Heading into Week 2 of the NFL season, we’ve got your FanDuel and Yahoo DF biggest bargains and best bets. If you want to cash in your Daily Fantasy Sports NFL leagues this weekend, you might want to consider putting these guys in your lineup:
Biggest Bargains
Quarterbacks
If Johnny Football starts this weekend, he could pay off for DFS managers
Johnny Manziel CLE
FanDuel Price: $6,500
Yahoo DF Price: $22
Just because a player is a bargain, it doesn’t always mean you should start him (see Kirk Cousins and Derek Carr last week). Manziel should get the start for the Browns against the Titans if Josh McCown hasn’t recovered from being helicoptered on Sunday. He entered the game against the Jets and immediately led his team down the field for a TD. Manziel is always a threat to put up RB3 type numbers in addition to a low-end QB2 stat line, which sums up to a borderline QB1. He’s worth a flier if McCown sits.
Ryan Mallett HOU
FanDuel Price: $6,500
Yahoo DF Price: $22
Rounding out the bottom of the barrel QBs in DFS this week is Houston’s Ryan Mallett. Brian Hoyer looked miserable last week, and Mallett came in the game and salvaged what should have been a blow-out win for the Chiefs. If you pick Mallett this week, know that he could be on just as short a leash as Hoyer was Week 1, but my guess is he plays the full game against a staunch Carolina DEF and provides serviceable numbers. Try coupling him with DeAndre Hopkins and hope they hook up for a couple of scores this week.
Running Backs
Do the Sankey leg
Bishop Sankey TEN
FanDuel Price: $6,500
Yahoo DF Price: $16
Bishop Sankey is a fucking steal on Yahoo DFS this week. If he was proportionately priced as the 2 QBs above are between FanDuel and Yahoo DF, he’d cost you $6 more. Chris Ivory made the Cleveland defense his bitch last week, and I expect Sankey to do similar damage. This will likely be the first and last time I recommend rostering Bishop Sankey, though. It’s all about the matchup.
Danny Woodhead SD
FanDuel Price: $6,200
Yahoo DF Price: $16
Woodhead crushed it last week. You can expect more of the same early in the season as Melvin Gordon gets adjusted to the NFL. He’s a better value on FanDuel than Sankey, although I think he’ll score slightly less fantasy points than the Tennessee Titan. If you’re looking for a bargain RB, you can’t go wrong with either guy.
Wide Receivers
Cole Beasley DAL
FanDuel Price: $5,700
Yahoo DF Price: $16
FanDuel didn’t get the memo that Dez Bryant is out with a broken bone in his foot. This means a few more targets for the shifty Cole Beasley. Hopefully he can hold onto the ball unlike last week. He’ll be a reception magnet and may get in for a score on a slant route. @EarlTSB thinks Beasley should be rostered by everyone.
Donte Moncrief IND
FanDuel Price: $6,000
Yahoo DF Price: $13
If TY Hilton misses extended time, Moncrief could emerge as a major fantasy player. He’s so inexpensive on Yahoo there’s only one player cheaper I would consider rostering this week:
Tight Ends
That’s Austin Seferian-Jenkins. Not exactly a household name just yet
Austin Seferian-Jenkins TB
FanDuel Price: $4,500
Yahoo DF Price: $12
If Rich Homie Quan was writing this article, he’d say cause you gotta check, and you wanna flex, I ain’t got two flex, boy I got it, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Or something like that. Austin Seferian-Jenkins is the ideal budget TE or Flex play this week. With Mike Evans out, he’s Jameis Winston’s safety blanket. I hadn’t even given him a thought until last week when he blew up. Roster him while the price is dirt cheap. It won’t be next week.
Jordan Reed WAS
FanDuel Price: $5,000
Yahoo DF Price: $14
He is dealing with a quad injury, but he should be fine for this Sunday’s matchup against the Miami Dolphins. Cousins was lost last week after DeSean Jackson went down. This week his only viable options are Pierre Garcon and Jordan Reed. If a receiver is going to score on Sunday for the team from Washington, my money is on Reed.
