Upside refers to the highest level of potential of a footballer in a daily fantasy football game – the number of points that would likely be their ceiling for a particular game.

Daily fantasy football players need to have a good understand of the upside of various footballers, as this will have a big influence on your picks depending on the type of contest being joined.

Players with good upside levels are typically considered to be the opposite to those stars who can regularly be relied upon to score a good, solid number of points for your fantasy team.

Having high upside could mean that a player will sometimes score a very low points total, while other times they could buck the trend and come up with a massive points score against the odds.

Identifying which players have the best upside rating for a particular contest is one of the main keys to success in daily fantasy football, so taking time to research the point-scoring potential of all the footballers you are considering selecting is well worth the extra effort.

Upside is particularly important if you are entering tournaments with a huge number of entrants, for example contests with massive cash prizes that tempt hundreds if not thousands of users to pay the required entry fee and join.

As a safe, steady squad is unlikely to score a high enough total to compete in these popular competitions, players with a strong level of upside should make up the backbone of your team.

Finding the balance between consistent players and those with high upside is one of the most difficult things about picking a daily fantasy football team.

An example of a player with good upside would be a footballer who has not started a lot of games but is expected to get a run in their team due to an injury to another player in their position.

Sometimes fantasy football players also use the term upside to refer to the maximum money they could win from the contests they have entered.