So DraftKings has this salary cap game where you pick your best starting lineup, within the confines of a salary cap, anyway. I like to look at it as being Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder, without all the controversies, that is, building the absolute best team money can buy, as long as I stay within those salary cap rules.
The competition gives participants a chance to win money from a $100,000 prize pool, including $10,000 for first place. No, seriously! Other details:
- $2 entry fee. Entry is free with your first deposit.
- Top 11,500 are paid.
- Starts on Sunday, September, 7th at 1:00 EST.
- Salary Cap Style Drafting. $50,000 to select 9 spots
- Roster Format: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex, 1 Defense.
- First time depositors at DraftKings receive a 100% bonus up to $600
Make that first deposit, enter, get a shot at winning some money. Sounds pretty good to me.
(And bear in mind, you can also take advantage of the outrageous promotion that DraftKings has offered: First-time DraftKing players who sign up for the promotion via the Fantasy Index store, can deposit $40 and get the full Fantasy Index Weekly subscription free.
Enter this week's contest at this link: https://www.draftkings.com/gateway?s=764142220.
Here's my team.
First off, the way I try to win these things is to get as many high scorers at each position I can. I know, I know, obvious. But because of that, I'm going with Peyton Manning as my quarterback. He's the best, and he's in primetime, at home, facing the Colts. I can save money by picking somebody else, but they're not likely to outperform Manning, and I want to win the position.
It's a PPR league, so I opted for Andre Ellington as one running back. I like him a lot this year, at least until he wears down, and he should be busy against San Diego this week. For my other running back, I initially went with Ben Tate. He's healthy now, and should play close to full-time. But then I saw that I could get Frank Gore at the same price. Gore is facing Dallas. I have to have a piece of that action. He won't catch passes, but he could run for 150 and score at least once against that sorry defense.
I think the Broncos are going to pound the Colts, so I stuck Demaryius Thomas (expensive!) and Emmanuel Sanders (cheap!) in my lineup. Now, it may look like I have too many Broncos. But I want to win this thing, and if Manning doesn't have a big game, I probably won't anyway. And if he does, these guys should both have really good games.
My third wide receiver is Julian Edelman. We've talked about him a little, and I'll put my money where our mouth is. Plus, he's fairly cheap, since nobody else likes him as much as we do.
Needed to go cheap at TE and Flex. So I opted for Antonio Gates, who faces an Arizona defense that somehow allowed 17 TDs to tight ends a year ago, 4 more than any other team and 6-7 more than most. I realize San Diego also has Ladarius Green, but Gates (I hope) will be bigger in Week 1.
In the flex, money dictated a wide receiver. I considered Brian Quick, but don't have a good feel as to who St. Louis' top wideout will be. So I instead opted for Justin Hunter. I am not sure about Kansas City's secondary, and think Hunter could be a breakout player this year. And I could afford him.
At Defense, I took the Detroit Lions. They're hosting Eli Manning and the Giants. That team looked like a train wreck in the preseason. Detroit was cheap enough.
I can't promise I won't tinker with this more between now and Sunday, but that's part of the fun. Check it out at the above link.