With the weekends slate almost upon us it is time once again for us to take a look at our top Cost-per-Projected-Point (CPP) values this week for FanDuel Daily Fantasy Football.
Jameis Winston – $331 CPP, $7,400 Salary
As everyone knows by now Jameis Winston will get his first start of the NFL season this week against a decimated Atlanta Falcons defense. It is true that Jameis did not look his sharpest down the stretch in the game against the Chicago Bears in week four but the Bears are easily one of the best defensive units in the league while the Falcons minus two pro bowlers, their best defensive tackle and another starting safety, are among the league’s worst. We have Winston ranked as our sixth overall QB for week six while FanDuel strangely has him slotted as the sixteenth overall salary. Perhaps they added a one by mistake. In all seriousness though with as explosive as this offense looked under journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick Jameis’ fantasy ceiling is likewise through the roof, especially against one of the most forgiving (and giving for that matter) defenses in the entire NFL. Start Jameis with confidence this week in the FanDuel game.
Todd Gurley $448 CPP, $9,400 Salary
Todd Gurley has been an absolute fire this far this season and shows no signs of slowing down as he has been on a tear since last season. Gurley is currently third in the NFL with 83 rushing yards per game, first in the NFL with 1.4 rushing touchdowns per game, eighth in the NFL with 46 receiving yards per game and tied for fourth with 0.4 receiving touchdowns per game. Digging deeper into his numbers over at playerprofiler.com we can see that Gurley has a monster 7.4 red zone touches per game and 1.8 red zone carries per game, both numbers that lead all NFL running backs. Gurley, as we all bear witness to every weekend, has been scintillating with the ball in his hands and so far on the season has evaded 28 tackles (fourth) and created 151 yards (sixth). The Rams face off against an imposing Denver Broncos defense this week but Gurley should continue to benefit from positive gameflow with the Los Angeles Rams currently sitting as seven point favorites. Gurley is someone you want to find a way to plug in your lineup every week, even this week in a matchup that looks tough on paper but a closer look via FantasyPros reveals that the Broncos are giving up an average of 23.3 fantasy points per game to opposing running backs (eighth worst in the NFL).
Joe Mixon $416 CPP, $7,500 Salary
Since Joe Mixon has only played three games this season we will look closer at his averages as opposed to his totals. Joe Mixon currently sits at second in rushing yards per game with 90.7 and seventh among running backs with 117 yards from scrimmage per game, numbers he has managed to produce despite a negative game script rating of -1.29 as per playerprofiler. This week the Bengals square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in what should be a tightly contested game at Paul Brown stadium. The Bengals are actually the betting favorites in this one and a positive game script will only help the breakout sophomore especially when his 28.9 percent dominator rating is taken into account (10th in NFL; measures percentage of team yards and touchdowns by a running back). It is true that Mixon will likely be one of our top ranked backs throughout the season making him a weekly candidate for this list until FanDuel’s salary ranks of him catch up; but that just makes it all the more imperative to cash in on the talented Mixon while he still represents tremendous potential value in DFS.
Julian Edelman $470 CPP, $6,900 Salary
Mr Edelman. Julian Edelman is and has been a PPR monster with Tom Brady for the New England Patriots. The Kansas City Chiefs vs New England Patriots over/under has already reached an insane 60 and the weekend action has not even begun. The Patriots will likely be forced to pass in this one especially if and when they find themselves behind in this contest. Despite concerns that both teams would look to install run heavy gameplans to keep the other quarterback off of the field Vegas still set the number here at a week six high 57.5 to start the week. While the Chiefs rank in the middle of the road in this metric they are still giving up 24.3 points per game to opposing wide receivers. Furthermore the Chiefs are currently surrendering a 78.3 percent completion percentage to short passes in the middle of the field, the place where Julian Edelman dominates and has seen 68.3 percent of his snaps this season. Edelman looks like a rock solid value play this week and DFS players are recommended to get him in at least one of their GPP lineups this week.
Antonio Brown $434 CPP, $9,100 Salary
Our Cost-per-projected-point leader this week at the wide receiver position is none other than Mr. Hall of Fame bound himself in Antonio Brown. Now while I know I do not have to sing Brown’s praises as the entire fantasy community including yourself is well aware of his body of work the one thing I will point out is that the Steelers are expected to be trailing in this one versus the Bengals which should force Big Ben to air it out in Cincinnati. This game has the third highest total of the week further suggesting that a positive game script should help Antonio Brown’s fantasy numbers. The Bengals have surrendered a startling average 95.2 yards per game to the five good receivers they have seen this year including a nine reception, 173 yard outing to Julio Jones in week four. Finding a way to squeeze Antonio Brown this week could and should reap huge dividends. Start Brown with confidence.
Kyle Rudolph $487 CPP, $6,200 Salary
Kyle Rudolph looks like a strong play once again this week and comes in as our top ranked CPP play at $487 per projected point. Rudolph has been one of the safest tight ends this season and ranks among the top ten in most metrics as per playerprofiler including targets with 27, end zone target share at a 30 percent clip, receptions with 23, yards with 229, air yards with 124, yards after catch with 105, red zone receptions with three and touchdowns with two so far on the season. At a position that has been marred by injuries and inconsistency Kyle Rudolph has remained a steady fantasy force finishing as a TE1 every week this season except for last week against the Philadelphia Eagles where he ranked as the 13th overall tight end. This week against the Arizona Cardinals Rudolph seems primed for a big day as the Cards have been a bottom twelve defense against tight ends as far as fantasy points are concerned when facing TE1’s this season (George Kittle and Jordan Reed) which should inevitably lead to Rudolph having another solid day for those of us who start him in DFS. Trot Rudolph out there where possible.
