DraftKings Bargain Bin: Week 14
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, who would therefore be expected to receive an increase in usage.
QUARTERBACKS
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins, $7,300 – Ryan didn’t work out for me last week in a plus matchup vs the Jets, but I’m not holding any grudges. A game against the Ravens will do that. Baltimore is really struggling in the secondary since losing Jimmy Smith to the tune of giving up 13 touchdowns through the air in their last four games. On the season they have given up the 4th most DraftKings fantasy points to quarterbacks according to the RotoGrinders Defense vs Position Rankings and as previously suggested, they’ve been even worse of late.
Mark Sanchez, Philadelphia Eagles, $6,300 – Historically NFL DFS 101 suggests that its not advisable to pick on the Seahawks defense. Furthermore, said class would never endorse the rostering of one Mark Sanchez, but here we are. As long as The Sanchize’s price tag is this affordable, and the offensive genius that is Chip Kelly is still his coach, he’s absolutely in play. Seattle, while solid, haven’t been as traditionally daunting as they have in years past (11th best defense according to Pro Football Focus) and Mark has averaged more than 21 DK points in his last four games, which satisfies his asking price. I don’t believe I’ll have the guts to roster Mark in cash games, but he makes for an intriguing tournament play as I suspect few will roster him.
RUNNING BACKS
Jonathan Stewart, Carolina Panthers, $3,800 – As a rule, I do my best not roster Carolina running backs, as their backfield tends to be a bit muddled. The situation becomes a little more clear this week as DeAngelo Williams has officially been ruled out thus leaving Stewart to carry the load. Sure, there are concern that New Orleans can get up big and therefore forcing the Panthers to mostly abandon the run, but that would likely lead to Jonathan catching a handful of passes which are worth a point each on DraftKings. Before that happens (and thats assuming it does) the Saints give up the 3rd most yards per carry so you’d have to think Carolina will do their best to establish the run in New Orleans. Value is tough to come by at the running back position this week, so while this isn’t a perfect situation, the prospect of buying JStew and his 15ish touches, needs to be considered.
Andre Williams, New York Giants, $4,400 – Unfortunately you are going to need to check the Sunday morning inactive list to see if Andre is a viable play this week. As previously stated, running back value is a bit dicey this week, so I’m holding out hope that the Giants will err on the side of caution and sit Rashad Jennings. Rashad said that he expects to play, while at the same time saying he’s not 100% and with the coaches (and the training staff) having final say, it’ll be interesting to see how this turns out. Without Jennings, Williams would be in line to rack up twenty plus touches vs the pedestrian Jags, which is a promising formula to hit his price point.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Jarvis Landry, Miami Dolphins, $5,600 – The LSU rookie has quickly become a favorite of Ryan Tannehill. In fact, he’s seen double digit targets thrown his way in 3 of the last 4 games, racking up a total of 27 receptions, 217 yards, and 3 scores. Sure, we’d like a big play or two mixed in there, but we love target monsters on DraftKings as each catch is worth a point. There is room to grow, as the Ravens have given up over 273 yards per game through the air on the season, and thanks in part to the injury to star CB Jimmy Smith, Baltimore has given up the most fantasy points since Week 8.
Charles Johnson, Minnesota Vikings, $4,300 – Full disclosure; I’m a sucker for Charles as I’ve rostered him for two weeks running and I’m not planning on stopping now. He’s no longer the 4th wide receiver on the depth chart, as the second year man plays roughly 97% of the offensive snap these days. Ignoring last week’s game, Johnson caught 9 of 18 passes thrown his way in the previous two contests, as well as scoring a touchdown. We can ditch last week’s game as it was just bizarre. The Vikings blocked two punts and returned both for scores, which snatched possessions away from the offense, as well as suppressing the passing game with Minnesota comfortably ahead. The silver lining here is that an unimpressive Johnson stat line kept his asking price down. As for this week, its hard not to assume that Charles will be more active in the box score as the New York Jets defense is best exploited via the pass.
TIGHT END
Jordan Reed, St. Louis Rams, $4,600 – Maybe RGIII didn’t like him or maybe its a small sample size, but new Washington quarterback Colt McCoy appears to love him some Jordan Reed. He was targeted for a whopping 32% of his routes last week as he saw a healthy 11 targets. Jordan justified Colt’s confidence in him by putting up an impressive line of 9-123. Its hard to see his usage increase, but its likely that DeSean Jackson will be out meaning Jordan could possibly see even more balls thrown his way. Getting on the field has been a tricky hurdle to get over at times, but when he’s on it, the Washington TE is not short on talent. I try my best to pay up for a stud at tight end, but if you are feeling a bit frugal, I’m perfectly fine endorsing Reed.
DEFENSE
Detroit Lions, $3,400 – For starters, the Lions are the 3rd best defensive unit according to Pro Football Focus. Additionally they are 10 point favorites in a game with a 41 over/under. This is not a rousing endorsement in Tampa’s ability to score as they will have one of, if not the lowest team total according to Las Vegas. Assuming this game goes as planned, the Bucs will be forced to play catch up, become one dimensional (not that I anticipate they will be able to run the ball at any time during the game), thus leading to plays with a higher probability to end in sacks, turnovers, and if we are really lucky, defensive scores. Tampa’s offensive line is bad enough when the threat of a run is in play, so it can get really ugly if the game script plays out as anticipated, and they are forced to abandons the ground game.