FantasyDraft: Daily Fantasy Sports NFL Playoffs Tips And StrategySign Up Today And Get 100 Percent Deposit Bonus Up To $600 |
|
‘Short slate’ is the term daily fantasy sports (DFS) players use to describe this weekend’s set of games to select players from in NFL contests. We normally have between 13 and 16 games being played which really increases our options in terms of finding cheap value plays that could pay off. Oftentimes in short slates that is a much more difficult task and forces us to either go with a very balanced roster or take some real fliers on cheap players if we want to roster the high-priced studs.
When digging through the FantasyDraft salaries for this week, I found myself really struggling to find cheap players that seemed like good bets. For that reason, I’m only going to be highlighting two players at each position this week because there simply aren’t that many options.
Quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger ($16,100) – Big Ben finished the year on a bit of a low note after a really strong stretch after the midway point of the season. I have to recommend him though because of the situation he finds himself in this week. He is at home against a Baltimore team that has seen its secondary get completely ravaged with injuries. The only defensive back they have who I’d even heard of to start the year is Lardarius Webb and he had a really poor season coming off ACL surgery. Baltimore flat out can’t cover anyone right now and Ben highlighted that in week 11 when he lit them up for 340 yards, 6 touchdowns and no interceptions in a game that was also played at home.
Cam Newton ($14,400) – I touched on this a little bit in my Wednesday article and I’ll highlight why I like Cam a little more here. Arizona is a defense that is built to play man-to-man coverage. When you do that it generally leads to the defensive backs sticking with their receivers and the pass rush trying to get after the quarterback. Well when the quarterback evades that pass rush, there’s nothing but daylight in front of him since the receivers are being chased around. Now Arizona will likely make an adjustment by playing a ‘spy’- someone whose sole responsibility is to mirror the quarterback to prevent him rushing- on Cam, but Cam is skilled and powerful enough to make that guy look bad a lot of the time.
Running Back
Jeremy Hill ($13,500) – Hill had a strong stretch in the middle of the year and made it clear that he was the Bengals’ best running back. Prior to week 16, the Bengals acknowledged this and said they were going to make him their feature back instead of splitting time with Giovani Bernard. Hill responded by putting up 55 fantasy points over the final two weeks of the season. I see no reason that this trend won’t continue in the game that is projected to be the highest scoring of the weekend and facing a weak Indianapolis run defense.
DeAngelo Williams ($6,000) – Roster building on FantasyDraft is very tough this weekend. They’ve done a great job with their salaries to pose a challenge for their users. I don’t necessarily love DeAngelo Williams in this game, but his price is the bare minimum and he will really aid in constructing your rosters if you choose to use him. Williams has been hurt to end the year but should be good to go this weekend. Carolina seems to prefer to mix him in with Jonathan Stewart and due to his minimum salary he doesn’t need to have a huge game in order to be a valuable piece of a DFS lineup.
Wide Receiver
Antonio Brown ($15,700) – From the standpoint of fantasy football and point-per-reception (PPR) scoring, Antonio Brown in 2014 had one of the best seasons you’ll ever see from a wide receiver. He had 129 receptions for 1,698 yards and 13 touchdowns. He eclipsed 20 points in the PPR format in an unthinkable 12 out of 16 games. His worst game from a receiving standpoint was five catches for 84 yards! Did I mention that Baltimore can’t cover anybody? I don’t see how you can create a lineup without Brown this week.
Reggie Wayne ($7,300) – Wayne is another player that I’m frankly lukewarm on from a production standpoint. However, I believe his price is low enough to warrant using him on FantasyDraft because you’re going to have to use players like him if you want to fit in the Antonio Brown types. Per Pro Football Focus, Wayne played at least 70 percent of Indianapolis’ snaps in each game this year except for week 17 when the Colts rested their starters. There’s value in simply being out there running routes when Andrew Luck is the one throwing the passes and I think Wayne at this cheap price is a good cap saving option for you this week.
Tight End
Greg Olsen ($13,000) – Olsen was pretty awesome this year. At a position where consistency is nearly impossible to find outside of Rob Gronkowski, Olsen was the next best thing. Arizona also really has a history of struggling to cover the tight end position. With how limited the options are at tight end this week, Olsen stands alone as the top player at the position.
Jason Witten ($10,500) – After a slow start, Witten finished the year with double digit PPR points in six of his last eight games. The Dallas offense really clicks when he is a big part of it. I also expect Tony Romo to be looking to Witten often in this matchup with Detroit due to the quality of their defensive line and defensive backfield.
Defense
Carolina ($8,200) and Pittsburgh ($7,300) stand out to me as the only two defenses I’d be really looking to use this weekend. They’re both at home and favored against quarterbacks who don’t strike fear in you. Carolina is the slam-dunk choice in my eyes if you can afford them.
Best of luck to you in this next to last week of NFL DFS for the 2014-15 season. I’ve got a few rosters locked and loaded in the tournaments on FantasyDraft this weekend. Hope to see you there!
Find me on Twitter @IanJ300 with any questions.
Card Player reader are eligible for a deposit bonus on FantasyDraft of 100 percent up to $600.
If you think you are ready to play, check out our Daily Fantasy Sports page. Card Player readers eligible for deposit bonuses of 100 percent on a number of the best DFS sites around.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
