DFS

One bust week and one boom week earned Quez Watkins his Weekly Volatility score of 8.3, which ranks No. 24 among qualified wide receivers. It’s a sign of things to come from the sixth-round pick out of Southern Miss. At the stone minimum of $3,000 on DraftKings, he offers gamers salary relief and flexible roster construction coupled with upside. And at low projected rostership, he’s also a leverage play in large-field GPPs.

Chase Claypool’s recent streak of bust games figures to end sooner than later given his volatile nature. While JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson dink and dunk with short passes from Ben Roethlisberger, Claypool leads the team with a 29.4-percent (No. 32 among qualified wide receivers) Air Yards Share and 25 (No. 5) Deep Targets. And priced at a salary of $5,900 with a fantasy ceiling of 40 points, he offers an intriguing play.

Jamison Crowder has once again separated himself as the alpha receiver for the Jets after hauling in six balls for 66 yards in their first win of the season. The Browns rank No. 25 in Defensive Passing DVOA and their slot CB Kevin Johnson is one of their weakest links, allowing big games to Golden Tate, Corey Davis, and Tyler Boyd this season. Crowder is a much better play on DK thanks to his low pricing and their full-PPR format. 

XFL DFS cheat code Donald Parham is finally getting his shot in the NFL this week with Hunter Henry on the COVID list. Parham isn’t in play on FD due to his price, but he’s the stone-minimum on DK at $2500. His pricing makes him viable as a Flex option if you want to pay up for Chiefs stacks including Travis Kelce. He also correlates well in Chargers stacks given their high team total (26.0) and his projected red zone role. 

The Atlanta Falcons have allowed the fifth-most receptions to RBs on the season, giving a bonafide receiving back like Le’Veon Bell a high-floor. Given the spread of this game, Bell and the Chiefs should see nothing but positive Game Script. His price isn’t cheap, but at $5800, he projects as one of the week’s best values. Plus, there aren’t many exciting RB options without Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, or Derrick Henry on the main slate. 

Melvin Gordon has now averaged over 5.0 yards per touch in three straight games while averaging 18.1 DK fantasy points. He should get a solid usage bump on top of his efficiency this week with both Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman not practicing with hip issues. If they don’t suit up against the Chargers or are limited in any capacity, Gordon’s 59.9-percent (No. 20 among qualified running backs) percent Opportunity Share would certainly rise to elite levels. 

Deshaun Watson leads the league in with 8.8 Yards per Attempt and his 88.5-percent True Completion Percentage is the No. 3-ranked mark among qualified quarterbacks. With a soft matchup at home against the Bengals, this looks like another big week. Brandin Cooks is still the WR to pair with Watson for the highest floor and ceiling. Fully healed from the neck injury, he is set to smash at only $6.2K this week on DraftKings.

Andy Dalton and Amari Cooper are both under $6K this week facing the Philadelphia Eagles at home in a dome in a game with the second-highest total on the slate. CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup have been making plays over the last few weeks and are viable stacking combinations as well, but Cooper’s 8.2 Targets per Game rank No. 13 among qualified wide receivers. We’re banking on that volume in a game like this to be the best bet to maximize upside.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire is eligible for the Value Rating threshold for the first time this season, and already sits at the top of these rankings. So far, he has not shown the massive upside many expected as the lead back on the league’s best offense, but he has been remarkably consistent. At only $6,400 he is a great play in all formats. And in a possible shootout with the Saints, the upside is there as well. Eventually, he will combine a multi-touchdown performance with a high yardage game.

It is possible that Bruce Arians gives the workload to Ke’Shawn Vaughn or another back, but more likely that Leonard Fournette comes back into the fold this week. The Falcons also provide an interesting matchup. If the game turns into a shootout, Fournette should get many high value touches. And if the Buccaneers take a strong lead, he would also get a boost to his ground work. It is hard to trust him in cash, but he is definitely worth playing in GPPs.

