This week’s slate is filled with excellent running back options, but the pickings at wide receiver are bare for cash games. There are just two quarterbacks and two tight ends who stand out from the pack, so the reasonable lineup options are a bit limited compared to other weeks. Let me show you have I made it all work together this week.
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Quarterback
Drew Brees (NO): $8,100 vs CAR
You can be bold and go Blake Bortles here if you want to save a little money, but the two clear-cut top plays are Brees and Alex Smith. I’m siding with Brees because he has been tremendous at home throughout his career and Carolina is much tougher against the run than the pass. We know Brees can tear it up in the playoffs, but we have not seen the same from Smith. We need 16.2 fantasy points for him to hit cash game value, and that is what he has averaged at home this year so I like him to produce beyond that mark against a struggling secondary.
Running Back
Todd Gurley (LAR): $10,000 vs ATL
You may not feel inclined to spend all the way up to 10k for the best running back in football, but I am making sure to get him in my lineup even with other quality options like Alvin Kamara and Christian McCaffrey available to us. The game script doesn’t matter for Gurley nor does the opponent. He is a lock to get a dozen or more points, and has been on fire, scoring 134 over his past four games.
Leonard Fournette (JAX): $8,100 vs BUF
While Gurley is a tremendous play, it is Fournette who is the lock of the week. Buffalo has been the worst team in the NFL at defending the run since they dealt Marcell Dareus to the Jags. Fournette, meanwhile, is all rested up and prepping for 25 to 30 touches in what is likely to be a positive game script for Jacksonville. If he were 10,000, I’d think hard about taking him over Gurley this week.
Wide Receiver
Michael Thomas (NO): $8,300 vs CAR
Julio Jones and Tyreek Hill are terrific, but neither is a safe bet for even 50 yards. Thomas can be relied upon. He has 65 or more yards in 10 of his past 11 games and double-digit FanDuel points in 12 games this season. They played Carolina earlier in the season and he went for 15.5 points. We should see more of the same as this Panthers’ secondary has fallen off a cliff over the past month.
Dede Westbrook (JAX): $6,100 vs BUF
There are a number of quality secondaries playing this week so the options are not easy to deal with. Your best bet is to turn to the athletic freak who is seeing 6-10 targets in nearly every game. Bortles hasn’t been playing his best football, but he loves to air the ball out to Westbrook and hopefully he can capitalize on another 100+ air yards Sunday.
Eric Decker (TEN): $4,800 @ KC
The Chiefs are heavy favorites in this game which means the Titans will most likely be playing from behind and airing it out to play keep up. While Decker was a disappointment this season, the Titans have turned to him quite a bit lately. His 32 targets leads their wide receivers over the past five weeks. We also know that while he only scored once this season, he is a red zone threat, so a touchdown may be in the cards too.
Tight End
Charles Clay (BUF): $5,500 @ JAX
If you can spend up on Travis Kelce this weekend, you’ve got to do it, but rostering Gurley is a bit more important to me than upgrading from Clay to Kelce. Sure, the Jags don’t give up much of anything through the air, but the Bills will likely be passing quite a bit more often than usual in a negative game script. Clay will be the largest beneficiary as he is Tyrod Taylor’s primary target of late. He has 27 targets over the last three games and is a good bet to see another 7 to 10 this week.
Kicker
Sam Ficken (LAR): $4,500 vs ATL
The Rams led the NFL in kicker point opportunity with 43 field goal attempts and 51 extra points. While Greg Zuerlein is clearly the better kicker, he had little, if anything, to do with those potential fantasy points. Ficken walks right into the best situation in the league and gets terrific weather conditions so even if he misses a field goal or two, he still has a good chance to be the top kicker on the week. The site-minimum price is only a bonus.
Defense/Special Teams
Saints Defense (NO): $4,600 vs CAR
You can spend up on Jacksonville if you can afford it, but with Gurley, we don’t have that luxury. The Saints are in an opportunity to shine as well, however. Cam Newton has been downright terrible and is a turnover machine of late. Plus the Saints have forced 10 turnovers over the past four weeks and are averaging double-digit points at home this season. The only other option between New Orleans and the Jags is the Chiefs for cash games.
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Thanks for reading. If you haven’t already, please check out the FantasyPros Football Podcast (below) that I co-host with Mike Tagliere. Good luck this season.
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