Quarterback
Top Tier
Deshaun Watson
I probably won’t recommend moving off Jameis Winston, but if you choose to spend up I will continue to write up Deshaun Watson. He has one of the highest floors at the QB position given his running ability, and he has 40+ rushing yards in each of his last three games. He also has a full compliment of weapons with Hopkins/Fuller/Coutee all expected to go this game…oh and he gets the Bills at home. The Bills secondary is actually good, but they have also given up some huge games to guys like Philip Rivers and Joe Flacco and Vegas has the Texans at a respectable 25 points this weekend.
Mid Tier
Andy Dalton
The Red Rifle has been a focus of my daily fantasy lineups for most of 2018, and I am completely fine playing him again this week at home in an expected shootout with the Steelers. He should have John Ross back this week, but either way the Steelers have allowed the most passing touchdowns in the NFL through five weeks and Bill Lazor has this Bengals offense firing on all cylinders.
Low Tier
Jameis Winston
This is your Week 6 chalk QB and it’s going to be hard for me to move off of him in cash games. He’s under-priced since he didn’t start his first game back from suspension, and he will have a full compliment of weapons against an extremely banged up defense. It’s hard to trust him, I know, but it’s the perfect scenario of a cheap price and an amazing matchup.
UPDATE: Seeing that Matt Ryan is only $1,000 more than Jameis Winston, I’m going to go ahead and bump him into the top tier. I still like Watson, and I think he is viable, but Ryan is probably stronger for cash factoring in the game.
Running Back
Top Tier
Todd Gurley
Todd Gurley is the big question this week at $10,000 on DraftKings. The question with Gurley is not matchup or ability, it solely comes down to whether or not you have value or not to fit in this price tag. Right now I’m leaning towards not having the cap to get to him in cash games, but I’m going to try throughout the weekend and hopefully some value will open up and we can lock in his 20 point floor.
Mid Tier
Christian McCaffrey/Joe Mixon
You could include Melvin Gordon in this section as well, but as of Friday he seems like the most likely one I would cut from this trio of backs. CMC has been a legitimate bellcow back this season, and has put up to great fantasy games in his last two despite not being heavily involved in the passing game. That speaks to how large his usage has been, and I think he has entered weekly consideration.
Mixon handled 100% of the running back carries in his first game back from knee surgery eliminating any workload concerns, and with Gio Bernard out, Thomas Rawls now cut and Mark Walton failing to make an impression it’s going to be all Mixon again this week in the second most attractive fantasy game. He has showed an ability to catch passes this season and that adds to his floor/ceiling even further.
Low Tier
TJ Yeldon/Tevin Coleman- This is pretty much my cash game running back pool, with the exception of one other player that I’ll make a note of below. Yeldon should be in line to dominate both running and passing game work again this week with no Leonard Fournette or Corey Grant, the only knock is that the pace of this game overall should be slow, and he is now priced accordingly. I still like him a lot, especially since he has the ability to catch 6+ balls which really adds to his floor overall.
The knock on Tevin Coleman is the ever-emerging presence of Ito Smith, but at the same time he is now priced down below $5,500 on DraftKings so the risk is much lower than it was when he was well over $6,000. Devonta Freeman has been ruled out, so it’s going to be a Coleman/Smith duo in the backfield in the best game of the entire slate. He’s strongly in consideration for me right now, along with Yeldon.
Note: The player I mentioned above is Bilal Powell. The Colts have given up some huge games to running backs this season and if Isaiah Crowell is unable to go in this one it would be wheels up for Powell in all formats.
UPDATE: I’m going to add-in Chris Carson, someone I was on earlier in the week, in with Powell as a possible cheap play if trying to jam in Gurley.
Wide Receiver
Top Tier
Julio Jones
Ahhhhhh, there’s nothing like a Julio Jones chalk week. Julio has been pretty much the center of DFS tilt for the better part of the last year, and that’s probably because that was the last time he scored a touchdown! He has historically shredded this Bucs secondary, and it’s hard to envision me having a down game in a spot like this at under $8,000 on DraftKings.
Mid Tier
Tyler Boyd
This play is growing on me more and more as the week goes on. Boyd has seen 7+ targets in every game this season outside of week one, and I am anticipating AJ Green seeing the shadow treatment from Joe Haden. This Steeler defense has given up some big weeks to opposing wideouts this season and if one of the Bengals WR’s really pops off I think it will be Boyd, who is going to be somewhat under-owned after a “down” game a week ago.
Low Tier
Keke Coutee/Mohamed Sanu
If I end up considering any other cheapies, I’ll add that in red later this weekend, but as of now these are the two I’m focusing on. Coutee has seen 22 targets in two games since returning from injury, with an extremely low aDOT of around five yards. That shows me that they are basically using him as a pass catching back, and the place to beat the Bills is over the middle of the field while Tre’Davious White is on DeAndre Hopkins.
Sanu continues to out-snap rookie Calvin Ridley and he is a huge mis-match in the slot for opposing defenses. The way to beat the Bucs is through the air, and I’ve discussed in the past the value of taking a cheap player in the top O/U on the slate. I love getting cheap exposures to these games and I will be considering Sanu up until lock on Sunday.
UPDATE: I’m going to add in Chester Rogers as a cheap play, along with Coutee/Sanu if you don’t play Ebron.
Tight End
Overall, Tight End is an absolute mess this week with Eric Ebron being the top priced option at not even $6,000. That being said, it looks like OJ Howard is going to be able to play and that will severely cut into the Cameron Brate chalk. I’m going to try and find a way to get up to Ebron if at all possible, and if I can’t I’m looking at CJ Uzomah or even Niles Paul for cheap option as pivots off of Brate.
D/ST Options: Bears, Ravens, Cowboys
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
