If your FanDuel lineups from week 2 avoided major injuries at the running back position, you had a great chance of cashing in. By chance, if you rostered one of Adrian Peterson, Doug Martin, Jonathon Stewart, Danny Woodhead or Arian Foster you were out of luck and your line-up most certainly suffered. The war of attrition that is the NFL season certainly took its toll on season long and DFS players alike, but this rash of injuries provides great value at the running back position heading into week 3. Players like Charles Sims, Jay Ajayi and Melvin Gordon all stand to benefit from increased workloads.
Also note, a big change has taken place place to the main slate of games this week as FanDuel has moved their main slate of games to just Sunday games moving forward, similar to DraftKings. You can find the full press release here. Unfortunately for this week, we won’t be able to play the Falcons at Saints game for this main slate, which would have provided tons of fantasy goodness, but alas, there are other match-ups to exploit and players to target for both cash games and GPPs.
Let’s get to the picks.
Week 2 Review:
QB:
Cash Game: Mathew Stafford – Detroit Lions ($7800):
Normally I’m not one to complain about officials messing up a game, but when there are 29 combined penalties accepted in a game, the referees are doing too much. In fact, the Lions, and Stafford more excluisvely, lost out on back to back TD passes due to offensive penalties. That being said, he still scored 16.5 FanDuel points, so while Stafford didn’t ruin your day, he didn’t make it a great one.
GPP: Philip Rivers – San Diego Chargers ($7700)
The Jaguars’ defense is just awful. There I said it, but it take a good, if not great QB to take advantage as early and often as Rivers did last week. Rivers ended up as the number 7 QB of the week last week, scoring 23.8 FanDuel points on throwing just 24 times on the afternoon. His 4 TDs and 220 yards you will take any day of the week.
RB:
Cash Game: CJ Anderson – Denver Broncos ($7800)
Sometimes, you just need to play the chalk in a cash game and that’s what CJ Anderson was last week. He finished 9th among running backs at 16.8 FanDuel points so you go what you paid for, even if you believed his baseline was a bit higher.
GPP: Rashad Jennings – New York Giants ($6300)
Jennings was an unfortunate member of the injury club in week 2, joining a liteney of names that you can find throughout the NFL news cycle, but he wasn’t effective when playing against a bad Saints’ defense. Jennings scored only 5 FanDuel points in a game that was the “wet blanket” of the afternoon. If you faded the entire Saints/Giants game then you probably made some money this past weekend.
WR:
Cash Game: Amari Cooper – Oakland Raiders ($7900)
So close, but yet so far for Amari Cooper last week. He just missed out on a nice TD grab, which would have boosted his point total to somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 FD points. However, Cooper only scored 9.6 FanDuel points (better than both AJ Green and Antonio Brown).
GPP: Michael Thomas – New Orleans Saints ($5000)
Thomas, like Jennings, fell into the trap of the Saints/Giants game. He caught 4 of his 5 targets for just 56 yards (7.6 FanDuel points). However, the more troubling statistic was that Thomas only played on 60% of snaps. That being said, he should be in for a better game against the Falcons this week on Monday night.
TE
Cash Game: Greg Olsen – Carolina Panthers ($7600)
Olsen was a monster last week, ending up as the number 1 TE with 20.7 FanDuel points in the Panthers destruction of the 49ers. He is the TE with the highest floor week to week going forward as Gronk gets back into the swing of things. He was definitely a hit this week for your cash line-ups if you could fit him in.
GPP: Dennis Pitta –Baltimore Ravens ($4800)
Even though he didn’t score a TD in week 2, Pitta was a top 5 FanDuel tight end scoring 14.7 points. He received 12 of Joe Flacco’s 45 targets (doubled both Steve Smith and Mike Wallace) and played on 60 percent of snaps. Pitta should continue to be a great option going forward with a solid floor. He was a great TE play for your teams last week if you needed some extra salary cap space to pay for Cam Newton.
Week 3:
QB
Cash: Ryan Tannehill – Miami Dolphins ($7400)
One of the best match-ups for any quarterback this week, regardless of price is Ryan Tannehill at home playing the Browns. Miami has a projected team total of over 25 points and with Arian Foster banged up, expect plenty of pass attempts for Tannehill this week against the 22nd ranked pass defense in DVOA. Also, don’t forget that the Browns will start rookie QB, Cody Kessler, so expect the Dolphins offense to be on the field for a majority of the game. He can easily hit a 2x multiplier this week, which would be perfect for your cash lineup.
