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 3 Recap

What is and what will never be… Lyrics to an old Led Zeppelin song, and the theme to what happened for us in week three of Daily Fantasy Football. First things first, it was not a winning weekend for the BetCrushers and if you followed our picks, you probably didn’t get into the money either. There were two big problems that made this an unsuccessful weekend. First, our lineups were all built around Bears running back David Montgomery who had a beautiful matchup against the Houston Texans at home. Montgomery was knocked out of the game in the second series, which essentially was the death blow to all of our rosters. When you look at what his backup Khalil Herbert did to that Texans defense, it’s apparent we had the correct read, however sometimes things just don’t work out. The second error we made was missing on the big priced wide receivers. We loved Justin Jefferson returning home against the Lions, but the star wideout never got it going with Kirk Cousins, as Detroit was determined to make someone else beat them. It’s water under the bridge at this point, as even having Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts was not enough to overcome the loss of Montgomery, and underachieving wide receivers. We can’t win every weekend, so we’ll chalk this up to more of bad luck than anything, and get back to the drawing board.

These Players Made Us Look Good:

Josh Allen – 400 Yards Passing, 47 Yards Rushing, 2 Total TDs
Jalen Hurts – 340 Yards Passing, 20 Yards Rushing, 3 Total TDs
Dalvin Cook – 96 Yards Rushing, 1 Total TD
Cordarelle Patterson – 141 Yards Rushing, 12 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD
Dameon Pierce – 80 Yards Rushing, 21 Yards Receiving, 1 Total TD

These Players Made Us Look Foolish:

Tyreek Hill – 33 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Justin Jefferson – 14 Yards Receiving, 0 Total TD
Joe Flacco – 285 Yards Passing, 0 Total TD, 4 Total Turnovers

NFL Week 4 Preview

Week number four is shaping up to be a really perplexing Sunday for Daily Fantasy play. There’s normally some mid-tier or even lower tier players that you can construct your rosters around. (See our Star of the Week for how we normally approach this). There really isn’t much to get excited about unless you’re looking at the high priced talent. Of course the problem with that is there’s only so much budget to go around. We’re going to go light with our plays this week, loading up on the big quarterbacks and taking some random swings at the skill positions. Just as with sports betting, sometimes no bet is the play. There isn’t a lot to love in week four for us, so a couple of lineups is all we’ll be playing. With that being said, our job is to give some advice, so we’re going to tell you that if you don’t want to load up on the big quarterbacks, to take the Lions Jared Goff.

Before we highlight our three levels of talent, let’s look at our projected star of the week:

STAR OF THE WEEK:

There were a few easier and more obvious choices for Star of the Week, but we’re really searching for someone who’s probably not on the radar. Enter quarterback Jared Goff, the leader of the upstart Detroit Lions. His team returns home after a tough road loss to the Vikings to face a subpar Seattle Seahawks team. The Seahawks defense is not great, and certainly less intimidating when not playing in front of their home crowd. Goff has proven to be more than just a steady leader for the Lions offense, he’s really made some nice throws. In this matchup, his offensive line should have a big advantage against the pass rush of the Seahawks, giving Goff the time he’ll need to throw the ball down field. The Lions will also be without D’Andre Swift, which although that can hurt some of the passing yardage to the backs, it could make for more passing attempts overall for Goff. Anytime you can get a QB that you feel good about for under $6,000 it’s worth considering. We’ll consider Jared Goff a potential star this week.

Quarterbacks:

Josh Allen – $8,400 vs. Ravens
Jalen Hurts – $8,200 vs. Eagles

Running Backs:

Christian McCaffrey – $8,700 vs. Cardinals
Austin Ekeler – $7,700 vs. Texans

Wide Receivers:

A.J. Brown – $7,400 vs. Jaguars
Michael Pittman, Jr. – $7,200 vs. Titans

Tight Ends:

Darren Waller – $5,600 vs. Broncos
T.J. Hockenson – $4,100 vs. Seahawks

Defense / Special Teams:

Green Bay Packers – $4,100 vs. Patriots

Quarterbacks:

Carson Wentz – $6,000 vs. Cowboys
Jared Goff – $5,900 vs. Seahawks

Running Backs:

Jamaal Williams – $6,100 vs. Seahawks
Dameon Pierce – $5,600 vs. Chargers

Wide Receivers:

Amari Cooper – $6,300 vs. Falcons
Brandin Cooks – $5,800 vs. Chargers

Tight Ends:

Tyler Conklin – $3,600 vs. Steelers
Robert Tonyan – $3,500 vs. Patriots

Defense / Special Teams:

Carolina Panthers – $2,900 vs. Cardinals

Quarterbacks:

Marcus Mariota – $5,600 vs. Browns
Cooper Rush – $5,300 – vs. Commanders

Running Backs:

Michael Carter – $5,200 vs. Steelers
Rashaad Penny- $4,900 vs. Lions

Wide Receivers:

Greg Dortch – $5,000 vs. Panthers
Noah Brown- $4,900 vs. Commanders

Tight Ends:

Noah Fant – $3,100 vs. Lions
Johnnu Smith – $2,900 vs. Packers

Defense / Special Teams:

Tennessee Titans – $2,500 vs. Colts

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!