When last we left off, I swore I would never put together another Fan Duel lineup without including Devonta Freeman and/or DeAndre Hopkins. The two have been the most-productive players in all fantasy formats this season and any daily lineup which included one or both seemed to be cashing in, provided the supporting cast was even just half-decent. Of course, the match-ups would come into play, but coming into Week 7, there didn’t seem anything wrong with Freeman running on the Titans or Hopkins wreaking havoc on the Dolphins secondary. But then the talk of fading them became prominent with the experts and suddenly my mind was filled with doubt.

To fade or not to fade. That is the question. Much like Jeff Mans’ weekly question of whether to Gronk or not. If you use Hopkins and Freeman, you’re spending a significant amount of your salary cap right now and will have to really hit with a number of your budget-picks. If you don’t, then you can spread things around a little differently. If you fade them and they have a great game again, you still stand a chance of winning, but if they’re sitting on 70-percent ownership percentages, then you’re already playing from behind. If they have a lousy game and you’ve faded them, then your chances of winning just jumped exponentially. To fade or not to fade, once again. “Should I take the car or should I take Debbie” ran through my head and perhaps a Fantasy Alarm t-shirt to the first person who can tell me where that question comes from.

So what did I do…?

Well, I looked at the match-ups for each player and thought about potential game-flow and looked for more of a reason to fade them than just, “he’s due for a bad game.” I didn’t get that and after crunching the numbers and looking at other players I likes, I opted to stick to my guns and use them both. It didn’t cause me to change much with my overall strategy though because I have been paying up for at least one running back while using the bulk of my money on my receivers. Only this time it was Freeman rather than falling for the Le’Veon Bell banana in the tailpipe gag. But let’s get on-track here and show you the lineup for my 50/50 and see how things went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carson Palmer, QB – Well, here you go. I already went against the main plan. But it was either him or Philip Rivers in my eyes as none of the bargain-priced quarterbacks. I just didn’t like any of the other match-ups. I opted to go with Palmer based on the out-of-division (heck, out-of-conference) game and the Ravens super-porous secondary. The Chargers match-up was nice, but they’ve faced Oakland far too much for me to be comfortable with Rivers. Who knew he would be the garbage-time master. In any event, paying up a little for my quarterback was going to short-change me somewhere else.

Devonta Freeman, RB – Like I said, I was using him no matter what and while he failed to do any end zone dancing, he still posted a 100-plus yard day. Did he live up to his price-tag though? He did not.

Todd Gurley, RB – I knew everyone was going to be on him, so whether or not the rest of the field faded Freeman or Hopkins, I wanted to make sure I kept pace with them as Gurley was going to go off on the Browns’ pathetic run defense. He was well-worth the cost and will be another guy the world will talk of fading in future weeks to come.

DeAndre Hopkins, RB – With a sub-30 percent ownership rate it looked like a lot of people bought into the thought that Hopkins and Brian Hoyer were due for a bad game. Should I have listened? Given the way the Dolphins secondary had played, I don’t think so. Unfortunately for me, the coaching change in Miami has pushed this team into a complete one-eighty and they just ripped the Texans a new one.

Donte Moncrief, WR – I needed to bargain hunt a little more with the use of Palmer, so I settled on Moncrief as my No. 2. With Andrew Luck back and a nightmarish Saints secondary, I thought Moncrief was a nice pick to do some damage. He did find the end zone, though his receptions and yardage left little to be desired.

Ted Ginn, WR – Here was my dart. I needed a cheap guy with some potential and in looking at the way the Eagles defense was matching up, I figured that Ginn would see a bump in targets and maybe find his way into some red zone work as he did just a few short games ago. Unfortunately, five catches for 59 yards wasn’t much of a dart, but thankfully he had the 43-yard run to help boost his totals.

Jordan Cameron, TE – So here was a problem for me. I actually wanted to use Ladarius Green and increase my investment in my receivers, but we were still waiting on the status for Antonio Gates. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be in front of my computer when that decision was ultimately made led me to just going to Cameron here. Unfortunately, weather and game flow pushed the Miami offense away from him, especially in the red zone. In retrospect, given the savings, I probably should have just taken my chances with the tight end spot as I could have used T.Y. Hilton instead of Moncrief.

Nick Folk, K – As a Jets fan, I know what the Patriots do to us when we get in the red zone, so Folk was almost a no-brainer for me. Thirteen points later I am very happy with my decision.

St. Louis Rams – Similarly to using Gurley, I knew everyone was going to be on the Rams. I opted to keep pace and it turned out to work in my favor.

So while Freeman and Hopkins posted less-than-stellar days, Gurley and the Rams helped me keep pace with the field. I didn’t get huge totals from my bargain picks and Palmer was just meh, but all still good enough to slide into the top 50 and cash in on my 50/50. And once again, I am happy to use the analogy – What do they call the guy who graduates last in medical school? Doctor. What do the call the guy who finishes in the final money spot of a 50/50? Winner.

As for my tournament play, I used the exact same lineup for the big million-dollar game. I figured if enough people faded Hopkins and Freeman I would have two strong contrarian picks and if no one faded them, well, then I’d been keeping pace with the field. Unfortunately, my support staff just didn’t cut it this week.