Let’s be honest: $3.3 million sounds like a lot of money. Well, it is a lot of money. But unfortunately, in Fantasy NWSL, it’s not that much money. It comes out to an average of $220k per player, meaning that you have to be very particular about which where you spend your money – especially if you’re spending it on the premium-cost players. So how should you allocate your dollars for maximum FNWSL points?
Somewhat surprisingly, in 2022 only five forwards appear in the top 25 scoring players in FNWSL, with only Sophia Smith and Alex Morgan cracking the top ten. It’s been a very different story so far in 2023, where five forwards appear in the top five scoring players and a total of nine are in the top 25. You definitely want at least one of the Big Three (Big Two for the time being) forwards, and probably want to be starting three forwards each week. After Smith with 82 points, there’s a big dropoff to Lynn Williams in second with 63, and then another dropoff to a group of seven forwards all between 40 and 52 points. Assuming you have one $400k forward, you can probably get maximum return from your other two forwards with a commitment of $400k total. This could be a higher-priced player like Morgan Weaver paired with a lower-cost high-risk high-reward option like Penelope Hocking or Katie Johnson, or perhaps two mid-price forwards like Ashley Hatch and Jaedyn Shaw.
The other position where it makes sense to spend more money is DF. Defenders have accounted for almost half of the top 25 scoring players in both 2022 and 2023. Fantasy points for defenders are much more team-dependent than at other positions, so as expected, three teams dominate the list of top scoring defenders so far this season: Portland, OL Reign, and San Diego. This means you probably want to start four defenders, and can probably justify spending as much as 40-45% of your team budget on defenders, and over $1M on your four starting defenders. There are many good options for your back line, but it’s usually a good idea to stock up on DFs from the teams that concede the least – especially the lower-cost ones. Aim for an average cost of $250k/starting DF and focus on the three aforementioned teams.
After some stellar FNWSL performances from midfielders last year, it’s been a little difficult to predict fantasy points from MFs so far in 2023. This is probably the area of your team where you want to take a few more chances, i.e. spend a little less money and bring in some lower-cost, high-upside players. If you’re running a 4-3-3, you probably want to allocate around $800k to your starters. I’d recommend one premium midfielder with two other mid-priced players, say one of the players we mentioned last week paired with two midfielders that each cost $200-250k. However, based on how the 2023 season has started, I definitely wouldn’t blame you if you want to throw another $200k into your front line and start two premium forwards instead while you spend only $600k on midfielders.
Next week, we will talk about goalkeepers. In the meantime, good luck in Round 5!