The Daily Dose: Week 7 FanDuel Starts
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Welcome to the Week 7 edition of The Daily Dose: FanDuel Starts Of The Week. Usually every Friday on The Fantasy Footballers Podcast, the guys welcome in Chris Meaney from the FNTSY Sports Network to deliver his top DFS picks of the week. But this week, The Ballers have let yours truly run the show all by himself and I will give you my personal favorite picks for Week 7. You can follow me on Twitter @brandontsanders. Even though The Daily Dose won’t be featured in today’s podcast, please don’t miss all of Episode# 291 coming up later today as well.
Quarterbacks
Here recently in my ventures of QB play in DFS, I’ve found a much greater success rate putting in contrarian picks for some of the other positions and really playing the higher priced Quarterbacks to keep it safe and keep the FanDuel point system at a steady production. Here are some of my favorite picks this weekend to go along with that strategy in hopes to keep your QB play consistent.
Tom Brady @ PIT, $9,100
Tom Brady is the highest priced passer this week, but that doesn’t mean he’s not worth the money. He has dominated in his first two weeks back from suspension and has picked up right where he left off last year. He’s found his main target in Rob Gronkowski, who went for a whopping 7 receptions, career-high 162 yards receiving, and a touchdown last week. All together in Week 6, Brady went for 376 passing yards and 29 completions of his 36 attempts. With Pittsburgh being the 30th ranked passing defense in the league, we could see a similar story play out in Week 7.
Matt Ryan vs SD, $8,700
Even at a slightly cheaper price than paying up for Brady, Matt Ryan has really shown he can be an every week starter in the fantasy world with strong performances against the Panthers, Broncos, and Seahawks. This week he gets the 24th ranked pass defense of the San Diego Chargers. With so many weapons at his disposal like Julio Jones and the backfield of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, Matt Ryan could look to punish the Bolts this weekend in a game that also has a potential to be a high-scoring bonanza. We can only hope these narratives lead to more “Matty Ice” magic.
Andy Dalton vs CLE, $8,100
This is your weekly reminder that Cleveland Browns are in fact playing this weekend, and you should play the opposing quarterback. Luckily that QB is Andy Dalton, who has been doing a fantastic job with over 1,700 yards passing, but is struggling to put up touchdowns. This Sunday, that could all change. There has also been some talk of a possible Tyler Eifert sighting and a first start of the season for him, and that means Dalton’s favorite red zone target besides A.J. Green is back in the lineup. He is also even $600 dollars cheaper than Matt Ryan, and that spells out paying more money out to that WR spot or a stud RB which I’ll be talking about next. Dalton would be a fine play for your budget and your FanDuel points this week.
Running Backs
This week I’m going to give you a little security with two beastly RBs, as well as a very recent injury that has left an RB in a sweet position and matchup to use that lion’s share to really make for an awesome GPP pick.
DeMarco Murray vs IND, $8,700
It’s no surprise that DeMarco Murray is on the must-starts list in back to back weeks. In last week’s win over the Browns, DeMarco went for 65 yards rushing with a score for a TD. If that wasn’t enough to nominate him to use your budget on, he has a very juicy and succulent matchup this weekend against a Colts team who ranks 30th overall in defense and is still very much looking like Mash Unit 777. Look for Tennessee to ground and pound early to establish dominance over the Colts and try to keep the football out of Andrew Luck’s hands as much as possible during this game. If you are wanting to pay up for that stud RB this week, it’s DeMarco Murray for sure!
Spencer Ware vs NO, $7,000
Spencer Ware may just keep playing his way into the starting RB spot for Kansas City. Age and cost may have something to do with that opposed to the mainstay in Charles, but that had nothing to do with what Ware was able to produce last Sunday, going for a career high 131 rushing yards and a TD last week against the Raiders. Even with Jamaal Charles getting 33 rushing yards and a TD, Ware out-touched Charles 26 to 11 and now has 2 touchdowns total for the season with 415 yards rushing, 12th overall amongst other running backs. Now add in that he plays the horrendous New Orleans Saints defense who ranks 31st overall, and you got a tasty treat in front of you at a much cheaper rate than DeMarco at $7,000.
Mike Gillislee @ MIA, $5,300
In the most recent news coming from the Buffalo Bills camp, we learned that LeSean McCoy has a hamstring injury that is “mild to moderate” in condition. At first, we heard he was likely to miss a few weeks, but as early as this morning we heard that Shady was at practice and is a game time decision. Even if he is able to play and start, I expect McCoy to be in a limited roll or snap count leaving the bulk of the carries to backup RB Mike Gillislee, who just last week hit paydirt on 6 attempts rushing for 61 yards and a TD. Add in that the Bills are playing an even worse Miami Dolphins defense that is the 31st ranked overall against the run. So with the opportunity coming in Week 7, and a sweet low price of $5,300, this is the premier GPP play this weekend, and I highly suggest that he gets put into your FanDuel lineups.
