Week 3 of the NFL season is upon us and what better way to complement yearly leagues than by playing daily leagues as well? Assuming your opponent’s team is stacked and you’re fighting a losing battle, DFS is a way to still monetize your football knowledge on a lost week in yearly leagues. However, there is a bit of a strategy difference due to the weekly salary cap. In this article, fantasy expert Ricky Sanders will walk you through the thought process of putting together the best possible FantasyDraft DFS lineup for the upcoming week:
Drew Brees, Saints, $14,900 – As is the case in most weeks in the modern pass-happy NFL, the quarterback (QB) position is stacked this week but it’s difficult to overlook one of the game’s best in a fantastic spot. Through two games, only the Raiders and Lions have allowed more fantasy points to opposing QBs than the Falcons (Brees’ Week 3 opponent), and the Saints will square off against them at home. Why does the location matter? Last season, Brees threw for 2,853 yards and 23 touchdowns (TDs) at home compared to just 2,017 yards and nine TDs on the road. In two games against the Falcons last year, Brees averaged 317.5 yards and one TD and now his weaponry is even more loaded with Michael Thomas, Travaris Cadet and Coby Fleener in the picture. With other QBs (like Marcus Mariota) in favorable spots, none is more favorable than Brees at home with his team implied to score the most points of any team this week (28.3 points).
Melvin Gordon, Chargers, $10,900 – Spending up at both QB and wide receiver (WR) will require cheap running backs (RBs) in order to make it all work and one reasonably priced back stands out above the rest: Melvin Gordon. I worried about his prospects moving forward what appeared to be a lucky Week 1 because he only played 23 snaps to Danny Woodhead’s 50 despite the two TDs. In Week 2, Woodhead tore his ACL early in the game and Gordon then ended up playing 51 snaps, touching the ball a career-high 27 times and scored yet again. Gordon went from a back in the unfavorable end of a split to being catapulted into a workhorse role under the tutelage of a great offensive mind (Ken Whisenhunt). In fact, the last time Whisenhunt coordinated for the offense for the Chargers (2013), the team ranked sixth in attempts and 13th in yards. In other words, expect a heavy workload for Gordon moving forward, and this matchup couldn’t be much better. The Colts have allowed the most fantasy points to opposing backs so far this year as both the Cleveland duo of backs and C.J. Anderson have run wild on them. At just $10,900, Gordon is a true RB1 in this matchup, and you simply cannot pass on that sort of value.
Theo Riddick, Lions, $9,700 – Speaking of backs about see an increase in opportunity, Theo Riddick will now have to take on an expanded role with Ameer Abdullah set to meet with a football specialist on Tuesday. Abdullah left the stadium in a walking boot on Sunday so the odds of him playing on Sunday seem like they are slim-to-none. While Riddick will never project as an every down back, his workload will certainly increase as he and Abdullah actually possess a somewhat similar skill set. With Dwayne Washington mixing in on the early down work, the rest of the workload will be Riddick’s. In 2015, Riddick already finished as RB18 in FantasyDraft’s point-per-reception (PPR) scoring format due to catching a whopping 80 passes. If Riddick’s snap count were to rise, he could legitimately push Matt Forte’s reception record for a RB. Even in a tough matchup against the Packers in Week 3, the role combined with the price is too solid of a bargain to overlook.
Antonio Brown, Steelers, $18,000 – What more really is there to say about this guy? Antonio Brown is the best wide receiver (WR) in football by a wide margin and now will face a team that Alshon Jeffery tore up. Hell, the entire Bears offense was just to lob it up to Jeffery and he still hauled in 5-7 targets for 96 yards. Had Jay Cutler not suffered a thumb injury mid-game, he easily would have eclipsed 100 yards. Now the best in the business will face this very defense whose corners are mediocre at best and are going to have the virtually impossible task of shutting down Brown. Advantage: Brown. After a quiet Week 2, expect Brown to get back to his dominant ways and, as always, fading him is a dangerous proposition. The guy led the league in receptions (RECs) last year (tied with Julio Jones) and would have easily bested Jones had Roethlisberger not gotten hurt. The two of them are absolutely unstoppable together and Brown should be locked and loaded into cash games.
Allen Robinson, Jaguars, $14,100 – Did you draft Allen Robinson in yearly leagues? If so, you are probably frustrated to this point, but to be fair, he has been shadowed by two of the game’s top corners. In Week 3, Robinson and company will face a Ravens secondary that was just torched by Corey Coleman and is led by former first round pick Jimmy Smith who is still working through the kinks early in his career. Robinson, a polished receiver, should leave him in the dust. I expect Robinson’s target total to more closely resemble Week 1 (15) than Week 2 (five) so this game projects as the breakout game everyone has been waiting for. At nearly $4,000 cheaper than the elites, Robinson projects similarly so take the discount and run.
Delanie Walker, Titans, $9,300 – Delanie Walker was quiet in Week 1 but followed it up with a vintage 2015 Walker performance in Week 2 to the tune of six RECs, 83 yards and a TD (20.30 fantasy points). This week, the Titans and Walker will take on a Raiders defense that has allowed a whopping 808 passing yards through two games including 186 yards to opposing tight ends (TEs) (second most in NFL). Even with the emergence of Tajae Sharpe, Walker proved last week he is still a big part of this passing offense moving forward, and he did lead all TEs in both targets (130) and RECs (94) last season. While he probably will not quite reach those plateaus once again, he is still a rock solid TE1, and may not draw a better matchup all season. Beyond just the yardage, the Raiders have allowed the fourth most fantasy points to the position this season after allowing the third most in 2015. Going cheap at the position is certainly viable if spending up at other positions but I’m inclined to find the necessary salary to roster this monster against arguably the NFL’s worst defense.
Here are some of my favorite Fantasy Draft contests for this week:
Ricky Sanders is a fantasy sports expert with over 15 years of playing experience. After starting several freelance fantasy sports blogs, Ricky moved up in the fantasy industry when he joined Going9 Baseball. He wrote fantasy baseball content and had a weekly radio spot on the site’s SiriusXM Satellite Radio show. Shortly thereafter, in early 2013, Ricky joined RotoExperts as a three-sport fantasy contributor, eventually becoming one of the site’s lead basketball writers. While writing for RotoExperts, Ricky was introduced to daily fantasy sports and immediately fell in love. With help from some of his mentors, some of the best DFS players in the world, he honed his skills and became the daily fantasy expert he is today. When RotoExperts created a daily-focused website called DailyRoto.com, Ricky was brought on to FantasyDraft as one of the main contributors. He still makes frequent appearances on the RotoExperts SiriusXM Radio show and on the FNTSY Sports Television Network, talking daily fantasy sports. He also continues to write for a few DFS content sites: FanVice, RotoCurve and Daily Fantasy Cafe. Ricky is a proud and active member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. Don’t hesitate to contact Ricky with questions on Twitter @RSandersDFS.
