Welcome to another season of Daily Fantasy Football; these articles will focus on games being played at FanDuel. Each week I will highlight some of my preferred plays of the week, plus some deeper “Tournament” plays, who will be decent options to mix in for the larger field tournaments in an effort to differentiate your lineup from the similar higher owned lineup options.
For those of you who are not familiar with the format at FanDuel, here is a quick primer:
- Scoring: Half PPR with 4 point Pass Touchdowns, -1 for Interceptions and -2 for Fumbles Lost.
- Lineups: 1 Quarterback (QB), 2 Running Backs (RB), 3 Wide Receivers (WR), 1 Tight End (TE), 1 Kicker (K), and 1 Defense (D).
- Salary Cap: 60,000 with player salaries ranging from 4,000 to approximately 10,000 in any given week.
Different from some of the other sites, there is a smaller range of salaries from the top to bottom players, so rather than a “Stars & Scrubs” approach as many will take on certain sites, on FanDuel you are better off looking for value in the midrange and avoiding the bottom end players unless a clear value play emerges.
FanDuel Week 12 Picks
Note: These rankings are only for the full Sunday/Monday FanDuel leagues, the Thanksgiving Day games are not part of these rankings (Philadelphia Eagles/Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers/Dallas Cowboys, and Chicago Bears/Green Bay Packers).
Quarterback Top Plays
- Brian Hoyer, Houston Texans (7100 v. NO) – Hoyer has a stud wide receiver plus the best possible matchup with a home game against the Saints pass defense. Over the past three games, New Orleans has allowed 1045 passing yards and 14 touchdowns to Eli Manning, Marcus Mariota, and Kirk Cousins.
- Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans (7000 v. OAK) – The Detroit-Oakland game plan did not work out well last week, but that means Mariota will likely be lower owned than he would have been if Matthew Stafford had had a big game against the Raiders.
Secondary Plays
- Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals (8100 @ SF)
- Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars (7300 v. SD)
Tournament Plays
- Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks (7600 v. PIT)
- Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders (7400 @ TEN)
Running Back Top Plays
- Chris Johnson, Arizona Cardinals (6800 @ SF) – I see a lot of value plays at running back this week and not many places to spend on big ticket players. San Francisco has been terrible defensively all season, so Chris Johnson should be able to accumulate a nice stat line on Sunday.
- T.J. Yeldon, Jacksonville Jaguars (6500 v. SD) – This is easily my top play of the week against the horrendous San Diego rush defense. With his ability as a three-down back, there will be lots of volume and opportunity to accumulate numbers this week.
- Thomas Rawls, Seattle Seahawks (6300 v. PIT) – The matchup is not ideal against the Steelers who are coming off a bye week, but Rawls appears to be a star on the rise who will get a heavy workload at a bargain price.
Secondary Plays
- Charcandrick West, Kansas City Chiefs (6900 v. BUF) / Spencer Ware, Kansas City Chiefs (6100 v. BUF)
- Javorius Allen, Baltimore Ravens (6300 @ CLE)
- Alfred Blue, Houston Texans (5900 v. NO)
Tournament Plays
- Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings (9000 @ ATL)
- Danny Woodhead, San Diego Chargers (6100 @ JAC)
- James White, New England Patriots (5100 @ DEN)
Wide Receiver Top Plays
- DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans (9400 v. NO) – With the value available at running back and defense, I would pay 10,000 for Hopkins this week, so this price seems like a discount to me against the hapless Saints defense. The bye week and new coordinator could aid in New Orleans making some plays against the Texans, but I am still all over the best receiver in the league against the worst defense.
- Allen Hurns, Jacksonville Jaguars (7200 v. SD) – After seven straight weeks with a touchdown, Hurns was held in check on Thursday against Tennessee. I like him to get back into the end zone this week against the Chargers with Jason Verrett covering Allen Robinson most of the game.
- Brandon LaFell, New England Patriots (6900 @ DEN) – Danny Amendola is in danger of missing the Sunday Night game with a knee injury, which would leave LaFell as the major target after Rob Gronkowski in a game where the Patriots will likely try to make a statement.
Secondary Plays
- Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars (7900 v. SD)
- Brandon Marshall, New York Jets (7800 v. MIA)
- Cecil Shorts III, Houston Texans (5600 v. NO)
Tournament Plays
- Odell Beckham Jr, New York Giants (9100 @ WSH)
- Demaryius Thomas, Denver Broncos (7700 v. NE)
- Stevie Johnson, San Diego Chargers (5500 @ JAC)
Tight End Top Plays
- Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans (6100 v. OAK) – Oakland would be even worse against tight ends if Eric Ebron could have caught a few easy balls last week. Look for Walker to receive double digit targets with a shot at two scores this week.
- Jimmy Graham, Seattle Seahawks (5500 v. PIT) – One of these weeks Graham will put up a big week and people will say, “He’s back!!” I do not particularly think he is or will be back to his pre-2015 form, but I do think this week looks like a solid matchup on paper and worth a 5500 risk.
Secondary Plays
- Gary Barnidge, Cleveland Browns (6500 v. BAL)
- Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings (5000 @ ATL)
Tournament Plays
- Heath Miller, Pittsburgh Steelers (5300 @ SEA – Seattle struggles against tight ends)
- Clive Walford, Oakland Raiders (4700 @ TEN)
Kicker Top Plays
- Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis Colts (4700 v. TB) – Tampa Bay has become one of the higher scoring teams in the league, so the kickers playing against them have a nice matchup weekly. Add in Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback and a home dome game, and Vinatieri looks solid.
- Jason Myers, Jacksonville Jaguars (4700 v. SD) – Myers has quietly become one of the better kickers in the league over the past month. Jacksonville has a solid but not great offense, which leads to many stalled drives in field goal range; a matchup against the woeful Chargers is also a plus.
Secondary Plays
- Cairo Santos, Kansas City Chiefs (4900 v. BUF)
- Nick Novak, Houston Texans (4500 v. NO)
Tournament Plays
- Connor Barth, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4800 @ IND)
- Dustin Hopkins, Washington Redskins (4500 v. NYG)
Defense Top Plays
- Cleveland Browns (4600 v. BAL) – In addition to the running back position, defense looks like a great place to save some cap this week. Cleveland draws a home game against a Baltimore team that lost both Joe Flacco and Justin Forsett last week — enter Matt Schaub and Javorius Allen.
- Kansas City Chiefs (4500 v. BUF) – The Chiefs are playing inspired defense right now and have a home game against a Buffalo team that is coming off a short week and has to travel halfway across the country. The Bills could also be without a fully healthy quarterback in Tyrod Taylor who hurt his shoulder late in the Monday Night game.
Secondary Plays
- New York Jets (4500 v. MIA)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (4300 v. SD)
Tournament Plays
- New England Patriots (4600 @ DEN)
- Minnesota Vikings (4400 @ ATL)
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