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I didn’t get a chance to do a fantasy post last week, but wanted to jump back into it this week. I am setting up a small 10 team league on FanDuel with a $2 entry fee where the top 3 teams will win a few dollars, provided we get 10 teams to sign up. If you haven’t tried FanDuel yet, the basics are that it is a salary cap based fantasy game where you select your best lineup within a $60,000 budget. It’s a fun format and you should be able to follow the link to see how you select a team without actually having to join. If you do need to join and they ask for a promo code please enter OTC100 so they know you came from here. I’ll leave the league open until 11AM Sunday morning at which point if we don’t have enough signups I’ll see if I can make it public so we can keep the prize pool.
For this week’s post I’ll go over one of the lineups that I selected for entry this week (Ill probably use a slightly different one for the OTC league). My goal was to try to put together a lineup that maximizes my potential score while minimizing the variability in my selections. Essentially it’s a reward/risk proposition looking at the last 8 weeks of play and putting some adjustments for games played this year. So here is my $60,000 lineup.
QB: Nick Foles, $8,300– Foles is basically a 20 point QB who has been relatively steady in his performances, with a low score of around 16 and high of 32. Few have been better than Foles for fantasy value. I like his matchup with the 49ers this week who have not looked great this season. Other options this week were Jay Cutler ($8,100) and Colin Kaepernick ($8,100). If I needed to save more money at QB I would lean towards Joe Flacco ($7,100) and Tony Romo ($7,500). Phillip Rivers provides a strong opportunity based on opponent to hit his high mark if you want a more risky pick. If you must go real cheap give a try to Blake Bortles who may put up good fantasy points in a loss, similar to Chad Henne being a viable option if you want a cheap QB who will at least give you something.
RB1: Le’Veon Bell ($8,800)– Bell has been dominant this season and it dates back to the end of last season. The Steelers match up against the woeful Buccaneers which I think makes him a must play. Arian Foster ($8,400) has been very useful this year, but injuries scare me away even in a home game. DeMarco Murray ($9,000) has been the most impressive player this season and provides the safest play of anyone right now. If he was the same cost as Bell I would have gone with Murray.
RB2: Ahmad Bradshaw ($6,100)– Anyone who listens to my podcasts knows Im a big fan of Bradshaw’s when he is healthy and again I like him as a low cost option this week. The Colts should wipe out the Titans and Bradshaw should continue to score points for my team. I don’t really care for former Colt Donald Brown ($6,300) but I don’t think you can overlook the fact that the Chargers matchup with the Jaguars this week. Remember that you don’t need to take a low cost back and in some weeks I go with two higher priced guys.
WR1: Julio Jones ($9,100)– Before Jones was injured last year he began to break away from the pack and this year he is in another universe. While this is big money to spend on the position I just don’t think you can pass him up at this point. The other receivers over $8,000 that I like are Antonio Brown ($8,400) and Jeremy Maclin ($8,000)
WR2: Marques Colston ($5,500)- Colston has had a poor year and I think that makes him a strong value pick at $5,500. He matches up against the porous Cowboys secondary which should jumpstart his season. So I like his chances of giving me closer to his max performance threshold than his low performance. In the higher price ranges I love Julian Edelman ($7,200), Roddy White ($6,900), and Mike Wallace ($6,900).
WR3: James Jones ($5,300)– With Jones I am basically hoping that he can pull off a score to go along with what should be at least 4 receptions for 40-50 yards for Oakland. He’s had two good game this year and they should be able to get him open a bit against the Dolphins. Other low cost players I like are Mike Evans ($5,900), Allen Hurns ($5,700) and Jeremy Kerley ($4,900).
TE: Greg Olsen ($6,100)– Olsen has been a steady target in the Panthers offense over the last two seasons and provides much better value than Jimmy Graham, who is the top performer at the position. Still Olsen is not cheap so if you needed some extra money I’d be looking at Travis Kelce ($5,200) and Owen Daniels ($5,100).
K: Cody Parkey ($5,200)- Parkey has been the top play this year for the Eagles and I think that will continue in what should be an up and down game against San Francisco. Other options to grab a few more dollars to spend on positional players are Dan Carpenter ($5,100) and Nick Folk ($4,900).
Def: Carolina ($5,600)– Im going to go with the best fantasy defense this week even though they are the most expensive. The Ravens line is hurting so they should get to Flacco and I think there could be some points for points allowed as well. San Diego ($5,300) has big upside against the Jaguars and the Bills ($5,100) have been a decent play and face a Houston team that wont score much.