Whatever you want to call Thursday night’s tilt between the Bears and Packers, Week 4 is off and running. To get you prepped for this weekend’s games, here’s a few players to look out for in DFS that could help you lock down your contests and put a little cash in your pocket.
Quarterback
Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals – Dalton has had five games in which he’s thrown more multiple touchdowns since 2016. Two of those were against the Browns last season. In Dalton’s last four games against Cleveland, the lowest passer rating he’s produced is 112 and the Bengals averaged 30 points in those games. Last week, Cleveland just made Jacoby Brissett look like a pro bowler and TY Hilton thived. It’s going to be a big game for the Red Rifle. ($5,800 DraftKings/$7,100 FanDuel)
Eli Manning – The Giants finally got their offense working in sync last week, plus it always helps when you have a healthy Odell Beckham. Facing Tampa defense without Lavonte David and a hobbled Gerald McCoy is a welcome sight, let alone the Bucs have allowed over 300 yards to passers in each of their first two games this year – that includes Mike Glennon despite his turnovers. Along with Dalton, Manning also provides a good stacking option with two of his receivers this week in Shepard and OBJ who face plus matchups against the Tampa secondary. ($5,700 DraftKings/$7,000 FanDuel)
Honorable Mention: Deshaun Watson, Trevor Siemian
Running Back
Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers – Carolina’s matchup with the Patriots will probably be very similar to their script against New Orleans. Lots of catchup time. Not only is New England giving up the second most points to running backs this season, offering up over 5 yards a carry, they offer up the second most receiving yards to running backs this season. If Benjamin is out, McCaffrey will flirt with the 100-yard mark again. ($6,800 DraftKings/$6,400 FanDuel)
Joe Mixon, Cincinnati Bengals – We saw Mixon get his 18 carries last week against Green Bay, but this week may be the breakout everyone has been waiting for. Cleveland yields 2.3 yards per carry before contact to opponents this year, and while the Bengals’ offensive line is nothing to write home about, everything points in the direction of Mixon having another big day on the ground. There is one lone concern here among all the positives: although the Browns are allowing a touchdown on 80% of red zone drives to this point, Jeremy Hill may vulture a touch or two at the goal line, and Cleveland has let every rush from inside the five-yard line score for a touchdown this season. ($5,700 DraftKings/$5,600 FanDuel)
Honorable Mention: Jay Ajayi, Chris Carson
Wide Receiver
Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals – If you thought Fitz had a fantastic game against Dallas on Monday night, wait for Sunday’s showdown with San Francisco. While the Niners have been towards the middle of the pack against wide receivers this year, the man going up against Fitzgerald on Sunday has been awful: cornerback K’Waun Williams. Only one starting corner in the league gets targeted more than Williams does when in coverage. Couple this with the fact that the Cardinals have continued to play the dink and dunk passing game thanks to a bad offensive line and David Johnson still isn’t around, consider the all-time great Cardinal the main beneficiary yet again this week. ($6,100 DraftKings/$6,700 FanDuel)
Jamison Crowder, Washington Redskins – The million-dollar fantasy question these first three weeks has been “What’s wrong with the Redskins’ receivers?”. I wish I knew the answer to that, but at least one of them should get back on track this week and that’s Crowder. Terrelle Pryor is going to be fighting with Marcus Peters for the majority of the day which should turn Cousins’ attention to his slot receiver. The Chiefs have struggled with covering the slot thus far and it should continue. ($5,400 DK/$6,100 FD)
Honorable Mention: Sterling Shepard, Michael Thomas, Golden Tate
Tight End
Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills – If one thing has been for certain, Tyrod Taylor loves his security blanket that he has in Charles Clay. Now Buffalo goes into Atlanta facing a Falcons team that has seen more targets to tight ends than any other team in the league. What they have done a good job of is limit the yards after catch, which Clay is 6th among all tight ends. Bills will more than likely be playing catchup all day and Clay should be the beneficiary. Not to mention since Week 12 last year, Clay is TE3. Shows how volatile the position has been. ($3,700 DraftKings/$5,300 FanDuel)
Jared Cook, Oakland Raiders – The Denver Broncos have been known for their defensive prowess the for the past several years, but in 2017 the same cannot be said for their play against tight ends. Ranked 27th against the position thus far, Jared Cook finds himself in a very friendly matchup. Cook rarely stays in on the play to block this year, and he’ll be facing safety Will Parks on a fair amount of his matchups this week. Parks is one of the most targeted players when covering tight ends in 2017, let alone he allows catches on 71% of those routes. ($3,400 DraftKings/$5,500 FanDuel)
Honorable Mention: Zach Ertz, Benjamin Watson, Jimmy Graham
Defense/Special Teams
Jacksonville Jaguars – This is the no brainer play. Jacksonville leads the league in pressure on the quarterback this season and converts those pressures into sacks nearly a quarter of the time. Add that to a Jets’ offensive line that has struggled to stave off pressure, you have yourself a very solid matchup, let alone no wide receiver has recorded more than 55 yards against them this season. ($3,600 DraftKings/$5,200 FanDuel)
Cincinnati Bengals – Feeling the Bengals theme yet? While the offensive line has been nothing to brag about, the defensive line is another story. Cincy is 2nd in pressure rating on the quarterback and allows the 5th least amount of yards gained before contact. All in all: they’re going to make their presence know. Rattling Deshone Kizer should be an easy task and lead to a turnover or two, if not more. Once again, the Cleveland Browns are the punching bag of the NFL. ($3,500 DraftKings/$4,600 FanDuel)
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