GPP: Ben Roethlisberger – Pittsburgh Steelers ($8400)
After a somewhat disappointing week in the rain against the Bengals, “Big Ben” takes his talents down the highway to Philadelphia, who is riding high after a drubbing of the Bears. This will be the first real offense the Eagles see this season (played the Browns in week 1) and the Steelers are a 5 point favorite ON THE ROAD. In his last 3 regular season starts, Big Ben has thrown 3 TD passes, so he has the upside to be a nice GPP play with a ton of DFS players paying up for Andrew Luck ($8700) or dipping down to Ryan Tannehill or Marcus Mariota ($7700). Expect ownership of 5% or under this week.
RB
Cash Game: Charles Sims – Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($6300)
Finally fantasy football players get what they have wanted for 2 seasons, Charles Sims unopposed in the Tampa Bay backfield. The Rams have been stout against the run this season, but have given up 3 rushing TDs so far this season. With the Bucs at home, coming off a bad loss to superior competition in the Cardinals, expect a big bounce back for Sims and the Bucs as a whole. Tampa’s team total is 24 points this week as well and favored by almost a TD, so Sims could see some extra carries to end the game as the Bucs grind the game down. Expect Sims to easily double his value this week and have the upside of 20 FanDuel points.
GPP: Ezekiel Elliott – Dallas Cowboys ($8100)
Touted as potentially the number 1 pick in season long leagues this offseason, Zeke has been solid, yet underwhelming to start his season. That will all change this week as the Bears comes to town without Jay Cutler and 3 starters on defense including LB Danny Trevathan, NT Eddie Goldman and LB Lamarr Houston. The Cowboys will control the clock in this one like their other games, but expect Zeke to find some extra running room against an M.A.S.H. unit on defense for the Bears. The Cowboys also have a team total of 26 which means they should have plenty of opportunities for TDs this week.
WR
Cash Game: Stefon Diggs – Minnesota Vikings ($6400)
It’s a good thing for players this week is that pricing on most DFS sites is normally figured our prior to any Sunday night and Monday night games, or Diggs’ price would have been well over $7000 this week. Diggs dominated a Packers’ secondary with much better talent than Ben Benwikere and James Bradberry at cornerback. Diggs has 18 targets through his first 2 games, catching 16 of them, so there is a built in floor with Diggs and new QB Sam Bradford. At $6400, he should be a plug and play option into all of your cash lineups.
GPP: Philip Dorsett – Indianapolis Colts ($6000)
Another beneficiary of the massive amount of injuries from week 2 was Dorsett as teammate Donte Moncrief will be sidelined anywhere from 4-6 weeks with a fractured shoulder. Dorsett has tons of speed and will be home against the Chargers. While the Chargers stud CB Jason Verrett is lurking, Dorsett has the deep speed to get by any defender. At $6000 he is the lowest priced option out of the Colts main pass catchers on the day. The Colts have the highest team total, along with the Packers at 27.25 points according to Vegas and with Dorsett’s increased target floor (should be at least 7 targets I this game) he has possibility at a big scoring day.
TE
Cash Game: Delanie Walker – Tennessee Titans ($6900)
The Raiders defense has been bad, let me rephrase that, the Raiders defense has been just awful so far this season. So far this season, they have given up an average of 93 yards per game to opposing tight ends and now get to face one of the best in the NFL in Delanie Walker. He was more involved in the passing game last week catching all of his 6 targets and should be equally, if not more involved in a higher scoring game vs. the Raiders. The Titans have a team total of just over 24 points and I would expect Walker to score this week. He is a safe floor play that should get you at least 10 FanDuel points this week.
GPP: Julius Thomas – Jacksonville Jaguars ($6000)
Tight end has been a mess so far this season for fantasy and DFS players, but Julius Thomas has looked very good now that he is healthy. He played on 92% of snaps last week (more than any skill position player on the Jags) and will see targets, especially when Jacksonville gets in the redzone. The Jacksonville team total is almost 24 points against a Ravens defense that let Josh McCown throw for 2 TDs prior to exiting in the 2nd half. Thomas is a great pivot off of Allen Robinson, who should be heavily owned in cash games and should also be lower owned than Jason Witten ($6000) or Dwayne Allen ($6100).
Check out next week’s column, where I’ll review my picks from week 3 and give you more players to look for in week 4 for your FanDuel line-ups.
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