Macro vs. Micro: FanDuel Week 6

It’s really hard to believe we are heading into Week 6. It seems like we were just wrapping up the best ball bags, and now here we are approaching a third of the way through the regular season.

One of the most rewarding parts about writing this article each week is when someone reaches out and says that the article got them onto a player they weren’t considering, and that player helps them win a GPP or have a profitable week. I got a few of those messages a couple of weeks ago regarding CeeDee Lamb, and then again this week with the Jordan Love/Christian Watson combo. That’s really cool, and I always appreciate the positive messages. That got me thinking about a couple of things, however.

First, it seems logical to include a quick recap here in the intro section about the players I wrote up the previous week. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but rather just a quick list of who they were and how many FanDuel points they scored that week.

Week 5 Micro Recap:

• QB: Jordan Love, GB — 28.28 FD points
• RB: Christian McCaffrey, SF — 15.8 FD points
• RB: Emanuel Wilson, SEA — 12.2 FD points
• WR: Chris Olave, NO — 6.6 FD points
• WR: Christian Watson, GB — 32.3 FD points
• WR: Jameson Williams, DET — 17.7 FD points
• TE: Colston Loveland, CHI — 2.9 FD points
• DEF: New England Patriots — 6.0 FD points

Secondly, it led to what I think is a really good topic for the Macro section this week. I think this is a topic that many can benefit from reading and can specifically benefit from how to incorporate this article when using the sims in their process.

Macro: Using the Sims

Many of you reading this article use sims, but how do you use those sims in your process each week? That’s the magic question we need to start with before going any further.

I feel like most people fall into some version of one of the two groups below:

• Group 1: They run lineups in the optimizer with very few rules, takes, or inputs of their own. Then they use the sims to find ROIs, diversity, lineups, portfolios, etc.
• Group 2: This group tweaks the optimizer as they see fit with rules/takes/exposures/inputs/etc., and THEN they use the sims to find their ROIs, diversity, lineups, and portfolios for their contests.

Those players that fall into Group 1 above “can” be profitable, of course, but GPPs aren’t as easy as just clicking a button with none of your own inputs and hoping the sims spit out the magic lineups each week.

The best GPP players fall into Group 2. They have their own takes, builds, exposure settings, lineup rules, ways to build their portfolios, etc. You name it, and they probably have a place in their process that accounts for it.

So, how does this all relate to the Macro/Micro article each week?

Remember, the goal of this article is to give you pieces of the GPP puzzle. Each week, I’m going to give you eight players who I feel have GPP-winning upside, and they will often come with lower (or at least low-ish) ownership. Because of this, these pieces will sometimes be harder to build with because they won’t necessarily be the best values. In other words, their raw ceiling projections will often be high, but when adjusted for price, they often won’t jump off the board in the value conversation (hence the lower ownership).

The point is this: If you don’t force some of these players into your builds, you sometimes won’t get them in your lineups if you are just clicking the sims button and hoping for the best. Remember the Group 1 vs. Group 2 categories above? We want to be in the Group 2 crowd, and if you did your homework from last week’s Macro section, I know that you have already been refining your weekly process!

If you haven’t done so previously, be sure to check out the “notes/guidelines” part of the Micro section to see more about how I select these eight players each week. That will give you a better idea of the players who I do and don’t consider.

Let me close with what should be fairly obvious at this point. Sims are an important tool in my process, and if you have access to them, they should likely be an important part of yours as well. Use them … but use them to test, revise, and see which lineups are best with the inputs that YOU have built your lineups with.

Finally, use this article each week to consider some or all of the players in the Micro section as a part of that process. Hopefully a couple of them can be building blocks for you to take down a big GPP in the future!

Micro: GPP-Winning Upside — Week 6