I don’t know about you, but I don’t have $1000/day, or even per week, to plunk down on hundreds of different fantasy football contests like the big boys. I’m a #Smallaballa through and through, and I need to be smart and efficient with my budget. Contest selection is paramount to my success, and probably yours. Every week, I will be drafted by DFS Army to offer you a roadmap towards building your own fantasy football bankroll smartly with strategy, tips, advice, and templates for several different budgets.
The track record is there on both Fanduel and Draftkings. In 2020 alone, I have won an MLB contest containing more than 140,000 people. I placed 4th out of 217,000+ in NBA. I placed 2nd of 15,000+ in NHL, 4th of 7800+ in NASCAR, and 12th of 3500+ in PGA. Being smart and well-rounded is my game. I can teach you to conquer giant tournaments on a budget, but I can also teach you to grind up that bankroll while you lay in wait of the huge night. So, follow me, and let’s lay siege to our next sport of the calendar year….NFL!
What Started It All? Revisit “The Ladder System: Revolutionize Your Game“
After we assemble the sample budgets, we will also discuss the types of players we are looking to utilize in these types of lineups. When layering contests like 5050s and triple ups with only one or two lineups, we will operate from a smaller player pool than if we were playing giant MME formats with dozens of lineups. We won’t focus on speculative, pure upside plays. Those are for the huge life-changing gpps. The focus here is grinding up bankroll with sensible upside and fun, not for playing the lottery.
For the more speculative types of players, please consult our GPP NFL Cheatsheets and our Coaching Forums. The feedback you get from our coaches will change your game!
Week 4 Fantasy Football Sample Budgets
So far, I have offered several different budget sizes and combinations. I love the feedback and questions, but please understand these are examples not rigid rules. Pay more attention to the amounts generally going towards which type of contest. Pay less attention to emulating it perfectly. These examples are very flexible and many options make plenty of sense. That’s the fun!
$100 Sample Budget – $75 Lineup A, $25 Lineup B
Many people don’t like coming down to agonizing over three great running backs and being forced to pick just two. Or, deciding last week between Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott, and Kyler Murray…..and never getting a piece of Josh Allen. Here is an example of how you might “hedge” a little, but honestly have some exposure to those tough decisions by building a second, smaller lineup.
- Lineup A – $30 head-to-heads, Lineup B – $15 head-to-heads
- Lineup A – $10 double up
- Lineup A – $5 triple up, Lineup B – $2 in 3man leagues
- Lineup A – $5 quintuple up, Lineup B – $2 in 5man leagues
- Lineup A – $25 SE Small Sweep (94 players), Lineup B – $5 100man league AND a $1 SE Small Squib (1176 players)
You have broken your two unique lineups into a 75%/25% split. And, you will be taking a little more risk in Lineup B. Aim to build it within the “hybrid style” and gain a little upside to sweep those head-to-heads, 3mans, and 10man leagues. The same upside will serve to boost your tournament-winning ability…allowing you to enter a slightly bigger tournament and take a shot on that homerun should it all come together.
$5 Mini-Ladders (as many as you want!)
- $2 double up or 5050
- $2 10man league
- $1 100man league
These are actually a LOT of fun. You can build one or two, or you can build dozens….as many as your budget allows. I used to do this in NBA all the time when learning to play with our Domination Station Optimzer. Subtle changes here and there, and I’d just keep rolling out new lineup after new lineup. The strong lineups often surprise you.
The point here is to bridge the gap if you are a single-lineup player wanting to learn some of the mass-multi-entry techniques you hear so much about these days. You have the safety of the cash games, a blend in the 10man league (you could easily substitute $1 in a 3man league and $1 in a 5man league, too), and the upside of the 100man league.
This lineup structure will undoubtedly teach you to the performance of your player pool is what matters…..not the individual lineup. Over time, as your pool of players performs, you will build confidence in your skill and get more comfortable stepping up to the bigger contests. You will learn there is safety in the large number of lineups you build, and you will learn it’s ok to even enter lineups built for tournaments in cash games if you have enough of them rolling out to back each other up.
Learning to play mini-ladders will change the way you’ve thought about DFS. And, it will unlock your mind to things you thought were “incorrect” to think about…..and bring your mind to a whole new level of exploitative thought. Try it.
The Fantasy Football 100man Challenge!
As mentioned above, the types of players we use in these bankroll building, budget lineups are not speculative tourney plays but instead, they are consistent players in strong matchups. To further demonstrate this, our VIPs asked me to build some lineups as examples.
Below, you will see every player came off my “red circle/yellow circle” list (provided you had VIP access to my Modules). You will also notice a smaller game stack in the Dallas/Seattle game, as well as a focus on value plays. The places I gambled with ownership were in the volatile positions that typically have insecure floors like receiver and tight end. And, finally, you see the results were solid. This lineup destroys cash games, small leagues, and even gets into the cash of larger field tournaments. Solid lineups do that for you, and you can build an entire bankroll with them.
Most players get too cute or wind up outthinking themselves….to their demise. Our VIP coaching helps rectify that common leak.
