In DFS GPP tournaments, we don’t need the highest possible score to win. Rather, we just need the highest score compared to our opponents. This is where leverage comes into play. The question I ask myself to gain leverage on the field is: “How can I exploit how the rest of the field is going to construct rosters?”
There are a variety of ways to create leverage on the field. You can gain leverage on individual chalk by rostering a negatively correlated teammate, rostering a negatively correlated player from the opposing offense, or simply fading the game entirely. Or you can gain leverage on roster construction by “flipping the build” and paying up or down at positions opposite from the field.
I primarily play small-field GPPs (100-1000 entries) on FanDuel, so will mostly discuss leverage in this context. A key point about small-field GPPs is that the best plays are often rostered on an even higher percentage of teams than they would be in large fields. The chalk gets even chalkier, making it (oftentimes) easier to access leverage.
Note: I am publishing this article before weekend news and roster percentage projection changes.
NFL DFS Week 15 Leverage Situations
I am adding this special notification that with COVID running rampant through the NFL, Week 15 might have the most news on any NFL DFS slate ever. It will be extremely important to monitor situations up until Sunday inactives. As always, the below leverage situations are very sensitive to ownership changes, but the principles still apply.
