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Week 15 was a bit of a disappointment with only 50% of the FanDuel Bargain Buys outperforming their cost. The Falcons (outside of Steven Jackson) were a major disappointment, and while the Browns had success on the ground it wasn't courtesy of Chris Ogbonnaya. The bright spot was at tight end where Delanie Walker finished as TE2 and Marcedes Lewis also posted top 10 numbers. For the last two weeks of the season there are no byes and no Thursday night games so we'll get 32 teams of players to choose from. Let's see if we can improve on out 59% success rate in week 16.
Quarterback
- Highest Priced Player: Peyton Manning- $11,000
- Average Priced Player: Alex Smith- $8,200
Best Bang for your Buck: Jay Cutler ($8,000 vs. Philadelphia). You saw what Matt Cassel did against this defense last week, right? Cutler showed a little rust in the first half against Cleveland but he quickly rounded back into form. I have a hard time seeing the Bears stopping LeSean McCoy which should keep the Bears in a position where they're always needing a score. David Dodds has Cutler as his 4th best quarterback this week, which is a steal at the 17th highest cost.
Bargain Buy: Kirk Cousins ($7,000 vs. Dallas). I expect the Cowboys to rebound with an inspired effort against Washington and jump out to an early lead as they've often done throughout the year. Their problem has been in protecting those leads which should lead to a big game from Cousins. I'm not one that thinks Cousins is a real threat to Robert Griffin III, but this week he's a great bargain.
Running Back
- Highest Priced Player: Jamaal Charles- $11,000
- Average Priced Player: Three players- $6,700
Best Bang for your Buck: Andre Brown ($6,100 vs. Detroit). Brown struggled mightily against Seattle last week but most everybody struggles against Seattle. As bad as he was last week it was his first game this season below 12 PPR fantasy points and we don't expect a repeat performance in week 16. We have Brown projected at 15.5 PPR points in week 16, which is great value at his cost.
Bargain Buy: Frank Gore ($6,300 vs. Atlanta). I would not want to be the team that has to face the 49ers in the last game at Candlestick, especially if I was as bad off as the Falcons are. Gore has struggled recently but I'd expect a bounceback in what should be a blowout against the Falcons. 100 yards and a score seems like it should be the expectation.
Wide Receiver
- Highest Priced Player: Calvin Johnson- $9,900
- Average Priced Player: Keenan Allen- $7,100
Best Bang for your Buck: Julian Edelman ($7,000 vs. Baltimore). Edelman's success has shocked just about everyone this year and he's been on fire since the team lost Rob Gronkowski. Edelman's scored at least 18 PPR fantasy points in each of his last four contests and we have him projected as WR11 in week 15. It's hard to see the Patriots having much success on the ground in this one so Edelman should continue to see the monster target numbers he's seen for the last month.
Bargain Buy: Rod Streater ($5,500 vs. San Diego). Matt McGloin took over as the Raiders starting quarterback in week 11 and since that point Rod Streater has been a great value at receiver. He's averaging 8 targets a game and 16 fantasy points with McGloin at quarterback and put up 14.6 the last time he faced the Chargers. I'd expect the Raiders will be playing catch up in this one like they have all year, which should mean plenty of targets for Streater.
Tight End
- Highest Priced Player: Jimmy Graham- $7,700
- Average Priced Player: Coby Fleener and Garrett Graham- $5,000
Best Bang for your Buck: Martellus Bennett ($4,800 vs. Philadelphia). As I said earlier in this article, this game should have a lot of scoring opportunities. So much so that David Dodds has Bennett ranked as his 4th best tight end in week 16. Like any tight end at this price, Bennett has had his ups and downs this year, but in a shootout against the Eagles we're expecting another up.
Bargain Buy: Antonio Gates ($4,500 vs. Oakland). Gates has somehow fallen all the way to the FanDuel minimum at tight end. While the aging tight end certainly isn't as great as he once was, he's also not near this low of a value. It's hard to see the Raiders keeping San Diego out of the red zone and we know how much Philip Rivers loves to use his tight end in the red zone. He doesn't have very many big games left in him but this could certainly be one.
DEFENSE
Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh. The Packers have been given new life after the collapse of the Lions and now know that they control their own destiny. That should be a shot of life for the entire football team, especially a defense that has been up and down. The Steelers have been better on offense but they're still turnover prone and they still allow plenty of pressure on Ben Roethisberger. Play this defense expecting a couple of big plays.
Kicker
Robbie Gould vs. Philadelphia. This Eagles defense was awful at the beginning of the year, improved halfway through, and is trending back towards awful. I expect the Bears to have plenty of opportunities in Eagles territory in what should be a high scoring affair. Gould may kick five extra points, which would be a letdown, but I'll bet on the Bears giving him at least two field goal attempts.
Contact Heath at cummings@footballguys.com or on Twitter @heathcummingssr