Jeff’s Hardcore Core- NFL Week 5

No matter what my results are from the previous week’s NFL slate I dive deep into the research in order to find the optimal plays and strategy’s so that we will be successful in the coming week.  I will say however that it becomes a much easier and enjoyable process when the previous week was a big winner.  Last week was a very nice week for the core and I have heard from many of you who had nice week’s as well.  I did have some big time disappointment however as I was leading a Fantasy Football World Championship Qualifier and essentially had it wrapped up until Alvin Kamara broke free for the long touchdown with 2 minutes left in the game as the Saints were just trying to run the clock.  I had actually built quite a lead and continued to keep distance between myslef and those trailing with Sterling Shepard in that game, but the Kamara t.d was worth too many points and I got run down. Qualifiers are extremely hard to win, because there is really only one winner.  I will continue to try because the live final is such a prestigious event and great experience, plus where else do you have a 1 in 200 shot at $2 million dollars?

Our strategy of locking in value last week despite the fact that we knew it would be heavily owned turned out to be the correct move.  Projecting high volume based upon match-ups and game flow for Sterling Shepard, Gio Bernard, Tyler Boyd, Trey Burton, Jared Cook, Sony Michel, Carlos Hyde, Andy Dalton, Ezekiel Elliot, etc outweighed the fact that they were going to be popular picks.  I chose to lock them in and try and be contrarian elsewhere.  Guys like Deandre Hopkins, Jimmy Graham, Geronimo Allison (once Cobb was ruled out), Kennan Allen, Aaron Rodgers were all attempts to get high ceiling guys who I expected to be low owned and set me apart from other lineups.  This strategy has been the correct one so far this season as we continue to see lineups on the chalkier side of things with some high owned players continuing to go 4X, 5X, and 6X on their price providing too much value to fade.

Obviously not everything went perfectly, because it never does.  Rodgers underperformed what we needed from his price point.  Kenny Golladay was held in check, Tevin Coleman did not score as much as I thought considering the shootout it was.  Keenan Allen did not provide requisite value either.  Not too many grenades however and the vast majority of the core gave us the 4X and 5X scoring that we need to win GPPs.

Week five proves to be much of the same thing we have been seeing so far this season where match-ups are crucial and injuries are providing massive opportunity for back-ups.  The pricing is reasonable this week and I like the look of the teams I have been building.  Keep working hard on your research and continue to be on top of things on Sunday morning when the actives/inactives are announced, because that is imperative.

Best of luck this week Team FGI!

Jeff’s Strategy & Core–
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