An introduction to the next step of daily fantasy football play and strategy

To become a better daily fantasy football player, you need to become acquainted with the myriad of statistics out there that will help guide you. On the surface, statistics can feel like a mass of numbers that you will drown in, but if you can delve into a handful of the more important stats, you should be good to go.

Like with any task you hope to perfect, to get better at DFS you need to build knowledge on top of knowledge. We looked at the rules and some basic tenets of daily fantasy football. Now we’ll move up from the Beginner section to the Intermediate section, where we will explore statistics in more depth.

Position vs. defense stats

When setting our DraftKings’ lineups, we need to dig into matchup statistics, especially those that show efficiency.

Fantasy points per opportunity

Efficiency statistics are important when gauging fantasy production, especially when a cheaper backup is getting a shot to play more snaps.

Running back opportunities

Maybe the most stable and useful predictive statistics are running back opportunities.

Wide receiver/tight end opportunities

Receiving opportunities are more volatile, but a big piece of the puzzle for building your weekly lineups.

DVOA

Football Outsiders does a great job of contextualizing football statistics with DVOA. The numbers they provide can help in varying ways.

League selection

Not a statistic, but league selection is an important part of becoming a better DFS player.

Salary inefficiencies

Often salary inefficiencies give you a free space in your lineup construction. Be sure to take it.