NFL DraftKings Lineup Walkthrough - Week 13
It was a good week for the chalk. Most of the obvious plays had big outings, which led to a nice week of cash games for yours truly.
Ben Roethlisberger: $6,600 (vs. Indianapolis Colts)
Like most people, I narrowed down my quarterback options to Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger this week. They were both in great spots – Newton facing the Saints on the road and Roethlisberger facing the Colts at home. I decided to use Roethlisberger on DraftKings because I felt he had the better chance of the two at reaching the 300-yard bonus. I was still able to get my exposure to Newton by playing him on FanDuel. Obviously, I couldn’t have gone wrong either way.
Shaun Draughn: $4,000 (vs. Chicago Bears)
There were a number of different running backs on my radar this week. DeAngelo Williams was one of my favorite plays, but again everything comes down to roster construction. Since I had Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown in my DraftKings’ lineup, I decided to fade Williams on DraftKings and use him on FanDuel instead. Draughn has basically been the Niners’ workhorse back for the last few weeks and most of his production has come through the air. In a game where the Niners were expected to be behind, I liked his floor and ceiling on a full-PPR site.
David Johnson: $3,400 (vs. St. Louis Rams)
As soon as Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington were ruled out, Johnson (David) became a must play in my eyes. At $3,400, he basically needed 11 fantasy points to reach value. For a guy that was expected to see 20+ touches and a number of targets out of the backfield, it was hard to envision a scenario where he wouldn’t reach value. He was the obvious chalk play at running back, but I’m still baffled by the fact that he was only 65% owned in the big double-ups.
Odell Beckham: $8,900 (vs. New York Jets)
Have we made a decision on the ODB/OBJ debate yet? I thought after he said that he prefers OBJ that it would end the feud, but I still hear him referred to as ODB – a name that belongs to Ol’ Dirty B***ard. Anyway, when I was messing around with different lineup combinations, I came across the one that you are looking at now. How could I pass up a chance to play OBJ, Antonio Brown, and Julio Jones in the same lineup. The Jets are stout against the run and OBJ has basically been their only weapon in the passing game. Even though I expected him to see double coverage, the expected high volume of targets was more than enough to justify the pick.
Antonio Brown: $8,600 (vs. Indianapolis Colts)
I’ve basically been playing Brown all season when Ben Roethlisberger has been under center. My one exception was last week, as he was expected to be shadowed by Richard Sherman. I went back to the well this week, as the Colts are a team that primarily plays man coverage. Even against Vontae Davis, I expected Brown to win out in that matchup more often than not. Plus, I figured Roethlisberger would try to get his best weapon going early, after a quiet game against the Seahawks.
Julio Jones: $9,000 (vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
One of my least favorite things in daily fantasy is targeting a player one week and then writing them off if they have a bad game. This recency bias leads to bad decision making. Even though Jones had a bad outing against the Vikings, he was in a good spot to bounce back against the Buccaneers. Jones has torched Lovie Smith’s Cover-2 defense in the past and I was expecting a lot of targets thrown his way. The pick didn’t end up working out as I had hoped, but I still believe it was the right play.
Scott Chandler: $2,500 (vs. Philadelphia Eagles)
There were two tight ends on my radar this week – Greg Olsen and Scott Chandler. Playing on two sites, I took advantage of the different pricing, playing Olsen on FanDuel and Chandler on DraftKings. I wasn’t expecting Chandler to see the same volume of targets as Rob Gronkowski, but he was basically going to be the third option in the passing game. That’s never a bad place to be on the Patriots, especially for a price of only $2,500.
C.J. Anderson: $3,500 (vs. San Diego Chargers)
I almost made it a complete week without one of my players getting injured. ALMOST. You just have to take the good breaks with the bad ones though, as injuries are commonplace in the NFL. I liked Anderson for a number of reasons this week. He outproduced Ronnie Hillman against the Patriots in Week 12 and he finally looked healthy in that game. I was expecting him to either split or out-touch Hillman against the Chargers, who have the worse run defense in the NFL. He had a nice start to the game, but hurt his ankle right before halftime and was unable to return.
Bengals D/ST: $3,400 (vs. Cleveland Browns)
The Bengals were playing on the road, but they were facing a third-string quarterback in Austin Davis. That was more than enough reason for me to play them this week. The Bengals have a top ten defense, they can get pressure on the quarterback, and they were large favorites in this matchup. While they didn’t end up getting a touchdown, they did hold the Browns to only three points.