Julio Jones last week against the Bucs, so I used him in the Thursday NFL Bomb. It paid off with a top six finish (I would of won the whole thing if Matt Forte scored those touchdowns instead of Martellus Bennett).
Jones was heavily owned, but also put up 32.6 fantasy points. All of the top six finishers had Julio in their lineup. If you didn't roster him, you were on the outside looking in. Again, do not specifically target players in the Thursday night game and lean towards fading (not using) them, but do not rule them out completely if you really like their matchup.