Wide Receivers
There are so many wideouts, and to be honest they can also be seen as a “dime-a-dozen” position because of how many relevant players there are in the NFL these days on all 32 teams. Our job is to maximize the spread and find the WRs in FanDuel with the best matchup, and expose that to move up the leaderboards in 50/50, head to head, and tourney play. I have three guys that I believe can do just that to help put some money in your pockets this weekend.
A.J. Green vs CLE, $8,500
You didn’t think I would miss out on putting A.J. Green against the Cleveland Browns, did you? I know, I know I couldn’t fool you one bit. If you play Andy Dalton this week, I think playing a stack with A.J. Green and spending most of your budget on these two could pay off huge. Yes, I know it’s either hit or miss with Green, but the last time he played this weak of a pass defense was in Week 4 when he smashed the Dolphins for 28.3 fantasy points. He was even able to accumulate over 11 fantasy points against a tougher opponent in the New England Patriots last Sunday. I think he’s trending upwards and the matchup is too good and should be used to your advantage for Week 7.
Allen Robinson vs OAK, $8,400
A-Rob is on some prime real estate this weekend against the absolute worst team in the NFL against the pass in the Oakland Raiders who rank 32nd. Robinson is no stranger to the end zone and is looked for first by Blake Bortles almost first every single time. In a similar matchup against the Colts porous secondary two weeks ago, Allen went for 14 fantasy points. Don’t let last week’s game against a very good Bears secondary keep you hesitant about playing him this week. This game has a very high potential to be a high-scoring game and go bonanza mode with a ton of fantasy points being distributed, so make sure you get the guy that might haul in the most of those points in this matchup.
Kendall Wright vs IND, $5,000
It’s time to give you my WR contrarian pick of the week for all of you GPP players out there, or those that like to grab that third WR on your FanDuel rosters at a much cheaper price tag so you can go after those bigger names listed above. Kendall Wright has worked his way back on the Titans roster and had a bit of a coming-out party last week as he exploded for 100-yard receiving, which is the first Titans receiver to do so for 2016. He put up an incredible 23.3 fantasy points, highlighted by that sweet 48-yard touchdown he was able to stretch out and catch from QB Marcus Mariota. He has another great opportunity in front of him as he faces the struggling Indianapolis secondary in desperate need of more players and draft picks. At such a great budgeted price, how can you not take a swing for the fences and play Wright this weekend knowing what he did to the Cleveland Browns just last week?
Tight Ends
It’s time to try to pull some diamonds in the rough out of a very “blah” Tight End pool this year. The position itself is on quite the decline compared to last year when it was a booming and vibrant fantasy play option. Here are three guys that can be quite valuable but still be very affordable to plug and play this week in your lineups.
Hunter Henry @ ATL, $5,800
After going for 83 yards and a touchdown against the Broncos’ 4th ranked defense last Thursday night, Hunter Henry has proven he is the premiere TE1 now for the Chargers. Does this mean that Antonio Gates just goes away? Certainly not, as Rivers is enjoying his new found 2 Tight End sets. It’s looking like the Chargers are adopting the similar play style of the New England Patriots and this duo can be compared to that of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett. Now Hunter Henry is playing a much easier defense this weekend against the 24th ranked Falcons. Though the Falcons have made leaps and bounds in improvement, they still have given up the most fantasy points to the opposing team so far this season. At such a value and averaging 11.3 fantasy points a game, this is that no-brainer play of the week.
Gary Barnidge @ CIN, $5,200
“Maximum Barnidge” is back on the list for Week 7 of the Daily Dose. Even though most are disappointed that Gary Barnidge hasn’t found the end zone this season so far, at least he is an integral part of the Cleveland Browns offense. In the past 4 weeks alone, Barnidge has delivered over 50 yards receiving from the TE position. All together Gary has accumulated 295 passing yards which ranks 7th among Tight Ends in 2016. This week he plays the Cincinnati Bengals who have struggled defending the passing game, ranked 18th overall. This could spell a return to Touchdown Land for the Maximum one and start his climb back up the ranks.
Cameron Brate @ SF, $5,200
The third-year Tight End makes his debut on The Daily Dose this week! With the release of Austin Sefarian-Jenkins and nothing but green turf and blue skies ahead, Cameron Brate has had the land of opportunity laid out before him since the start of this season. In 5 games, Brate has 197 passing yards, and 2 touchdowns to boast about for 2016. He’s caught 17 of the 28 passes thrown to him by Jamesis Winston. Brate would be an excellent quick and cheap spot play against the San Francisco 49ers who’s defense ranks 27th overall.
Defense
It’s no secret that our “auto-start” defense is back and you should take advantage. Pay up for the Vikings and watch the fantasy points rack up. The Cincinnati Bengals are playing the Cleveland Browns and because of that, they aren’t cheap. You would have to pay the top defensive pricing for them, but like every week, whoever is playing the Browns will give you solid production at defense, so we will give them an honorable mention this week.
Minnesota Vikings @ PHI, $4,900
Cincinnati Bengals vs CLE, $5,100
Be sure to stop by next week as we’ll have brand new picks for you in Week 8. Don’t forget to catch all of Episode #291 of The Fantasy Footballers Podcast. See all of you awesome DFS fans next week!
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