Daily Fantasy Football Strategies

Playing Daily Fantasy Football in a league such as DraftKings.com allows you to pick different teams depending on how many opponents you are facing or how many players are in a particular fantasy football tournament.

When making your choices for your Salary Cap league or Pick’Em league or even a Snake Draft league, using the draft strategies below will help guide you to picking a winning team and making more money playing daily fantasy football.

Don’t forget to read our Fantasy Football Draft Strategy Guide for full season pools for other top strategies to help you win your yearly draft as well as some other helpful tips in choosing your daily fantasy football team.

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Analyze Weekly Game Matchups Carefully

One of the most important analyses daily fantasy football players need to make is the weekly matchups of NFL teams. Is a good offense playing a top defense or the most scored upon squad? Is the strength of a team, such as stopping the running game, going to impact a team that focuses their offense around the running game? Weekly game matchups are where you can overanalyze everything and either look like a genius or convince yourself into picking a bad fantasy team.

Regardless, when you focus on a player for your team, the best strategy is to check out what defense he will be facing that week and whether or not it looks to be a favorable matchup or a risky play.

Check The NFL Injury Report

Injuries on both offense and defense can have dramatic effects on fantasy stats week to week. If a high powered offense is playing a team with injuries to their secondary, QB and WR numbers can be fantastic. Alternatively, if a team suffers an injury to its starting QB, that particular offense could sputter causing all the offensive stars to have their fantasy numbers decline. If a team is missing a key wide receiver, avoid all receivers from that team as the defense will be able to double team easily.

Be smart - don't play daily fantasy football without checking the injury report the day before and an hour before the game - that is if you want to win money... A great place to get injury info is at RotoWorld.com.

Look For Salary Cap Bargains

Occasionally daily fantasy sites such as DraftKings.com miss a beat when they set their salary cap values. Whether it’s a player coming off an injury, a backup running back taking over the starting duties, or a fantasy player that has underperformed all season (but has recently showed signs of life), finding a bargain to plug in to your fantasy lineup allows you to spend more on the players that have a track record of scoring fantasy points.

The strategy here is to look through the complete list of players at each position instead of just jumping to a single player that you want on your team.

Get The Best QB In The Best Situation

The Quarterback you choose for your daily fantasy team each week is usually the deciding factor of whether you win or lose that game or tournament. The ideal matchup is a fantasy QB that is playing a low rated defense with issues in their secondary. You can double up the fantasy points by also choosing a wide receiver or tight end combination for the ultimate boom-bust situation. Avoid divisional rivalry games unless both QBs are high powered offensive machines (e.g. GB vs. DET).

We advise you spend most of your money on a top QB playing a weak defensive team. Make sure you have the guy who throws 3+ touchdowns and 400+ yards that week.

Check The Vegas Betting Lines

The people who set the lines in Vegas know their stuff. The most important number to look at for fantasy players is the Over / Under of particular games. When the number is 45 or more the bookmakers expect the game to be high scoring which translates into high fantasy numbers for offensive players. If you see the number in the 30’s you can expect all around daily fantasy stats to be low...but this is where you will find your defense for the week.

Remember, spreads change - so, again, do your homework and double-check the lines an hour before game time. A great site to get up to date nfl betting lines is Bovada.com.

Pay Attention To The Weather

Where the players are playing can be a huge factor in how well they will play. A dome stadium in the winter is ideal for fantasy scoring, whereas a howling wind in an outdoor stadium can spell doom for the quarterback or wide receivers in that game. Rainy or wet weather usually leads to more attention to the running game to control the ball. Know what the weather is like that particular game and set your fantasy lineup accordingly.

Our advice is to focus on games in domes, on artificial turf, and little or no wind (if outdoors). A great place to check the NFL Weather Forecast is NFLWeather.com.

Now take these free tips and sign up to one of the great daily fantasy sites below to claim your free bonus cash and start making money playing Daily Fantasy Football!