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 5 Recap
Who Made Us Look Brilliant?
We had quite a few players on our initial article who ended up having their games postponed due to that whole COVID-19 thing so some of the matchups we liked were off the board. What we did have going was pretty red hot as we turned some really nice profit with the players we did build our lineups around. As usual, we like to review our Star of the Week and everything just feels better when we nail that one, which we did with the Panthers Mike Davis. All Davis did was have a career high in yardage, score a TD, and have 9 receptions. He probably would have had another score if Carolina was running the clock out for a FG at the end of the game.
What was cool about the guys that really performed for us, is we got huge production out of our bargain players, namely Derek Carr who absolutely torched the Chiefs in their upset win. Here’s a look at some of the other players that helped us out.
- Patrick Mahomes – 340 Yards Passing, 21 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
- Derek Carr – 347 Yards Passing, 1 Yard Rushing, 3 Total TDs
- Darren Waller – 48 Yards Receiving – 1 Total TD
- Ezekiel Elliott – 91 Yards Rushing, 14 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
- Darius Slayton – 129 Yards Receiving
- Calvin Ridley – 136 Yards Receiving
- Teddy Bridgewater – 313 Yards Passing, 3 Yards Rushing – 2 Total TDs
- Mike Davis – 89 Yards Rushing, 60 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
- Robby Anderson – 112 Yards Receiving, 3 Yards Rushing
- Darren Fells – 57 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Who Made Us Look Foolish?
It’s fantastic when this list is short, and there is really only one major swing and a miss from week five. Tyler Higbee seems to be back to a committee situation as it was fellow TE teammate Gerald Everett who carried the receiving load for the Rams in their win at Washington. The other player we had high hopes for who was relatively quiet was the Jaguars James Robinson. He had a respectable day overall, but definitely underachieved a bit as the Jags fell behind in the second half and abandoned the running game.
- Tyler Higbee – 12 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
- James Robinson – 48 Yards Rushing, 22 Yards Passing, 0 Total TD
NFL Week 6
STAR OF THE WEEK:
A lot of sneaky potential stars in week six, but we narrowed it down to a final four with three quarterbacks in the running. On is crazily named Kirk Cousins… We’ll let you make your own decision on if you can trust him in a game where he should light things up. The other two QB finalists play each other as Matthew Stafford and the Lions will take on Gardner Minshew and the Jaguars in Jacksonville. The weather looks great for that game and it’s a game that could very easily hit 60+ combined points. We decided to roll with the Minshew Mania mustache mullett as although he’s just the 8th rated DraftKings QB, he’s in line for a big day. Minshew has thrown at least 2 TDs in four of the five Jaguar games and while his overall play is up and down, his fantasy numbers are consistently good. The Jags defense is not good and should have their challenges stopping the previously mentioned Stafford. In a game that we expect to be an up and down the field affair, Minshew should rack up some yards both throwing and running. It’s reasonable to expect a 300 yard passing, 30 yard rushing, 3 touchdown performance from Gardner on Sunday afternoon.
Week six is going to take a like of strategy as some of the biggest names are not easy plays as they have difficult matchups. See players like Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson as examples. Think hard about spending on a quarterback as there are plenty of lesser priced options out there (see our Sneaky Sleepers) that could be stacked with wide receivers. This could also be the week to spend a little more on your defense/special teams as there are some really lopsided contests on that front.
PLAYERS WE’RE TARGETING:
Quarterbacks:
Ben Roethlisberger – $6,700 vs. Browns
Matt Ryan – $6,600 vs. Vikings
Running Backs:
Aaron Jones – $7,600 vs. Buccaneers
Alexander Mattison – $7,200 vs. Falcons
Wide Receivers:
Calvin Ridley – $7,800 vs. Vikings
Adam Thielen – $7,300 vs. Falcons
Tight Ends:
Mark Andrews – $6,500 vs. Eagles
Johnnu Smith – $5,200 vs. Texans
Defense / Special Teams:
Indianapolis Colts – $4,000 vs. Bengals
Quarterbacks:
Gardner Minshew II – $6,400 vs. Lions
Kirk Cousins – $6,100 vs. Falcons
Running Backs:
James Robinson – $6,800 vs. Lions
David Montgomery – $5,800 vs. Panthers
Wide Receivers:
Kenny Golladay – $6,200 vs. Jaguars
Jamison Crowder – $6,100 vs. Dolphins
Tight Ends:
Evan Engram – $4,900 vs. Washington Football Team
Eric Ebron – $4,100 vs. Browns
Defense / Special Teams:
Washington Football Team – $3,300 vs. Giants
Quarterbacks:
Ryan Fitzpatrick – $5,900 vs. Jets
Ryan Tannehill – $5,900 vs. Texans
Running Backs:
Antonio Gibson – $5,500 vs. Giants
Myles Gaskin – $5,400 vs. Jets
Wide Receivers:
A.J. Brown – $5,600 vs. Texans
Jarvis Landry – $4,900 vs. Steelers
Tight Ends:
Kyle Rudolph – $3,700 vs. Falcons
Cameron Brate – $3,500 vs. Packers
Defense / Special Teams:
Miami Dolphins – $2,900 vs. Jets
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!
