Okay gonna take a little more time now to go through my rooster
QBs - 3 for $32
QB - Lamar Jackson - BAL/8 - $12 5542 roosters
QB - Tom Brady - NE/10 - $11 2363
QB - Derek Carr - OAK/6 - $9 1374
72 entries have all 3.
Generally most of my combinations had some form of 3 low-priced guys like this though I did briefly play with the idea of something like a Cam/Lamar combo and considered Goff a little. And the Mahomes scenario for about a nanosecond. Jackson has upside and with his running ability could definitely have some gangbusters type games. Brady should be good for a few big games - especially with the generous schedule. Carr has a chance to contribute given he has a supreme talent like Antonio Br...oh never mind...but the combined schedules of these 3 games show promise for the championship weeks if I get that far. Dak and Trubisky were thoughts in the Lamar slot. Garoppolo was a thought in the Brady spot. Started out with Dalton as I usually do but the schedule is just too rough to keep him (especially with that awful line).
RBs - 5 for $84
RB - James Conner - PIT/7 - $29 685 roosters
RB - Josh Jacobs - OAK/6 - $20 1849
RB - Chris Carson - SEA/11 - $18 5391
RB - Duke Johnson - HOU/10 - $9 5246
RB - Devin Singletary - BUF/6 - $8 5023
Made some radical changes at the last minute and beefed up the amount to more my usual. Conner only came into the mix at the end and I feel good to see that he is so lightly owned. The rest of this bunch is on like a zillion rosters. Mostly had underbought. Duke was on every single permutation. Singletary was on early then off and then he was a last minute add. Carson was on almost all combos. McCaffrey was probably the only true stud I looked into. Chubb was on my roosters most of the time until late in the process. Breida was there sometimes. Had Ty Montgomery as well (Switched out Kerryon and him for Jacobs and Singletary late). Gore was on sometimes as well. Mixon not too often - that line. Oof. Had Pollard on a lot of versions of course until Zeke returned.
even though I have all 3 of the most-owned RBs, there are only 6(!) entries that have all 5 of these guys.
WRs - 7 for $78
WR - Keenan Allen - LAC/12 - $25 450 roosters
WR - Tyler Boyd - CIN/9 - $20 1181
WR - Curtis Samuel - CAR/7 - $12 2532
WR - A.J. Brown - TEN/11 - $7 324
WR - Josh Gordon - NE/10 - $6 7177
WR - Terry McLaurin - WAS/10 - $4 413
WR - Josh Reynolds - LAR/9 - $4 230
Shuffled a lot of guys in and out. Of course Gordon was on all combinations. Kinda surprised at McLovin's ownership - I had him just about the entire time as well. Pretty surprised all in all about the ownership of some of these guys. Reynolds is really the only guy who may not be on the field that much. I really like Boyd's chances to shine given the new offense, Dalton's trust in him and Green's injury woes. Ended up picking him rather than Lockett (who I did have a bunch). Seemed to have all of the Jaguar options at one time or another but moved away from Conley as I have a lot of week 10 byes. Seemed to have Golladay and/or Amendola most of the way as well but just don't have the trust there. Keenan Allen was a very late add - pretty much all of my combinations assiduously avoided the Week 12 bye guys. I decided late that one would be acceptable and settled on Allen as a potential value proposition. He could be a differentiator for me.
My lineup is the only one that has all 3 of Allen/Boyd and Samuel
. I traditionally have gone with more like 9 or 10 receivers but the pricing made that difficult.
TEs - 3 for $35
TE - Evan Engram - NYG/11 - $18 1534 roosters
TE - Mark Andrews - BAL/8 - $9 3896
TE - Mike Gesicki - MIA/5 - $8 110
Most of my permutations had 4 TEs and a lot of $$ invested in the position. One lineup had Kittle/McDonald/Andrews and Gesicki. Kittle was on most of the time. But $59 is just way too much even with the 1.5 per reception. So right at the end of things I pulled McDonald out of the lineup and set about reallocating the $$$ to RB and WR. I think this was the right move. Stunned that Gesicki is so little owned - especially given that the coaching staff would seemed to be the type that will use him a bunch. Engram seems like a guy with the kind of upside that could put him in the top 3 - they plan to feed him and a chance in QB to the rookie probably only serves to enhance his opportunities.
My rooster is the only one that has all 3 of these TEs
PK - 3 for $10
PK - Matt Prater - DET/5 - $4 2066 roosters
PK - Steve Hauschka - BUF/6 - $3 1582
PK - Austin Seibert - CLE/7 - $3 1416
Usually this is the first position I figure out and this year was no different. 3 kickers for $9 or $10 is a staple. Makes sense to spread the risk and I did my best to pick guys who seem solidly entrenched . Prater and Hauschka certainly fit that mold. Seibert is a little bit more worrisome but he straightened himself out and given the investment as well as the opportunity with the Cleveland offense I am comfortable with the pick.
Even though these are 3 of the 5 most owned PKs - mine is one of only 17 entries that manage to have all 3.
DEF - 3 for $11
DEF - Seattle Seahawks - SEA/11 - $5 2550 roosters
DEF - Cincinnati Bengals - CIN/9 - $3 549
DEF - New York Jets - NYJ/4 - $3 2172
Like kicker, I tend to settle on this position early, always take 3, and always invest $9 or $10. Broke form a little this year and splurged for $11 but like a lot of FBG the addition of Clowney is enough of a game-changer that I had to add them. It feels like the Bengals and Jets defenses always land on my rooster and this year is no different. I think they tend to be underpriced compared to the opportunity in this format. Scoring defense doesn't matter in the contest - returns however do. The rules really lend themselves to this sort of arbitrage.
People are down on the Bengals so that was a differentiator here. Mine is only one of 18 entries to have all 3.
So altogether I have 24 on my team. Even thought I have the 5 most common players and 6 of the 8 most common, I am pleasantly surprised at the level of uniqueness - I usually end up regressing myself to the herd. Hopefully it pays off for me
. My average player is 18.4% owned. But the median falls around 13%. And outside of those 6 heavily-owned guys, the average ownership for the rest plummets to just 10.3%
Good luck all!!!
-QG
