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 (Heavy Hitters), the average-priced contributors (Average Athletes), and the guys very questionable players at the bottom of the cost charts (Sneaky Sleepers). 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 9 Recap
Apologies extended on behalf of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the BetCrushers for offering up James Conner as our Star of the Week. A greater than 2 touchdown favorite, the Steelers fell behind the Cowboys inexplicably which resulted in Conner having only 6 carries until the final drive of the game. The inefficiency of Conner really killed our lineup despite having some nice other performances. We knew we were taking a small risk with Conner as he’s not in the category of a player like Dalvin Cook or Alvin Kamara, but against Dallas it didn’t seem like it would be a huge risk. We’ll re-load and see if we can’t regain our hot streak we had with our Stars of the Week.
As for the rest of our list, we were pretty spot-on with our quarterbacks as there were a lot of really strong performances across the league as we anticipated. Tight ends continue to be a challenge in DFS as the play overall has been pretty lackluster outside of Travis Kelce week in and week out. Time to re-load and find some players for this weekend.
Who Made Us Look Brilliant?
- Dalvin Cook – 206 Yards Rushing, 46 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
- Matt Ryan – 284 Yards Passing, 6 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
- Julio Jones – 58 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
- Russell Wilson – 390 Yards Passing, 5 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
- Stefon Diggs – 119 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
- Deshaun Watson – 280 Yards Passing, 50 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
- Justin Herbert – 326 Yards Passing, 20 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
- T.J. Hockenson – 39 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
- Marvin Jones, Jr. – 43 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
- Nick Foles – 335 Yards Passing, 2 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Who Made Us Look Foolish?
- James Conner – 22 Yards Rushing, -2 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
- David Johnson – 16 Yards Rushing, 0 Total TD
- Laviska Shenault, Jr. – -1 Yard Receiving, 0 Total TD
NFL Week 10
STAR OF THE WEEK:
There are three quarterbacks that are lined up for massive performances that you’d be wise to consider if you don’t mind paying for a QB. Kyler Murray, Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen are almost guaranteed to get you huge performances so if you don’t like our Star of the Week, we’d urge you to go in the direction of one of those three. If you prefer to find a lower priced option at the QB position, look no further than the greatest of all time, Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady. It was painful watching Brady struggle in their blowout loss to the Saints as he was under constant pressure, missing his receivers, and turning the ball over. Fortunately, he has a much easier path to a good statistical game against a still learning young Panthers defense. Throughout his career, Brady has rebounded from his poorest outings with big bounce-back games, something you can expect him to do again this weekend. At only $6,300 on DraftKings, there is some good value there, and you don’t necessarily need to stack him with anyone on his team as he can spread the ball around to a variety of targets. Unless the Bucs’ end up gobbling some short yardage rushing scores, expect Brady to toss a few into the end zone.
Building your team around a strong running back is often the best place to start, especially with guys like Derrick Henry, Alvin Kamara and Dalvin Cook around. This week Henry and Cook are not eligible and Kamara has a tough matchup so it makes sense to possibly pay for one of the higher end QBs. There are also some pricey receivers you might want to consider as well if the running backs don’t strike your fancy. Overall, this is one of the more unique overall rosters so make sure to play responsibly.
PLAYERS WE’RE TARGETING:
Quarterbacks:
Kyler Murray – $8,000 vs. Bills
Josh Allen – $7,500 vs. Cardinals
Running Backs:
Aaron Jones – $7,100 vs. Jaguars
James Robinson – $6,600 vs. Packers
Wide Receivers:
Stefon Diggs – $7,500 vs. Cardinals
Cooper Kupp – $6,900 vs. Seahawks
Tight Ends:
Darren Waller – $5,900 vs. Broncos
T.J. Hockenson – $5,100 vs. Washington Football Team
Defense / Special Teams:
New Orleans Saints – $3,000 vs. 49ers
Quarterbacks:
Jared Goff – $6,500 vs. Seahawks
Tom Brady – $6,300 vs. Panthers
Running Backs:
Miles Sanders – $6,400 vs. Giants
Chase Edmonds – $6,300 vs. Bills
Wide Receivers:
Robby Anderson – $6,100 vs. Buccaneers
Juju Smith-Schuster – $6,100 vs. Bengals
Tight Ends:
Evan Engram – $4,500 vs. Eagles
Dallas Goedert – $4,200 vs. Giants
Defense / Special Teams:
New York Giants – $2,700 vs. Eagles
Quarterbacks:
Tua Tagavailoa – $5,600 vs. Chargers
Derek Carr – $5,400 vs. Broncos
Running Backs:
Ronald Jones II – $5,300 vs. Panthers
Duke Johnson – $5,000 vs. Browns
Wide Receivers:
Sterling Shepherd – $5,000 vs. Eagles
Rashard Higgins. – $4,600 vs. Texans
Tight Ends:
Robert Tonyan – $3,600 vs. Jaguars
Jordan Reed – $3,500 vs. Saints
Defense / Special Teams:
Los Angeles Rams – $2,200 vs. Seahawks
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!
