Finding Paydirt: Week 8

by Joe Cistaro (joeycis) Last Updated 2019-10-26 19:44:45

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! Week 7 saw a really nice performance from Darren Waller and RotoGrinders’ members who capitalized on his multiple touchdowns. This week, DraftKings features 12 games on its main slate with a handful offering high-implied totals. Will anyone capitalize and score multiple touchdowns? Will we see another new leader as the second scoring period closes out in Week 8? Let’s find out!

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 8 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.

With all of that said, here are my picks for touchdowns in Week 8.

Chris Carson – RB – $7,000

Considering the Redskins played last night at Minnesota, you will be hard-pressed to find a better matchup for an offense than Seattle will draw this weekend. The Atlanta Falcons are a disaster. They cannot pressure a quarterback. They cannot stop the vertical passing game. It’s bad.

That said, Seattle does not like to sling the ball all over the field if it isn’t necessary. In a perfect world, the Seahawks love to lean on a running game powered by Chris Carson while relying on the hyper-efficiency of Russell Wilson… as needed. The Falcons defense is ranked in the middle of the pack in statistics against running backs — points per game, touchdowns, yards, etc… However, that should be attributed to their passing sieve as opposed to an actual ability to stifle running backs.

The Seahawks are committed to running the football. Carson is averaging 19.90 rushing attempts per game and owns 53.33% of Seattle’s attempts inside the ten. Rashaad Penny did not touch the ball last week and C.J. Prosise had one carry. Carson disappointed last week in a pretty good spot but should see scoring opportunities in this game. Give me Carson for a couple.

Kenny Golladay – WR – $6,400

Matt Stafford completed 30 passes last week for 364 yards and four touchdowns. Kenny Golladay owners clearly reaped the fruits of Stafford’s excellent game.

Or not… Golladay’s battery-mate, Marvin Jones, had himself a day. Four touchdowns went Jones way while Kenny Golladay saw two targets. He converted one for a 21-yard catch and… well, that’s it. What the hell?

At home against the shoddy Giants’ defense, Golladay and his colleagues are set up for a really nice day. The Lions’ 28-point implied total needs to be spread around somehow. Marvin Jones is likely not going to repeat his big performance and some of the passing targets will go Golladay’s way. Kenny has 7 endzone targets for a leading 36.8% share of the Lions’ opportunities. If Lions are going to score this weekend, Golladay should be one of them.

Zach Ertz – TE – $5,100

Tight end is pretty gross on this slate. The three players cut from our pool seem to be the only options that anyone might consider. Zach Ertz has been justifiably priced way down and is being treated less like a #1 option and more like a role player for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Bills, through six games, only allowed 24 targets to the tight end position and a measly 17 receptions. Pretty, pretty good… So why am I targeting Ertz? He still boasts 24.3% of the Eagles’ target share but does not have a target inside the ten-yard line. At this price and against this defense, nobody will want to play him. I certainly am not advising clicking his name in DFS, but for a low-owned touchdown… sure, why not? Even with Ertz’ struggles, the remaining options at tight end do not strike any additional confidence in me. Give me Ertz… with my fingers crossed for help.

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