Welcome to Week 5 and welcome to the Bye Weeks.
For the Daily Fantasy it is not as much of a hindrance as opposed to the year-long fantasy leagues, but there are some Daily Fantasy players who love playing the same quarterback or running back or wide receiver or even kicker and defense.
But for the Fifth Week, there are some choice players that you can't choose from like a pair of quarterbacks, Falcons' Matt Ryan and Saints' Drew Brees. Both who have started out relatively slow, but are considered favorites for Daily Fantasy as well as some of the other Falcons, Saints, Broncos and Redskins.
Along with the choice quarterbacks missing from Week 5 was possibly the highest scoring game of the week that was Thursday between the Bucs and Patriots (update, it was an underwhelming offensive game as it turned out to be).
Along with the Bye Weeks, welcome to Week 5 of the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship.
If you are unfamiliar with the competition, here are the basics:
- 10-week competition hosted on FanDuel
- $10 entry
- 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 $4,000 in prizes and RotoWire subscriptions up for grabs
- Each qualifying week acts as a double-up with the top 150 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
- 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 including myself. After starting out Week 1 at dead last and 58th, I have clawed my way up to 28th place so there is hope for everybody if I (ChicagoEd) can move up 30 spots. Mike Doria (mikeinlalaland) has been anything but consistent and is in first place with 481.52 points, just ahead of Logan Larson (ixlarson) at 475.04 in second place. For Week 4 the top expert was Steve Broihahn (steve0070) with 141.48 points, just .24 ahead of Tim Heaney (heandaddy) at 141.24. For Steve it was the Cowboys duo of running back Ezekiel Elliott (27.9) and quarterback Dak Prescott (23.58) along with Jaguars' running back Leonard Fournette (22.5) that led his charges. What might have put him over the top was Cards' kicker Phil Dawson who logged 15 points (who said you can't win with kickers).
You can check out the full expert leaderboard here, but here's the current top 10:
1. Mike Doria (mikeinlalaland) 481.52
2. Logan Larson (lxlarson) 475.04
3. Benjamin Donabedian (jd0505) 459.34
4. Dave Hunter (therolypolyboy) 457.32
5. Andrew Parr (aparr013) 456.54
6. Jason Brown (modano9) 454.22
7. Joshua Fathollahi (jashfath) 450.04
8. Harry Thompson (hlthompson3) 449.74
9. Tate McIntyre (tamc10) 449.22
10. James Seltzer (schweppy23) 449.20
Note: Games for this contest are for Sunday afternoon and night only so the Minnesota-Chicago Monday Night Football game is not included.
Value Picks
QBDak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers
FanDuel Price: $7,000
I'm not sure if this a value play or not, but Prescott has to be mentioned. This is the highest anticipated game on the schedule so it's anticipated that Prescott will have to throw more than usual. There are five quarterbacks going for more money. Prescott has been steady with 20.4 FanDuel Points Per Game (FPPG).
QBEli Manning, New York Giants vs. San Diego Chargers
FanDuel Price: $7,000
While Manning and the Giants have been extremely disappointing, the veteran signal caller still has averaged 18.2 FPPG and the Chargers represent a team that could be had and he's only a $100 more than the likes of DeShone Kizer. The Chargers defense has been more welcoming to running backs, but the Giants still do not have that number 1 back. In addition, the Chargers have allowed six passing touchdowns so far this season including giving up a touchdown pass to Dolphins' Jay Cutler.
QBJay Cutler, Miami Dolphins vs. Tennessee Titans
FanDuel Price: $6,700
As is with Eli Manning, Cutler has been also relatively underwhelming in the first four weeks of the season especially against a usually-pass friendly New Orleans' defense. Coming into Week 5, The Titans were tied with the Patriots for most passing touchdowns allowed this season with 11. Not to make excuses but the Dolphins have been outside of Miami for all of the first three weeks of the season and finally get a home game on Sunday. Picking up Cutler will allow you to spend much more on running back and wide receiver.
RBDuke Johnson, Cleveland Browns vs. New York Jets
FanDuel Price: $6,000
The Jets came into the season as being a defensive dominated team, but the defense has been a big disappointment especially the run defense. Johnson is a cheap option against a Jets defense that has allowed 144 yards per game. Johnson has been the favored runner over teammate, Isaiah Crowell. Johnson has 12.1 FanDuel Points Per game to Crowell's 5.7.
RBCarlos Hyde, San Francisco 49ers at Indianapolis Colts
FanDuel Price: $7,200
Please check Hyde's status before the game since he was considered limited early in the week with a hip injury. Hyde though has been one of the bright spots on the 49ers offense and he faces a Colts defense that allows 124 yards per game on the ground and eight rushing touchdowns.
WRDeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Chargers
FanDuel Price: $6,100
Parker's dollars have actually dropped a few hundred dollars since I wrote the last column. Parker is preferred receiver over teammate Jarvis Landry who actually is $500 more this week. Parker has been more consistent (12.7 FPPG) compared to Landry and the Titans have allowed the most receiving touchdowns in the NFL entering Week 5 (11 touchdowns).
WRWill Fuller V, Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs
FanDuel Price: $5,700
The Chiefs have been very stingy on the rushing end of defense so the Texans will probably have to throw the ball. Also, expect Kansas City to concentrate on Texans' top receiver DeAndre Hopkins so leaving Fuller more room to run. In his first week back from an injury, Fuller put up 17.9 FPPG points last week.
TECharles Clay, Buffalo Bills at Cincinnati Bengals
FanDuel Price: $5,700
Outside of a couple of tight ends going off, the position has been pretty ugly. Clay is probably the most consistent of the low-to-midlevel tight end values. There are four higher priced tight ends then Clay and Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor likes to go to Clay especially in the red zone.
High Risk/High Reward
WRJordy Nelson, Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys
FanDuel Price: $8,600
Nelson is a consistent number one for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and this is expected to be a high scoring game. After Nelson, there is Davante Adams, who is expected to return, and Randall Cobb; but for the pair, they are a distances second and third. Nelson has the most FPPG of receivers (19.6) and the Cowboys have allowed eight receiving touchdowns.
Steer Clear
WRAntonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
FanDuel Price: $8,800
More than likely, it will be business as usual for the Steelers and the Brown, but you don't want to be in the middle of this fight. Jacksonville has allowed the most yards per game on the ground (165.5 yards) so it might be another Le'Veon Bell game like last week when Brown threw a tantrum on the sideline. FanDuel is even expecting Bell to have a big game as they made him the highest priced player ($9,500) tied only with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In addition, there are other wide receivers you can pick up like A.J. Green, Jordy Nelson, DeAndre Hopkins and Dez Bryant who many believe will finally have a breakout game this week.