Daily Fantasy D/ST: Week 2
Defense? Yes, we are talking about defense. Everyone’s favorite DFS position (other than kicker on some sites of course), where we all scroll to the bottom of the draft list and find the cheapest defense that has a decent matchup. Welcome to the weekly defense/special teams column where I will try to highlight some of my favorite GPP defensive/special team plays for the week.
Truth be told, I’ve always kind of been the person I described above. I tend to scroll to the bottom of the list of defenses, plug in the first one I find with a decent matchup, and then fill out the rest of my roster. Occasionally I’ll revisit my defensive selection if I end up with any salary left over. BUT, if you look at the weekly GPP winners, they almost always nail their defense. So picking the right defense is pretty important to taking down a large GPP. I know this from experience. I missed out on a FFFC qualifier seat one week last season because my defense and kicker combined for only 6 points. I finished 4th by 5 points and the winner got double digit points from both their kicker and defense. If I just picked the right defense, I would have been going to Vegas. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite defense/special teams plays for this week:
Seattle ($5400 FD, $4100 DK) at San Diego – I will get the most obvious choice out of the way. If you are going to spend on a defense this week, especially on DK where they are the highest priced defense, you might as well spend on the best defense in the league (by a wide margin in my opinion). On FD, they actually come at a bit of a discount. But they just shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, who many consider one of the better offenses in the league. Philip Rivers also has a history of making some bad mistakes, which could spell trouble against the ball hawking Seattle secondary.
Arizona ($5300 FD, $3300 DK) at New York Giants – Eli Manning picked up right where he left off last season by throwing 2 interceptions in Week 1. The Giants led the league in giveaways last year by a wide margin, which presents opportunities for defensive touchdowns. The Giants offensive line also looks to be a mess again this year, which forces Eli to get rid of the ball quickly, often resulting in more mistakes. I like them better on DK than FD, but I think they are in play on any site this week.
Houston ($5400 FD, $3500 DK) at Oakland – The Houston defense is coming off a strong performance holding the Redskins to 6 points in Week 1, and now they get an Oakland offense that could only muster 158 yards of total offense and 7 points scored until the final 2 minutes of the game in Week 1. Oakland had a non-existent running game and they were very conservative in the passing game in Week 1. If they open things up at all this week, I think we could see some turnovers. Derek Carr is a rookie and was known to struggle at times with pressure in college. Again, they have a better price on DK than FD, but are in play on both sites this week.
Tampa Bay ($4900 FD, $3200 DK) vs St Louis – At this point in time, we don’t know if Shaun Hill will start or if Austin Davis will start for St. Louis (Davis seems most likely). Either way, they both looked terrible in Week 1. Shaun Hill only completed 8 of 13 passes for 81 yards in the first half and threw a bad interception. Austin Davis came in at the start of the 2nd half and was sacked 4 times and gave up an 81 yard pick-six. I expect the Bucs to come after whoever starts under center for St. Louis this week. I like their price a lot on FD this week.
Tennessee ($5200 FD, $2900 DK) vs Dallas – I expect this Tennessee defense to be much improved this year under Ray Horton. This week they face a turnover prone Tony Romo, who is coming off throwing 3 picks in Week 1. Dallas also gave up 3 sacks this past week. I expect Dallas to score some points in this game as Vegas has the over/under pretty high at 49.5. But I also think Tennessee can do enough with turnovers and sacks to put up a solid fantasy output. I like their price on DK the best this week.
Jacksonville ($4,600 FD, $2500 DK) at Washington – If you are looking for that bottom of the barrel option this week, I like Jacksonville the best. They are minimum priced on DK and almost minimum priced on FD. RG3 didn’t look right to me in Week 1, and I don’t think Jay Gruden has much confidence in the passing game due to poor pass protection. This Jacksonville defense is pretty scrappy and they held up well in the first half against the Eagles high scoring offense in Week 1. I think the Jags D has some upside here with the ability to get to the QB in this matchup and create some turnovers.