Join the Footballguys Daily Update
Start your morning with our roundup of the most important stories in football - with the fantasy insight you need to make league-winning decisions. Delivered straight to your inbox, 100% free.
QUARTERBACKS
Cam Newton $9,300 - Newton has took charge of the Panthers offense by taking the team on his back and providing leadership and production. This week might be his biggest challenge as he has to take his team into New Orleans and compete for the division lead. These are the type of big games that can lead to a lot of points on offense and Newton could be trading off touchdowns with Drew Brees all game long.
Nick Foles $9,000 - Foles is on a bit of a roll lately and you can tell by his constant rise in salary at FanDuel. He has one of the better passing matchups this weekend as he gets a struggling Lions secondary at home in Philadelphia. Foles is playing very smart with the football right now and making quick decisions that are leading to big offensive production. This game could be one of the higher scoring games on the weekend and grabbing 2-3 players from it might be a smart decision.
Joe Flacco $6,900 - Although Flacco hasn't looked like a big fantasy producer this season he is leading his team through some adversity and finding ways to keep his team alive in the playoff hunt. This week he gets to play a bad Vikings defense that continues to allow quarterbacks to have really big offensive games. He is at a very nice bargain price now and you have to consider the reasonable combo of him and Torrey Smith.
Value Plays: Alex Smith $7,700, Josh McCown $7,200
RUNNING BACKS
Jamaal Charles $9,600 - Charles is the one expensive RB to own this weekend as the Chiefs look to get back on the winning track they will have to rely more on their superstar back and makes sure to get him plenty of touches against one of the league's worst rushing defenses in Washington.
Andre Brown $7,100 - The Giants have been missing a running game all season before Andre Brown came back from injury. Since then he has provided big stat lines in his four starts this season totaling over 400 yards rushing and receiving and adding 3 touchdowns. Eli Manning has been struggling in the passing game and with Brown back things are slowly starting to open up and Manning can trust Brown and help keep drives alive.
Eddie Lacy $7,000 - The Falcons rush defense may be one of the very worst in the NFL this season and even with all the injuries on offense, it may be the reason why the team has took a nose dive this season. Lacy on the other hand has run hard all season and has quietly put up 1000+ total yards to go with 6 touchdowns over 11 games.
Giovani Bernard $6,900 - The Bengals are finding ways to win games this year and doing it in a variety of different ways and not just relying on one or two single players. Bernard has shown he can be a very versatile weapon in the offense and the Bengals are finding ways to get the ball into his hand. So far he is averaging about 10 carries a game but also has 43 catches for 354 yards and 3 touchdowns receiving. It is a big game this weekend against the Colts and Bernard is in prime position to help the offense pick up key yards and find his way into the endzone.
Value Plays: Frank Gore $6,500, Shane Vereen $6,500, Ray Rice $6,400
WIDE RECEIVERS
A.J. Green $8,700 - Over the last two games Green has seen 12 targets total and in the previous two game before that he saw an astounding 34 targets total. The Colts don't have the best defense in the world and in what looks to be one of the higher scoring games on the weekend the Bengals may have to look to target Green similar to what they did in weeks 9 and 10.
DeSean Jackson $7,000 - Jackson has recently took a bit of a dip in production and salary, but I suspect with a nice matchup against the Lions he is back in play this week. He offers some great value as a WR2 option this week with some huge upside.
Wes Welker $6,900 - Welker is currently sitting in the WR2/WR3 ranking as he has yet to show consistency this year. The thing about the Broncos is that they score a lot of points and can do it with a variety of weapons. Last week Eric Decker had a monster game and in the past Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas have both seen very productive fantasy days. As defenses try to contain one or two of those players, Peyton Manning is just going to look the other way and find the open man.
Torrey Smith $6,600 - If you can play Torrey Smith as your WR3 option this week it could pay huge dividends and hit in a big way. As mentioned early in the Flacco pick the Vikings secondary is probably the worst in the NFL. The Ravens don't have many receiving options this year with Pitta being sidelined by injury and Torrey Smith has stepped up nicely as the teams go to target this year. He is priced right at only $6,600 and has potential to be a top 10 WR this week.
Steve Smith $5,400 - I wouldn't recommend using Smith in a H2H or 50/50 type of game but I think in a larger tournament field type of game he is a nice option with his cheap salary. If the Panthers are going to keep this game close they are going to need their star players to perform and pairing Smith with Newton might be a nice option while playing the GPP's this week.
Value Plays: Victor Cruz $6,500, Riley Cooper $5,900, Kendall Wright $5,900, T.Y. Hilton $5,900, Dwayne Bowe $5,000
TIGHT ENDS
Rob Gronkowski $8,500 - Gronkowski is finally starting to look healthy and that means that Tom Brady is only going to continue to look for him more often. This week against the Browns things could get ugly by half time and Gronkowski is likely one of the reasons why the score may get ugly. The one position on FanDuel that never seems to get out of hand as far as prices go is the Tight End position and it is always tempting to lock in either Gronkowski or Graham as you pretty much know what you are going to get in return.
Jimmy Graham $8,200 - I like Graham more than Gronkowski this week simple because I think he is going to be playing in a game with more meaning and a game that is going to take a full 4 quarters of football to decide a winner. To make things even better Graham is also $300 cheaper and the Saints are coming off one of their worst offensive performances to date so will surely look to get back on track at home this week.
Value Plays: Heath Miller $4,900, Jared Cook $4,900
KICKERS
Matt Prater $5,000 - The Broncos have only been scoring touchdowns lately and limiting Prater too mainly PAT's. This week the Broncos play an underrated Titans defense on the road and may have a couple of extra field goal opportunities.
Alex Henery $5,000 - Although the Lions pass defense is awful their rush defense is one of the best. The Eagles should be able to move the ball over the middle of the field but when it comes down to redzone opportunities they may be forced to settle for a few field goals.
Value Play: Garrett Hartley $5,000
DEFENSE
New England Patriots $5,200 - The Patriots were the popular pick last week against the Texans and failed to produce at all. Look for a solid rebound this week against the banged up Browns offense.
Value Plays: Baltimore Ravens $5,000
SUGGESTED ROSTER ($60,000)
- QB Alex Smith KC (at WAS) $7,700
- RB Eddie Lacy GB (vs ATL) $7,000
- RB Giovani Bernard CIN (vs IND) $6,400
- WR DeSean Jackson PHI (vs DET) $7,000
- WR Wes Welker DEN (vs TEN) $6,900
- WR Torrey Smith BAL (vs MIN) $6,600
- TE Jimmy Graham NO (vs CAR) $8,200
- K Matt Prater DEN (vs TEN) $5,000
- D New England Patriots (vs CLE) $5,200
SUGGESTED "fade" ROSTER ($60,000)
- QB Eli Manning NYG (at SD) $6,500
- RB LeSean McCoy PHI (vs DET) $9,200
- RB Matt Forte CHI (vs DAL) $8,600
- WR A.J. Green CIN (vs IND) $8,700
- WR Victor Cruz NYG (at SD) $6,500
- WR Steve Smith CAR (at NO) $5,400
- TE Jared Cook STL (at ARI) $4,900
- K Alex Henery PHI (vs DET) $5,000
- D New York Jets (vs OAK) $5,200
*The "Fade" roster is something I wanted to try this week as I would fade the typically heavily owned players and try to swing for the fences and I would only recommend using this type of roster in the GPP tournament style type of games.