What’s up everybody…football is BACK! While it’s not the NFL, I love me some minor league football and I’m even more excited that DraftKings is offering contests. In this article, I will break down a few of my favorite plays on this weeks slate. I’ll also be offering full Core Plays for our MLB and MVP subscribers in Discord! That’s right, MVP is our most popular product so if you have that you automatically get access to my USFL Core Plays — and if you are a new or existing MLB subscriber you get USFL Core Plays added on top of your subscription for FREE! If you’re interested in taking advantage of this — click HERE and sign up for either MVP, or MLB. With that being said, let’s talk ball!
Quarterback
So, I won’t sugar coat this one bit…the talent pool in this league is very, very below-average. We actually were graced with some decent players in the XFL a few years ago (Donald Parham for example), and we just don’t have that here. These games are going to be ugly, but that’s what makes gambling so beautiful! At the QB position, there are two clear options to me in Jordan Ta’amu and Kyle Sloter. Ta’amu was one of the best fantasy producers in the XFL thanks to his rushing ability, and he is a good passer compared to his competition in this league as well. He will be the highest-owned QB on the first slate of the season, and I have no issues with him in all formats.
My favorite option, however, is Sloter. New Orleans looks like they want to really push the pace and air it out on offense, which is obviously good for fantasy. Sloter is someone that has had legitimate success in the NFL preseason, and we are looking at a consolidated target share in his receiving corps as a bonus.
Running Back
RB is interesting, especially because you only need to roster one on DraftKings. There are some strong plays here — with TJ Logan sticking out as a must roster for me. Logan is priced at the bottom of this position, but will be the clear lead back this week with Larry Rose out. Stevie Scott looks like the chalk at this position, but I prefer BJ Emmons and Garrett Groshek when spending up. Pittsburgh is going to run the ball more heavily than other teams, which bodes well for Groshek. For value, we need to monitor the injury news tonight into tomorrow. For Houston — Daylyn Dawkins is questionable and if he gets ruled out they would have just Mark Thompson at RB. Trey Williams is the top value right now, with Mike Weber out he will lead the backfield and can be used in all formats. I think I would prefer Thompson to Williams if Dawkins misses, the problem is we won’t have that news by Williams game time tonight which forces a tough decision.
For tournaments, I would stick with the Philly theme and consider Darnell Holland — but he is a good bit behind the options I listed above.
Wide Receiver
Given that Ta’amu is a rushing QB, I don’t think you need to stack him in DFS. However, if you choose to do so, the top option has to be Derek Willies — who is a big bodied receiver that played under Todd Haley in Cleveland. As I mentioned above, New Orleans has a thin WR corps for Week 1 with just four receivers on the roster — Shawn Poindexter, Johnnie Dixon, Chad Williams and Jonathan Adams. Now, Jonathan Adams is listed questionable to play — that means if he’s ruled out…there will be just three WRs on this team. I want to double-stack my Sloter teams and my preferred two are Poindexter and Dixon. Dixon will man the slot role while Poindexter might be the most talented WR in the league.
Outside of those two obvious spots, it appears Victor Bolden will garner heavy ownership. I like him and think he’s a fine play, but this is the grossest game on the slate and I’ll be underweight across the board. If you’re looking for a pivot at this position I like the Philly receivers — mainly Jordan Suell and Devin Gray. For value, we have Diondre Overton and Marlon Williams both in play in all formats. Williams can be used as a pivot off the chalky Bolden, as well.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
