Hello and welcome to the final week, Week 10, before the Week 11 Freeroll.
It was only yesterday we were talking the first week of the 2016 season and now we are heading into the Week 10 of the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship.
This is the last week until the Freeroll with over $5,000 in prizes and RotoWire subscriptions up for grabs.
If you are unfamiliar with the competition, here are the basics:
- 10-week competition hosted on FanDuel
- $10 entry (max five entries each week)
- Compete against other users and three FanDuel experts (Jeff Erickson, Derek VanRiper, Kevin Payne)
- Finish above the experts and win an entry in the Week 11 Freeroll with over $5,000 in prizes and RotoWire subscriptions up for grabs
- Each qualifying week acts as a double-up with the top 250 doubling up their cash
- This is not a continuous competition, so you can enter every week, and you don't have to have participated in Week 1 to enter this week's competition
- There is no limit on the amount of entries you can win for the championship round, so start racking them up this week if you haven't already
- You can sign up for this week's competition here.
There is a separate RotoWire expert competition that is taking place concurrently with the public competition. Shawn Cwalinski (cwalinski) nudged James Anderson (realjranderson) by less than one point, 144.38 to 143.78. For Cwalkinski he was sparked by the Cowboys' connection of QB Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott who combined for 56.08 points of his total. San Diego RB Melvin Gordon topped his team with 34.1 points. For me I had Elliott and QB Aaron Rodgers with a total of 49.38 points but it went down precipitously after that, bottoming out with Miami RB Jarvis Landry with 4.8 points.
You can check out the full expert leader board here, but here's the current top 10:
1. James Seltzer (schweppy23) 1174.52
2. Joel Bartilotta (joelbartilotta) 1126.84
3. Scott Jenstad (oaktownsj) 1125.68
4. Harry Thompson (hlthompson3) 1121.54
5. Ronny Mor (ronnymor2) 1094.22
6. Logan Larson (lxlarson) 1092.48
7. Ed Kensik (chicagoed) 1086.94
8. Shawn Cwalinski (cwalinski) 1081.20
9. AdamWolf (rotosomething) 1079.64
10. Eric Caturia (etcat30) 1078.36
The contest includes Sunday afternoon games and the night battle between Seattle-New England and excludes Monday Night Football's NY Giants-Cincinnati contest. On a bye this week are Buffalo, Detroit, Indianapolis and Oakland.
Good Luck everybody!
Value Picks
QBCarson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles vs. Atlanta Falcons
FanDuel Price: $6,800
There is no defensive backfield that is more charitable to quarterbacks than Atlanta. The Falcons have given up 28 passing touchdowns this season, the most in the NFL. If Wentz cannot put up a couple of touchdowns, you might forget about him for the rest of the season. You can pick up Wentz and use that money for high priced running backs, like Arizona's David Johnson ($9,400) or Dallas's Ezekiel Elliott ($8,900) or tight ends, New England's Rob Gronkowski ($8,000) or Carolina's Greg Olsen.
RB Rob Kelley, Washington Redskins vs. Minnesota Vikings
FanDuel Price: $5,300
This one you have to take with the old grain of salt. Washington head coach Jay Gruden said that Kelley will be his number one running back. While you look at the season as a whole, the Vikings have been tough against the run, but lately they have not lived up their billing. All you have to look at Bears RB Jordan Howard who ran for 153 yards on 26 attempts in Week 8 in back of a banged up Chicago offensive line. The pick of Kelley might be a contrarian move while others pick more popular selections.
RB Spencer Ware, Kansas City Chiefs @ Carolina Panthers
FanDuel Price: $7,300
If you had mentioned about choosing a running back against Carolina last season, you would be considered crazy. What difference a makes. The Panthers have given up the ninth most rushing yards per game at 116 per game while allowing at least a rushing touchdown per game. In addition Ware averages 45 receiving yards per game. Ware has been cleared after the concussion and you know that the Chiefs are a run-team first.
WR J.J. Nelson, Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers
FanDuel Price: $5,600
I have been a big fan on Nelson for the last few weeks and I think that he will have a good game against a weak 49ers defensive backfield. His price is ideal where you can add high price WR like Falcons' Julio Jones ($8,800) or Bucs Mike Evans ($8,500) on your roster. Nelson is being named the number two receiver for Arizona behind Larry Fitzgerald ($7,200).
WR Cole Beasley, Dallas Cowboys @ Pittsburgh Steelers
FanDuel Price: $6,500
Beasley is one of Dallas QB Dak Prescott's favorite receivers. He has been targeted the most over the last four weeks (although that's skewed because Dez Bryant was out one week) and he is averaging 62 yards receiving this season. In addition Beasley has four touchdowns in the last four games.
TE Zach Miller, Chicago Bears @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
FanDuel Price: $5,400
With the return of Bears' QB Jay Cutler, the stock on Miller has risen and should continue against a Buccaneers defense that has allowed three touchdowns to tight ends in the last two games. Against the Vikings Miller caught seven passes for 88 yards and was targeted 10 times. Last season the Cutler-Miller combination was potent and that should be the case against Tampa Bay.
High Risk/High Reward
RB David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers
FanDuel Price: $9,400
The running back situation is a hot mess this week with several teams (i.e. Chicago, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Tampa Bay among others) who don't have a clear number one in the backfield either via performance or injury. If you want to place Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott ($8,900) in Johnson's place be my guess, but I like Cards' top back against one of the most porous running defenses in the NFL in the 49ers. It might even get to the point where Cards' backup Andre Ellington will get into the fun in the fourth quarter in garbage time.
Steer Clear
QB Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons @ Philadelphia Eagles
FanDuel Price: $8,600
Yeah he's Matt Ryan and he's considered one of the favorites as the NFL MVP, but not this week. The Eagles have been stingy when it comes to passing. Philadelphia has allowed a little more than one passing touchdown this season and is in the top six in passing yardage allowed (about 226 yards per game) in the NFL. You can do better at the quarterback spot then Ryan.