Welcome to the DFS Playbook for NFL Week 18!

Oh baby!!! Can you believe this is the final week of the NFL regular season? I'm still in a state of disbelief and I've actually been counting down the days until the final Playbook comes out and I get a little bit of a breather on the weekends. But here we are with one more full slate of games to play around with for our lineups and contests.

We've been through a lot this season from a rousing success in Week 1 to Millionaire Mike crushing it in Week 3 to a number of big cash and GPP wins for the #FAmily throughout the year. We definitely hit a speed bump or two along the way, but on the whole, we've turned a pretty nice profit this season. And if you haven't, then you should be doing what most people have done when they've been losing and reach out to me and the rest of the team for help. I've personally coached at least a dozen people this season on contest selection, cash game builds and player evaluations and each one has come back to me to say they've done well with the coaching and are looking forward to many more profitable seasons in the future. That's what this is all about. If we can help you make money, then that's fantastic, but, overall, our goal is to make each and every one of you a better DFS player.

Now as far as the Week 18 slate goes, we've been very vocal about investing in players who have something to play for. Some teams need the win this week to make the playoffs while other teams are loaded with players looking to reach certain contract incentives and career milestones. If you haven't checked out the full list in Andrew Cooper's latest article, do yourself a favor and read it here. You should also be taking a long look at all the latest news, including the live NFL COVID blog, so you can get a better idea of who might be resting their starters. A lot of players you would assume are sitting might not, so you'll want to stay on top of everything.    

Now, before we get to the Playbook players, allow me to remind those of you who may still be new to the Playbook what you should be doing leading up this step in your research.

Step 1: Check out the DFS Position Coaches

QB Coach – Jon Impemba (@jimpemba777)

RB Coach -- Justin Vreeland (@JustinVreeland)

WR Coach -- Colby Conway (@colbyrconway)

TE Coach -- Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco)

D/ST Coach -- Dan Malin (@RealDANlanta)

Step 2: Check out the rest of the relevant DFS content

In addition to the positional coaching pieces, you also have things like the DFS Watch List, where I provide you with a list of players I am looking at throughout the week. We have the NFL DFS Podcast with me and Jon Impemba, who also does the Contrarian Corner video and check out the DFS Bargains from our newest #FAmily member Tera Roberts (@ItsTeraTime). 

Also, our Master of Tools, Matt Selz (@theselzman), supplies you data junkies with the Weekly Match-Up Report and everyone should also be checking out the WR/CB Match-Up Report from Ryan Hallam (@fightingchance). 

Step 3: Make your own list of players

It's real easy to just sit and wait for the Playbook, but as you are doing your research throughout the week, it is important to make notes and list the players who interest you the most. Maybe they end up in the Playbook and maybe they don't. If they're there, then great, it should mean we are honing in on the same things that make him a strong play. If not, maybe you're onto something else that someone overlooked. We aren't perfect and if you uncover something different, maybe you're right. I would be careful of routine groupthink and hype from beat writers, but often times someone will tell me something they saw about their local team that I missed and I am always looking to investigate more if its there. If you do, then say something in our Fantasy Alarm Discord Chat,. Talk it out and see what the rest of the #FAmily thinks. That's why the chat is there, isn't it?

With those three steps complete and discussions are in progress, you are ready to look at the Playbook players, make comparisons and finalize your list for lineups, so let's get to it.

How about one final step before we actually begin? 

CHECK FOR LATE CHANGES TO THE PLAYBOOK

Every now and again, we throw in a late add to the Playbook. More often than not, a late add is done for cash game play as we are seeing higher-than-expected ownership on a bargain player. These can, often times, become a “free square." If the ownership is high, it won't matter if the players succeeds or not. It's about keeping pace with the masses and watching out for lineup trains. We won't recommend if we don't believe in the player, so if you see one, understand the major reasoning behind it.

We've got a number of changes right now so take a walk through once again.

Stacks

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