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Fantasy sports are often associated with the regular season of a professional or college league. Traditional "Fantasy Football" involves fans getting together before the season begins to pick rosters NFL Draft style, with competitors able to block each other from making coveted player picks while claiming high-profile picks of their own.
When the schedule winds down, the Fantasy league's season ends—long before the Lombardi Trophy (or the FBS national championship) is decided on the gridiron.
Pigskin gaming has come a long way since the days of whiteboards and picks written in pencil and ink. FanDuel is foremost among Daily Fantasy Sports, or “DFS” providers, who give customers the chance to pick teams and play immediately. Internet users can still invest in leagues that last a full season, of course, but Daily Fantasy draft picks allow for choosing new rosters at every turn and writing-off injuries instead of spending the entire fall stressing out about them.
Daily Fantasy comes in handy when the Super Bowl rolls around. Few old-school Fantasy leagues extend their seasons through the NFL playoffs and into February. Super Bowl DFS competitions allow players to log on and pick a roster of exclusively those athletes taking part in the Greatest Show on Earth.
Whether you’re a beginner, an enthusiast, or a veteran of hundreds of DFS and fantasy-season battles, FanDuel offers fun and trustworthy Super Bowl DFS options with standardized scoring rules.
Here’s a look at some of the basics.
Super Bowl DFS Draft Picks: A Starter’s Tutorial
Super Bowl DFS competitions at FanDuel begin by granting each new player a $60,000 budget (not real money, of course) with which to select a roster of players fighting for the NFL crown. Customers are not relegated to picking from only the rosters of NFC or AFC representatives, but they are asked to fill out a standard roster that includes a QB, running backs, WRs, a tight end, and a kicker.
FanDuel customers may also choose a “flex” or variable roster spot from eligible skill players, along with a team defense.
Most casual players are familiar with basic DFS draft strategies. For instance, it makes sense to pick a quarterback and a wide receiver from the same team, so as to increase point-totals when your picks connect on a TD pass. It’s also wise to focus a solid chunk of your 60K budget on the QB and kicker picks. The quarterback handles the ball on every play and is likely to rack up the biggest stat total of anyone on a Super Bowl team over 4 quarters.
However, there are always pitfalls to any such strategy. In 2019, the New England Patriots and L.A. Rams met in the Super Bowl for what some pundits expected to be a QB’s duel between Tom Brady and Jared Goff. Instead, a grand total of 1 touchdown was scored in the contest, leaving DFS competitors to cobble-together points from runners, pass-rushers, and kickers.
DFS Scoring Rules at FanDuel
Time-honored Fantasy Football scoring rules are also a feature of DFS games at FanDuel, making it easy for Super Bowl fans who have already played throughout the season.
Here’s a table of all potential point-scoring by your picks:
Offense | Defense |
Rushing yards made=0.1pts | Sacks=1pt |
Rushing touchdowns=6pts | Opponent-fumbles recovered=2pts |
Passing yards=0.04pts | Return touchdowns=6pts |
Passing touchdowns=4pts | Extra Point Return=2pts |
Interceptions=-1pt | Safeties=2pts |
Receiving yards=0.1pts | Blocked Punt/Kick=2pts |
Receiving touchdowns=6pts | Interceptions made=2pts |
Receptions=0.5pts | 0 points allowed=10pts |
Kickoff return touchdowns=6pts | 1-6 points allowed=7pts |
Punt return touchdowns=6pts | 7-13 points allowed=4pts |
Fumbles lost=-2pts | 14-20 points allowed=1pt |
Own fumbles recovered touchdowns=6pts | 21-27 points allowed=0pts |
Two-point conversions scored=2pts | 28-34 points allowed=-1pt |
Two-point conversion passes=2pts | 35+ points allowed=-4pts |
Field-goals from 0-39 yards=3pts | |
Field-goals from 40-49 yards=4pts | |
Field-goals from 50+ yards=5pts | |
Extra-point conversions=1pt |
Notes: For purposes of FanDuel defensive scoring, points allowed are calculated as:6 * (Rushing TD + Receiving TD + Own fumbles recovered for TD ) + 2 * (Two point conversions) + Extra points + 3 * (Field Goals)
Learning How to Cheer for Your DFS Roster
DFS beginners should be aware that rooting for Daily Fantasy picks in the Super Bowl (or any game) can be very different from the usual cheering experience. Sometimes, it’s a real mind-trip.
For example, a fan of a Super Bowl franchise would typically want the team to gain as many yards as possible before trying a field goal with time running out in the 1st half. NFL kickers are usually “money” from inside 40 yards, and PK Robbie Gould is no exception. But that’s not necessarily what the DFS player is thinking about, even if Gould is among the picks on her team. FanDuel awards more DFS points for field goals made from farther away from the goalposts.
Consider that a “bombed” field goal from 50+ yards out is worth 5 DFS points, more than the number of points awarded for a touchdown pass by the QB!
However, if you happen to know that your pick has a kicking leg that is more accurate than powerful, you might want to cheer for those extra yards anyway. After all, 3 points in the hand is better than 5 in the bush, or rather “0” points if the PK misses the attempt from 50+ yards, or if the head coach decides that a long field goal attempt would be out-of-range for your PK pick.
DFS newcomers are also used to cheering for their favorite quarterback's defense to play well. If the defense plays a shut-down game, as New England’s defense did against Los Angeles in the Super Bowl, then the QB’s job of winning the game becomes easier. But once you’ve selected a Super Bowl quarterback as one of your Daily Fantasy Sports picks, you do not necessarily want that signal-caller's defense to have a heroic evening. At the very least, it helps if the defense allows its fair share of points.
Points scored by an opponent means that an NFL club's offense has to open up, and when that happens, a player’s DFS quarterback picks will throw more passes, racking up more yards and touchdowns to help conquer the Daily Fantasy battlefield. That won't occur if the team posts a cautious 17-3 win.
Selecting Your Level of DFS Opponent
Winning a DFS contest based on Super Bowl results might be the hardest scenario for a newcomer to experience “beginner’s luck” and defeat an expert Daily Fantasy shark.
Name-brand superstars are plentiful when picking from 32 competing NFL clubs on an ordinary Sunday. Even the newbie is familiar with Tom Brady’s determination, Lamar Jackson’s amazing dual-threat ability, and Cooper Kupp's set of All-Pro skills at wide receiver. But when there are only a pair of teams left on Super Bowl Sunday, choosing a roster of DFS performers means knowing lots of info about players who may not be household names. Expert DFS players are also good at handicapping the likely outcome of a postseason contest before making their picks. It’s a science, and there’s no such thing as getting a science down pat on your first try.
Luckily, the DFS providers at FanDuel have the beginner in mind as well as the Daily Fantasy champion. New players signing up for FanDuel’s NFL Daily Fantasy Sports can choose to play against all skill levels of opponents, including a “beginners only” option in which newcomers can play exclusively against other newcomers to the website. Intermediate-level opponents are also available on request.
Learn More About Super Bowl DFS Games
Follow the link to Fanduel’s Super Bowl roster ideas page for previews, predictions, and Fantasy draft recommendations on the next upcoming Super Bowl.
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