FanDuel Week 1 Freeroll Contest: Looking for value

Sep 09, 2011
FanDuel Week 1 Freeroll Contest: Looking for value
4for4 is partnering with FanDuel for a $500 Subscribers Freeroll Contest. First prize is $150, second place gets $100 and so on. Plus, if you can beat our very own Josh Moore, you will win $5. See all the details here.
I'd love to see Josh go down in flames, so I tricked him into pulling FanDuel salary data so that we could compare it to 4for4's weekly projections and identify the best values at each position. The salary cap for this particular contest is $60K, but there are $55K (expert) and $65K (beginner) contests as well. The lower the cap, the more important it is to find value.
The key is price per projected fantasy point ($/point). The lower the price, the better the value. Let's take a look at the top 5 values at each of the key positions:

QBs

1. Rex Grossman ($389)
2. Tarvaris Jackson ($408)
3. Luke McCown ($410)
4. Michael Vick ($447)
5. Andy Dalton ($469)
Yeesh. While I do like Grossman as a sleeper this week against a banged-up Giants defense, it's a little tough to trust him. Vick is the best value of all the high dollar guys, though Matthew Stafford ($487) and Matt Ryan ($526) also look good, depending on your budget.

RBs

1. Derrick Ward ($394)
2. Ben Tate ($461)
3. Tim Hightower ($462)
4. Peyton Hillis ($481)
5. Reggie Bush ($487)
Holy Texans, Batman! 4for4 believes that Foster is going to sit, and that means Ward is going to be a good value at $4900. The feeling is he'll get the lion's share in Week 1, though if the game is a blowout, Tate may end up with more carries. Hightower and Hillis look like solid values at $5400 and $7900 respectively.

WRs

1. Vincent Jackson ($495)
2. Larry Fitzgerald ($535)
3. Calvin Johnson ($538)
4. Roddy White ($546)
5. Plaxico Burress ($549)
Four studs and...Plaxico Burress. It looks like a good idea to spend money on the WR position this week. V-Jax seems like a no-brainer, while Fitzy, Calvin and Roddy are all pretty close in value. (I'm sorry, I'd much rather spend $5400 on Hightower than $4500 on a guy who shot himself in the leg in a nightclub). Looking for a cheaper value player not named Plaxico? Try Mario Manningham ($6600, $573) or Julio Jones ($5500, $597).

TEs

1. Lance Kendricks ($580)
2. Jared Cook ($600)
3. Owen Daniels ($610)
4. Greg Olsen ($640)
5. Jason Witten ($640)
Interesting mix in the top 5. There's the rookie Kendricks, who has looked great in the preseason. There's Cook, who bloomed late in 2010. There's Daniels, who may not have to do much if the Texans blow out the Colts. There's Olsen, who is switching teams and has a rookie QB throwing to him. And then there's Witten, the steady stud with a tough matchup against a stingy pass defense. It should be noted that Vernon Davis ($673) and Antonio Gates ($686) are not too far behind.
Depending on how this freeroll goes, we may turn this into a weekly column and provide the data directly to our subscribers so they can see for themselves which players are worth the money. Who knows, maybe they can put a little extra cash in their pockets.
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