FanDuel DFS Football Tournament Plays for Week 9

FanDuel: $1,250,000 Week 9 Fantasy Football League

Many of you play in season-long fantasy football leagues, while more and more of you are playing one day fantasy leagues. If you like the action of the one day leagues, make sure you join the FanDuel/SB Nation one day fantasy football leagues. All you need to do is click on the link below and join a league.

Enter the $1,250,000 Week 9 Fantasy Football League

• Starts Sunday 1pm ET, ends Monday
• $1,250,000 cash prize pool
• First place wins $100,000
• Top 57,500 teams paid, only $5 entry
• Pick anyone you want - stay under the salary cap

FanDuel/SB Nation $1,250,000 Fantasy Football League: Week 9

Quarterbacks

Stud: Ben Roethlisberger $8,300 vs. OAK

I initially was going to write about Tom Brady, but when I went back and looked at Thursday night’s ownership percentages, he was the highest owned quarterback. However, it stood out to me that Big Ben was owned just 4.5 percent in the $2 Thu NFL Snap. Then it hit me, recency bias has kicked in for some. If you look at games where Roethlisberger returns from injury, he usually doesn’t do all that great, hence last week’s performance. He was clearly rusty and struggled with his accuracy. With that said, this is a great bounce back spot for Roethlisberger at home in a plus matchup. He faces the Raiders who allow 312.6 passing yards per game and have surrendered 13 passing touchdowns. Now that Le’Veon Bell is out for the season, the Steelers will have to rely more on Big Ben’s arm. If you look at his first two games this season without Bell, he averaged 360 passing yards per game and 24.85 fantasy points. I missed on Roethlisberger last week, but I’m going right back to him this week.

Other Studs: Tom Brady $9,500, Aaron Rodgers $8,900, and Philip Rivers, $8,600

Value: Jameis Winston $6,700 vs. NYG

This is one of the first times I’m strongly considering Jameis Winston this season. He’s known to be prone to turnovers, but hasn’t turned the ball over in three consecutive games. He has a great matchup ahead of him against the Giants who were shredded by Drew Brees last week. For the season, the Giants are surrendering 322.9 passing yards and have allowed 17 touchdowns. Granted, those numbers are a bit skewed because Brees threw for 505 yards last week and seven touchdowns, but even before the last game the Giants surrendered 298.3 passing yards per game. The Bucs are the underdogs in this game and it has a 50 point over/under, meaning they should be chasing points in a potential high scoring game. At this price and in a juicy matchup, it’s hard not to sprinkle him in some tournament lineups.

Other Values: Eli Manning $7800, Ryan Fitzpatrick $7,400, and Tyrod Taylor $7,200

Running Backs

Stud: Devonta Freeman $8,900 at SF

Freeman was the highest owned running back in Thursday night’s $2 Thu NFL Snap, but you’re going to need some chalk in your lineup to win a tournament. If you look closely at the numbers and how Freeman is being used, he’s comparable to how Le’Veon Bell was used last season. Game flow does not affect Freeman whatsoever. He receives 86.8 percent of the team’s red zone rushes, 16.8 percent of the team’s red zone targets, and has played in 73.9 percent of the team’s offensive snaps this season. He’s also heavily involved in their passing game as he’s received 52 targets this season, averaging 6.5 targets per game. He does it all, and to top it off, this is a great matchup against the Niners. Opposing running backs are averaging 110.4 rushing yards per game, 4.31 yards per carry, and one touchdowns per game against the Niners. Backs are also averaging 6.4 receptions per game against the Niners. If there’s someone to pay up for this week, it’s Freeman.

Other Studs: Todd Gurley $9,000 and Adrian Peterson $8,900

Value: LeSean McCoy $7,800 vs. MIA

McCoy is not a great value play based on price and technically he is not a "stud" either, but I had to fit him in because he makes a really good tournaments play. Based on the ownership percentage it’s clear that not many people are on him because he was owned just 2.6 percent in Thursday night’s $2 Thu NFL Snap. I get it, his price isn’t appealing, he hasn’t done much, and the Dolphins defense has played well recently. However, they haven’t been as dominant against the run as you might think. In the Joe Philbin era (four games), the defense surrendered 135.5 rushing yards per game and yielded three rushing touchdowns. In the last three games, or the Dan Campbell era, they’ve surrendered just 67 rushing yards per game and one rushing touchdown, but they allowed 125 total yards and two touchdowns to Arian Foster in Week 7 as well as 94 rushing yards to the Patriots running backs last week. Essentially the Dolphins have been stout against running backs in only one game this season, and that was against the Titans. McCoy doesn’t offer a safe floor by any means, but there’s plenty of upside here in a pretty good matchup. The Bills are a three point favorite which is also a plus.

Other values: Mark Ingram $7,700, Jeremy Langford $6,400, and Danny Woodhead $6,000

Wide Receivers

Stud: Antonio Brown $8,700 vs. OAK

In the first two weeks of the season, when Roethlisberger was under center, Brown caught 18 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns. He topped 23 Fantasy points in each of those games. Brown is averaging 11.5 targets per game this season in every game that Roethlisberger has played in and has never been targeted fewer than 11 times in any of those games. Oakland tends to get lit up by receivers, as they allow 196.3 receiving yards per game. He was the sixth highest owned receiver on Thursday night’s slate at 13.2 percent in the $2 Thu NFL Snap. He’s cheaper than Julio Jones and Odell Beckham, and most likely will be lower owned, but offers a similar ceiling. I’ll take that.

Other Studs: Julio Jones $9,200, Odell Beckham $9,000, Julian Edelman $8,000, and Alshon Jeffery $7,900

Value: Amari Cooper $7,300

The Steelers secondary is playing better than I anticipated this season, but they’re still allowing 170 receiving yards per game and have surrendered a touchdown to receivers in three of their last four games. Cooper averages 8.4 targets per game and remains the Raiders best offensive weapon, despite not having the most targets on his team. He only has one red zone target which is mind blowing to me, but you have to think that a player of his caliber will receive more than that in the second half of the season. The Raiders should be chasing points in this game, which means potentially more targets for Cooper. He’s averaging 16.7 fantasy points on the road versus subpar secondary’s this season and has topped double digit fantasy points in each favorable matchup thus far. This is a good spot for Cooper and he could be in for another big game.

Other Values: Mike Evans $7,500, Martavis Bryant $6,900, Eric Decker $6,300, Michael Crabtree $5,800, and Stevie Johnson $5,400

Tight Ends

Stud: Rob Gronkowski $8,500 vs. WAS

Gronk is by far the best tight end in the league and the best DFS tight end option every week. The only problem is coughing up the money to pay up for him. You need to invest 14 percent of your salary to roster Gronk this week, but in my opinion it can pay off. Gronk is one of the few players who has three touchdown upside anytime he’s on the field. He has scored a touchdowns in three consecutive games and has topped 20 fantasy points in two of them. He’s averaging the most targets per game this season (9) among tight ends and has seven touchdowns. If you can manage to fit him in your lineups, it might be a good idea.

Other studs: Greg Olsen $6,400 and Antonio Gates $6,000

Value: Heath Miller $5,800

Miller is my favorite tight end play this week based on his price and matchup. Initially I was concerned about his ownership percentage, but based on Thursday night’s slate, it doesn’t appear that he will be that highly owned, as he was owned in five percent of the teams in the $2 Thu NFL Snap. The Raiders have allowed a touchdown in all but one game this season to opposing tight ends. In three games with Big Ben under center, Miller has caught 20 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns. This is a great matchup for Miller and you’re getting him at a reasonable price. Give him a go.

Other values: Austin Seferian-Jenkins $5,200