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 8 Recap
One of the reasons daily fantasy football is so fun, or maybe addictive, is because it’s always just so oh so close to hitting the big ones. For much of the early season we’ve nailed our Star of the Week, but haven’t always gotten the right players surrounding them. This week was the complete opposite, as we had some great selections and stacks, and a lot of the week’s top performers. Unfortunately, we had our Star Isaiah Pacheco and Dameon Pierce as mainstays in most of our lineups, which kept us from really hitting the big cash. For the sake of what we put out in our article there were definitely a lot of nice hits, as you’ll see below with the players that made us look good. As far as the players who busted, a few were due to injuries, so overall it was a pretty locked in weekend. Being close just makes us fiend for the upcoming Sunday, so let’s get after it.
These Players Made Us Look Good:
Tua Tagovailoa – 324 Yards Passing, 8 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
Tyreek Hill – 112 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Christian McCaffrey -54 Yards Rushing, 64 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
Travis Etienne, Jr. – 79 Yards Rushing, 70 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
A.J. Brown – 130 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
Dak Prescott – 304 Yards Passing, 19 Yards Rushing, 4 Total TDs
Brock Purdy – 365 Yards Passing, 57 Yards Rushing, 1 Total TD
Breece Hall – 17 Yards Rushing, 76 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Jake Ferguson – 47 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Sam Howell – 397 Yards Passing, 11 Yards Rushing, 4 Total TDs
Tre McBride – 95 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
These Players Made Us Look Foolish:
Lamar Jackson – 157 Yards Passing, 17 Yards Rushing, 1 Total TD
Isaiah Pacheco – 40 Yards Rushing, -3 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Nico Collins – 30 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Kenny Pickett – 73 Yards Passing, 10 Yards Rushing, 0 Total TD
NFL Week 9 Preview
There are no shortage of players to select this week during the Sunday afternoon slate, yet somehow this is one of the uglier weeks out there. A lot of the stars have difficult matchups, and it’s tough to trust some of the players and teams with friendlier matchups. This is also the first week where we’ve truly struggled to select our Star of the Week. Normally if we have that issue it’s because there are too many players for us to narrow down, however that isn’t the case in week nine. It really is difficult finding someone that is sure to go off, and that would even include some of the higher-priced and obvious options. As a result, we settled on a guy who may not even see the field for more than half of the game based on the past couple of weekends. Talk about rolling the dice… With all of that being stated, you probably can tell that we’re going light this week in DFS and waiting for a more meat on the bone. If you have some pieces you like, please let us know.
Before we highlight our three levels of talent, let’s look at our projected star of the week:
STAR OF THE WEEK:
For season long fantasy players who drafted and stashed Jonathan Taylor, they could get a payoff down the stretch of the season. That is of course if that pesky Zack Moss, who continues to flat out ball, would simply fade away. That’s not likely to happen this week against the Panthers, but look for both running backs to feast in this contest. In fact, it’s not crazy to play Moss as your Star or double up with both backs in a game where they could combine for 30 to 35 carries. Taylor has looked good the last couple of weeks and should see an increased workload, even if it is still a timeshare with Moss. More importantly, Taylor should shine no matter how much total workload he gets in a matchup where his offensive line should be able to win the line of scrimmage against Carolina’s defensive front. In a road game the Colts need to have, they’re going to lean on their high-performing offensive line and hand the ball off a lot, especially if the Panthers can’t stop them, which is very possible. Don’t forget, it wasn’t very long ago when Taylor was one of the highest-priced players each week in the $9,000 range, so getting him at $6,400 is still a bargain, even with Moss cannibalizing some carries. In a week where we’re not going to be very active, we’ll take at least a chance or two on Taylor and Moss.
Quarterbacks:
Jalen Hurts – $8,000 vs. Cowboys
C.J. Stroud – $6,200 vs. Buccaneers
Running Backs:
Alvin Kamara – $8,100 vs. Bears
Saquon Barkley – $7,900 vs. Raiders
Wide Receivers:
A.J. Brown – $8,600 vs. Cowboys
Adam Thielen – $7,500 vs. Colts
Tight Ends:
Mark Andrews – $6,800 vs. Seahawks
Dallas Goedert – $4,800 vs. Cowboys
Defense / Special Teams:
New Orleans Saints – $4,100 vs. Bears
Quarterbacks:
Sam Howell – $5,800 vs. Patriots
Derek Carr – $5,700 vs. Bears
Running Backs:
Jonathan Taylor – $6,400 vs. Panthers
Kareem Hunt – $5,500 vs. Cardinals
Wide Receivers:
Nico Collins – $5,800 vs. Buccaneers
Zay Flowers – $5,700 vs. Seahawks
Tight Ends:
Hunter Henry- $3,600 vs. Commanders
Logan Thomas – $3,500 vs. Patriots
Defense / Special Teams:
Houston Texans – $3,000 vs. Buccaneers
Quarterbacks:
Daniel Jones – $5,600 vs. Raiders
Baker Mayfield – $5,200 – vs. Texans
Running Backs:
Brian Robinson, Jr. – $5,300 vs. Patriots
Darrell Henderson, Jr. – $5,100 vs. Packers
Wide Receivers:
Michael Thomas – $4,700 vs. Bears
Demario Douglas- $4,000 vs. Commanders
Tight Ends:
Tyler Higbee – $3,200 vs. Packers
Cade Otton – $3,000 vs. Texans
Defense / Special Teams:
New York Giants – $2,300 vs. Packers
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! 
