Updated 9/24/2020
Playing Fantasy Football at DraftKings and FanDuel
| Fantasy Football | FanDuel | DraftKings |
|---|---|---|
| Fantasy Football | FanDuel | DraftKings |
| Learn more in my Top Fantasy Sites List. |  |  |
| Team Size | 9 | 9 |
| Passing TD | 4 | 4 |
| Passing Yard | .04 | .04 |
| 300+ Passing Yards | 0 | 3 |
| Interception | -1 | -1 |
| Rushing TD | 6 | 6 |
| Rushing Yard | .1 | .1 |
| Fumble Lost | -2 | -1 |
| Receiving TD | 6 | 6 |
| Receiving Yards | .1 | .1 |
| Reception | 0.5 | 1 |
| 100+ Yard Receiving Game | 0 | 3 |
| 2 Point Conversion | 2 | 2 |
| Punt/Kickoff Return For TD | 6 | 6 |
| Sack | 1 | 1 |
| Interception | 2 | 2 |
| Fumble Recovery | 2 | 2 |
| Safety | 2 | 2 |
| Blocked Kick | 2 | 2 |
| 0 Pts Allowed | 10 | 10 |
| 1-6 Points Allowed | 7 | 7 |
| 7-13 Pts Allowed | 4 | 4 |
| 14-20 Pts Allowed | 1 | 1 |
| 21-27 Pts Allowed | 0 | 0 |
| 28-34 Pts Allowed | -1 | -1 |
| 35+ Pts Allowed | -4 | -4 |
| Field Goal from 0-39 | 3 | n/a |
| Field Goal from 40-49 | 4 | n/a |
| Field Goal from 50+ | 5 | n/a |
I hope you are excited to play FanDuel and Draftkings again this season! Let’s take a look at playing football at FD and DK.
There are two clear market leaders in the booming daily fantasy football space. The two major players are DraftKings and FanDuel. They attempted to merge in earn 2017 but were blocked. It is time for a comparison guide. Let’s take a close look at playing fantasy football at FanDuel vs Draftkings. They are the two largest one week fantasy football sites in the business.
Real Money Football Leagues Available
Quick Comparison – Football Details
- Both Fanduel and Draftkings now offers different modes of NFL DFS (my full DK NFL format guide)
- Both sites offer Salary Cap leagues
- Neither site offers pick’em or roto/snake style drafts *update NFL 2019 new contest formats announced at DK
- FanDuel offers a weekly $1 league with $10k prize for the least expensive entry
- DraftKings offers a “dime package” with contests starting at $0.10.
- FanDuel has weekly $1, $2, $5, $10, $25 and $50 large player leagues (over 1k players)
- DraftKings has weekly $0.25, $1, $2, $3, $5, $10, $12, $20, $27, $50, $100, and $200 large player leagues
- Fanduel now offers season long leagues as well as daily/weekly
All kinds of good stuff going on over at FanDuel.
You can get a $5 bonus to use today, up to a $500 Risk Free Bet, and Sports Betting is now live in New Jersey and Pennsylvania!
There are multiple types of games available at both sites including Head to Head(or H2H), small team leagues, double and triple ups and plenty of cash game style leagues. Both also roll out the big money, life changing money tournaments every week as well with $1,000,000 guarantee’s each week (both have a $200 buy-in).
The current DraftKings landing page.
That’s right. That says you can flat out become a millionaire with the right picks…
Free-rolls
- DraftKings usually has one weekly free-roll with up to $1,000 prize pool (opening week they have 5+ real money freerolls you can join at no risk.
- FanDuel currently does not list any free-rolls
FanDuel vs DraftKings – Bonus Offers for New Players
Special Deals for New Players.
- FanDuel = A $5 bonus for joining up and making your first deposit (claim this bonus *terms and conditions apply)
- DraftKings = A deposit bonus of up to $500 (claim this bonus *terms and conditions apply)
- FanDuel = HQ in New York, NY (review).
- DraftKings = HQ in Boston, MA (review).
Compare / Contrast / Notes
They are both top rated one week fantasy football sites however there are a few important differences.
- Firstly, DraftKings is more of a true ‘PPR’ (points per reception) league where you earn 1 point for each reception.
- FanDuel is a semi-PPR league as they offer .5 points per reception. This means on DraftKings you will get more value from your RB’s that catch a lot of passes compared to FanDuel.
- DraftKings has a FLEX position instead of kicker. Flex is a RB, WR or TE.
- DraftKings offers late player swap. This is huge – probably one of the most important features that make these sites different. Late player swap is that you can swap out a player for another one as long as their respective games have not yet started.
