Controversy during last week’s NFL Wild Card Weekend wasn’t limited to pass-interference debates and arguments over the overtime format.
No, it bled into the fantasy football world as well, courtesy of two former reality TV stars.
A pair of alumni from “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” — Jade Roper Tolbert and Tanner Tolbert —are being accused by some in the daily fantasy sports realm of gaming the system to win DraftKings’ “Millionaire Maker” contest.
It was a $1 million prize that Jade Roper won for creating the best daily fantasy lineup over the weekend of playoff games. She and her husband are suspected to have conspired to each enter the maximum 150 lineups. Of those 300 lineups, 298 were unique, thus vastly inflating their chances of winning the pot.
Some in the industry say that’s foul play. The Los Angeles Times says “That would be a violation of rules against coordinated play.” A spokesperson for DraftKings told the paper that the company “reviews the results of all major contests to ensure they comply with our terms of use and applicable state regulations.”
The company states it doesn’t pay out prizes until reviews are complete.
The two contestants claim it is perfectly legal, and they failed to win the previous 17 weeks using the same strategy. They insist that this is only a story because they are public figures.
Jeff Erickson of Rotowire joins me for our weekly fantasy sports podcast to investigate whether this tactic is completely illegal, merely unethical or simply a completely above-board loophole that has been exploited.
We also talk about the second weekend of postseason games, the loss by New Orleans screwing up a lot of playoff fantasy teams, Derrick Henry’s chances of carrying Tennessee to another upset and where Tom Brady may play next year.
Jeff and I agree that he’ll be back in New England. But we disagree on where he will wind up if it is elsewhere.
