We are just two weeks from Week 1 DFS madness. FanDuel has a million dollar prize for us to compete for and the entry fee is just $7. Each week, I’ll be giving my recommended cash game lineup and breaking down all of my choices. This week, I’m going to do something different. We are going to take a look at how Week 1 prices compare to our Expert Consensus Rankings for Week 1. There will, of course, be some movement between now and opening kickoff but scoring is the same so we should be able to get a strong idea of where the values are.
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Quarterback
FanDuel nailed their price points at the quarterback position for Week 1. There are three quality quarterbacks, however, who appear to be nice values at this point.
Russell Wilson (ECR #4, Salary #6: $8,000)
Derek Carr (ECR #9, Salary #11, $7,700)
Eli Manning (ECR #14, Salary #16, $7,300)
FanDuel affords us all plenty of money to spend up on a few superstars, but if you want one at every position, you could even venture down to DeShone Kizer, who at $6,000 is the minimum salary. Be careful, of course, as he has not been officially named the starter.
Running Back
Running back has a few bigger names with substantial value. Seeing that people don’t want to waste their money, you can envision that these will likely be the highest owned players as well.
Le’Veon Bell (ECR #1, Salary #2: $9,300)
Todd Gurley (ECR #6, Salary #10: $7,300)
Isaiah Crowell (ECR #12, Salary #17: $6,500)
Darren McFadden (ECR #22, Salary #35, $5,800)
Gurley may not be the most dynamic runner, but there is tons of upside to be found with McVay now at the helm, and Gurley is a sure bet to receive 15+ touches against Indianapolis. The interesting name here to me is Run-DMC, who goes against a stout Giants defense and could be overlooked as a result. If you need an even deeper name, Duke Johnson is a value at just $5,600 in this PPR format.
Wide Receiver
There are values galore at Wide Reciever, as you can get 3 of the top 15 projected players for under $20,000 combined, or 3 of the top 7 for under $24,000. That doesn’t happen often, so make sure to take advantage of the situation if you are playing in cash games.
Mike Evans (ECR #3, Salary #5: $8,300)
Amari Cooper (ECR #6, Salary #9: $7,600)
Doug Baldwin (ECR #7, Salary #10: $7,500)
Allen Robinson (ECR #13, Salary #19: $6,700)
Larry Fitzgerald (ECR #14, Salary #27: $6,400)
Terrelle Pryor (ECR #15, Salary #30: $6,200)
If you want to go deeper, there are another handful of quality pickups for under $6,000. John Brown of the Cardinals, pending health, of course, joins Corey Davis, Zay Jones and Taylor Gabriel as some dirt cheap options with some upside.
Tight End
Like at quarterback, but even more so, there is virtually no value at tight end outside of one player who is downright robbery.
Austin Hooper (ECR: #17, Salary #26: $4,700)
You may wish to spend up at tight end, and go for it if you have the money, but you won’t find any value until you reach Jack Doyle, who at just $5,100 is projected as the #12 tight end on the slate.
Kicker and Defense
We’ve got the best value of the week in this section and no, it isn’t the kicker. There actually isn’t that much value at kicker, with just two priced at least two spots below their ECR.
Sebastian Janikowski (ECR #5, Salary #9: $4,900)
Phil Dawson (ECR #16, Salary #18: $4,500)
Jacksonville Jaguars (ECR #5, Salary #23: $4,100)
The Jags will likely be over 50% owned in cash game as a response to the incredible value against the Tom Savage led Texans. If you wish to go a different way, both the Seattle Seahawks (ECR #8 vs Green Bay) and the Arizona Cardinals (ECR #6 vs Detroit) are priced at least four spots below their ECR.
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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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