Matt Ryan may put on a passing clinic against Indianapolis

Taking chances finally paid off for me last week. I love me some Saints’ defense. Thank you, Kirk Cousins and Jordan Reed. For those of you who had Matt Jones in your lineup, I’m sure you were overly ecstatic.

Bye-bye Rob Ryan. If New Orleans thinks getting rid of Ryan was the problem, they have bigger issues to deal with than the firing a defensive coordinator. The fact that they promoted the guy who was supposedly calling the plays, Dennis Allen, says a lot. Unfortunately, the Saints are off this week, so we can’t pick on them this weekend.

This was an interesting week for me. For those of you who have been following what’s going on in the DFS world, New York (my home state) stopped accepting bets in their paid tournaments. I actually had to be in New Jersey for a meeting earlier in the week, so I pulled over and entered a GPP. 

That sounds insane that I can do it 20 minutes away from where I live, but this whole topic has been so ridiculous already, so it doesn’t surprise me. Instead of all the lawyers getting all the money, let’s try to get some ourselves.

Play in FanDuel’s $1.25 Million Sunday Rush. $5 to enter with $100K to 1st place!

Quarterback

Matt Ryan ATL vs. IND $7,800
Did I mention that the Saints are off this week? Well so are the Giants and Browns. Both of those teams have given up a lot of fantasy points to opposing QB as well. Derek Carr has the best matchup of any QB this week since he is playing against the Lions, but based on Thursday’s GPP tournaments, he is owned in 16.1% of lineups.

I’m going with Ryan, who’s owned in only 5.2% of lineups and is the eighth-most expensive QB on FanDuel this week. It has not been a very good year for Ryan, but coming off a bye week, I expect him to turn things around the rest of the season. Hopefully, this will start with a home game against the Colts on Sunday.

The Colts have allowed 17.60 fantasy points to opposing QBs this season (11th highest in the league). Ryan has had over 300 yards passing in two straight games and is capable of scoring 20+ fantasy points. The Colts give up 279.3 passing YPG (28th in the league). The over/under in this game is 47.5, so hopefully Ryan can find Julio Jones in the end zone a few times.

Cash Option: Derek Carr OAK @ DET $7,700

Running Backs

Lamar Miller MIA vs. DAL $7,400
With the emergence of Jay Ajayi, Miller has become more of a WR2 for the Dolphins than an RB. Over the past two weeks, Miller has only rushed for 43 and 44 yards, respectively, but he’s had over five receptions in both games and over 100 yards combined in both as well. The Cowboys allow the second=highest amount of fantasy points to opposing RBs with 24.04, and they are also tied for fifth in the league in receptions by opposing RB with 59. That all bodes well for Miller, despite the split time in the backfield.

Jonathan Stewart CAR vs. WAS $7,000
This year, the biggest thing going for Jonathan Stewart is that he’s been healthy. So far, Stewart has averaged 74 rushing YPG. He has a favorable matchup against the Redskins on Sunday, who have given up the third-most fantasy points to opposing RBs (24.67), over the past month. Those RBs include the likes of Mark Ingram, LeGarrette Blount, Doug Martin and Chris Ivory. All four of those guys are certainly good, but not great. Stewart should have no problem racking up the yards in this game and if he can find the end zone, could be a huge value play on Sunday.

Cash Options:

• Todd Gurley STL @ BAL $9,200
• Charcandrick West KC @ SD $7,100

Wide Receivers

Julio Jones ATL vs. IND $9,100
I might not be going so against the grain with respect to my wide receivers, but I like the matchups of the higher priced WRs more than the higher priced RBs. Jones should be fairly obvious. He’s one of the best WRs in the game (especially with Antonio Brown on a bye), and he’s my stack with Ryan at QB.

Mike Evans TB @ PHI $8,000
Evans has been a nightmare against the NFC East. In three of the last four weeks, he’s faced the Redskins, Giants and Cowboys and in those games he’s averaged 20 FanDuel points. Now he faces the Eagles, who have given up 27.60 fantasy points to opposing WRs (seventh highest in the league) over the past month.

Danny Amendola NE @ BUF $6,100
It seems like everyone, and their mother is picking Amendola this week, and that scares me. Based on Thursday’s games, Amendola was in 27.1% of lineups. I don’t like that, but given his salary, it’s hard to argue the value he potentially has. He had 10 receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown last week with Julian Edelman out. Buffalo has a pretty good defense, but they give up 25.04 fantasy points to opposing WRs (11th highest in the league).

Cash Options:

• Jarvis Landry MIA vs. DAL $7,200
• Michael Crabtree OAK @ DET $6,500
• Danny Amendola NE vs. BUF $6,100

Tight End

Eric Ebron DET vs. OAK $5,400
This is my ultimate GPP play of the weekend. Ebron has had double-digits in scoring just once in the last five weeks but has a great matchup against the Raiders this week. Oakland gives up 12.92 fantasy points to TEs (second highest in the league). This may be a huge risk, but it will hopefully pay off in a big way on Sunday.

Cash Option: Greg Olsen CAR vs. WAS $6,400

Kicker

Matt Prater DET vs. OAK $4,500
There is only room for a minimally priced kicker this week, and Prater is the guy. The over/under in this game is 50, so there should be points scored. Prater has been perfect so far in FG (10-for-10); however, he’s missed three extra points (15-for-18). I’ll take field goals over extra points anyway on Sunday.

Cash Option: Josh Lambo SD vs. KC $4,900

Defense

New York Jets @ HOU $4,700
This should be a low-scoring affair on Sunday, hopefully with a lot of turnovers. Brian Hoyer is out with a concussion, Other than DeAndre Hopkins (who’s battling an injury himself), who on this team can produce any offense? Despite not playing well as of late, the Jets still get after the quarterback and still produce turnovers. Let’s see if that happens again against the Texans.

Cash Option: Carolina Panthers vs. WAS $4,900

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A.J. Stone is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from A.J., check out his archive and follow him on Twitter @ajstone18.