RADIO
The CFL season is upon us Rotoballers and I am thrilled that it is back even if it is for a shortened 14-game season. The CFL is a fun and exciting sport to both watch and play from a DFS standpoint and there are plenty of different ways that you could go about roster construction and come out a winning player. I have been playing CFL DFS for several years and look forward to helping you every single week!
Scoring
The first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the scoring over on DK. This is a DK-specific sport so it makes it easy to focus on just one DFS site and their version of scoring. The CFL is a pass-happy league with only being a three-down league so you will see an emphasis on high-upside quarterbacks with their top receivers. Also, you will notice that returners (kick, punt, field goal) are able to accrue points so this is something to consider if you’re needing a value play and you have a receiver that is doing all of those duties and is also seeing plenty of offensive snaps. On the defensive side of things, sacks and interceptions are a big part of the CFL defensive scoring and could really make or break a week if you are on the correct matchup. One additional thing that the CFL game has that the NFL doesn’t is something called a rouge. A rouge is a one-point score that is given for certain plays that involve the ball being kicked into the end zone and the ball is not returned.
Roster Construction
When it comes to CFL DFS, there are seven roster spots and it’s broken down as such: QB, RB, WR, WR, Flex, Flex, D/ST. The double-flex allows for a lot of creativity as I have done well going two receivers while also squeezing in two running backs at times. Just like other sports, a lot of it just comes down to the individual matchups and the price points that they are at.
As I said above, the CFL tends to be a pass-happy league with there only being three downs so teams have to make the most of every possession. When constructing your roster, you will want to first look at the Quarterback position and their matchups and go from there. Once you have your quarterback selection figured out, you can go several different ways. You can first take a look at the wide receiver landscape to see who you can pair your QB with, while also taking a glance at potential value picks that frees up salary for the rest of your lineup.
If you decide to wait on rostering a receiver, you could glance at the running back room and see who is in the best overall matchup and who could be a good running back value. Running backs in the league are pretty versatile as they do a lot of the ground and pound work but can also have pass-catching upside so you’ll want to target running backs that are able to do both.
The final position to look at is the defensive position and there could be several ways to look at this group. If you have a strong defensive team going up against a weak opponent, you might want to find a way to squeeze them into your lineup since they could put up 15-20 DK points with ease. In other cases, it might be best to punt the position altogether in hopes they get you 5-10 points while you allocate salary elsewhere.
Example Lineup 1
This is a lineup that ended up being a winning lineup in a smaller contest that I played in. As you can see, I was very high on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats against Montreal so I full-stacked their offense. Jeremiah Masoli is a top CFL quarterback as he can make plays with both his arm and legs.
One fortunate thing for Masoli is that he has the most explosive wide receiver in the league with Brandon Banks. For those that are not familiar with Brandon Banks, he spent some time with the Washington Football Team as a receiver but primarily as a returner. He is the Tyreek Hill of the CFL as he is small, fast, and speedy with the ball so defenders have a hard time containing him especially with this football field is larger than the usual NFL field.
Hamilton was a big favorite against a bad Montreal defense team so I figured that if they get up big, they might run the ball more often with Sean-Thomas Erlington who was their primary running back at the time. Also from a game script perspective, Hamilton has a top defense in the league and with Montreal struggling on the offensive side of the ball, it made sense to play their D in hopes that they are able to create turnovers.
When looking at the rest of the team, I did roster the Montreal running back, William Stanback, as he is a do-it-all kind of back and is involved in their passing game. With them trailing from behind and their lack of receiving weapons, I figured he would be involved all game long and could rack up points through the air.
The other game I looked at and saw a big advantage was the Calgary Stampeders against the B.C. Lions. The Lions had a bad D in 2019 so targeting the top receiver for the Stamps in Eric Rogers was a must and this turned out to be a big game for him as he went for nine catches, 100 yards, while also hauling in three receiving touchdowns. The value play that enabled me to get Rogers into the lineup was Terry Williams as he had six total returns for 125 yards while also carrying the rock one time for eight yards.
Example Lineup 2
Here is another example of a lineup that did relatively well in a smaller SE GPP. When looking at this lineup at first glance, it is significantly different from the first lineup that I posted. This one features three mini-stack combos and I will walk through each one.
The first thing you’ll notice is the QB/WR combo of Domenique Davis and RJ Harris. I was picking on the Montreal defense yet again and Davis was off to a hot start in the 2019 season. While Davis completed 23 of 37 passes, he threw one pick and no touchdowns but found the end zone twice on the ground. Davis looked Harris’s way plenty of times as he hauled in six catches for 89 yards and with the game script not being in Ottawa’s favor, they were forced to keep throwing until the conclusion of the game.
The second pairing you’ll see is Andrew Harris and Lucky Whitehead. Andrew Harris is the top running back in the CFL and is one of the toughest guys to fade because his usage is so high in the Winnipeg offense. They were facing an Argonauts defense that was really bad in 2019 so it made sense to go that way. Knowing how bad this Toronto defense was, I wanted to get another piece of the Blue Bombers offense and one guy that popped was former Dallas Cowboy running back Lucky Whitehead. Whitehead was getting run in the slotback position (think of it as your slot receiver in the NFL game) and he hauled in six catches on seven targets but was explosive in the return game as he had 134 return yards and a return touchdown.
The last pairing you’ll see is a Hamilton Tiger-Cats combo of Brandon Banks and Malik Irons. Irons was thrust into the starting role due to a major injury to Sean-Thomas Erlington and with his price point, it was too good of a spot to not consider. With that salary relief, it enabled me to pay up for Brandon Banks who can go off in any given matchup and he did just that as he recorded nine catches on 13 targets for 86 yards and two receiving touchdowns.
The final piece to this line was rostering the Edmonton Elks (formerly known as Eskimos) defense. BC early on last year was having trouble establishing a rhythm on offense and their offensive line was not a cohesive unit. The Edmonton D has always been solid and they were able to record five sacks and pick off Mike Reilly once in a 33-6 win.
2021 Season
The 2021 CFL season will be a shortened season, but it is great to have it back into the fold to both watch and play from a DFS standpoint. We could see an uptick in interest in the league as Canada is now allowing single-game betting to finally occur which could draw even more interest in the CFL as a whole. With the league being shown on TSN and ESPN, this could become a league that draws even more fantasy interest in the future. Kickoff to the 2021 CFL season is almost here and I will make sure to have you covered from a strategy and picks standpoint!
