DFS Alerts
Julius Thomas is ruled out
Neal Sterling will be starting in his place
Greg Olsen worth paying up for this week
Atlanta, Carolina’s opponent, has allowed the most PPR fantasy points to tight ends this season. In terms of DVOA, Atlanta ranks 29th against TEs. They are weak defending the position and Newton will look to exploit it. Olsen is leading all tight ends in receptions and yards, functioning as the WR1B to Kelvin Benjamin’s WR1A this season (notwithstanding last week). He’s in an absolutely terrific spot, especially considering this game could be a shootout. After opening at a 46-point game total, the line shot up to 50.5 points during the week. The Panthers are just 3-point favorites. The game should be a close, high-scoring affair and Olsen is going to benefit. Newton’s rushing production will increase with Stewart out (he had a rushing TD last week), making a Carolina stack with Olsen and Newton a terrific option. Our current projections show Olsen as the top tight end on both DraftKings and FanDuel and Newton the second-ranked quarterback on DK and first on FD. While both players are expensive, their floors and ceilings are ridiculously high this week.
Other tagged players: Cam Newton
Cole Beasley may be a GPP trap against 49ers
Assuming Dez Bryant is out for the game (a safe bet), Cole Beasley is likely to pick up some extra targets. He’ll have a nice individual matchup as slot cornerback Jimmie Ward has already been ruled out. Despite this, there are several issues limiting his upside. First, Dak Prescott has only thrown one touchdown the entire year. The rookie QB has been efficient, posting a 93.3 quarterback rating, but he’s been able to do so because the Cowboys have a strong rushing attack. Dallas runs the ball on 49.5% of their plays, third-most in the league — a stat that holds true in the red zone, with a 13:13 run-to-pass ratio. Beasley has just two looks inside the 20 through three games as Witten is the red zone favorite with five. Plus, San Francisco plays much better defense at home than on the road. Over their last nine home games they’ve only allowed six touchdowns through the air. They apply much better pressure on quarterbacks as well, accumulating 20 sacks at home in 2015 and eight on the road. Even after playing two away games this season, they have the 9th-best passing DVOA. Based on these factors, Beasley’s ceiling is far lower than his expected volume boost would imply.
Jets unsure if Eric Decker will miss rest of season
For now, a season-ending surgery to repair his partially torn rotator cuff is not on the table, which is a very good sign. He’ll take the next few weeks off to rehab and then reevaluate the injury. It is possible to play with a partial tear, but he needs a full range of motion to catch balls. At a certain point it may become a pain management issue. Should he not improve over the next few weeks, he will be forced to reconsider surgery, which would likely end his season. Quincy Enunwa, who has been very solid thus far, will step into the number two role. It might be a week early to target him though, since the Jets face the Seahawks on Sunday. Their following game is against the Steelers, a team that’s allowed the seventh-most receiving fantasy points this year.
As reported by: NY Post Other tagged players: Quincy Enunwa Giants could be down several starters in secondary
The New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings game is not on the Main Slate but if you are playing a slate that includes teh Monday game keep an eye on the Giants injury report. Eli Apple is doubtful with a hamstring injury and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is a game-time decision at best. Safeties Nate Berhe and Darian Thompson are out as well. This is good news Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph. Diggs has 27 targets through three games and Rudolph has 26.
As reported by: Art Stapleton Other tagged players: Kyle Rudolph
Rashad Jennings questionable for Monday Night
Orleans Darkwa should still be the lead back with Bobby Rainey coming in for some passing plays. If Jennings dresses it will likely be for emergency situation, meaning he probably won’t play even if he’s active. Against Washington, Darkwa averaged over five yards per carry on ten rushes and added a touchdown. He should manage some red zone touches, but he has a very tough matchup with the Vikings, who Football Outsiders ranks fourth against the run. A long way from the rushing defense he faced last week, the Redskins rank dead last.
As reported by: Jordan Raanan Other tagged players: Orleans Darkwa Cameron Brate is a sneaky GPP play Week 4
Denver’s defense always scares people away, allowing for sneaky low-ownership plays on the opposing offense. In their matchup with the Buccaneers most people applying this strategy will deploy Mike Evans. However, the Broncos are more vulnerable against tight ends than receivers. Football outsiders ranks them third against WR1’s, yet just 17th against the TE. Cameron Brate has seen his snap count increase each week, from 25 to 33 to a sizeable 70 in week 3, the first game without Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Brate took full advantage of his opportunity, converting 10 targets into five receptions and two touchdowns. Even though he competed with ASF for looks the first two weeks, he’s tied for the most red zone targets among all tight ends in the NFL. Brate is only $2,800 on DraftKings. With plenty of people focusing on $2,700 Hunter Henry, Brate makes for a sly value option on a pass-first team.
