Strategies
The countdown to the final daily fantasy football weekend is fast approaching including owners looking to cash in on FanDuel. For some players this may be their final week as the NFL Playoffs will reduce to just four teams after this weekend.
The limited amount of teams remaining might scare a few FanDuel owners away. That being said this weekend we have eight teams to build from that features a nice list of starting quarterback options. That is exactly the key position that will make or break the week for any fantasy lineup.
Two of those options will square off in Carolina as the Panthers welcome the Seattle Seahawks to town. Panthers starting quarterback Cam Newton put together his best season in the NFL and it should reward him with his first MVP award. That being said if it wasn’t for Newton, the Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson could be adding a piece of hardware to his collection.
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Then you have Carson Palmer looking to lead his Arizona Cardinals over a big time win at home against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. For us we really like Rodgers to bounce back but we won’t look to use the discount double check star this weekend.
Now one quarterback that could see his percentage drop based on the amount of times he will be used this weekend is Ben Roethlisberger. Despite his big time performance the last time these two teams met, Big Ben is dealing with a shoulder injury as well as the fact he will not have Antonio Brown on the outside to be his go to weapon.
Here is our NFL FanDuel lineup for the NFL Divisional Round of the Playoffs.
QB – Peyton Manning ($7,000): Despite not being a fantasy threat to open the season, we are looking for one of those fantasy plays that could deliver us a home run. That play is with the future Hall of Famer against a suspect Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
RB – David Johnson ($8,500): Johnson was red hot down the stretch outside the teams final game against the Seahawks. The Cardinals back posted at least 14 fantasy points in four of the teams final games of the regular season.
RB – Steven Jackson ($5,700): While this play with Jackson at the running back position might be a long reach but we have seen stranger things in the past. Just remember the four touchdown performance James White had for the Patriots and the next week he barely touched the ball. Jackson was able to find the endzone in the teams final game of the regular season.
WR – Demaryius Thomas ($8,100): Thomas as well as teammate Emmanuel Sanders are both key fantasy plays this weekend especially if you are slotting Manning into your lineup at quarterback. Downside to having Manning back is his ability to spread the ball around to so many different receivers.
WR – Tyler Lockett ($6,200): Lockett has the potential and matchup this weekend to be a prime time fantasy stud. While Josh Norman takes on Doug Baldwin, Lockett should find room to make some plays if Russell Wilson elects to turn his direction.
WR – John Brown ($6,700): We like both Brown and Larry Fitzgerald this weekend against the Packers. The last time these two teams squared off each of those receivers found a way to reach the end zone.
TE – Greg Olsen ($6,500): At this point we left some serious cash on the board to use for our lineup but some of it has to do with the big question marks that surround Rob Gronkowski. We could have gone that route but was concerned with his injury issues. If Gronk is healthy we will slot him in at this spot.
K – Chandler Catanzaro ($4,800): When we look at this matchup between the Cardinals and Packers all we see are points going up on the board. That in returned lead us to Catanzaro who posted at least eight fantasy points in nine of his final ten games including five games in double digits.
DEF – New England Patriots ($4,700: We tossed and turned on whether or not we should use the Denver Broncos defense or take the deep flyer on the Patriots. In the end it is hard to pass up the chance to use the Patriots when the playoffs have arrived.