One of my favorite pieces of content to make is my weekly review of the winning Millionaire Maker — or occasionally other large prize pool — lineup. While we (rightfully) spend most of our time looking forward to the next slate, reverse-engineering what works in GPPs is a valuable exercise to make us better DFS players.
Week 13 featured an 10-game slate with the standard $20 buy-in Millionaire Maker contest.
Rather than break down the winning lineup, we’ll be looking at the 8th-place finish from RotoGrinders expert Notorious. Not only was he able to finish in the top 10 of the Milly Maker with just a single lineup, but that lineup also took down first place in multiple other contests:
The Lineup
The Stack
It takes some courage to enter just one lineup on an NFL Sunday and not even stack your quarterback, but that’s exactly what Notorious did.
In my breakdown for the week, I discussed at length the chances that no single QB really posted a “have to have it” score in GPPs. Which meant it makes sense to spend as little as possible on the position, since you’d rather get a disappointing score from a player in the $4,000 range than one who cost upwards of $6,000.
That’s exactly what Noto did, using the cheap QB I described as my favorite of the bunch but not pairing him with any of his receivers. Cam Ward had a bad fantasy day even at his salary, but the savings allowed Notorious to turn less than $200 into more than $50,000 in profit, so I’d say it worked out.
Other Correlations
The only truly correlated pieces in this lineup were Bijan Robinson and Adonai Mitchell. Mitchell was effectively the Jets’ WR1 for their game against the Falcons, having seen seven targets the previous week and with a GPP-friendly profile of a deep-ball receiver.
Pairing him with the opposing RB created a situation where a Falcons leading game script increased the likely volume for both Mitchell and Robinson, which was the likelier outcome given that Atlanta was favored heading into the contest.
While the Jets ended up winning, Atlanta led for most of the game, and Robinson saw 23 carries. On the other side, Mitchell was the only receiver to break 100 yards on the whole slate, making him a “must have” at just $3,600 in salary.
The Chalk
By far the chalkiest piece of this roster was De’Von Achane, who came in at just under 50% ownership in the Millionaire Maker. Achane was fairly obviously the best play on the slate at any position, with an elite expected game score, a massive opportunity share, and a soft matchup against the Saints.
Outside of that, fellow running back Kimani Vidal was the most popular player we haven’t discussed. Vidal actually outscored Achane at a much lower salary, but that was in part due to some lucky breaks. With Chargers QB Justin Herbert suffering an injury that limited him during the contest, Vidal saw a bit more work than would’ve otherwise been likely.
All of Jayden Higgins, Trey McBride, and Seattle also had ownership in the low double-digits. Higgins was projected as one of the best Pts/Sal receivers coming into the slate and was an excellent way to get exposure to Texans QB CJ Stroud — who also projected well — while still rostering a different QB. McBride was, as always, the best projecting tight end on the slate.
I was somewhat surprised to see Seattle so popular, as typically DFS players aren’t in a rush to roster expensive defenses. Still, they were in an elite spot against a Vikings team playing an undrafted free agent rookie QB. With all of the value on the slate, they weren’t hard to afford, to the point that I even found the salary to roster them in cash games.
In what might be a first, they were outscored by only Bijan Robinson among all “players” on the slate, making it extremely worthwhile to spend up to get them.
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The Sleepers
Outside of Mitchell and Ward, the only player in this lineup with single-digit ownership was Panthers receiver Jalen Coker. Coker is/was the Panthers’ #2 wide receiver, and they were projected to be in catch-up mode as massive underdogs against the Rams.
It didn’t work out that way, with Carolina pulling off a surprise upset. However, that ended up being a good thing for Coker, who helped them get that win with a 4/74/1 receiving line. To be completely honest, I was on (to various extents) all of the other plays in this lineup but did not see this one coming ahead of time. However, in retrospect, getting a WR2 for $3,600 in an indoor game where they’re expected to have a huge pass rate is always a solid plan.
Pictured: De’Von Achane
Photo Credit: Imagn