Sammy Watkins placed on IR
Watkins hasn’t looked right in the limited time he’s played in 2016. The foot has clearly been causing him pain all season; instead of pushing it further, the Bills decided it would be best to let their star wide receiver finally give it the proper rest and rehab. No surgery is schedule at this time, although he’s visiting Dr. Robert Anderson for an evaluation. He’ll miss at least eight weeks. Buffalo signed wide receiver Justin Hunter after the Watkins move. Hunter, a former second-round pick, was waived by the Dolphins earlier this week after playing just one snap in Miami.
As reported by: Vic Carucci LeGarrette Blount set for (another) big day
Without Tom Brady, the Patriots have been relying on the run quite a bit. LeGarrette Blount has been a huge beneficiary, currently leading the league in rushing attempts. On the year, he’s averaging 4.0 ypc, 25 touches per game, and he’s had a touchdown in each contest. As you may have heard, the Patriots won all of these games, two of them by a wide margin. His best games were the two the Patriots won by more than six points. In fact, throughout his Patriots career he has insane splits when they win by at least seven points. His line jumps from 9.4/35.2/0.16 all the way to 15.9/79.3/1.09, according to Scott Barrett. That’s right, his chance of scoring a touchdown jumps by 681%. Good news for this weekend: the Patriots are favored by 6.5-points at home against the Bills. A line that jumped by three points after 74% of bettors took the Patriots with the spread. Sammie Watkins and Greg Salas are both out for the Bills, which doesn’t bode well for their offense. On the other side of the ball, the Bills rank 21st against the rush, per Football Outsiders. With both of their backup quarterbacks banged up, the Patriots will likely keep pounding the run game as they have all year. If the game goes as Vegas expects it to, Blount could have yet another monster game.
As reported by: Scott Barrett Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt questionable for Week 4
Both Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt are listed as questionable for Week 4. They each practiced Friday and appear on track to play against Arizona, although neither of them are recommended DFS plays at this point. Austin is a boom-or-bust deep GPP option given that he’s seeing a high number of targets each week, but this Rams offense is still so inefficient through the air. The Cardinals D/ST is a stronger play than anyone on the LA side.
As reported by: Josh Weinfuss Other tagged players: Kenny Britt
Jimmy Graham listed as questionable for Sunday's game in New York
We’re still expecting him to play on Sunday. It’s worth noting that Russell Wilson did not appear on the injury report, so he’ll be good to go. Wilson has burned his fantasy owners early in the season, but with the Jets being very tough to run on, this could be a nice spot to deploy Wilson and Graham in GPPs. Doug Baldwin is also a perfectly suitable stacking option. We’ll update Graham’s status over the course of the weekend. The Seahawks play on the east coast this week, so we’ll have notice on Graham’s status well before lineup lock.
As reported by: Bob Condotta Marvin Jones (hamstring) is questionable for Week 4
It doesn’t appear like his game status is truly in question as he had a full practice Friday. After lighting it up against a banged up Packers defense last week, he’ll get a crack at another poor secondary when the Lions take on the Bears. Game flow certainly helped Jones climb to his monster 6/205/2 line as the Lions got down big early. However, Stafford still figures to be slinging it against Chicago, and Jones has a 24.2% target rate. The duo loves attacking teams vertically: Jones averages 22.7 yards per catch, most in the league among receivers with at least 10 receptions, and he leads the league in 20-yard receptions. If the game flow turns against Jones it will likely be a direct result of his success.
As reported by: Tim Twentyman Stefon Diggs (groin) limited in practice
He missed practice last Friday before the Vikings took on the Panthers, a game in which he went on to struggle. After eclipsing the 100-yard mark in both of the first two games, he had 40 yards on four catches last week. Sam Bradford was horrific in the first half, playing a big part of Diggs’ poor performance. Janoris Jenkins is expected to shadow Diggs on the outside when the Vikings visit the Giants, a tough matchup to be sure. However, Diggs gets in the slot 43% of the time and will either face slot corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie or his backup as DRC is banged up. Rodgers-Cromartie grades at just 50.5 according to PFF, while Diggs scores an 88, the highest among all starting wide receivers.
As reported by: Minnesota Vikings Jimmy Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett, Rob Gronkowski listed as questionable for Week 4
All three players are considered questionable for Week 4, and while Gronk has the best shot of the trio to suit up, at least one of the quarterbacks are going to be active considering the Patriots haven’t made a move to add another. Julian Edelman is still capable of acting as the emergency QB, but we’d have expected them to sign a veteran back-up if they really thought both of their young QBs would be inactive. Considering the Patriots play at 1 PM on Sunday, we’ll have plenty of notice on the status’ of these three before lineup lock.
As reported by: Mike Reiss Other tagged players: Jacoby Brissett, Rob Gronkowski Dez Bryant NOT officially ruled out
Early reports indicated Dez was definitely out for this game, but that decision is not official yet. Bryant himself said he’s feeling great and ready to play, while adding he and the team, “just want to be safe.” At this point, it’s not exactly clear what any of this means, but we’d guess he won’t be playing. It seems like he’s just talking and being Dez, but we’ll update you as we learn more about the situation.
As reported by: Jon Machota