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 14 Recap

We crushed some DFS in week 14 behind what we listed as two Star of the Week players to potentially build your lineup around. Our formal Star was Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and although his yardage was pedestrian, he did mange to punch two touchdowns in and catch a few passes for a nice stat line. Javonte Williams was our other listed player to watch, and he had a big day along with his fellow back Melvin Gordon against the Detroit Lions. Having both allowed us to spend big at quarterback and have a decent flex option, resulting in some high point performances. There were some other nice players we liked who performed admirably, both for big bucks, and the value options. Here’s some of the highlights below:

Who Made Us Look Brilliant?

• Tom Brady – 363 Yards Passing, 16 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
• Josh Allen – 308 Yards Passing, 109 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
• Mike Evans – 91 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
• Mark Andrews – 115 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
• Saquon Barkley – 64 Yards Rushing, 31 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
  

Who Made Us Look Foolish?

• Travis Kelce – 27 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
• Joe Mixon – 58 Yards Rushing, 10 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
• Latavius Murray – 1 Yard Rushing, 0 Total TD

NFL Week 15 Preview

The magical time of the NFL year begins this week with games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. As bye weeks wrap up, the slate for Millionaire Sunday’s remains pretty full, however that ugly COVID-19 monster keeps reappearing. In looking at getting our base rosters set early, it’s more critical than ever to stay up-to-date on all injury and personnel updates, through game start times. As we’ve spent some time going through the players, stats and projections, this is clearly one of the tougher weeks of the season. The running back position in particular is a jumbled mess. Look to go cheap there and spend the money at receiver for a safer play. Overall, we’ll probably have a little lighter of a week and look to get more heavily invested the following weekend. As we look to the Star of the Week below, it’s almost another situation of we have to wait and see who is available? It could also be a re-tread week as guys like Jimmy Garoppolo could be great plays yet again.

STAR OF THE WEEK:

For the second consecutive week we’re in a holding pattern in determining who the “final” Star of the Week will be for week number fifteen. The players we want to wait on are James Conner and Chase Edmonds in Arizona, if one is out, the other becomes the must-play for us this Sunday. Sony Michel is also a viable play here, although it looks like Darrell Henderson may be set to encroach on some of the carries of the suddenly red-hot running back for the Rams. At the time of this article we’re going to go with a questionable selection and go with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The youngster is certainly not an unknown fantasy star, but he’s only the 6th priced quarterback this week, which offers some potential upside if you elect to save your money and pass on a Josh Allen or Kyler Murray. That of course also takes into account that you wouldn’t want to save even more money going with a guy like Garoppolo, Tua, or Ben Roethlisberger. It also factors in that you’re confident enough in Hurts to believe he’ll play well enough to not only get you fantasy points, but also finish the entire game. The strong performance in the spot fill-in from Gardner Minshew a week ago has sparked some debate around Philly regarding who should be the starter for the Eagles. Head coach Nick Sirianni gave the vote of confidence to Hurts and we think the nice performance from Minshew will only help push Hurts to play his best against the Washington Football Team. Speaking of them, they’re ranked dead last in the league at allowing fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. Although their defense has played better of late, they could be without 3 starters on the defensive line, and most likely at least two. Their linebackers aren’t the best in the league so Hurts should do some damage as he usually does with his legs. All it will take is a big play or two over the top against the suspect secondary and Hurts will have himself a nice day. Follow us on Twitter prior to Sunday as we adjust this accordingly after monitoring the availability of players around the league.

PLAYERS WE’RE TARGETING:

Quarterbacks:

Kyler Murray – $7,900 vs. Lions
Jalen Hurts – $6,600 vs. Washington Football Team

Running Backs:

Cordarelle Patterson – $6,800 vs. 49ers
James Conner – $6,400 vs. Lions

Wide Receivers:

Cooper Kupp – $9,000 vs. Seahawks
Deebo Samuel – $8,200 vs. Falcons

Tight Ends:

George Kittle – $7,500 vs. Falcons
Dawson Knox – $5,100 vs. Panthers

Defense / Special Teams:

Miami Dolphins – $3,700 vs. Jets

Quarterbacks:

Jimmy Garoppolo – $5,800 vs. Falcons
Tua Tagovailoa – $5,700 vs. Jets

Running Backs:

Elijah Mitchell – $6,200 vs. Falcons
James Robinson – $5,400 vs. Texans

Wide Receivers:

Amari Cooper – $6,400 vs. Giants
Chase Claypool – $5,900 vs. Titans

Tight Ends:

Pat Freiermuth – $4,500 vs. Titans
Tyler Higbee – $4,000 vs. Seahawks

Defense / Special Teams:

Buffalo Bills – $3,100 vs. Panthers

Quarterbacks:

Matt Ryan – $5,300 vs. 49ers
Trevor Lawrence – $5,100 vs. Texans

Running Backs:

D’onta Foreman – $5,200 vs. Steelers
David Johnson – $4,900 vs. Jaguars

Wide Receivers:

Sterling Shepard – $4,700 vs. Cowboys
Gabriel Davis – $3,700 vs. Panthers

Tight Ends:

Evan Engram – $3,100 vs. Cowboys
Brevin Jordan – $2,800 vs. Jaguars

Defense / Special Teams:

Carolina Panthers – $2,400 vs. Bills

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!