As I've alluded to many times through the first nine weeks, we've been pretty fortunate that one player (or a combo of players) hasn't exploded and kept those without shares of him from winning a daily fantasy football contest. Unfortunately, this was one of those weeks where that happened, and for people without Antonio Brown and DeAngelo Williams, the hopes of winning a FanDuel or DraftKings tournament were practically dashed by halftime of the early games.
Maybe I'm a masochist, but if I'm going to lose, I'd prefer to sweat my games (and question my lineup picks) through Monday night. Although, losing on MNF due to a kicker was particularly painful (I'm looking at you, Robbie Gould).
MORE DFS: FanDuel tournament lineup | Cash-game lineup | Best Week 10 values
Who were last week's best players on FanDuel?
Owning Brown and Williams were the only way to win big money last week -- shown by their 100-percent ownership across the entire top 10 in both DraftKings and FanDuel's largest GPP's. Just behind the Steelers' duo in order of importance was Delanie Walker. Walker's 27 FanDuel points were over 30 percent more than any other tight end on the board. Let's take a closer look at the winning roster from the Sunday Million:
See our optimal Week 10 FanDuel lineup for big-money tournaments here
Cam Newton, Marcus Mariota, and Derek Carr seemed to be the best path to success last week. Any of these QBs paired with Brown, Williams, and Walker was the foundation for a winning GPP team.
Keep in mind there are plenty of other combinations of players that could be used to win a tournament after those four. Jordan Matthews was cheap, but a very popular Michael Crabtree was $500 cheaper and outscored Matthews. I was a little surprised to see the winning team without Crabtree, but it does make sense from a differentiation standpoint. Perhaps "rtoraine" would've selected a different defense and/or kicker given an extra $500 -- with the net result being less points. We always talk about selecting lesser-owned players to be contrarian, and that's not hard to understand, but don't overlook the trickle-down effect tied to selecting a player with even a slightly different price.
When popular players (like Brown and Williams, both over 25-percent owned) score in bunches, it not only increases the weekly scoring but also lends credence to the Common Core Strategy. You might be asking, "What is a Common Core Strategy?"
MORE: Week 10 NFL DFS Playbook
What's the best lineup strategy for winning on FanDuel and DraftKings?
A common core of players is simply choosing a small group that you want to anchor most of your lineups. Last week, a common core of Brown, Williams, Crabtree and Newton would allow room for a couple mistake picks and would still likely win money in both 50/50s and GPP's. The risk of this strategy is obvious: Should your common core fail, you will likely lose most or all of your entry fees. The reward is large, though: When your core hits big, you'll likely see an exponential return on the entry fees.
The opposite approach is fielding multiple lineups with a variety of players. I call this the Shotgun Strategy, where you're diversifying various players across multiple lineups and hoping one hits. Spreading lots of players across many lineups will almost certainly create negative correlation, thus reducing your potential profit. The benefit is you're more likely to remain in contention longer with at least one lineup.
Obviously, we're here to win money, but having a little extra on the line while watching the NFL understandably adds to the entertainment. The downside is the aforementioned negative lineup correlation puts you in an early hole because it's unlikely all your teams will win money. Therefore, you're dependent upon a smaller amount of lineups to win big or risk a bad week. Given we know that 93 percent of lineups will not triple their money in the Sunday Million, I'd argue for the Common Core Strategy. Of course, there is no correct answer, so do what works for you.
Week 10 daily fantasy football picks and tips
Looking to Week 10, quarterback injuries have already reshaped the landscape. I'm not going to pay to roster Brown without Ben Roethlisberger, and Stefon Diggs is riskier if Teddy Bridgewater is out.
Jeremy Langford is an obvious underpriced cash-game play, but he's facing a much tougher defense than last week. James Starks is an interesting tournament play, but even as the starter I'm fearful of the timeshare. A $7,700, Randall Cobb jumps off the page to me at home versus Detroit. I like a lot of other WR's priced in the $6K range, including: Michael Crabtree, Jordan Matthews, Brandon LaFell, and Martavis Bryant.
Good luck in Week 10!
Sporting News contributor maddox2 has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for two years and was a finalist in the 2015 Playboy Basketball Championship. When not tending to his full-time job in Finance, he's grinding DFS all year long in the three major sports. Follow him @maddox2DFS on Twitter.