ON THE CONTRARY
Cheap Hoyer play gives you DFS freedom
ZEROES get a bad rap. We pretend we don’t like them. If you misbehave, you might be told authorities have “zero tolerance.” Bring up an offbeat topic, and some might say they have “zero interest.” If you fail at a task, a rival might call you a “big zero.”
But , the fa c t is, people l ove zeroes. Specif ically, those zeroes that appear at the end of monetary numbers — the more zeroes the better. So of course, when fantasy players run across a daily tournament with a collection of zeroes at the back end of the payout figure, you get a spike in interest.
In large daily tournaments, if you’re going to win, you need to have a low-owned contrarian player or two on your roster. One name that fits the bill this week is new 49ers quarterback Brian
Hoyer (FanDuel $6,400/DraftKings $5, 100). Yep, that Brian Hoyer: former Patriots backup, often injured but serviceable with the Texans two years ago, often injured but serviceable with the Bears last season, whose best claim to fame is that he was on pace to post Ryan Fitzpatricktype numbers in 2015 — the good Ryan Fitzpatrick season. Yep, that Brian Hoyer.
Why would you waste an entry on Hoyer? Well, first, he isn’t that bad. In his previous 12 starts before being injured in Week 7 last season, he had 20 touchdowns and five interceptions. That includes four straight 300-yard passing games (six TDs, no INTs) just before the injury.
Now, he is on his third team in three years. But the 49ers have a new coach, Kyle Shanahan — who was the coordinator for the Falcons’ Super Bowl offense last season, who helped make Kirk Cousins a bona fide QB as the Redskins’ offensive coordinator, worked with Hoyer with the Browns in 2014. That new coach and new offense provide an element of mystery for which the opposing Panthers will have a difficult time preparing.
If Hoyer does well, f igure at least one of his receivers will as well. Build your roster around a duo of Hoyer and Pierre Garcon or Marquise Goodwin. Their affordability will allow you to load up on players from other attractive matchups (Falcons running game, anyone from Raiders-Titans, receivers from Packers-Seahawks, anyone from the Panthers).
This will give you a contrarian combo with low usage competition. Because it is a risky play, confine his use to GPPs, and go with safer options in cash games (50/50s and head-to-heads). But if your Niners duo goes off, as the matchup suggests they could, you stand a decent chance of earning some decent coin.