Welcome to week 7's edition of the RotoWire & FanDuel Fantasy Football Championship! Hopefully you did well enough to surpass our uber-expert squad of Peter Schoenke, Jeff Erickson, Chris Liss, Derek VanRiper, and Kevin Payne to earn a spot in the Week 11 $20,000 Championship Freeroll. If you haven't qualified yet and want another shot at glory, then you can enter week 7's contest right here.
Week 7 Results
Congratulations to FanDuel user, doittoit, who finished 1st in the public RotoWire/FanDuel Double-Up Championship Qualifier! Aside from having the best FanDuel username I have come across yet, doittoit struck gold on all of their position players aside for one (Eddie Lacy). His/her team was led by the big-time combo of Matthew Stafford and Megatron who put up a combined 60.5 FDP. Oh yeah, and he also had the best fantasy player of all-time, DeAndre Hopkins (31.8). Way to do it to it, doittoit!
On the expert side of things, Josh Collacchi (jcollacchi), took home 1st place honors with a massive 154.74 FDP performance! His squad was led by Blake Bortles who had another monster week with 25.94 points. Who woulda thunk? Oh yes, RotoWire expert Ed Kensik did in last week's value picks. Josh netted an impressive 41 points from his TE/K/DEF combo of Antonion Gates, Robbie Gould, and Washington Redskins. Of course, like any winning matchup this week, he had DeAndre Hopkins in his lineup as well.
Fun fact, I have yet to play either Hopkins or Devonta Freeman this year in ANY FanDuel lineup. And we all know that the week I finally do, they will both have pedestrian days. Why? Because fantasy, that's why.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="320"]
This is me every week when I refuse to play Freeman or Hopkins[/caption]
Expert Standings
Here is how the Top-10 shakes out in the Expert Competition. You can see the full standings here.
- Adam Wolf (rotosomething) – 779.60
- Josh Collacchi (JCollacchi) – 777.70
- Tate McIntyre (tamc10) – 768.76
- Clay Link (linkdaddydollaz) – 762.10
- Jake Letarski (rotojakeski) – 757.40
- Jeff Erickson (jefferickson) – 742.04
- Peter Merrill (black26) – 737.54
- Jeff Stotts (RotowireATC) – 726.46
- Andrew Fiorentino (akf1986) - 724.10
- Brian Pelowski (brianp) – 721.44
Value Picks
Just a quick reminder that the RotoWire/FanDuel Competitions exclude the SEA/SF (obviously) and BUF/JAC games, so I will not include players from either of those matchups.
QB Kirk Cousins: Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Washington Redskins
FanDuel Price: $6,300
Yeah, I know, he isn't very good at football. Was RGIII really that bad? I digress. Back to why Cousins is a sneaky value play this week. Just as I correctly predicted the fantasy explosion that was the Jaguars vs. Bucs showdown in week 5, I envision this game heading in that direction as well. In a matchup with two average to below-average secondaries, I could see both quarterbacks having big days with multiple scores. From Cousins' standpoint, the Bucs have surrendered 18.0 points to opposing quarterbacks this season, which is only the 10th highest mark this season. But looking deeper, that number is skewed because the Bucs give up the third-fewest passing yards against, usually because opposing teams are playing with the lead in the second half of games. With a below average defense on the other side of the ball, I can't see the Redskins pulling away early and switching to a run-heavy attack. Cousins could very well be throwing for the entirety of the game, which should lead to a 300+ yard game and (hopefully) multiple touchdowns. Concerned about his charitable personality (eight interceptions)? Well the Bucs have only intercepted opposing quarterbacks 3 times this season, a mark that is superior to only the Saints, Jaguars, and Cowboys. If there is any week that Cousins is going to put up big numbers, this should be it. He is literally the cheapest starting quarterback this week, so picking Cousins will open up cap space for you to go big at the skill positions.
