Quarterback
Russell Wilson- If you’ve been following me at all this season, you know I’ve been all-in on games the Cardinals have played so far this season and it has led to very positive results. The secret, however, is out now that Kyle Allen decimated them for four touchdowns last week, and that should lead the masses to Russell Wilson this week in all formats. The problem is, he’s my favorite play too. The Arizona Cardinals have already allowed nine touchdowns through the air this season, and Wilson flashed his upside with a 40 DK point outing in Week 3. I don’t see the Cardinals getting out to a big lead here like the Saints did, but they are also a good enough to keep pace enough that the Seahawks need to at least keep their foot on the gas on offense. Wilson’s pass attempts have jumped by over 5 per game this season, and it would take something crazy to get me off of him this week.
Note: There are certainly other viable Quarterbacks in cash games this week, namely Patrick Mahomes, Daniel Jones and Kyle Allen. That being said, I’m entirely focused on Russ, and will 100% be playing him on all sites.
Running Back
Christian McCaffrey/Austin Ekeler- These two are self-explanatory from a data/metrics/usage stand-point, and it really just comes down to roster construction this week. I will admit, I was fully in support of fading Ekeler in favor of Keenan Allen coming into the week, but now that we have the news that Justin Jackson is out, it becomes a situation similar to last week…JAM THEM ALL IN. We don’t have a min-priced Quarterback to help us out this week, but if anything that should just keep the strategy from getting too out-of-hand when it comes to ownership. Both McCaffrey and Ekeler have positive matchups, and I’m heading into the weekend with the plan of fitting them both in, alongside Keenan Allen.
Leonard Fournette- This feels very, very gross to write-up, but if you’re going for a more balanced approach this week, I think we have to consider Leonard Fournette. Yes, he looked horrible on Thursday night last week against the Titans, mainly due his offensive line more than anything. Yes, this Broncos defensive front profiles as an extreme mismatch for that offensive line, but the Broncos defense has also been really bad to start the season. They have yet to record a sack, or turnover, and Fournette is seeing usage in the passing game unlike anything we’ve ever seen with him before. He’s top-five in targets among Running Backs, and his newfound volume makes up for the lack of efficiency. He also has been unable to find the box this season, which will surely correct overtime. I think we see Fournette get his first touchdown this week, and I like him a lot in tournaments.
Wayne Gallman vs Chris Thompson Dilemma- This is one of the hot topics of the week. Gallman stepped in and took all of the RB work after Saquon Barkley went out due to injury last week, and with only a fullback and an undrafted Rookie behind him, we should expect a similar situation. I’ve seen tons of talk about how Gallman is “bad” etc, but to me, similar to Frank Gore, that doesn’t really matter. All that matters (for the most part) in fantasy football is VOLUME, and Gallman is expected to get a lot of it, slated as a home favorite against a bad defense, and he has at least shown he can catch the ball before as well.
Thompson on the other hand, is a tad cheaper than Gallman, and has been the guy for the Redskins since Derrius Guice went down due to his ability to catch passes, and the fact that the Redskins see passing game-script often. He has double-digit DK points in each of the first three games, and gets a much better matchup against the Giants than he saw last week. Given the presence of Adrian Peterson, I do have Gallman ahead of Thompson, but I also don’t think you HAVE to use three RB’s this week. I wouldn’t mind going with a 4 WR build this week, despite us normally going with three RB’s. I haven’t made a firm decision there, but if choosing one of Gallman/CT *FOR CASH* I would lean towards Gallman.
Wide Receiver
Keenan Allen- Part three of our “Jam them in threesome” this week is Keenan Allen, which should be a bit obvious. Allen erupted for readers of this article at surprisingly low-ownership (relative to what I expected) in cash games last week, and we can go right back to the well against the lowly Dolphins. He still sits atop the NFL leader-board in air yards, and has been the primary slot receiver for the Chargers again this season which means he should avoid Xavien Howard’s coverage this week — Howard has been in the slot under 5% of the time this season. Also note that Mike Williams was ruled out for this week’s game on Friday, with Travis Benjamin listed as doubtful alongside him…
Tyler Lockett- I’m a bit worried that I won’t be able to fit Lockett into the bedroom due to the threesome that’s going on…but man, I think he is an elite play this weekend. Lockett leads the Seahawks in targets at 28, and his new high-volume role has unleashed him for fantasy purposes. He’s scored in two of three games this season, with 10 and 11 catches over the last two weeks. There’s obvious correlation here, given that I’m playing his Quarterback, but the Cardinals have also given up multiple touchdowns in the slot this season and I do think they will struggle to cover Lockett this weekend as well.
Will Fuller- This is a play that I’ve come onto later in the week, and he’s right there with Christian Kirk for me on DraftKings. I’m already higher on the Texans/Panthers game than the field, and we got some big news on Friday when Panthers CB Donte Jackson was out of practice due to injury. Jackson runs a 4.32 40 yard dash, and has done well in coverage this season, obviously his speed is a big negative for this matchup with Fuller and it’s unlikely that Fuller would be able to get behind him often. If he’s out, the individual matchup gets a big enough boost that I would bump him over Christian Kirk as my mid-tier WR.
Terry McLaurin- We got a big scare on Friday when McLaurin missed practice for the second consecutive day, but news has broke out of Washington that it was more precautionary than anything and we shouldn’t expect McLaurin to miss this game. Hopefully this lowers his ownership, but it probably won’t with how good he has played this season, and the quality of his matchup with Janoris Jenkins. He’s found the end zone in each of his first three NFL games, and I don’t think Jenkins has any prayer of keeping up with his speed on Sunday. He’s a near lock for me at his price, but you can easily fade in tournaments at expected high-ownership.
Tight End
Darren Waller- I have an extremely small pool of Tight Ends I am interested in using this week, starting with Darren Waller. I don’t really expect Waller to garner much attention in cash games due to the presence of Will Dissly, but it’s really hard to ignore what he’s been doing. As I pointed out in my game-by-game breakdown, he actually has seen more targets than Travis Kelce so far this season and that has resulted in monster fantasy numbers. We were on Austin Hooper in this matchup against the Colts last week, and he responded with two touchdowns. Their defensive-scheme leaves them vulnerable in the middle of the field, and I have faith that Jon Gruden will be looking to exploit that this week.
Greg Olsen- Olsen was who I sided with in cash games last week, and I am comfortable going back to him this week, especially given my interest in this Carolina/Houston game as a whole. He showed clear chemistry with Panthers new QB Kyle Allen, and ranks top-three in air yards among all Tight Ends, showing that despite his old age and injury history he still does possess upside. Ultimately, our next player is going to be the highest-owned option at this position, but if you have the room I wouldn’t mind jumping to Olsen, especially if you decide not to play Russ at Quarterback.
Will Dissly- By now, everyone knows to jam in Tight Ends against the Cardinals, and it just so happens that Will Dissly gets that matchup this week after scoring three times over the last two weeks. We definitely can expect some TD regression coming his way, but the Cardinals have surrendered at least one touchdown to this position in each game thus far, and Dissly has seen 5 and 7 targets over the last two weeks. Given that I will be rostering Russell Wilson, I will eat the Dissly chalk in cash games, but I don’t blame anyone for getting cold feet. The good thing about him is, with the price and ownership factored in, a complete dud outing isn’t going to cost you a cash game W.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
