Looking to get your roster prepared for the daily fantasy football week?
We’re breaking down the best steals available in the daily fantasy leagues. Don’t forget, finding the steals that no other rosters have will help in daily fantasy tournaments. If everyone has the same player on their team, then you’ll basically cancel out your points with other teams.
Finding the best cheap players could be the deciding factor in competing.
Quarterback
Last week: Andy Dalton, 18.44 points
This week: Sam Bradford, Philadelphia, $27
Teams aren’t airing it out as much against New Orleans, but when they do, it goes for big gains.
And with Bradford’s new-found ability to throw downfield as he did last week against Washington, he should turn in a performance well worth the price tag against the Saints. Currently, Bradford is the 20th most-expensive quarterback in daily fantasy, and if Philadelphia’s offense can get moving, he would be a quality buy.
The Saints are allowing almost 10 yards per completion on defense this season. Also, the Saints are allowing the second-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season. Also, don’t forget, Bradford quietly had the second-most points by a quarterback last week against a good defense in Washington.
We like this matchup for the Eagles. Bradford should slice through the Saints defense and with that cheap of a price, he should be a nice asset on any daily fantasy team.
Running back
Last week: Mark Ingram, 12.80 points
This week: Justin Forsett, Baltimore, $25
Maybe Forsett isn’t much of a steal, but we believe he can lead the NFL in fantasy scoring this week. And with eight other running backs more expensive than him, he would be integral to any daily fantasy team looking to win.
Forsett will square off against a Cleveland Browns defense that so far this season has been bad against the run and the pass this season. The Browns are giving up the second-most rushing yards per game this season. That is slightly better than last year when Cleveland allowed the most rushing yards per game.
We don’t like Cleveland having to travel from coast-to-coast in a week’s time, giving Baltimore a significant edge. Don’t worry about Forsett’s early struggles this season. He totaled 150 yards rushing last week and we expect that to continue this week.
Wide Receiver
Last week: Stevie Johnson, 3.20 points
This week: Anquan Boldin, San Francisco, $20
Sometimes a situation that looks good on paper doesn’t always turn out so well. The Chargers threw all over the Browns last week, with Phillip Rivers generating the most fantasy football points, but Johnson left during the game because of an injury. Those are things you can’t account for, so hopefully this week, injury problems don’t creep up on Boldin.
We understand that the San Francisco 49ers have been a dumpster fire this year. That will likely continue for the most part of this year.
But the New York Giants are the worst team in the NFL against the pass, and we’re not totally giving up on Colin Kaepernick yet. Boldin should get several looks in this game as San Francisco looks to pass against the Giants, especially since New York has been the best in the NFL against the run this season.
Boldin is the 27th most expensive wide receiver on the market, giving him good value in a strong matchup.
Tight end
Last week: Martellus Bennett, 14.30 points
This week: Owen Daniels, Denver, $15
Last week, Bennett led all tight ends in scoring with 14.30 points. We didn’t pick him because he was a quality tight end on a weekly basis. We chose him because the Oakland Raiders have been awful against opposing teams’ tight ends.
With Bennett’s performance last week, the Raiders have now surrendered the most or second-most points to tight ends in three of four weeks.
So we’re not going away from that strategy.
Nine other tight ends are more expensive than Daniels in daily fantasy leagues. He hasn’t been impressive this season, especially considering he has Peyton Manning as his quarterback, who in the past, has made careers for his tight ends. But he has scored touchdowns in consecutive weeks and Oakland has an actual problem against tight ends.
This is a good deal, considering the Daniels will likely be a main target for Manning this week.
Flex
Last week: Chris Johnson, 9.40 points
This week: T.J. Yeldon, Jacksonville, $20
We’re encouraged by the price we’re getting Yeldon based on who the opponent will be this week.
Among running backs, there’s 17 other players who are more expensive than Yeldon. And yes, we know that the rookie running back hasn’t found the endzone yet, but it’s only a matter of time before he hits paydirt.
Last week, Yeldon was the bell-cow for Jacksonville with more than 20 carries for 105 yards rushing. We like that the Jaguars are using him often, and against Tampa Bay, that strategy will be important because of the Buccaneers’ leaky rush defense.
Tampa Bay is third-worst in the NFL against the run this season and the Jaguars will likely attack that with plenty of looks for Yeldon. He would be a solid flex option, especially with how many touches he will receive this week.
Defense
Last week: Chicago Bears, 7 points
This week: Detroit Lions, $11
We don’t like Detroit to win this week, but we’ve been encouraged by its defense this season.
The Lions are one of only four defenses to average double-digit points in fantasy football this season and the Lions are still only a $1 more expensive than the cheapest defenses available.
We understand the Cardinals were the hottest offense in the NFL for the first three weeks, but that was against New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco. Last week, against a decent defense in St. Louis, the Cardinals came back to where they will likely reside this season.
It’s the offense that has been the major issue for the Lions so far this season. We like the Cardinals to win this game, but it should feature plenty of defense.