RB Todd Gurley: Cleveland Browns @ St. Louis Rams
FanDuel Price: $7,400
This is a pretty obvious value pick, and Gurley will likely be on many rosters this week, just make sure you aren't one of the ones missing out on the fantasy goodness. In case you aren't on the Gurley train yet, let me try and sway your opinion. Through two games (let's throw out the game against Pittsburgh where he was eased back on the field), he is averaging a ridiculous 6.2 YPC. Two games is a small sample size, but he had 49 carries over those two games! Not so small after all. Who did he face during those two weeks? Cardinals and Packers, who are both in the top-15 in terms of limiting opposing RBs in fantasy. This week he faces the Browns, who give up 21.3 PPG to opposing RB. The Browns have allowed opposing backs to average 7.1 YPC this season. It is crazy to think Gurley could improve his 6.2 YPC, but he may just do that this week. I also see him getting into the endzone for the first (and possibly second) time against the Browns. Make sure he is in your lineup!
RB Lamar Miller: Houston Texans @ Miami Dolphins
FanDuel Price: $6,700
With the way people reacted to Miller's 18.8 FDP performance, you would think he was injured through the first five weeks of the season. Well he wasn't, he wasj ust being underutilized in Joe Philbin's offense. With first-year coach Dan Campell calling out his defense and rushing attack, both stepped up in a big way against the Titans last week. With a soft matchup against the Texans (surrendering 18.0 points to opposing RBs) at home, I am liking Miller's $6,700 price tag more and more.
WR John Brown: Baltimore Ravens @ Arizona Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $6,700
***As of this post, Brown had his hamstring tighten up and is currently listed as "questionable" for Monday's game against the Ravens***
Brown's hammy tightness obviously throws a wrench in this value pick due to this game being played on Monday. That being said, if his injury designation is upgraded to probable Saturday or early Sunday, then I would roll him out there. Brown finally broke out last week against the Steelers with 196 yards on 10 catches. But even before that, he had been valuable with two 70-plus yard games and a touchdown in weeks 4 and 5. With a matchup against the Ravens - who made Colin Kaepernick look like an excellent pocket passer last week - Brown should be in for another strong fantasy performance.
WR Brandin Cooks: New Orleans Saints @ Indianapolis Colts
FanDuel Price: $6,700
The only thing more frustrating than using Cooks in fantasy this year is the way he spells his first name. A popular breakout candidate in the preseason, he has been a failure outside of a big week 5 against the Eagles. The only positive that can be taken from his inconsistency is that it has kept his FanDuel price very reasonable midway through the season. Brees likes to spread the ball amongst his receivers, so it is hard to predict who will have a big performance week-to-week. With Vegas setting the over/under at 52 for this contest, I am banking on Cooks eclipsing 100 yards and finding the endzone. Also, if Brown ends up being a game-time decision and you don't want to take a risk, Cooks is the perfect last-second swap with his identical price.
WR Stefon Diggs: Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions
FanDuel Price: $5,800
Diggs has been a revelation over the past couple of weeks, gaining 216 yards over the past two weeks. More impressive is that he is doing it in an offense that generally doesn't have a strong air attack. Charles Johnson - who was supposed to be the breakout star this season - is likely to return this week, but the Vikings would be foolish to not have Diggs be their primary target in the passing game against a Lions defense that has surrendered the 23rd most fantasy points to opposing receivers. There is no reason a team's #1 receiver should be priced so low. Make sure to take advantage of that this week.
High Risk/High Reward
WR Julio Jones: Atlanta Falcons @ Tennessee Titans
FanDuel Price: $9,100
Jones has been hampered by a couple of leg injuries over the past couple of weeks, and while he has been able to play through them, he hasn't looked like the dominant force we saw in weeks 1-3. After playing on Thursday last week, Jones and the Falcons have had 10 days to rest up for the Titans. In fact, Jones didn't even appear on Friday's injury report, which is a big step for the star wideout. I think we see a return to form this week for Jones, and I want to make sure I am on board for that, even at the increased price.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @JashFath to see my rage tweets when my fantasy backs get vultured or my receivers have long touchdowns called back on holding penalties.