Week 11 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:
Marcus Mariota, Titans, $12,600 – How can you not like Marcus Mariota moving forward after topping 17.50 fantasy points for the sixth consecutive game last week? This time, he managed 295 yards passing and four passing TDs en route to 28.60 fantasy points. In fact, this was the fourth time in sixth week he bested 28 fantasy points so the consistency he is developing is simply remarkable. Now, he and the Titans will square off against a Colts team that ranks 29th in pass defense according to Football Outsiders’ defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) statistic. Other than Vontae Davis, this secondary is not overly imposing and this game is projected as the weekend’s highest over/under (52.0 points). Running used to be a big part of Mariota’s game but he has topped out at 14 yards rushing over his last four games so he is doing all of his damage through the air. With guys like Rishard Matthews and Delanie Walker peaking at the right time, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Mariota flops in this matchup. Although he is a little bit more expensive than the ideal cash game QB, the high floor he possesses is second to none in the price range.
Le’Veon Bell, Steelers, $16,600 – Last week, David Johnson drew the dream matchup against the league’s worst rushing defense and was only priced at $16,000. The pricing algorithm now lists Le’Veon Bell in a slightly less enticing matchup at $600 more and yet he still cannot be overlooked. Bell is more involved in the passing game than even Johnson which deems his upside the highest of any RB in the league on a given week. Just look at his target total since he was activated (by week): six, 11, seven, 13, nine and 10. Those are the target numbers of a WR1 and that is even before he adds in his rushing totals. For the third time in six games this year, Bell hauled in nine-plus passes last week and he finally enjoyed positive regression in the TD department. What does that mean? Well, heading into the matchup against the Cowboys, he had not found the end zone even once this year and then he scored two TDs in Week 10. Eventually he was going to find the end zone and he was flirting with RB3 in fantasy even having been held scoreless. If he continues to add scores to his line, the sky is the limit. Oh by the way, he Browns have surrendered 1,291 yards rushing (second most), 12 rushing TDs (second most) and 14 total TDs (third most) to the RB position. Start him.
LeSean McCoy, Bills, $12,900 – Heading into Monday Night Football, Rashad Jennings had not topped 27 yards rushing since Week 1 despite a healthy number of touches. All it took was the Bengals rushing defense (or lack thereof) to spark him for 87 yards rushing and his first 100-plus yards from scrimmage output of the season. According to DVOA, the Bengals’ rushing defense ranks 22nd and in reality they have allowed the 11th most rushing yards (883) of any team. The biggest selling point for LeSean McCoy this week is the fact he had a week to rest his ailing hamstring. Honestly, the team should have sat him leading into the bye but he did rush for 4.0 yards per carry (YPC) on 21 attempts and caught four passes for 35 yards in his final game before the off week. In other words, McCoy was already healthy enough to play so now he should be close to 100-percent in a pretty enticing matchup. The RB landscape as a whole is much less enticing this week as opposed to last week but McCoy allows owners to roster a true bell cow for a reasonable cost.
Jamison Crowder, Redskins, $10,600 – Do not look now but Jamison Crowder has managed at least 100 yards receiving or a TD in each of his last four games and six of nine games overall. Clearly, he has emerged as the top receiver in this offense even though DeSean Jackson was expected to emerge as the top option from the start. At this point, there is no denying Crowder’s impact as he has been targeted at least six times in all but three games and at least nine times in two of his last three games. Most notably, the team will square off against a Packers defense that was just torched by Mariota and the Titans. Unlike the Titans, I would not expect Rob Kelley and the offensive line to have their way with a stout Packers front seven that has limited all mid-tier running games to almost nothing so far this season. Essentially, the team is going to have to throw more than usual and the team already attempts the seventh most passes per game (39.4). Expect Crowder to rack up the targets in this game against a banged up secondary because that is the only way to beat this Packers team. If the game turns into a shootout, Crowder could even turn this into a monster performance and he is priced below $11,000. This is quite the bargain so do not overlook it.
Delanie Walker, Titans, $10,600 – Only Rob Gronkowski, Jordan Reed and Tyler Eifert averaged more fantasy points per game at the position last season than Delanie Walker and the Titans’ stud decided the case for him as a top four TE needed to be reiterated last week. Against the Packers, he caught 9-11 targets for 124 yards and a TD and now the matchup only gets better (at least on paper). DVOA lists the Colts as the 31st defense against the TE position or second worst in the league. When Walker last squared off against this defense, he caught 7-8 targets for 84 yards and a TD (or his second best game of the season aside from Week 10). As a whole, TEs are averaging 86.3 yards per game against the Colts and they average outputs of 42.5-percent above their average. After a few quiet games early on, Walker has now topped 11.50 fantasy points in each of his last four games so he is rolling like the year was 2015. In an elite matchup once again, pairing him with his QB Mariota in cash games is a smart idea (if you like money).
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.
