Point/Counterpoint: Week 6 Short Slate Strategies

October 16, 2022

Daily Fantasy

Megan Shoup

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By Megan Shoup and Steve Shoup:

We both like to play Short Slate in NFL daily fantasy. The Early Only and Afternoon Only slates give you opportunities to play differently than you play on the Main slate.

I use it as an opportunity to do the following:

-Hedge – get exposure to players I didn’t play in the Main slate

-Be Contrarian – stack up a game that people aren’t stacking as much

-Differently lineup construction – short slates you can do different lineup constructions than I typically would on Main. Whether it’s stars and scrubs, overstack a game, or play 2 TEs, it’s an opportunity to be unique with your lineup build.

So let’s talk Week 6 short slate strategy!

MEG:

Playing short slates is going to be a big part of my DFS portfolio this week. Why? Because it’s a natural hedge or a way to get ownership leverage vs. the Bills/Chiefs game.

This is how I’m handing short slates this week. I’m playing more Early Only than usual so I can totally avoid the Bills/Chiefs game and Cardinals/Seahawks game for that matter. I can live on a DFS slate without deciding how much to jam in those games.

Then for the Main Classic slate, I’ll be heavily stacking the Bills/Chiefs game and some Cardinals/Seahawks game. Around that, I’ll be looking for value or mini-stacks.

Then for the Afternoon slate, I will play multiple lineups where I overstack the Cardinals/Seahawks game and either fade or play very little of Bills/Chiefs. Any other player or other game outside the Bills/Chiefs will be massively under-owned on the 3-game Afternoon only slate. That that is my strategy to be unique for that slate, while getting my exposure to the Bills/Chiefs in the main classic slate.

What do you think about my short slate strategies this week? And let’s start with Early Only. In a slate without Bills/Chiefs and Cardinals/Seahawks, what games or teams will you be stacking the most?

STEVE:

I really like that approach to the short slates this week. Particularly lowering your Bills-Chiefs exposure for the afternoon slate. If that game is just average or less, it could be a trap game for that slate. I think that the Arizona-Seattle game has plenty of scoring potential, and you can find multiple players from both sides that make sense. I also like being able to really go all-in on Cooper Kupp as your top pay-up option. Kupp basically averages 30 points a game. But he’s so tough to fit into Chiefs and Bills builds.

For the Early slate, I really like focusing on the Bengals-Saints game and the Jaguars-Colts game. There are some injury concerns to watch with both Cincy and New Orleans, but there are some really good weapons on both sides. The last Jags/Colts game was a bust, but I think this one could be a bit more back-and-forth. I also like looking at a cheap Alec Pierce and likely an under-owned Christian Kirk. I will also focus on some Lamar-Mark Andrews lineups. Though the game could go slow, he’s the one QB that could really go off for 35-40 points.

MEG:

I think we both agree for the Afternoon Slate to hedge our bets and fade or lower Bills/Chiefs exposure to gain massive leverage. Because we’ll both be playing a lot of Bills/Chiefs on the main slate. And agree completely that fading that game in the afternoon only lets you get to Kupp.

For Early Only, I think there are many ways you could go with stacks. Here are my favorite stacks:

-Burrow/Chase back to NOLA – run back with Kamara

-Jackson/Andrews – run back with Barkley

-Brady/Evans and/or Godwin – no runback necessary but I like George Pickens

-Rodgers/Lazard – run back with Breece Hall

For Jaguars/Colts, I think I will use those more for secondary stacks, and love stacking Alec Pierce and Christian Kirk in a lot of early only lineups.

We covered a lot of receivers in early only, but who are your favorite running backs for early only? Will you be paying down for guys like Rhomandre Stevenson, Breece Hall, or Jeff Wilson? Or will you pay up more at RB in early only?

STEVE:

Yeah, I’m on board with all of those stacks and runbacks. I’m highest on Burrow/Chase and Brady/Evans.

For running back I will try to get some more higher-priced priced exposure on the short slate than I will on the main slate. I know it is a tougher match-up, but I like Nick Chubb here versus the Patriots. Chubb can lack that 35-40 point ceiling we hope for backs, but he’s very good at getting in the 25-30 point range. For the shorter slate here, I think that will be a factor. Saquon Barkley is my other big spend-up option that I want more exposure to, even outside of a bring-back in Lamar stacks. After that I will sprinkle in guys like Aaron Jones, Dalvin Cook, and Leonard Fournette.

Rhamondre Stevenson though will still likely be my highest-owned back as I think his price is just simply too low for his usage. Followed by Hall and then Wilson.

How are you going to handle Mark Andrews on the early slate? With no Kelce, Ertz or Higbee he really sticks out as the premier tight end option. He’s going to be popular though, will you go overweight here, or do you worry about ownership?

MEG:

I wonder how popular he’ll be on Early only because there are still plenty of other high priced guys people may want to jam in. I like Andrews a lot, and I should probably play him outside my Lamar stacks too for early only.

I agree with all your core plays and the more I think about it, I really like Brady/Evans and Burrow/Chase stacks the best. Let’s fire them up!