Each week I will take an early look at assembling “The Perfect Team” for the upcoming daily fantasy football week. The perfect team is unattainable especially this early in the week but what I am trying to accomplish is an opening lines look at the upcoming daily fantasy football week ahead. This team will be built with FanDuel salary and scoring and should give an accurate view into who will be looked on and analyzed favorably in the upcoming week.
QB: Jay Cutler—8,100: Jay Cutler has been a fantasy stud ever since Marc Trestman has come to Chicago and saved his career. The temptation may be to go with Philip Rivers for only $300 more, but the danger with Rivers is San Diego blew Buffalo out so badly that they let go of the throttle. Green Bay vs Chicago, in Chicago, in September is a recipe for a high scoring game. With Matt Forte starting slowly on the ground, I anticipate a big week for Cutler and will monitor the opening line and over under for this game once Monday Night Football is over.
RB: Donald Brown—6,300: Donald Brown had 36 touches in Week 3 after Danny Woodhead went down with injury. Unreal. This was against a formidable Bills run defense as well, now he’s got the sacrificial Jaguars coming cross country to let Brown run all over them. If nothing else, on sheer volume Brown is a fantastic play. Brown has a very high floor, and an even higher ceiling. If San Diego gets off to a fast start, it could be all Brown in the second half as they try to close the game out.
RB: Matt Asiata—6,300: The Falcons are one of the worst run defenses in the NFL and are a completely different team on the road vs at home. Asiata isn’t an incredibly talented player, but he is serviceable and the Vikings have an excellent offensive line and play well at home. The inclusion of Teddy Bridgewater should also help open up running lanes for Asiata, as he has the ability to throw the ball 10 yards down field or scramble with his feet and has good weapons around him.
WR: Dez Bryant—8,900: The cumulation of my “Perfect Team” for this week is entirely centered around getting Bryant and Brown on good match-ups. The Saints have looked terrible defensively this season and Bryant has looked strong. The Cowboys passing game has actually been fairly effective since the first half vs San Francisco, Romo has thrown 4 TDs (2 of them to Dez) and 0 INTs in the last 10 quarters. They return home, looking more confident, and I expect a big week out of Dez.
WR: Antonio Brown—8,400: You saw what Julio Jones did to Tampa Bay last Thursday right? Need I say more? Brown has absolutely housed two really solid pass defenses in the past two weeks, getting 26 points vs Carolina and 20 points vs Joe Haden and the Browns…He’s matchup proof. What’s better is that Tampa is an excellent matchup. What can Brown do for you?
WR: James Jones—5,300: If you are dropping 17,000+ on two WR, it stands to reason you’re gonna have to go cheaper on WR3, but lucky for you, James Jones is sitting there for the taking. He’s a target champ of rookie Derek Carr. The Patriots in New England are going to pose a challenge for anyone, but the Raiders return home to face the less formidable Dolphins. Don’t expect a monster week out of Jones, but his value is way too good for his role and production.
TE: Greg Olsen—6,100: Greg Olson is just going to be your defacto DFS Tight End until further notice. At nearly 2,000 less than the elite block of Graham, Gronk and Thomas, he gives you legit production every week at a discount value. Carolina looks to him short, deep and everywhere in between. He might not have the Julius Thomas/Jimmy Graham 30 point upside, but you can reasonably expect a 15 point week out of Olson with 20 point upside. At 6,100, that’s an incredible value. Especially if all the top tight ends do not break out. And on top of all of that he also gave us one of the greatest gifs of all time from his yelling tirade last night.
DST: San Diego—5,300: Look at what Indy did to Jacksonville having to go on the road to Jax. San Diego is so cheap because they are an undervalued defense as a result of their previous year’s team, but this 2014 version of the Chargers is not that bad. They’ve made some noticeable upgrades, plus the hope is that they get out to a big lead, which forces Jacksonville to throw, opening them up to get a lot of sacks which is a big plus.
K: Blair Walsh—5,000: Vikings return home to play the Falcons. The Vikings play much better at home and the Falcons much worse on the road. With Bridgewater at the helm, I think this is a good thing for Blair Walsh’s fantasy value. I expect Bridgewater to be a big enough upgrade over Cassel to allow the Vikings to be in scoring range often, but because of his inexperience, I expect the TD’s to be light.
