Point/Counterpoint: Week 9 Short Slates

November 5, 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 9 short slate strategy!

MEG:

This week’s short slates are weird because there are 8 games in the Early Only and only 2 games in the Afternoon Only slate.

So essentially most of the plays we talked about in our strategy debate will be viable for Early Only. But starting with the 1 pm games, are there certain players or stacks you are prioritizing for this 8-game Early Only slate?

STEVE:

This week is interesting with the split of the two slates. The early slate is more jammed-packed with talent. I might try to get extra exposure to Josh Allen and the Bills in the early slate. I think Allen/Diggs could break this slate and even if they are above average, you will still be fine. My other favorite QB options are Tua and Burrow with their pass catchers. Other than that I just want to be running back heavy this week, Ekeler and Aaron Jones will be top priorities this week.

Outside of Chargers receivers are you finding any real value on this slate? That’s the toughest thing this week for me.

MEG:

I agree with those as my three main QBs on the Early Only slate. I came up with one interesting idea and it may be crazy enough to work. What if you played Justin Fields for value and ran back with Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, or both? The story you’re telling is that Fields put up enough point/fantasy numbers to keep the Dolphins throwing. And you save money going from Tua to Fields? Something I may play around with for Early only.

One major RB value opened up with RB Jonathan Taylor being ruled out. We can now play RB Deon Jackson at 5.2K. I think he’ll become chalk and that offense worries me. I’m a little worried Ehliinger won’t check down and pass to him as much as Ryan did in that game against the Jaguars. Are you concerned about that? If not, he’s good chalk, and lately the name of the game is to play the good chalk!

We only have two 4 pm games so the Afternoon only slate is a bit boring. The Rams/Bucs game is now a snoozefest compared to last year and we need to hope that this version of the Cardinals/Seahawks is much better than a few weeks ago. I almost won the $33 Afternoon only by doing a stars and scrubs lineup. I think those can work better on shorter slates. So do you think a stars & scrubs lineup can work for this week’s Afternoon Only slate?

STEVE:

Deon Jackson is absolutely great value now and will be tough to ignore even though he will be chalky. I think he will see targets, I just think the question is will the Colts throw enough? Indy only had 23 pass attempts last week, Hines and Taylor combined for 3 of those. I think we will need more like 30-35 pass attempts and then we might see 5 or 6 targets to Jackson.

If I’m playing a cheap QB it will be Trevor Lawrence. This Raiders defense is really suspect, and I believe Jacksonville’s offense has the potential to be good. We’ve seen a couple of games that they produced earlier this season. They might be able to put it together here. Fields is just tough to get excited about for me. If he runs for a TD you will be fine, but if not he probably won’t crack 20 points.

As for the Afternoon only, I think I will try more stars and scrubs approach. My target would be to find a way to get Cooper Kupp (assuming he’s healthy), DeAndre Hopkins, and one of Mike Evans/Chris Godwin. That could be 40+ targets combined between those three. Murray and Brady are my two favorite QB options on the slate. Running back for me will be tougher with wanting to pay up at WR, but Fournette, Walker, and Conner (if he’s healthy) are my top options. I’d want to try to get one of them to anchor the line-up if possible. Zach Ertz is the pay-up TE option, but I don’t mind taking a shot at Cade Otton or Tyler Higbee to save some money.

MEG:

I like your core plays for the Afternoon only slate. I think on both short slates I may try to recreate my stars and scrubs approach from last week and see if it works this time!