The NFL season is underway! We have completed crunching the numbers for Week 1 and the top three NFL DFS experts to start the year come from GoingFor2, DraftKings Playbook – Cash Picks and FantasyTeamAdvice. There was a lot of chalk that hit in Week 1 which resulted in some very high scores and cash lines. Let’s see if the same experts can show up again in Week 2.
For a full list of where all the experts rank, visit the NFL Leaderboard.
On to the Week 1 grades, class is in session!
Consensus Recap – Week 1
The Industry Consensus picks finished right in the bottom half this week with a 16th place finish out of 22 experts graded.
QB (Score: 3.38 / Rank 11th out of 22) – Only one “A+” grade (Drew Brees) on the list but Philip Rivers, who got an “A” was the second highest ranked QB, while Case Keenum was a good value option.
RB (Score: 3.60 / Rank 16th out of 22) – The rank isn’t impressive, but the Consensus did have the Top 2 RBs (Alvin Kamara and James Conner) on the top of the list, along with Melvin Gordon who also received an A+.
WR (Score: 3.08 / Rank 11th out of 22) – Received “A+” grades from Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders and also had Kenny Stills further down the list.
TE (Score: 4.60 / Rank 8th out of 22) – A strong list of TEs that included “A+” grades from Rob Gronkowski and Jordan Reed and a solid “B” from the highest ranked TE, Jack Doyle.
D/ST (Score: 4.50 / Rank 14th out of 22) – Solid options with the Ravens, Jaguars and Patriots as long as you stayed away from the Saints.
Head of the Class – Week 1
Each week I will highlight a few of the top experts for the week. Here are the experts that deserve a “gold star” for Week 1 based on their cumulative grades for all players they touted this week.
#1) GoingFor2 (Score: 6.60) only five main slate selections from GoingFor2 but he made them count with three “A+” grades from James Connor, Michael Thomas and the Ravens defense.
#2) DraftKings Playbook – Cash Picks (Score: 5.35) had a nice collection of strong picks with nine “A+” grades out of 20 selections including players such as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Melvin Gordon, Emmanuel Sanders and the Panthers defense.
#3) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 4.73) took home 3rd place in Week 1 with eight “A+” or “A” grades out of 15 picks. Top picks included Alvin Kamara, James Conner, Michael Thomas and Rob Gronkowski.
Top Value – GoingFor2 (4.88 DK Pts/$1000) got good bang for their buck from James Conner, James White and the Ravens defense.
Head of the Class – Week 1 (By Position)
Sometimes there is just that one class that you excel in. In this section, I will highlight who the top experts were at each position for Week 1.
QB – DailyFantasyNerd (10.00) nailed their optimized play at QB with Drew Brees.
RB – RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (10.00) hit on both of their RBs with Melvin Gordon and James Conner.
WR – GoingFor2 (10.00) only one main slate WR selection but it was a home run with Michael Thomas.
TE – FantasyCPR (10.00) went with a high-priced Rob Gronkowski and it paid off.
DST –DrafKings Playbook – Cash (10.00) hit on all three of their defense selections with the Ravens, Panthers and Titans.
Study Time – Week 1
If we are going to give a gold star to the top experts of the week, we also need to determine which experts might need to put in some extra study time to pull up those grades. Here are the Week 1 experts that didn’t make the grade this week.
- DraftKings Playbook – Value Picks (Score: 2.00) started off on the wrong side with eight “F” grades out of 12 recommendations.
- DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 2.47) digs a hole in Week 1 with only five grades above a “B” out of their 15 selections.
Extra Credit – Week 1
In this section, I will look to give some extra credit to experts that received an “A+” grade for a player that they recommended when very few other experts did. Week 1 extra credit goes to the following…
A+ – Ryan Fitzpatrick (FantasyPros, DK Playbook-Cash, DK Playbook – Value)
A+ – Eric Ebron (FantasyGuruElite)
A+ – Panthers (DK Playbook-Cash)
A+ – Dolphins (DK Playbook-Value)
A+ – Vikings (Rotowire)
A+ – Redskins (DailyOverlay-HotSheet)
Let’s see who can make the grade in Week 2!
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