Finding Paydirt: Week 7

by Joe Cistaro (joeycis) Last Updated 2019-10-18 14:23:24

Touchdowns, while extremely variant, make or break daily fantasy success and swing thousands of dollars every Sunday. Every weekend, players wait anxiously for the players on their roster to find paydirt. The purpose of the contest is to provide an opportunity for the RotoGrinders community to come together and have fun as we spend much of our time during the week stressing over the construction of our weekly lineups. Did I mention there will be prizes? Let’s have some fun!

Happy Friday! We have reached Week 7 after a ridiculously quiet Week 6 in the touchdown scene. For a look at how everyone did last week, go back and read my results article from Tuesday. Spoiler: it was not pretty. Yours truly is looking to build off of a relatively successful three-touchdown week. Who is going to find paydirt this weekend?

First-time reader? Welcome! Read through Finding Paydirt: 2019 Contest Guidelines for information about the contest and prizes. Ready? Let’s play.

That said, the time for Week 7 cuts is upon us.

The Cut List

Simply put, to compete in this contest you must pick a running back, wide receiver, and tight end to score a touchdown on Sunday. The player must be on the DraftKings Main Slate and cannot be any of the players below. These players are the top five at both RB and WR and the top three at TE — I nix them hoping to make the contest more interesting.

Christian McCaffrey is not on the slate and Saquon Barkley returns to our cut list. The Aaron Jones price puts Leonard Fournette in play this week — yes, that is foreshadowing. Tight end is really tricky with Zach Ertz and Kelce missing from the main slate and the other volume hogs sitting on the cut list. As for Davante Adams, I am not comfortable leaving him off the list without conclusive information on his status. I would not want him to be announced in and give everyone a potential free square.

With all of that said, here are my picks for touchdowns in Week 7.

Leonard Fournette – RB – $7,000

DraftKings continues to price Leonard Fournette as if he isn’t an upper-echelon running back play. Yet, Fournette boasts 19.2 rush attempts per game and six targets per game. The greater than 25 opportunities Fournette sees per game is the highest on the slate and approaches the highest in the league. If that is not enough, Uncle Lenny sees 2.7 red zone attempts per game — a nice cherry on top of Fournette’s proverbial opportunity sundae.

Fournette’s market share coupled with a woeful Bengals’ defense makes him one of the best — if not the best — play on the slate. The Bengals have already ceded 10 total touchdowns to the running back position (7 rushing and 3 receiving) and are second-worst behind the Chiefs with 759 rushing yards allowed. As road-favorites, I find it difficult to avoid the Jaguars’ back this weekend.

Adam Thielen – WR – $6,900

If at first you do succeed, rejoice and try again? I don’t know. Adam Thielen caught a touchdown pass last week and since “ApologyGate” with Kirk Cousins, Thielen is receiving the workload he was accustomed to last season. Stefon Diggs was the story last week with an unbelievable three-touchdown performance. That said, Thielen is still ahead in the red zone target category with six red zone targets over the last three weeks. The squeaky wheel is getting greased.

The Lions do not play that fast and generally aim to avoid shootouts. While that is not appealing for touchdown prospects, the Vikings’ passing attack is just so darn concentrated. The work is going to either Thielen, Diggs, or Cook. With the more steady red zone role belonging to Thielen and Dalvin Cook unavailable because of pricing, Thielen remains one of the better touchdown options for a wide receiver each week.

Jimmy Graham – TE – $4,200

Jimmy Graham has not practiced yet this week. Jimmy Graham is pretty old. He is also pretty slow. Did you know that he used to play basketball, though?

Kidding aside, if Graham does play he will likely be one of the only members of Rodgers’ normal ensemble suiting up against the Raiders. Davante Adams seems very unlikely. Allison and MVS are questionable. If Graham is able to go, who is getting targeted in the scoring area for the Packers?

Jimmy Graham. That’s who. So far, Graham has four targets inside the ten, two inside the five, and four total endzone targets. The endzone target total represents 19.0% of the Packer pie with other major contributors nowhere to be found. The Raiders’ defense has allowed three touchdowns thus far and 14.7 DraftKings points per game to the tight end position. That does not seem like much but in the world of tight ends, 14.7 points will do just fine. Sure, the targets will not look pretty. Sure, Jimmy Graham might be slower than you. That said, if he plays, he is getting the ball.

Did I mention Jimmy Graham played basketball?

Thanks very much for taking the time to read through this week’s article. Be sure to tell me who you think will score a touchdown at each position in the comments section below. Also, give me a follow on Twitter to stay updated with the content I contribute to RotoGrinders throughout the football season. I will be back on Tuesday with a recap of Week 7 as well as a leaderboard update. Until then, good luck.

Image Credit: USA Today Sports Images