- Late Swap example – if you have a WR playing on Monday night football and they come down with the flu or a random injury Monday morning you can swap that player if you want (quick tip – save your flex player for the Monday night game when possible for maximum flexibility). On FanDuel, teams lock the moment that any of the games start early Sunday.
Drafting Your Team / Creating Line-Ups “Playing”
Now that you know the scoring and the rules it’s time to join a league and build your lineup.
Quick Important Differences You Should Know
- Draftkings offers “late player swap” – Fanduel has tourneys with both late swap and without swap (years before they were no late swaps at Fanduel).
- Draftkings has a full 1 point PPR scoring system. Fanduel has .5 points per reception.
- Both sites offer news and information on each player.
- FanDuel shows FPPG (fantasy points per game), Games Played, Game Matchup (IND@DEN) Salary and the ‘Add’ button.
- DraftKings shows the same stats but they also show “OPRK” which shows the opponents rank vs position.
- Both sites offer more in-depth information when you click on a players name including recent news, game log and summary
- Both sites allow you to easily edit your line-up and make changes to your team
- Both sites allow you to enter the same line-up into multiple leagues easily
- DraftKings allows you to build a line-up first and then enter the line-up into as many leagues as you want.
The current page to pick out what contests you’d like to join.
Watching Your Team Compete
Once your line-ups are set and the games begin there is nothing left for you do to but cheer on your players and watch your team climb and fall on the leaderboards.
- DraftKings offers live updates with points flashing up on your team members whenever stats are updated (near real time). You can watch your team go up and down on the leaderboards.
- DraftKings also has a ‘My Contests’ tab where all of your contests are listed and you can get a quick overview of how you are doing. You can see how much you are winning, how many points away from 1st place you are, how much time remaining your players have, your oppositions points and their remaining time. Additionally you can see what the top prize is for each of the leagues you are in, all in one spot. This is something that FanDuel does not currently offer
- DraftKings also has a ‘My Lineups’ tab where you can view each of your line-ups and compare them to one another. From there you can see which tournaments they are in and click through to get more details
- The In-Game experience is much more exciting and entertaining at DraftKings
Winning Money Playing One Week Fantasy Football
Both sites are legit, honest and trustworthy. They are the leaders in the biggest thing to hit fantasy sports since the internet. Seriously this is the wave of the future.
Back in 2014 we saw considerable warming to the idea of one week fantasy leagues from all of the major sporting organizations (MLB, NBA and NFL). They realize how important it is to have this kind of fantasy sports for their well being.
In 2015 they were literally everywhere ended up over exposing themselves racing for marketshare.
In 2016 the sites are taking a less heavy advertising direction and focusing on creating a better product and ecosystem for DFS players.
In 2017 they attempted to merge but were blocked by the FCC
In 2018 they both rolled out sportsbooks in the legal and regulated states.
Here in 2019, there’s not a lot to say other than both sites have completely paid their dues, many, many times over and are still competing for our business as players.
- Win and you get paid – both sites. Pay out via paypal, bank wire, check
- Payouts are fast and easy
- $1 Million + up for grabs in prize money each week at both sites.
- Legal, legit and honest.
- Both sites now label “Experienced Players” (aka the professionals/grinders) – You can avoid them in h2h matches now.
Both sites pay out after all games are complete and all stats are finalized. This usually takes a good few hours after the final games finish. Once finalized payouts are made and the cash appears in your account. You can easily withdraw the funds at any point in time.
Strategic Adjustments / Considerations For FanDuel vs DraftKings
- Check out our advanced FanDuel vs DraftKings strategy adjustments article
- Points run higher on DraftKings as they award more points for milestones (like 300+ yards passing, 100+ yards receiving / rushing)
- RB’s who catch a lot of passes go up in value on DraftKings
- See all of our NFL tips, strategies and related content here
Final Thoughts DraftKings vs FanDuel Football Leagues
I’ve been emailed and asked who is my favorite fantasy football site and if I could only recommend one site which one would it be? It would be DraftKings.com. I”m Spry13 on the leaderboards there myself and it’s where I play mostly. Join me in the weekly GPP (guaranteed prize pools) tournaments.
- FanDuel was once the largest but DraftKings has rivaled them for market share in 2015 and on. Both are huge.
- DraftKings purchased the #3 fantasy site (DraftStreet) in July of 2014, gaining considerable ground on market leader, FanDuel.
- Both sites have had hundreds of millions in investment in 2015 and are inking deals with major franchises across NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.
- The sites themselves brought a lot of negative attention on them by over advertising in 2015
- An insider
- Investors are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into both of these companies – with billion dollar valuations!
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