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 10 Recap
Back-to-back near miss weeks for us with our profit, although overall our suggestions performed fairly well. The biggest issue was missing on some key players, like T.J. Hockenson as an example. Additionally, we opted to stay away from stacks like Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb with some fear they wouldn’t play the entire game against an undermanned New York Giants team. We were partially correct there as they did sit for the 4th quarter of their game, but they did a ton of damage before calling it a day. We definitely had some nice hits, including our Star of the Week as $5,800 Brock Purdy tossed three touchdowns and fell just short of 300 yards. Much like the Cowboys, he would have put up even more had he not been rested for a large chunk of the 4th quarter. You can see below the players that performed and those that cost us some money.
These Players Made Us Look Good:
Brock Purdy – 296 Yards Passing, 3 Total TDs
Jared Goff – 332 Yards Passing, -2 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Amon-Ra St. Brown -156 Yards Receiving, 9 Yards Rushing, 1 Total TD
Brian Robinson, Jr. – 38 Yards Rushing, 119 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Geno Smith – 369 Yards Passing, 9 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Mike Evans – 143 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Joe Burrow – 347 Yards Passing, 20 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Baker Mayfield 278 Yards Passing, 12 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Najee Harris – 82 Yards Rushing, 19 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
These Players Made Us Look Foolish:
Tony Pollard – 55 Yards Rushing, 0 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Will Levis – 199 Yards Passing, 0 Total TD
DeAndre Hopkins – 27 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Johnnu Smith – 1 Yard Receiving, 0 Total TD
NFL Week 11 Preview
By this point in the NFL season we’ve got a firm grip on which players and teams are legit and who’s a pretender, and it’s now time to check those OPRK numbers on the right for some guidance. Many of our selections are matchup based this weekend, and we’d recommend saving your money at the QB position and on defense. You’re probably going to need to pay up at the tight end position unless you’re throwing a dart at the wall, and even running back is a little dicey. Watch the late injury report and try to find a value player who can snag some extra carries or targets based on an injury. (Exhibit A: See the Houston Texans skill positions). Should be another fun weekend, let us know who you’re targeting.
Before we highlight our three levels of talent, let’s look at our projected star of the week:
STAR OF THE WEEK:
Don’t look now but the Washington Commanders have been one of the better passing teams across the league over the past month of the season. Despite less than stellar offensive line play, quarterback Sam Howell continues to impress and give his team a chance to win each week. Speaking of winning, if you’ve been rostering him on your fantasy football squads he’s giving you a legitimate chance to win there as well. In his last three outings he’s tossed 8 touchdowns and produced over 300 yards passing in each ballgame. In week eleven Howell has perhaps his best matchup to date as the Commanders host the deflated New York Giants, a team with a roster depleted to injury on both sides of the ball. This was on display last weekend as Dak Prescott torched the Giants with one of his best performances of his career. Howell’s salary on DraftKings has steadily climbed, but still is a great value at $6,300, substantially less than the top plays of the weekend. In fact, his points per game are right around the highest priced options like Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Dak Prescott. We’re going to save a little cash at the quarterback position and look toward some potential Commander stacks on Sunday.
Quarterbacks:
C.J. Stroud – $7,000 vs. Texans
Jared Goff – $6,600 vs. Bears
Running Backs:
Austin Ekeler – $8,600 vs. Packers
Tony Pollard – $6,600 vs. Panthers
Wide Receivers:
Amon-Ra St. Brown – $8,800 vs. Bears
Brandon Aiyuk – $7,200 vs. Buccaneers
Tight Ends:
Sam LaPorta – $5,800 vs. Lions
Tre McBride – $4,400 vs. Texans
Defense / Special Teams:
Dallas Cowboys – $4,400 vs. Giants
Quarterbacks:
Trevor Lawrence – $6,000 vs. Titans
Brock Purdy – $5,800 vs. Buccaneers
Running Backs:
Aaron Jones – $6,200 vs. Chargers
James Conner – $5,700 vs. Texans
Wide Receivers:
Amari Cooper – $6,200 vs. Steelers
Terry McLaurin – $5,800 vs. Giants
Tight Ends:
Cole Kmet – $4,100 vs. Lions
Tyler Higbee – $3,300 vs. Seahawks
Defense / Special Teams:
Cleveland Browns – $3,000 vs. Ravens
Quarterbacks:
Deshaun Watson – $5,400 vs. Steelers
Will Levis – $5,200 – vs. Jaguars
Running Backs:
Darrell Henderson, Jr. – $5,000 vs. Seahawks
Kareem Hunt – $4,900 vs. Steelers
Wide Receivers:
Jayden Reed- $4,000 vs. Chargers
Curtis Samuel – $3,600 vs. Giants
Tight Ends:
Tyler Conklin – $2,900 vs. Bills
Michael Mayer – $2,700 vs. Dolphins
Defense / Special Teams:
Los Angeles Chargers – $2,600 vs. Lions
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! 
