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 13 Recap

The big boys really came to play in week 13 as we absolutely crushed our heavy hitters across the board. Having Tom Brady and Chris Godwin stacked ended up leading us to the pay window, and we managed to get some other big dogs in the fight by rolling with Gardner Minshew II as a value play. You know that it’s a good week when you’re biggest disappoint is with the Star of the Week, who actually had a pretty decent performance. Elijah Mitchell was in and out of the lineup during the 49ers tough road loss in Seattle, but he did manage to rack up nearly 100 total yards and score a touchdown. We were hoping for a little more out of him, but he at least did enough to keep us in the money with some of the high-priced talent. You don’t need to read a lot more about how our week went, just take a look below at who helped us win.

Who Made Us Look Brilliant?

• Tom Brady – 368 Yards Passing, -1 Yard Rushing, 4 Total TDs
• George Kittle – 181 Yards Receiving, 5 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
• Chris Godwin- 143 Yards Receiving, 9 Yards Rushing, (15 receptions)
• Jonathan Taylor – 143 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
• Justin Jefferson – 182 Yards Receiving, 4 Yards Rushing, 1 Total TD
• Cooper Kupp – 129 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
• Rob Gronkowski – 58 Yards Receiving, 2 Total TDs
• Antonio Gibson 88 Yards Rushing, 23 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
• Logan Thomas – 48 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
• Jared Goff – 296 Yards Passing, 3 Total TDs
  

Who Made Us Look Foolish?

• James Robinson – 24 Yards Rushing, 11 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
• Desean Jackson – 14 Yards Reciving, 0 Total TD

NFL Week 14 Preview

Divisional games are paramount as we enter the final quarter of the season. Week 14 presents some really critical decisions, mostly at the quarterback position. Unless you’re trusting someone like Baker Mayfield, there aren’t a lot of great low-priced sleeper options as there were a week ago. Running back is interesting as well as we’re recommending saving your money and not overspending here with some nice mid-tier options. As we’ve stated in previous weeks, keep a close eye on who practices Thursday and Friday as there are a ton of potentially injured players in the pool. For the BetCrushers, our biggest question mark this week is actually in regards to our Star of the Week. We have two potential players to highlight, but for one we need to see the status of his platoon share before adding him as a must-have in the lineup. You can read more about this decision below.

STAR OF THE WEEK:

Without further delay, we’ll go ahead and state that Edwards-Helaire is potentially our “backup” Star of the Week. The player we really want to roll with is Denver Broncos rookie running back Javonte Williams. At the time of this article it’s still unknown whether his teammate Melvin Gordon will be suiting up for the Broncos against the Lions. If Gordon is ruled out, Williams is the absolute must-start of the weekend with his sub-$6,000 price point. You could actually still play Williams even if Gordon is in, however it becomes a lot riskier at that point. Should Gordon sit, you could argue that Williams is RB1 in the entire league. For right now, we’re going to slot his divisional rival Clyde Edwards-Helaire into the Star of the Week role as he’s another player that should have a big game against the Raiders. Edwards-Helaire returned and knocked some rust off, and looked pretty decent in doing so since missing significant time earlier in the season. The Chiefs should be in a pretty nice battle with the Raiders with the potential for some scoring on both ends. If you haven’t followed Kansas City closely, you may not have noticed that their revamped offensive line has struggled a bit in pass protection, which has certainly had an impact on Patrick Mahomes and the passing game. That offensive line has in fact been pretty solid when running the football though, which is also something the Raiders have had all sorts of issues with stopping of late. CEH is only a little above Javonte Williams at $6,100, and although his ceiling may not be quite as high, at that price he should find his way into your lineup.

PLAYERS WE’RE TARGETING:

Quarterbacks:

Josh Allen – $7,800 vs. Buccaneers
Tom Brady – $7,600 vs. Bills

Running Backs:

Joe Mixon – $7,700 vs. 49ers
Elijah Mitchell – $6,700 vs. Chargers

Wide Receivers:

Stefon Diggs- $8,100 vs. Buccaneers
CeeDee Lamb – $7,200 vs. Washington Football Team

Tight Ends:

Travis Kelce – $7,400 vs. Raiders
Mark Andrews – $5,900 vs. Browns

Defense / Special Teams:

Denver Broncos – $3,800 vs. Lions

Quarterbacks:

Dak Prescott – $6,700 vs. Washington Football Team
Derek Carr – $5,900 vs. Chiefs

Running Backs:

Saquon Barkley – $6,000 vs. Chargers
Mark Ingram II – $5,800 vs. Jets

Wide Receivers:

Mike Evans – $6,600 vs. Bills
Mike Williams – $6,000 vs. Giants

Tight Ends:

Evan Engram – $3,500 vs. Chargers
Austin Hooper – $3,400 vs. Ravens

Defense / Special Teams:

Carolina Panthers – $2,800 vs. Falcons

Quarterbacks:

Taylor Heinicke – $5,500 vs. Cowboys
Baker Mayfield – $5,200 vs. Ravens

Running Backs:

Latavius Murray – $4,900 vs. Browns
Rex Burkhead – $4,600 vs. Seahawks

Wide Receivers:

Tim Patrick – $4,800 vs. Lions
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine – $4,500 vs. Jaguars

Tight Ends:

Jared Cook – $3,200 vs. Giants
Brevin Jordan – $2,500 vs. Seahawks

Defense / Special Teams:

New York Giants – $2,300 vs. Chargers

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!