Daily fantasy football continues to climb in popularity as jackpots have risen consistently and more fans are joining sites every week. Our weekly article showcases players to target at three general levels of value: The big dollar talent (High-Priced Heroes), the average-priced contributors (He’s so “Mid”), and the guys very questionable players at the bottom of the cost charts (Bargain Basement). Yes, for our longtime readers, we did change the titles of our tiers. Our selected players are based on DraftKings values as that is our daily fantasy site of choice, but the values should translate fairly well to any other sites you may use. We don’t share specific lineups or optimized computer rankings, but we will give you some great candidates for you to consider. We set this breakdown up that way because while winning is great, a big part of the fun draw of daily fantasy is mixing and matching your lineups to see how you can maximize your team. That and the fact that we are trying to win the same way that you are, and quite frankly, we don’t want our readers to all have the same exact lineups.
NFL Week 1 Recap
The opening weekend of DFS was super productive for the BetCrushers, and really there was only one major thing that didn’t work out quite as well as we had hoped. That was our Star of the Week, Sam Howell. We mentioned we were swinging for the fences a bit with the young quarterback, and unfortunately we didn’t clear the wall. Howell earned a win, and wasn’t bad, amassing a pair of touchdowns, however our hope of having him be a top QB of the weekend never fully panned out against a game Cardinals defense. Beyond that, we essentially managed to provide nearly all of the biggest producers of opening Sunday. That included a monster performance from Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill who was the weekend’s top performer.
These Players Made Us Look Good:
Austin Ekeler – 117 Yards Rushing, 47 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Travis Etienne, Jr. – 77 Yards Rushing, 27 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Tyreek Hill – 215 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
Kirk Cousins – 344 Yards Passing, 7 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Justin Jefferson – 150 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Aaron Jones – 41 Yards Rushing, 86 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
Jordan Love – 245 Yards Passing, 12 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
Chris Olave – 112 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Hayden Hurst – 41 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
These Players Made Us Look Foolish:
Dallas Goedert – 0 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
NFL Week 2 Preview
Now that we have a sample size, albeit a limited one, we can start more accurately drilling in on some key players. To be honest this is one of the uglier weeks we can recall as far as finding some “sure thing” type of matchups. Part of that may be from some less than inspiring performances from a lot of players in week one, which can understandably make someone hesitant in trusting them in week number two. Additionally, there were quite a few players who didn’t see quite the workload many anticipated heading into the season. As far as the tiers or levels go, there are some appealing option at the top of the board, but the middle seems very combustible, which means you’re going to have to be really dialed on, or really lucky this weekend.
Before we highlight our three levels of talent, let’s look at our projected star of the week:
STAR OF THE WEEK:
From a fantasy production standpoint Jared Goff was very average in the Lions season kick-off win versus the Chiefs. He played efficiently though, and took what the defense gave him. As you know, quality play doesn’t always translate to fantasy football points, and conversely, poor play can still result in racking up a score. In the Lions home opener, they’ll welcome the Seattle Seahawks in a game where we’re expecting Goff to both play well, and put up a lot of fantasy points. The Seahawks really can’t play worse than they did a week ago defensively, as they were carved up by some basically unknown players on the ground and throughout the air. The player who Goff was traded for, Matthew Stafford, had time to throw, and his receivers were open, particularly in the middle of the field. The Lions do their damage over the middle with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. The offensive line for Detroit should be able to control the pass rush (if you want to call it that) of the Seahawks, meaning Goff will have time in the pocket. As long as the Seahawks keep the game competitive, which we expect them to do, Goff will have plenty of chances to get into the end zone, even with a solid running game. With his price point a couple of $1,500 to $2,000 less than the top QB’s of the weekend, and a shot to be a top producer, we’re planning on big things from Goff and the Lions.
Quarterbacks:
Patrick Mahomes – $8,300 vs. Jaguars
Justin Herbert – $7,000 vs. Titans
Running Backs:
Bijan Robinson – $7,900 vs. Packers
Travis Etienne, Jr. – $6,900 vs. Chiefs
Wide Receivers:
Stefon Diggs – $8,000 vs. Raiders
Calvin Ridley – $7,200 vs. Chiefs
Tight Ends:
Travis Kelce – $7,600 vs. Jags
Evan Engram – $4,800 vs. Chiefs
Defense / Special Teams:
Dallas Cowboys – $4,000 vs. Jets
Quarterbacks:
Daniel Jones – $6,000 vs. Cardinals
Geno Smith – $5,900 vs. Lions
Running Backs:
James Conner – $6,200 vs. Giants
David Montgomery – $5,800 vs. Seahawks
Wide Receivers:
Brandon Auyik – $5,800 vs. Rams
Mike Williams – $5,700 vs. Titans
Tight Ends:
Sam LaPorta – $4,800 vs. Seahawks
Dalton Kincaid – $3,300 vs. Raiders
Defense / Special Teams:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $3,200 vs. Bears
Quarterbacks:
Jordan Love – $5,500 vs. Falcons
Baker Mayfield 5,100 – vs. Bears
Running Backs:
Rachaad White – $5,500 vs. Bears
Justice Hill – $4,900 vs. Bengals
Wide Receivers:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba – $4,500 vs. Lions
Josh Reynolds – $3,700 vs. Seahawks
Tight Ends:
Dawson Knox – $3,100 vs. Raiders
Adam Trautman – $2,800 vs. Commanders
Defense / Special Teams:
New York Jets – $2,700 vs. Cowboys
If you play Daily Fantasy Football, we love talking sports and we’d love to hear your take and who you like each week, find us on Twitter @TheBetCrushers and let us know. Good luck and enjoy the weekend! 
