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DraftKings Fantasy Football Millionaire Winning Lineup Breakdown: Week 17

DraftKings Fantasy Football Millionaire Winning Lineup Breakdown: Week 17

DraftKings Fantasy Advice DFS NFL Rail

Updated:

By: Zach Thompson

Week 17 had action spread throughout the weekend due to a unique holiday schedule. On Sunday, eight games made up the main slate on DraftKings, and the NFL $2.25M FANTASY FOOTBALL MILLIONAIRE [$1M TO 1ST] gave entries a chance to claim a million-dollar top prize. This week, it was an entry from bigDiamondJ that claimed the “Crowning Moment” with the top-scoring entry from Sunday afternoon. The entry earned an impressive 241.16 fantasy points in the early window and then had to sweat out the two late games before holding on to the top spot, ultimately finishing almost 10 points clear of the rest of the field, which included over 132,000 entries.

Here’s the highest-scoring entry from the Week 17 Milly Maker:

The best way to make a Buc

The entry from bigDiamondJ claimed this week’s “Crowning Moment” by building around a core of three players from the Bucs, who were in a great spot against the Panthers and delivered a big win that puts them in control of the NFC South after the Falcons loss on Sunday Night Football.

The player who was in more entries than any other player this week was Bucky Irving ($6,700; 26.0 FPTS), who was owned in a massive 44.6% of lineups. The running back delivered, though, with 113 rushing yards and 77 receiving yards. His total of 26 fantasy points made him the No. 2 RB on the main slate even though he didn’t score a touchdown.

All the Tampa Bay touchdowns came from Baker Mayfield ($6,900; 37.56 FPTS), who threw five touchdowns and totaled over 35 fantasy points. He had the top ownership of all quarterbacks on Sunday’s slate, but there’s no arguing with his elite production as the highest scorer at the position.

He connected for two touchdowns to Mike Evans ($7,500; 29.7 FPTS), who had the highest ownership of all wide receivers and the fourth-highest fantasy total at the position. The Bucs piled on the points against the Panthers and were great plays even at very high ownership. Not only did they help their NFL team to a great spot in the playoff race, they also set up bigDiamondJ’s “Crowning Moment.”

More fiery chalk

Two other players in the top entry had high ownership but delivered monster performances. Jonathan Taylor ($7,900; 30.6 FPTS) was the top running back on the entire slate with two touchdowns and 125 rushing yards in a loss to the Giants.

The other chalky play that hit big was veteran Adam Thielen ($5,700; 31 FPTS), who feasted on the other side of that game in Tampa. He totaled 110 receiving yards to go with his two touchdowns, finishing just ahead of Evans as the No. 3 WR on the main slate.

Where Eagles dare

All those plays were popular options that produced big weeks, but bigDiamondJ needed to find some less popular plays to make the entry stand out from the crowd and claim the “Crowning Moment.” The two key ways that entry found differentiation were a pair of Eagles and a pair of tight ends. Let’s look at the Eagles options first.

DeVonta Smith ($5,800; 33 FPTS) was working with a backup QB and actually left the game early with an injury of his own. He overcame those obstacles, though, and posted the second-best total of the main slate at wide receiver. Smith caught a touchdown from both Kenny Pickett ($5,500; 16.2 FPTS) and Tanner McKee ($4,500; 9.96 FPTS).

Smith ended up being a key differentiator since his ownership was under 6%.

The Eagles DST ($3,100; 19 FPTS) had the second-highest DST ownership of the week at 13.8%, but they did still help his entry stand out from the rest. Specifically, CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson had a big piece of claiming this week’s “Crowning Moment” by terrorizing the Cowboys with a pair of interceptions, including this one that he returned to the house.

Two key tight ends

To claim the week’s “Crowning Moment” bigDiamondJ went with two relatively affordable tight ends in the TE and FLEX spot, unlocking the salary to spend up in all those other spots. Jauan Johnson ($3,500; 12.6 FPTS) was owned in only 1.4% of entries and delivered a big game for the Saints with six catches for 66 yards in their loss to the Raiders.

Even more importantly, though, it was Tyler Conklin ($2,900; 21.7 FPTS) who brought the leverage with just 2.3% ownership and the best tight end production of the main slate.

I hyped Conklin in my sleeper tight ends for Week 17, but I didn’t expect him to go off like this. He finished with eight catches on eight targets for 57 yards and a touchdown. His late touchdown in the Jets’ blowout loss didn’t make much of an impact for his team, but it was huge in claiming bigDiamondJ’s “Crowning Moment.”

The Bottom Line

This week’s winning entry found all the right popular players and mixed in enough sleepers who went off. Using Conklin as a FLEX play under $3,000 unlocked the salary to spend on the Bucs’ big trio as well as Taylor and Thielen, who both had big games. Smith was another key point of differentiation, who delivered over 30 fantasy points from his salary under $6,000.

Looking ahead to Week 18, the final main Sunday slate of the regular season will include 13 games and include another $1,000,000 top prize in the NFL $2.25M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st]. Stay tuned to DK Network throughout the week for plenty of strategy and lineup advice to help you build your winning entry and claim your own “Crowning Moment.”

Be sure to stay tuned to DraftKings Network for all the coverage you need leading up to kickoff from both a betting and DFS perspective.

All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

Zach Thompson
Zach has been part of the DraftKings team since 2017 and covers baseball, basketball, golf, football and any other sport that offers DFS fun. He has been playing fantasy sports since box scores were only available in the newspaper the following day. Even though he grew up almost 8,000 miles away in Guam, he is a diehard Boston sports fan but will take a fantasy value play wherever he can get it, even if it’s from the Yankees.
Disclaimer

I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.