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 11 Recap
Our quarterback selections were strong as we hit most of the big producers at multiple price points, keeping us competitive in most of our contests. Running backs are really where we stumbled, as we didn’t get much traction across the board. We also went a little off script and spent a little more on our defense than we normally would, and it didn’t necessarily pan out in our favor. Our Star of the Week had a pretty ugly game in reality, however Sam Howell did manage to put up 21 points, so he wasn’t a total bust. It’s been three weeks since we’ve managed to hit on all positions, which has been frustrating, but we’re still hitting a lot more than we’re missing.
These Players Made Us Look Good:
C.J. Stroud – 336 Yards Passing, 2 Total TDs
Brock Purdy – 333 Yards Passing, 17 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
Brandon Aiyuk -156 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Trevor Lawrence – 262 Yards Rushing, 17 Yards Rushing, 4 Total TDs
Jayden Reed – 46 Yards Receiving, 46 Yards Rushing, 1 Total TD
These Players Made Us Look Foolish:
Sam LaPorta – 18 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Amari Cooper – 34 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Curtis Samuel – 5 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
NFL Week 12 Preview
The slate is a little thinner this Sunday as eight of the teams will have played on Thursday and Friday. There’s still plenty of options including some juicy quarterback matchups. Stacking has been a little less potent it feels like this season, and that would appear to be the case yet again this week. In fact, there may be more mixing and matching than we’ve done in a while with our rosters for week twelve. The great new is, with Thanksgiving Day in play, we’ll have more opportunities to play, and hopefully cash.
Before we highlight our three levels of talent, let’s look at our projected star of the week:
STAR OF THE WEEK:
A lot of the fantasy world was skeptical about Michael Pittman, Jr. with some uncertainty at the quarterback position for the Colts entering the season. Despite only notching three touchdowns on an offense that doesn’t always light up the scoreboard, Pittman has been one of the steadiest players in DFS all season, securing 66 catches on just under 100 targets. Pittman is always a solid play because his “floor” is pretty high, averaging 16 FPPG, but we’re backing him this week because we think his ceiling jumps a bit. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to struggle giving up yards and touchdowns to number one wideouts, and were just torched last week by Brandon Auyik and the 49ers. The Colts will try to establish Jonathan Taylor, but may not have great success against Vita Vea and gang. As a result, Gardner Minshew is going to have to make some throws down the field if the Colts are going to win. Pittman, Jr. should at a minimum find his average, but we’re expecting even more. Look for him to get into the end zone and rack up some catches and yards. This is a week where he can be your WR1 and get as many points as all of the heavy hitters that come with a price tag much higher.
Quarterbacks:
Josh Allen – $8,100 vs. Eagles
C.J. Stroud – $7,700 vs. Jaguars
Running Backs:
Travis Etienne, Jr. – $7,100 vs. Texans
Kyren Williams – $6,600 vs. Cardinals
Wide Receivers:
Stefon Diggs – $8,800 vs. Eagles
Adam Thielen – $7,300 vs. Titans
Tight Ends:
Travis Kelce – $8,200 vs. Raiders
Taysom Hill – $5,000 vs. Falcons
Defense / Special Teams:
New Orleans Saints – $3,600 vs. Falcons
Quarterbacks:
Matthew Stafford – $6,300 vs. Cardinals
Baker Mayfield – $5,500 vs. Colts
Running Backs:
Derrick Henry – $6,400 vs. Panthers
Rachaad White – $6,100 vs. Colts
Wide Receivers:
Nico Collins – $6,400 vs. Jaguars
Christian Kirk – $5,700 vs. Texans
Tight Ends:
Evan Engram – $4,200 vs. Texans
David Njoku – $4,100 vs. Broncos
Defense / Special Teams:
Denver Broncos – $3,200 vs. Browns
Quarterbacks:
Gardner Minshew – $5,100 vs. Buccanneers
Desmond Ridder – $4,800 – vs. Jaguars
Running Backs:
Jaylen Warren – $5,400 vs. Bengals
Kareem Hunt – $4,800 vs. Broncos
Wide Receivers:
Josh Downs – $4,800 vs. Buccaneers
Rashid Shaheed – $4,300 vs. Falcons
Tight Ends:
Cade Otton – $3,200 vs. Colts
Pat Freiermuth – $2,900 vs. Bengals
Defense / Special Teams:
Houston Texans – $2,600 vs. Jaguars
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! 
