Injuries to key players dominated Week 5's daily fantasy football contests, both before and during the games.
Obviously, the Jamaal Charles exit hurt many, myself included, but the Julio Jones situation created a different set of strategy problems for DFS players. Given that Jones' status appears similar heading into Week 6, I want to offer up some advice and tips on making last-minute DFS lineup picks.
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Injuries, last-minute changes, and more daily fantasy football lineup strategy
It was widely reported Sunday morning that Jones was not 100 percent healthy, a clear indicator not to roster him with any sort of confidence. Swapping out Jones was a smart move no matter his production. The problem was I got sucked into thinking Leonard Hankerson was suddenly a better play than Allen Robinson. I reduced my exposure to Robinson from nearly 100 percent to 50 percent, and he ended up with more touchdowns (2) than Hankerson's total FanDuel points (1.8).
As I look back, this was an impulse decision that I likely would not have made given more time to consider. I overreacted and changed my lineup just before kickoff, and it cost me a loss in half my cash games. (I generally play two highly correlated cash game lineups by changing just a couple players.)
To prevent this mistake the future, I’ve changed my process leading up to game time. I plan to avoid listening/watching DFS morning shows during the last two hours before kickoff. Monitoring Twitter for injury news is crucial, but I've done enough research throughout the week that I want to eliminate the noise.
While analyzing my process, I decided it would be beneficial to many readers if I explained my typical research process leading up to Sunday. Make no mistake, my process is by no means a blueprint. In fact, there is no blueprint. The most crucial aspect for DFS success is the ability to make up your own mind. You'll know you've graduated to this level when you get frustrated at yourself after a bad night instead of the tout who recommended a certain player.
This does not mean you should ignore research from the most popular players and outlets; rather collect as much info as possible and formulate your original opinion. I subscribe to several content providers because 1) I don't have a proprietary computer model; and 2) I'd rather someone else dig up the statistics so I can simply interpret the data.
What are the best daily fantasy football podcasts?
Below is the core content I consume on a weekly basis. Hopefully you'll find one or two medium that help you become a better player:
Let me start by saying: Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts. I listen to at least one per day and think they are superior to articles because you can hear the host's thought process, which will help you "learn to fish" rather than simply being provided the meal. Even when you're an established player, listening to other smart players often triggers unique pivot ideas. Podcasts are all free on iTunes, so there's no annoying paywall.
The podcasts I consume on a regular basis are: Rotogrinders.com Daily Fantasy Fix - Dan Back (industry wide events), Daily Fantasy football edge - Adam Levitan (best for strategy talk), and Fantasyinsiders.com Daily GPP - Dave Loughran (best daily pod for NBA/MLB).
As far as NFL, there are two must-listen podcasts released only once per week. My favorite is the Fantasy Insiders NFL show featuring Evan Silva and Dan Gaspar. If you're not reading Silva's column on Rotoworld or listening to his podcast, you're just doing it wrong. The other is The Fantasy Football Edge featuring Adam Levitan, Al Zeidendeld, and Peter Jennings. (Alsmizzle and CSURAM).
What are the best daily fantasy football research sites?
The articles I read come from many of the same outlets: Rotogrinders, Fantasy Insiders, and Rotoworld. One not previously mentioned is DailyRoto.com featuring Drew Dinkmeyer, who practically taught me how to transition to DFS through his articles years ago. Most sites charge a subscription fee for their content, so if you're completely against paying, Rotogrinders has the best free content. Obviously, I'm bias toward my preferences, but there are plenty other credible outlets, including Fantasy Alarm and Project Roto. (And, obviously, you're already reading Sporting News -- that's a given, right?)
In lieu of me breaking down a winning roster this week, hopefully you'll explore one of the above fantasy medium to help you get closer to winning the FanDuel Sunday Million. We'll be back next week to analyze the best lineups and help you further your DFS knowledge.
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.