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Daily Fantasy Football Picks for Week 5 - Draftster
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Quarterbacks
First of all, we wrote our main week 5 picks article on Wednesday, and a lot of guys there will have overlap here. This article is specifically for value guys on Draftster. From that article, we also like Roethlisberger, Brees, and Fitzpatrick on Draftster as well.
Tony Romo - 5200
This one is geared largely from Romo's price. At 5200, he's priced in the same range as Geno Smith and Andy Dalton. Romo looked utterly poised against New Orleans, going off for 262 yards and 3 touches before Dallas transitioned into the running game more actively. The really neat thing about Romo is that he actually gets a ton of opportunity in the red zone in spite of Demarco Murray's presence. The Cowboys have tried 17 passes vs. 11 runs down there this season. Now, the Texans pass rush is pretty damned fierce, but again, we're going on price here. It's not a "safe play" by any means, but this an absolutely fantastic value for a guy that can put up QB1 numbers.
Philip Rivers - 7500
Rivers absolutely pummeled the Jags last week, and while he is squaring off against a much tougher defense overall this week, I like him nonetheless. Here's the thing - the Chargers have been desperately terrible on the run this year, and the Jets have been fantastic against it. The Chargers will not be running this week. They'll keep the ball in the air, and Rivers will see as much volume as any quarterback in the league at a price that doesn't reflect his upside.
Running Backs
From our main week 5 picks article, we still like McCoy, Forte, and Jennings on Draftster. Here are some other picks to go with them.
Bishop Sankey - 3200
Per Rotoworld, Bishop Sankey will likely get the most reps he's seen all season, and you can get him for a minimum price here. Sankey has shown that the Shonn Greene experiment was ill-advised, and he's clearly the more talented back at this point. Our projection system likes him before you account for the increased touches. If he hits the ground running early, he could see a full slate of carries and wind up putting up a serious day.
Montee Ball - 4400
Right, so there's a lot of reasons to not want to play Montee Ball against Arizona this week. They've been the league's best rushing defense, the Broncos would prefer to pass in the red zone, etc. But this price? Come on. He's in the same neighborhood as guys like Toby Gerhardt, Shane Vereen, or Steven Jackson. Ball still gets all of Denver's rushing carries in the red zone (and 9 in 3 games is a great number compared to other similar backs). If you want a high upside play without having to pay for it, definitely consider Ball.
Wide Receivers
The guys from our main week 5 picks article pretty much all hold up on Draftster as well due to great match-ups/ability, but Draftster has some hidden gems for us as well.
Anquan Boldin - 3900
With Crabtree continuing to flounder along and Vernon Davis dealing with injury, Boldin steps forward as the defacto WR1 in San Francisco. The main thing here, of course, is the price. If you spend just 3900 on Boldin, you can spend a lot on huge upside or safety guys elsewhere. While I don't think Boldin has a 150 yard 2 TD performance in him, you only need like 80 and a touchdown to have this gamble pay off in spades.
Terrance Williams - 4000
Another terrific value play on Draftster. Did you know that Terrance Williams has seen 2 more red zone targets than Dez Bryant this year, and leads all Cowboys receivers? His usage has certainly been up and down, but he's a guy that is a lot more expensive on other sites, and again, spending just 4,000 of your cap on a guy who has scored 4 touch downs through 4 games just can't be terrible.
Tight Ends
Our projection system likes Jimmy Graham and Greg Olsen just as well for Draftster as it does for the sites listed in our main week 5 picks article, but there are some other interesting plays here as well.
Dwayne Allen - 3100
You can't call him safe, but Dwayne Allen makes for a very interesting minimum priced punt play this year. He's averaging almost 50 yards and a full touch down per start this year, and has been Andrew Luck's favorite red zone target when he's played. But if you're going for the glory? Allen might have the highest upside on a points per dollar basis.
Rob Gronkowski - 5500
What our projection system really loves about Gronk are his red zone ball hogging tendencies. When the Pats get down in the Red Zone, it's been all Gronk and Edelman this year. You have to be really encouraged that Gronkowski has been seeing more snaps as the season has progressed, and while he's not the same tour-de-force he was when fully healthy, he's still an absolutely elite TE. What you really love about him here, though, is the price. Our system loves Graham as well, but you can get the Pats' stud for 2000 less than Graham. Is it so insane to think Gronkowski could be the top scoring TE this week? Time will tell, but it might be a risk worth taking.
Kickers
Kickers are awesome on Draftster because they are all basically the same price. Instead of bore you, I'll just give you some advice:
Try not to pair kickers with your offensive players if you are going for upside. Every field goal Shayne Graham kicks is a possession that doesn't end in a Jimmy Graham touch down.
Coaches are more likely to "go for it" by kicking in Domes and great weather areas. Pick a kicker from there.
Don't worry about field goal accuracy, worry about opportunity. We're looking for guys who are going to kick a lot (i.e., decent but not great offenses who score TDs every time).
Cool? Cool.
Defense & Special Teams
Like the main week 5 picks article, we like the Steelers, Saints, Lions, and Seahawks.
The Charges are also very affordably priced against a Jets team who has really no offensive identity whatsoever, and a quarterback who may take more risks than usual in order to try and quiet media speculation (or should I say observation) that he stinks.
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Thanks, and good luck!