DraftKings Bargain Bin: Week 11
The purpose of this column is to feature players that are underpriced on DraftKings. In addition, I will be isolating players to target due to injury, and therefore are expected to receive an increase in usage. For additional cheap plays, check out Notorious’ Bargain Bin Ballers.
Quarterbacks
Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers, $6,800 – Prior to an awful game vs the Dolphins, Phillip has not had at least two touchdowns in a game since Week 1. We love consistency and reliability in DFS, and that stat speaks to it. Coming back from a well timed bye week, the Chargers signal caller has a beautiful landing spot with a home game against the hapless Oakland Raiders. There are some excellent quarterback options this week in prime matchups, but the inexplicable salary discount for the San Diego quarterback can’t be ignored. His price is down and the matchup is ripe, and I’d bet on Rivers starting a new streak of multi-score games starting this week.
Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins, $6,300 – It looks like targeting QBs coming back from a bye is theme for me this week. That isn’t where the continuity ends as I’m also a fan of picking on some bad defenses, and boy is Tampa bad. The Bucs have yielded 277 passing yards per game, which ranks them 31st in the NFL. In addition to throwing the ball, Griffin can also run it like few other signal callers, which raises his fantasy ceiling. Once again, I’ll reiterate that there are some superior quarterbacks to target this week (Peyton, Brady, Rodgers, etc), but there is a thing called a salary cap and rostering a guy like RG III offers an enticing enough price break to consider him for your rosters (especially in tournaments).
Running Backs
Alfred Blue, Houston Texans, $3,000 – Next man up. Arian Foster will miss this game and Alfred will take over the role of lead back for the Texans. No other player offers the combination of opportunity and price point than this Houston tailback. For the site minimum and the probability that he’ll get at least 15 touches, I suggest you make Blue your boy this week, if for no other reason, to make it easier to help pay up for some of this week’s elite, pricy targets.
Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals, $4,500 – Double check and make that Giovani Bernard does not dress. As of this writing it appears unlikely we will play, and if he is unable to do so, Hill’s fantasy value should benefit greatly. Sure, he squandered this opportunity last week, but that entire game was an offensive dumpster fire as Thursday night games have a tendency to be. If you go two weeks back, you will recall that the LSU rookie excelled in the lead back role by rushing for over 150 yards, and scoring twice. I’m not bullish enough to assume a similar output, but at this asking price, its not necessary to warrant a roster spot.
Wide Receivers
Alshon Jeffery, Chicago Bears, $5,900 – This makes so little sense that it just might work. The Bears looked just brutal last week (especially on the defensive end). So awful that I suspect it scarred enough people into dropping a “never again” when considering any players from Chicago going forward. Both Bears WRs are enticingly discounted, so why go Alshon over his teammate Brandon Marshall? 1) Jeffery should be less owned due to being $100 more. 2) Brandon has the bigger name recognition, which would make me think Marshall is more popular, thus making Alshon even less owned. 3) Lastly, Alshon saw 12 looks last week, which is pretty encouraging considering what a disaster their offense was last week. I should qualify this selection by saying its best unleashed in a tournament as I’d much prefer to pay a bit more for elite, yet affordable, options like Julio Jones and Jordy Nelson.
Pierre Garcon, Washington Redskins, $4,000 – Its worth repeating so here it goes. Tampa has given up 277 passing yards per game which ranks them 31st in the NFL. This holds true when it comes to yielding fantasy points as well as the Bucs have given up the 2nd most DraftKings points per game according to the RotoGrinders Defense vs Position Rankings. Most people will look to roster Desean Jackson first when considering how to exploit this matchup, and justifiably so, which makes me think we Garcon, despite being awfully cheap, will go mostly unnoticed. He’s been struggling, but with a bye week to work with the newly healthy Robert Griffin III, I’m expecting a bounce back week for Pierre.
Tight End
Mychal Rivera, Oakland Raiders, $3,100 – All Mychal did last week was go 6-64 with a score and for that his price decreased from $3,800 to just above the site minimum at $3.100. He hasn’t been a one week pony either, as Rivera has been a thing going on three weeks now. Over that period, the Oakland TE has seen 28 looks which he converted into 21 receptions, 180 yards, and three scores. I’ll have a hard time not playing an elite tight end in my cash games (Jimmy Graham or Rob Gronkowski) but if you are looking to separate yourself in tournaments, I have no issue rolling with Mychal.
Defense
Detroit Lions, $3,400 – I know this is an article dedicated to value, but I like spend a little on defense as the salaries are so bunched together. Detroit is the most expensive defense on the board so maybe that will keep their ownership down a bit. The fact that Carson Palmer is out and Drew Stanton is in might keep the intrigue on the Lions. While Drew is a competent backup, lets not forget that he is not a starting quarterback for a reason. We are now in Week 11 and no matter what your history Detroit suggests, they are a legitimately good defense. Possibly the league’s best. They have yielded just 71 yards per game on the ground which means that Drew will like likely be asked to do a little more than manage the game. Oh, and if that is the case, the Lions are excellent in the pass game as well, so I’m having a hard time seeing the Cardinals offense thriving this weekend.