Last week, Calvin Ridley dispelled the notion that he lacks upside without Julio Jones in the lineup. Without Jones in Week 14, Ridley morphed into the passing game for the Falcons, seeing 12 targets and 209 Air Yards. He took this opportunity and turned it into eight receptions, 124 yards and a touchdown, good for 26.4 fantasy points, the WR3 finish on the week. He is set to face a Buccaneers secondary that has been exploitable in recent weeks.

Michael Gallup garners similar opportunity to both CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper. However, last week Gallup led all Cowboys receivers with 81 Air Yards, more than both Lamb and Cooper combined. Despite this opportunity, he was outscored by both in fantasy points. Hopefully, he can avoid Richard Sherman in Week 15 and realize some of those Air Yards. Priced at only $3,500, he doesn’t have to do much to return value.

Brandon Aiyuk draws one of the softest possible matchups in the form of Dallas, who has allowed the most receiving touchdowns and the second-most fantasy points to WRs this season. While this matchup has a relatively low 45.5-point total, the Cowboys average 43.2 (No. 1) Team Pass Plays per Game and have the ability to create shootouts. Aiyuk is cheaper on FD relative to the $60,000 salary cap, but the full-PPR and receiving bonus gives him a ridiculous combination of floor and ceiling on DK.

In the games where Emmanuel Sanders has played and Michael Thomas hasn’t, Sanders has averages a solid 14.5 Fantasy Points per Game, including a monster 12-catch, 122-yard performance in Week 5. The Chiefs have allowed the fewest yards to WRs this season, but their cheap salaries make it easy for them to hit value. Most cash lineups will have multiple Saints players this week, so playing both Sanders and Tre’Quan Smith is a viable strategy. 

T.Y. Hilton draws a matchup with a Texans team that has been awful in defending the pass all season. This contest is destined to shoot out, with the second-highest over/under on the main slate, providing plenty of room for another ceiling game. Even with his recent surge in performance, Hilton is still just $5,500 on DraftKings. Take advantage.

With Will Fuller suspended and Randall Cobb still out with a toe injury, Keke Coutee will continue to be on the field a lot. For what it’s worth, both of his career 100-yard games have come against the Colts. That includes two weeks ago when he torched Indianapolis for 141 yards on nine targets. This game has the second-highest over/under on the main slate and Coutee is an affordable $5,300 on DraftKings.

For all his fantasy scoring fluctuation – his 9.3 Weekly Volatility score ranks No. 15 among qualified wide receivers – Calvin Ridley has posted WR1 numbers in five different weeks this season, including three top-3 finishes. He’s earned a consistently high Target Share, seeing no fewer than nine targets across his past four games. Regardless of Julio Jones’ availability (hamstring), Ridley needs to be fired up.

D.K. Metcalf needs no narrative to smash a slate, and he won’t get one this week. Washington holds opposing receivers to a total of 19.8 Fantasy Points per Game, the third-fewest this season. Metcalf carries the third-highest salary ($8,600) on the main slate, which pushes the masses off him. And when that happens and his projected rostership falls below 10-percent, he deserves to be in GPP lineups.

Priced almost $1000 less than Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray gives daily fantasy gamers the QB1 upside at a discount relative to the rest of the top tier QBs. That savings can be used to pay up for his top target DeAndre Hopkins, who has faced an incredibly difficult slate of corners over the last few weeks in Stephon Gilmore, Jalen Ramsey, and James Bradberry. Darius Slay isn’t practicing this week, which gives Hopkins even more potential to smash.

Since returning to the lineup in Week 12, Mitchell Trubisky has posted two top 10 fantasy QB performances. Yet DraftKings refuses to price him up, even as they face an average Minnesota Vikings defense in a dome. Allen Robinson’s price is rising, but there is still plenty of upside value left, and pairing him with Trubisky at only $5.5K provides sufficient salary relief to not have to compromise at other positions.