Defense
Saints fans or Juggalos? Both? I’m not sure
New Orleans Saints
FanDuel Price: $4,500
Yahoo DF Price: $11
There are no decent bargain options on FanDuel this week, but New Orleans will only cost you $1 above the bottom of the barrel defenses. They’re playing Tampa Bay in New Orleans, and I expect Jameis Winston to struggle again. You can count on 3 turnovers and a defensive touchdown is highly probable.
Best Bets
Quarterback
You could do worse
Philip Rivers SD
FanDuel Price: $8,200
Yahoo DF Price: $32
P Riv is the 9th most expensive QB on FanDuel. For Yahoo DF, he’s the 22nd. One of these things is not like the other. Rivers torched the Lions last weekend in a comeback effort, showing he can still put up big numbers on any given Sunday. Pair him up with Keenan Allen and go for broke.
Carson Palmer ARI
FanDuel Price: $7,800
Yahoo DF Price: $34
Palmer is good for 250-300 yards and 2 TDs every single week. The Bears suck and the weather here in Chicago will make Palmer feel like he’s back home in Arizona on Sunday. I’ll be at the game to watch him torch one of the worst secondaries in the league. @EarlTSB agrees. Roster him.
Running Backs
Hyde dominated last week (although this Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images is not from last week)
Carlos Hyde SF
FanDuel Price: $7,000
Yahoo DF Price: $23
Out with the old, in with the new. Frank Gore’s corpse has reverse Oregon Trailed it halfway across the US to die of dysentery in Indianapolis, leaving Carlos Hyde as a premier back in what seems to be a rejuvenated San Francisco offense. He was the #1 RB Week 1. He has the ability to come close again Week 2. Roster him.
Ameer Abdullah DET
FanDuel Price: $6,400
Yahoo DF Price: $22
FanDuel hasn’t gotten the memo, Abdullah is legit and the Minnesota defense is a sieve. If Carlos Hyde can torch their D, Abdullah can do the same. Shit, dude would pop off for 200 yards if Detroit would put Joique Bell out to pasture and commit to the up-and-coming Abdullah full-time.
Wide Receivers
Julian Edelman NE
FanDuel Price: $7,600
Yahoo DF Price: $29
Teflon Tom will be looking Edelman’s way often in Buffalo this weekend. If he can manage not to overthrow him a couple of times this week, the reception magnet should see paydirt. Maybe he’ll get banged up and smash off on some strange after the game like he allegedly did after the Patriot’s parade this past year.
Jordan Matthews PHI
FanDuel Price: $7,000
Yahoo DF Price: $27
He’s the #1 guy in Philly. Riley Cooper isn’t creeping down his neck, and Agholor is on the bust radar (although he did play 80% of the snaps last week, he had a drop on 1 of his 2 targets). Expect Matthews to have some huge weeks, and hope for it to be Week 2 if you roster him.
Tight Ends
Tyler Eifert CIN
FanDuel Price: $5,900
Yahoo DF Price: $17
I wish it was feasible to play Gronk every week, but why not go for a guy who will give you 80% of his production at 47% of the price on Yahoo DF? Gronkowski is $19 more expensive than Eifert this week on Yahoo. $19! You can roster both Eifert and Seferian-Jenkis and still have $7 left over instead of rostering Gronkowski. The Bills will hopefully bring his Yahoo DF price down to earth, so if you want a stud TE, grab Eifert.
Austin Seferian-Jenkins TB
FanDuel Price: $4,500
Yahoo DF Price: $12
So doubling down on Greg Olsen didn’t quite work out last week, but here goes nothing with Seferian-Jenkins. At these prices he’s a biggest bargain and best bet. Put him in your flex alongside Eifert at TE and enjoy the cap space.
Defense and Kickers
Pick the cheapest kicker who scored some points last week. As for defense, play the matchups. Miami vs JAX is one of my favorites. I even like Tennessee vs CLE, and obviously as I mentioned before, New Orleans vs TB. Pick the team playing one of these bottom feeders every single week in DFS. Yes, Seattle’s D is awesome, but they’re not worth the premium.