Last week got out of hand with excitement. Instead of my promised 5 lineups, I built 11. I went step-by-step through my process the best I could and used video “modules” of 15 minutes or less to bring our DFS Army members along for the ride. We coined a new concept of evaluating the risk of a player (red circle, yellow circle, blue circle) and we performed well our first week, cashing in 4 of the 11 lineups. The 4 lineups did well enough to return almost double our money.
We learned the player pool can be strong, but bad combinations sink the ship. But, by scattering out those combinations, inevitably a few will also do very well and make up for the losses….and then some. Hopefully, our VIPs are learning and asking questions this week, too, as we continue building a trackable sample size we can use to show definitively which contests we should actually be focused on with our budgets. (Don’t play contests you can’t win!)
Games to Watch
Higher totals matter. Vegas is more and more correct as the season goes on. And, we have eight games projected over 50 total points this week. Obviously, we should focus there for the high likelihood of great fantasy plays. Several of these games are going to go overlooked because you just can’t cover every base on a slate like this.
Cleveland @ Dallas – Many people will be heavily interested in this game. And, many will think Baker Mayfield has to throw a lot to keep up. While true, can he actually do it? What evidence do we have that Cleveland won’t actually run a lot of Nick Chubb and try to slow this game down as much as possible? Baker and OBJ might be a trap. Dallas might open things up and try and take Chubbalub out of the game, but another slow start from Dak and this game might just flip on its head, hit the under, and turn into a slogfest. There are a lot of alternate storylines in this game, and my guess initially is that the public is focused more on the shootout rather than other viable options.
Baltimore @ Washington – We all saw Monday Night. The Ravens got picked apart like a carcass on the side of the road, and frankly….embarrassed. I think we all assume they will come out very angry and ready to just steamroll The Washington Football Team. However, again, for this game to hit the over and be filled with fantasy goodness, Washington needs to keep up for awhile. Can they? Dwayne Haskins hasn’t shown he can, and Dwayne-oh sports a league worst adjusted completion percentage through the first three weeks of the NFL season.
Buffalo @ Las Vegas – We have some big spreads on the board this week with great teams facing some pretty weak competition. Those types of games can be a bit unpredictable. The shootout we are looking for might be out in….. Vegas, baby! Buffalo heads in as a 3 point road favorite, which makes things interesting. Josh Allen might be unleashed again, and Derek Carr has shown the ability to hold his own in some shootouts, too. We might focus some of our building right here with a few concentrated pieces for some discounted prices.
Players to Build Around
Quarterbacks heading for my lineups – I try to stick with “home favorites” as much as possible, but this week is a little challenging. Of course Dak is in the mix. DeShaun Watson quickly pops into this “home, favored, implied to score (28.25 pts)” category. Tom Brady, Jared Goff, and Patrick Mahomes are others I will be digging into as I try to feel out how much I like some of these names over the Josh Allens, Kyler Murrays, and Russell Wilsons on the road this week. Again, not a hard/fast rule….but a guideline I definitely try to adhere to as much as possible.
Running backs are similar, but I try to avoid committees. We might look to give Joe Mixon a deeper look, but he’s scary so far this year. Zeke definitely comes to mind facing Cleveland being he has a floor and a ceiling and this game vs Cleveland feels like it could go either way. I have to mention David Johnson, but that feels very icky. Ron Jones and Leonard Fournette are in a Patriots-esque committee….and I never guessed right on New England running backs. Maybe it’s a Tom Brady thing? Derrick Henry is fun, but not technically favored this week. The Rams have what feels like an 8-headed monster in their backfield…another “sure to guess wrong consistently enough” situation I’m leaving it for tourneys only. Clyde Edwards-EEEEEElaire looks like a sound option, and the Josh Jacobs/Devin Singletary duo will also be interesting.
Receivers and tight ends are volatile, so I’ll save those for this week’s Modules. Defenses are easy; I’ve already narrowed myself down to three. And, I’ll be consulting our NFL Cheatsheets compiled by our best fantasy football coaches this week, too. Last week, my last video was a crosscheck with the Geek’s Sheet, and we were spot-on. 90%+ of our players matched his player pool….and we found them on our own. That’s how you get better. You put in the work, and play a game of “who would my coach like?” Get good at figuring out your coach’s player pool, and you are on the right track to building better lineups.
Our coaching rooms are ready to offer you feedback as you put into practice what you learn. I highly encourage you to check us out!!
The Secret to Winning Fantasy Football on a Budget
The secret is simple. Employing the right tools in the right contests with the right support system. We offer that inside our VIP walls at DFS Army. And, as the weeks go on, I will give you small tidbits of different combinations for different budget levels. But, if you want to really take your game seriously, jump inside and dive even deeper into contest selection with our coaches. Stop putting the wrong lineups into the wrong contests. Stop getting eaten alive by the sharks. Become a shark instead!!
Join DFS Army
And, use coupon code DFSARMY for a 20% discount as a thank you from me for reading this article and passing it around social media. I will see you again next week with a different set of contests and combinations for new budgets.
Featured Image:
Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports